The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast

Hosted ByTaylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin

2020 transformed the world of ecommerce forever. For the modern DTC brand, the rewards have never been greater. But the waters have also never been choppier, and the way forward has never been more uncertain. So how do you navigate this dangerous new reality? No matter how you do it, you’d better not do it alone. That’s where the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast comes in — join Common Thread Collective’s Taylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin as they bring you guiding insights from across CTC’s portfolio of growing DTC businesses. Whether you need a clear view on the macro issues affecting the world.

The Ecommerce Playbook | How We Diagnose Every Ecommerce Problem (The Hierarchy of Metrics)

The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast
The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast
The Ecommerce Playbook | How We Diagnose Every Ecommerce Problem (The Hierarchy of Metrics)
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Tony Chopp, walks through the Hierarchy of Metrics — the framework our Prophit Engineers use to diagnose problems and take action for 170+ ecommerce brands.

In this episode, Tony and Richard break down a real brand example in Statlas, showing how you go from a contribution margin miss all the way down to a specific campaign adjustment in Google Ads.

The hierarchy:

  • Business-level metrics (revenue, contribution margin, ad spend)

  • Customer-level metrics (new vs. returning, paid vs. organic)

  • Channel-level metrics (Google, Meta, email — iROAS by channel)

  • Campaign-level actions (bids, budgets, new creative)

Key takeaways:

  • Your ROAS target should be backed into through incrementality math and unit economics — not vibes

  • “4 is not necessarily better than 3” — if 3 is the right number based on your COGS and incrementality, targeting 4 leaves volume on the table

  • Over-efficiency is a symptom of underspend, not a badge of honor

  • Good data in = good decisions out. The system is only as strong as your cost data, audience segmentation, and incrementality testing

Show Notes: