EcoSip is a medium-sized business that sells insulated smart drink bottles through its website and selected gyms. EcoSip is launching a new product, the EcoSip Pro, targeting office workers who want hydration reminders and temperature tracking.
EcoSip’s marketing team planned a 10-week launch campaign using:
- Paid search ads (Google)
- Paid social ads (Instagram)
- A corporate partnership offer (bulk discount for offices)
Before launch, EcoSip developed a financial forecast for the 10-week campaign.
Planned assumptions (10 weeks):
- Planned units sold: 4,800
- Planned average selling price per unit: \$65
- Planned variable cost per unit (manufacture + fulfilment): \$27
- Planned marketing spend:
- Paid search: \$38,000
- Paid social: \$26,000
- Partnership sales team travel + materials: \$8,000
Actual results after 10 weeks:
- Actual units sold: 4,050
- Actual average selling price per unit: \$62
- Actual variable cost per unit: \$29
- Actual marketing spend:
- Paid search: \$44,500
- Paid social: \$19,500
- Partnership sales team travel + materials: \$11,200
Monitoring information collected during the campaign:
- Website analytics: traffic increased 35% versus the previous period, but the checkout conversion rate fell from 3.2% (planned) to 2.4% (actual).
- Customer service logs: a spike in questions about compatibility with older phone models; 18% of pre-purchase chats mention “not sure it works with my phone”.
- Paid search performance: cost per click rose from a planned \$1.20 to \$1.85 after week 4 due to increased competition on key terms.
- Paid social performance: click-through rate exceeded target, but bounce rate on the landing page averaged 68% (planned 50%).
- Partnership channel: fewer corporate orders than expected, but average order size was higher than forecast when a sale occurred.
EcoSip’s CEO wants the marketing manager to use implementation, monitoring and controlling to decide whether to revise the strategy for the next 10-week cycle.
Using EcoSip’s actual results, calculate the actual campaign profit. Then calculate the profit variance \(\text{(actual profit} - \text{forecast profit)}\) and state whether it is favourable or unfavourable.
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implementation, monitoring and controlling – developing a financial forecast; comparing actual and planned results, revising the marketing strategy
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