The SIGNAL Diagnostic
A full audit of acquisition, conversion, retention, and margin, the same process that finds the one constraint actually holding revenue back, before a single dollar gets recommended in new spend. Most RevenueTHESIS partnerships start here.
Start with a free 20-minute conversation to discuss fit and scope.
- Customer evidence
- Understand demand, customer expectations and the points where the buying journey loses trust or momentum.
- Commercial evidence
- Read sales, offer performance and the economics of growth to distinguish activity from business value.
- Operational evidence
- Check whether availability, delivery capacity and the team can fulfil the promise marketing makes.
- Locate the constraintRead the evidence together to identify what is limiting progress, rather than treating the most visible symptom.
- Choose the priorityRecommend the next intervention the evidence supports, with a clear reason to act and an agreed scope.
What the Diagnostic Covers
The SIGNAL Diagnostic examines acquisition, conversion, retention and margin to identify what is holding growth back. It also considers the people, processes, operations and technology that affect those outcomes, so a marketing symptom is not mistaken for the underlying business constraint.
- Acquisition audit: where traffic actually comes from, what it costs, and whether the channel mix matches the business's real customer base.
- Conversion audit: where visitors drop off between landing and purchase, and which of those drop-off points are cheap to fix versus structural.
- Retention audit: repeat purchase rate, time between purchases, and whether existing systems (or lack of them) are helping or hurting.
- Margin audit: whether the current pricing and cost structure can actually fund the growth being asked of it.
The depth of review is agreed before work begins. Findings may point to inventory availability, cash timing, fulfillment, team capacity or data quality. We identify the relevant dependencies and owners; implementation and specialist work are scoped separately.
This is the same audit behind the anonymous operating case study on the Results page
Real platform-level data, reviewed before anything gets recommended, not a generic checklist.
How It Works
The diagnostic follows the first two steps of the SIGNAL method directly: Study the System, then Isolate the Variable. That means real Shopify, ad platform, and Search Console data gets pulled and reviewed before any recommendation is made, not a generic checklist applied regardless of the business.
The output isn't a stack of slides nobody reads. It's a clear, specific answer to "what's actually holding growth back right now," plus a recommended next step, whether that's a Fractional Head of Growth engagement, a Growth Systems Architecture build, or something simpler than either.
- Observed symptomCustomers reach product pages but do not complete a purchase.
- Question to resolveIs the limit the offer, the buying path, or product availability?
- Evidence & confidenceCompare customer, storefront and operational evidence; state what remains uncertain.
- Next decisionChoose a bounded intervention, an owner and a way to review the result.
Who It's For
Growth-stage e-commerce and specialty retail brands, typically past $500K in annual revenue, where tactics that used to work have stopped working, or growth has flattened and the reason isn't obvious. A discovery conversation establishes whether the diagnostic is useful or existing evidence is sufficient to scope the next step directly.
What shapes the investment
Catalog size, channel complexity and the depth of historical data determine the final fee within the range above. We agree scope before kickoff.
Diagnostic FAQ
How long does the diagnostic take? +
Most diagnostics complete within two to three weeks from kickoff, depending on how quickly data access is granted and how complex the channel mix is.
What do I need to provide? +
Read access to relevant store, ad and Search Console accounts, plus your objectives and existing evidence. Where needed, we request client-approved cost, cash, inventory or capacity information in stages. Your finance owner confirms financial definitions. No lengthy universal intake or accounting audit is included.
What happens after the diagnostic? +
A clear recommendation for next steps, which may or may not involve continuing to work together. The diagnostic is genuinely useful as a standalone deliverable. If ongoing help makes sense, see fractional CMO vs. marketing agency for how that structure compares to a traditional retainer.
Is This the Right Fit?
- Revenue is real but growth has flattened, and the reason is genuinely unclear.
- You have two or three plausible explanations internally and no agreement on which is right.
- You are prepared to act on the finding, even if it contradicts the current plan.
- You can provide access to analytics, ad accounts and order data.
- You already know the constraint and need execution hands. Start with the service that fixes it instead.
- You are pre-revenue or still establishing product-market fit. A diagnostic measures a system that exists.
- You want a second opinion to validate a decision already made. The finding may not agree.