Not when we send a report. Not when we make a change. Only when geo-holdout testing confirms the savings are real, your revenue is healthy, and both sides have signed off on what counts.
Sending you a list of waste doesn't mean we've saved you anything yet. The clock starts when fixes are live and verified — not before.
The Leak Map is a diagnostic report. It identifies where waste exists, quantifies it in monthly dollars, and tells you exactly what to fix. It is yours to keep. You can action it yourself, hand it to your current agency, or do nothing with it. At this point, you owe AdLeakIQ nothing.
An invoice is only issued when: (1) you have approved specific fixes, (2) those fixes have been implemented, (3) a full 30-day geo-holdout measurement period has completed, and (4) the verified savings pass the Revenue Health Check confirming external factors haven't distorted the result.
We use geo-holdout incrementality testing — splitting comparable markets into test and control groups. The control markets receive no changes for the measurement period. Savings are calculated as the performance delta between test and control, not against a time-based baseline that could be contaminated by seasonal shifts or market changes.
Before any invoice is issued, both parties review the Monthly Recovery Report together. The report shows the holdout test data, the Revenue Health Check result, every calculation, and the final savings figure. You sign off on the numbers before we invoice. There are no surprise charges.
This formula is agreed to and signed before any recovery work begins. No surprises. No discretion. Both sides use the same numbers from the same sources.
Ad waste recovery can't be measured in isolation from your business. Here's exactly how we handle every external variable that could distort the numbers.
A sudden tariff increase raises your landed cost, which may reduce margins, suppress conversion rates, or prompt a price increase — all of which affect revenue independent of ad spend efficiency. Our fixes may still be working perfectly while your revenue dips from cost pressure.
A January billing month following a Q4 peak can make revenue look artificially depressed even when efficiency is improving. Conversely, a Black Friday month can inflate apparent savings that are really just seasonal volume. The Seasonal Index corrects for this using your own YoY history.
If a key SKU goes out of stock mid-month, conversion rates drop regardless of how efficiently we're spending. This isn't an ad waste problem — it's a supply problem. Billing against this period would misrepresent both AdLeakIQ's impact and your actual savings.
Meta and Google update their delivery algorithms regularly. A broad match expansion rollout or auction mechanics change can affect CPMs account-wide independent of our targeting fixes. Our geo-holdout methodology largely neutralizes this — both test and control markets are affected equally.
You review each recommended fix and approve it individually. Nothing goes live without your written sign-off. The billing clock does not start until at least one approved fix has been deployed.
lockGate: Written approval on file before any change is madeAfter each fix is live, we run a 30-day measurement window with geo-holdout test and control markets running in parallel. No invoice is possible until this window closes. This is non-negotiable — it's how we prove causation.
lockGate: Full 30-day measurement period must completeWe pull Shopify revenue for the measurement period and compare it to the seasonally-adjusted baseline. If revenue is within 5% of baseline, full savings count. If a declared external event has affected revenue, the multiplier is applied. If revenue is down more than 30%, billing pauses automatically.
lockGate: Revenue health multiplier calculated and agreedYou receive the full Recovery Report showing all holdout data, the revenue health result, the Seasonal Index applied, and the final Verified Savings calculation. You review it. If you agree with the numbers, you sign off. Only then does the invoice generate.
lockGate: Client sign-off on verified savings figure requiredInvoice is: Verified Savings × Fee Rate. Payment terms are Net 15 from sign-off. That's it. If at any prior gate the numbers don't clear, there is no invoice for that month — and we work together to understand why before the next measurement period begins.
check_circleOutcome: Both sides agree to the number before money changes handsThis is what lands in your inbox on the 1st of each month. The invoice only follows after you've reviewed and signed off on these numbers.
17.5% of $34,500 verified monthly savings · Net 15 from sign-off · $180K/mo spend tier
Every touchpoint, every gate, every deliverable — mapped from day one through your first invoice.
You submit the free audit request. We respond within one business day with a mutual NDA and intake form. No call required at this stage.
Read-only API connections are established across all platforms. Critically, the pre-audit baseline is locked here — 90-day spend, Shopify revenue, and the Seasonal Index from your 12-month history. This becomes the immovable reference point.
Your Leak Map is delivered within 48 hours. It is yours to keep. If you choose not to proceed with recovery, the engagement closes here and nothing is owed.
45-minute call to walk through findings. You approve each fix individually. If proceeding, you sign a Recovery Engagement Letter that contains the agreed Seasonal Index, fee rate, Revenue Health Multiplier thresholds, and External Event Declaration protocol. These terms are locked and cannot be changed mid-engagement without mutual written consent.
Approved fixes are deployed with geo-holdout groups configured from day one. Test markets receive the changes; control markets of comparable size and composition do not. The 30-day measurement clock starts on the first day a fix is live.
After the 30-day holdout window closes, we run the Revenue Health Check, apply the Seasonal Index, and prepare the Recovery Report. You review and sign off. Only then does an invoice issue. No surprises — you've agreed to the number before we send it.
You'll have your Leak Map in 48 hours. If we don't find anything worth recovering, you owe nothing and keep the report.
For brands spending $20K+ per month · Read-only access · NDA on request · No obligation