AI Blocks › Plan what ads to test
Know what a new customer may cost, and which ads earn it
Give it your ad and order data. Get a CAC limit, a lift test and a budget split.
Set your CAC limit and test what ads add is a free AI workflow for the job "Plan what ads to test". It guides your AI through several skills in order, passing each step's output to the next.
Free · No account · Made by AI Blocks · Level: advanced · Thinking: high
What it does
Ad platforms grade their own work, and they claim more sales than your store sees. With several channels running, nobody can say what a new customer may cost, or which channel brings customers who would not have come anyway. Budget moves to whichever dashboard looks best. These steps give you one number to hold to, then test it. First it builds a daily sheet of new-customer cost, return and profit from your exports. It uses that sheet to set your CAC limit, the most you can pay and still make money. It compares each platform's claims with the sheet. You pick the channel you doubt most, and it plans a lift test. After the test, it uses the result to decide where the next $10,000 goes.
You give it
- Shopify orders with a new or returning flag, and net revenue after returns
- Ad spend by day and by channel
- Product cost per product, and fulfilment cost per order
- Gross profit per customer at 30, 90 and 180 days (optional, but it makes the limit safer)
- Sales by region for 6 to 12 months, for the lift test
- Your question (optional)
- Customer words (optional)
You get
- A one-page daily sheet with new-customer return, blended CAC and new-customer profit, and the formulas
- A CAC limit (target, ceiling and floor) with a payback time and a score out of 100 for how safe it is
- A return ladder for each platform and a trust level for each channel, with a score out of 100
- A lift test plan with the test type, matched regions, spend change, dates and a cut, hold or scale rule
- A ranking for the next $10,000 and a stop point for each channel
Use it when
- You spend on several channels, the platforms claim more than your store sees, and you need one limit.
- Your cost to win a customer keeps rising and you do not know if you can keep scaling.
- You want to know how many of one channel's sales it really caused.
Steps
- New-customer profit dashboard builder: Give it Shopify and ad exports. Get a daily sheet of new-customer MER, CAC and profit.
- CAC payback checker: Give it CAC, margins and cohort profit. Get profit to CAC ratios, a scale-or-fix call, scored out of 100.
- Ad return accuracy checker: Give it platform ROAS and store totals. Get a truer return and trust level, scored out of 100.
- Incrementality test planner: Tell it your spend and regions. Get a lift test sized to you and how to read it.
- Marketing budget allocation planner: Give it spend and new-customer returns by channel. Get where the next $10,000 goes and a test plan.
How to use it
- Download the handoff pack. It's a zip with HANDOFF.md and every skill file this workflow uses.
- Give the folder to Claude (in Claude Code, or as files in a Claude Project) and say "Follow HANDOFF.md".
- Paste your order and ad exports. Check your product costs with your accountant first. Wrong costs give a wrong limit.
- Pick the channel you doubt most. Pull its spend by week and region for the last 90 days.
- Run the test for the planned weeks. Then pull spend and new-customer results by channel and bring them back.