Campaigns are running. Money is being spent. Reports are being shared. Everyone sounds busy.

But when you ask a few direct questions, things get uncomfortable very quickly.

Because a surprising number of companies cannot clearly explain:

• whether acquisition is profitable

• where their spend is actually going

• what they’re actively learning

Because unchecked marketing compounds waste fast.

If you’re a founder, these are the three questions you should be asking regularly.

1. What Is Our CPA — Relative to Margin?

Not:

“What’s our CPA?”

But:

“What’s our CPA relative to gross margin?”

A £150 CPA means nothing in isolation.

If your gross profit per customer is:

• £1,500 → excellent

• £300 → maybe workable

• £120 → congratulations, you built a very sophisticated money incinerator

Too many teams discuss CPA without discussing unit economics.

That’s how companies end up scaling campaigns that lose money efficiently.

A healthy acquisition strategy needs context:

• gross margin

• payback period

• retention

• LTV quality

• sales team close rate

• refund rates

A “good CPA” is only good if the business model supports it.

Founders should constantly ask:

• What’s our target CPA?

• Why is that the target?

• What margin does it protect?

• What happens if ad costs rise 20%?

Because they usually do.

2. What Percentage of Ad Spend Is Going Directly to a Landing Page?

This question exposes an enormous amount of waste.

Your answer should be:

“Over 90%.”

If it’s lower, there’s a good chance your campaigns are leaking attention before users ever reach a controlled conversion environment.

Instead, traffic gets sent to:

• homepages

• navigation-heavy websites

• generic service pages

• social profiles

• pages built for “brand awareness”

• pages with six CTAs and no clear next step

Campaigns simply hope people figure things out themselves.

Every paid click should have:

• message match

• a clear conversion goal

• minimal distraction

• relevant proof

• relevant copy

• one obvious next action

If you’re paying for attention, don’t hand visitors a maze.

Ask:

• What percentage of spend lands on a dedicated page?

• Which campaigns are sending traffic elsewhere?

• Why?

• Is there evidence those paths convert better?

Most of the time, there isn’t.

3. What Are We Testing Right Now?

This question reveals whether the marketing team is operating with hypotheses or assumptions.

If nothing is being tested, the team is relying on opinions.

Strong marketing teams are constantly testing:

• headlines

• offers

• hooks

• CTAs

• landing page structure

• proof placement

• pricing presentation

• creative angles

• audience segmentation

But there’s a second part founders should ask immediately after:

“If this test wins, what happens?”
“If it loses, what happens?”

Because many teams run tests without operational consequences.

A proper test should create a decision.

For example:

• If the new landing page wins → replace the control

• If the offer increases qualified leads → scale spend

• If the ad angle lowers lead quality → kill it

• If the CTA improves conversion → roll it out platform-wide

Testing is not activity for activity’s sake.

It’s a system for reducing uncertainty and improving decisions.

Claude Hopkins wrote about measurable advertising over 100 years ago. Most companies still haven’t caught up.

Final Thought

Founders do not need to micromanage marketing.

But they do need visibility into:

• profitability

• traffic quality

• learning velocity

Because campaigns can look productive while quietly wasting budget.

The best marketing teams can answer these questions immediately:

• What’s our CPA relative to margin?

• How much spend reaches a focused landing page?

• What are we testing right now?

And more importantly:

• What are we learning from it?

That’s usually the difference between companies that scale efficiently and companies that slowly burn through budget while reporting “strong engagement.”