# Channel economics after fees and refunds

> Follow four channels from enquiry to second package and see why the cheapest enquiry can turn into the dearest paying family once fees and refunds are counted.

- Course: [Marketing Strategy: Who to Win and How](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy.md)
- Module: How do people find us and buy?
- Lesson 19/32, ~28 min
- Source: https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/channel-economics-after-fees-and-refunds

## The cheapest enquiry

**Alex Tutor:** You're still with Klasna's marketing team, and Uliana has brought the numbers behind her favourite channel. Today you follow every channel past the enquiry, all the way to a second package.

**Uliana:** April 2026, four channels, followed for 90 days. The marketplace cost us 62.50 per enquiry. Paid social cost 375. Case closed?

**Hanna:** Not for me. I want to know what each channel returned, not what an enquiry cost.

**Alex Tutor:** Then use a few planning assumptions from Klasna's English list prices. A first package is 8 lessons for 5,200 and leaves 1,710 of contribution. A second package is 16 lessons for 9,920 and leaves 2,952. A refunded first package leaves nothing.

**Dataset (CSV):** [Klasna: new families by channel, April 2026](https://productovi.com/datasets/marketing-strategy/channel-economics-after-fees-and-refunds/klasna-channels-apr-2026.csv)

Every channel that brought new families in April 2026, followed for 90 days (April–June). Spend is what the channel cost in the marketing line; the marketplace also takes a commission on every package booked through it, refunded ones included. Money in UAH.

- `channel`: paid_social, search, school_partnerships, lesson_marketplace
- `channel_type`: paid, partner or rented
- `spend_uah`: What the channel cost in the marketing line
- `commission_pct`: Commission on every package booked through the channel, %
- `enquiries`: Enquiries received
- `first_packages`: First packages paid
- `refunded_first_packages`: First packages refunded
- `second_packages_90d`: Second packages bought within 90 days
- `contacts_in_klasna_crm`: Whether these families' contacts are in Klasna's own CRM

**Alex Tutor:** Start where Uliana started: the cost of one enquiry.

> **Exercise:** In April 2026 the lesson marketplace cost 20,000 UAH in the marketing line and brought 320 enquiries. What did one marketplace enquiry cost? In UAH, to two decimals.

**Alex Tutor:** Warm up with the number most dashboards stop at: spend per first package paid.

> **Exercise:** What did one first package from **search** cost in April, counting only the marketing spend? In UAH, to two decimals.

**Sofia:** Per first package the marketplace is still cheapest: 20,000 for 40 packages.

**Alex Tutor:** Only if you stop at the marketing line. The commission is 20% of every package booked there, and finance books it outside marketing. Add it for the first packages and count the families who kept theirs.

> **Exercise:** What did each **lesson marketplace** family that **kept** its first package cost, counting the April spend and the commission on all 40 first packages? A first package is 8 lessons for 5,200 UAH, and the marketplace takes 20% commission on every package booked there, refunded ones included. In UAH, to two decimals.

## Who is still paying after 90 days

**Sofia:** But 14 of 40 refunded. That's 35%, against 12% for social and under 9% for the others.

**Alex Tutor:** Check the marketplace's refund share yourself.

> **Exercise:** Of the 40 first packages booked through the lesson marketplace in April, 14 were refunded. What share was refunded? In %, to two decimals.

**Alex Tutor:** And look at second packages. A family that buys a second one has decided the lessons work; most of the contribution sits there. The marketplace: 5 of 40. Partnerships: 15 of 26.

**Uliana:** And those five second packages also went through the marketplace, so we paid commission again.

**Alex Tutor:** Right: 5 × 9,920 × 20% = 9,920 more. Now take everything each channel cost and divide by the families still paying after 90 days.

> **Exercise:** What did each **lesson marketplace** family **still paying after 90 days** (a second package) cost, counting spend and all commission? A second package is 16 lessons for 9,920 UAH, and the marketplace takes its commission on it too. In UAH.

**Hanna:** Now my question. What did each channel return in those 90 days, after its full cost?

**Alex Tutor:** Contribution is kept first packages × 1,710 plus second packages × 2,952. Subtract the spend and any commission. Do it for all four and rank them.

> **Exercise:** Rank the four channels by **net contribution after 90 days** (contribution minus spend and commission), best first. Planning assumptions: a kept first package leaves 1,710 UAH of contribution, a second package 2,952, a refunded first package nothing; the marketplace's full cost is 71,520 UAH including commission.

## What the table can't show

**Uliana:** Paid social is negative too. Do we drop it with the marketplace?

**Alex Tutor:** Not on this alone. Ninety days is a window, not a lifetime: about 30% of spring families come back in September, and that isn't in here yet. Social's families come back to Klasna; the marketplace's book their next package on the marketplace.

**Sofia:** Because the last column says their contacts aren't in our CRM.

**Alex Tutor:** Exactly. And mind the sizes: 26 to 50 families per channel in one month is thin. Trust the order; treat the exact numbers as a first reading to check next spring. What scaling each channel would cost is a topic of the course Finance for Product People.

**Alex Tutor:** One more thing the last column tells you.

> **Exercise:** **True or false:** in September, Klasna can invite the lesson marketplace's April families back directly, just like the families from paid social.

> **Exercise:** Which conclusions does the April data support? Select all that apply.

**Uliana:** Fine. Write me what we do with the marketplace, in a few lines I can show Leo.

> **Exercise:** Write Uliana a 3–4 sentence recommendation on the **lesson marketplace** for spring 2027: keep, cut or change, backed by the April numbers, with one thing you would check before deciding for good.

> **Key ideas**
>
> - Follow each channel past the enquiry: first package, refund, second package, contribution, minus the full cost.
> - Count every cost of a channel, including commissions that sit outside the marketing budget.
> - Here the order flips: by cost per enquiry the marketplace is first (62.50); per family still paying after 90 days it is last (14,304), and its 90-day net is −12,300 against +27,030 for school partnerships.
> - A rented channel also keeps the relationship: families book their next package there, and their contacts never reach your CRM.
> - A 90-day window and a few dozen families per channel are a first reading: rank with confidence, size with care.

**Alex Tutor:** Next lesson is the case: the same thinking for Dana's one-person practice, where the budget is her hours.

- Previous lesson: [Own, rented, paid and partner channels](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/own-rented-paid-and-partner-channels.md)
- Next lesson: [Case: two channels for Dana](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/two-channels-for-dana-case.md)

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