# Campaign Post-Mortem Report > A structured marketing campaign post-mortem with budget vs actuals, channel performance breakdown, key wins, learnings, and action items for next time. Source: https://buildpdfs.com/templates/campaign-post-mortem Category: Business A structured marketing campaign post-mortem with budget vs actuals, channel performance breakdown, key wins, learnings, and action items for next time. ## What's included - Campaign overview: objective, budget, timeline, and team - Budget vs actuals table by channel - Channel performance breakdown with ROAS per channel - Key wins and learnings section (3 each) - Action items for next campaign with owner and priority ## Sample content Summit Gear Co. — Internal Document Campaign Post-Mortem Report Black Friday / Cyber Monday 2025 Nov 24 – Dec 2, 2025 · 9-Day Campaign Report prepared: January 2026 Total Revenue $94,200 vs. $58,400 Q4 2024 (+61%) Overall ROAS 4.28x on $22,000 total spend Best Channel Meta 3.8x ROAS / $45,600 rev BFCM Section 01 ### Campaign Overview Nov 24 – Dec 2, 2025 $22,000 Total Budget $94,200 Total Revenue 4.28x Overall ROAS 9 days Campaign Duration ##### Campaign Objectives Summit Gear Co.'s Q4 2025 BFCM campaign had three primary goals: (1) Clear $180K of pre-winter inventory including the Summit 40L Pack, (2) Hit $80K in campaign revenue on a $22K budget (4x ROAS minimum), (3) Grow the email list by 1,500+ new subscribers during the campaign window. Results exceeded revenue goals by 17.75%. List growth came in at 1,840 new subscribers — also above target. ##### Budget Allocation | Channel | Budget Allocated | % of Total | Revenue Attributed | ROAS | vs. Target (4x) | | --------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | ------------------ | ----- | --------------------------- | | Meta (FB + IG) | $12,000 | 55% | $45,600 | 3.8x | Slightly below — see notes | | Email Marketing | $4,000 | 18% | $38,000 | 9.5x | Significantly above | | Google Ads | $6,000 | 27% | $10,600 | 1.77x | Well below — audit required | | Total | $22,000 | 100% | $94,200 | 4.28x | Above 4x target | ##### Timeline | Date | Event | Revenue | Notes | | --------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Nov 21 | Email: Early access preview (subscribers only) | $12,000 | 3 days before BF — hit inbox before competitors | | Nov 24 | Black Friday — all channels live | $38,400 | Largest single day. Meta carousel peak impressions. | | Nov 25–30 | Weekend + Cyber Week | $29,800 | Steady daily revenue. Email sent Day 3 and Day 6 of window. | | Dec 1–2 | Cyber Monday + Campaign End | $14,000 | Strong close. Last email "final hours" sent Dec 1 8pm ET. | Section 02 ### Channel Breakdown Meta (Facebook + Instagram) 3.8x ROAS $12,000 Spend $45,600 Revenue 140K Impressions 3.2% CTR (top ad) **Top performer:** Carousel ad featuring lifestyle photography of the Summit 40L Pack in use. 3.8x ROAS and 140,000 impressions. The carousel format significantly outperformed single-image ads — CTR was 2.4x higher (see What Worked). Best audience: lookalike of past 180-day purchasers, limited to 2% similarity to maintain quality. Instagram Reels placement was the strongest placement for conversion rate. **Underperformer:** Story-only ad set. Lower CTR, higher CPM. Did not run the full campaign duration — paused Day 5 and budget reallocated to carousel. Google Ads (Search + Shopping) 1.77x ROAS — Underperformed $6,000 Spend $10,600 Revenue 1.77x ROAS (target: 4x) $82 CPA (target: $45) **Root cause analysis:** Google Shopping underperformed primarily due to two issues. (1) Product feed not optimized for holiday queries — product titles used internal naming conventions rather than search terms buyers use during BFCM (e.g., "40L Pack" vs. "camping backpack Black Friday sale"). (2) Branded term bidding captured queries from users who were already going to convert — inflating spend without incremental revenue. Search campaign ran on broad match which captured irrelevant traffic (e.g., "summit" queries returning Summit Gear ads for non-outdoor searches). Root cause: no pre-Q4 product feed audit was done. Email Marketing (Klaviyo) 9.5x ROAS $4,000 Spend (platform + design) $38,000 Revenue 52% Black Friday Email Open $12K Pre-BF Early Access Email was the highest ROAS channel by far at 9.5x — reflecting the quality of Summit Gear's existing list (28,000 subscribers, 34% engaged). Key tactic: Early access email sent Nov 21 at 8pm ET — 3 days before Black Friday. This captured motivated buyers before their inboxes were flooded by competitors. The suppression of non-openers after 24 hours on the early access email protected deliverability, ensuring the Black Friday send landed in inbox for engaged subscribers. Section 03 ### What Worked W ###### Black Friday Flash Sale Email — Sent 3 Days Early Early access email sent Thursday Nov 21 at 8pm ET (72 hours before competitors launched BF sends) generated $12K in revenue on its own. The subject line "Early access to Black Friday — just for you" had 52% open rate. By hitting inboxes early, we avoided the Saturday/Sunday deliverability congestion that crushes open rates. This tactic should be formalized as standard practice for all future holiday campaigns. Result: $12K pre-campaign revenue / 52% open rate W ###### Meta Carousel Outperformed Single Image by 2.4x The carousel format allowed us to showcase the Summit 40L Pack in 4 different real-world use cases (trail running, camping, commuting, gym) within a single ad unit. This product-in-context storytelling dramatically outperformed the single lifestyle image we ran in Q3\. The creative insight: outdoor gear buyers want to see the product performing, not posing. CTR on carousel: 3.2%. CTR on single image control: 1.3%. For Q4 2026, carousels will be the default Meta format. Result: 2.4x higher CTR vs. single image control W ###### Subscriber Early Access Drove $12K Before Black Friday Opens The early access preview email (sent Nov 21) functioned as a loyalty reward for email subscribers. The framing was intentional: "You're getting this before we post it anywhere — subscriber exclusive." This drove $12K in revenue and zero incremental ad spend. It also seeded social proof: early buyers who loved their order organically posted before the public campaign launched, adding credibility to the BF campaign. Result: $12K revenue, $0 ad spend, organic social lift ### What Didn’t Work L ###### Google Shopping — Product Feed Not Holiday-Optimized Product titles in the Google Shopping feed used internal product naming. Buyers searching "camping backpack Black Friday deal" did not match our feed's title "Summit 40L Ultralight Pack — Charcoal." This caused poor impression share on the highest-intent holiday queries. Additionally, auto-generated descriptions pulled from internal copy rather than customer benefit language. A 2-hour feed audit in August would have prevented this. Action item created. Result: 1.77x ROAS vs. 4x target / $12,400 in missed revenue (estimated) L ###### Landing Pages Did Not Match Ad Creative 3 of our 7 Meta ad sets drove to generic category pages rather than the product-specific landing pages the creative featured. A/B test run during the campaign (Day 4, limited budget) showed that mismatched landing pages reduced conversion rate by 22% vs. matched pages. We caught this mid-campaign and redirected those ad sets, but the first 3 days of spend were partially wasted. For Q4 2026, every ad set must have a dedicated landing page that exactly mirrors the ad creative. Result: Estimated 22% conversion loss on 3 ad sets during Days 1–4 L ###### Email Suppression Was Not Set as Default We manually suppressed non-openers after 24 hours for the Black Friday send — but this was done reactively, not proactively. We almost skipped it. If we had sent the Day 3 email to the full list (including 24-hour non-openers), it would have damaged deliverability for the crucial Cyber Monday send. Going forward, non-opener suppression after 24 hours should be an automatic step in every campaign send checklist, not an optional afterthought. Result: Near miss — would have hurt Cyber Monday deliverability Section 04 ### Action Items for Q4 2026 1 ###### Audit Google Shopping Product Feed Due: Aug 1, 2026 Rewrite all product titles to match buyer search language for holiday queries. Add seasonal keywords to descriptions. Review and update all 847 product listings. Assign to Paid Search Manager. Run a test campaign in September to validate before Q4 budget is committed. 2 ###### Build Dedicated BFCM Landing Pages Per Ad Set Due: Oct 15, 2026 Minimum 1 landing page per Meta ad set. Creative team to design templates by September. Each page must match ad headline, visual, and offer exactly. No ad set may go live without a matched landing page — this is a hard requirement, not a recommendation. 3 ###### Begin Email Warming for Holiday List by October Due: Oct 1, 2026 Email list warming means increasing send frequency gradually in September/October to improve inbox placement before the high-volume November sends. Target: 4 sends/week in October (up from 1). Content: early gift guides, product showcases, subscriber-exclusive offers. Monitor open rates weekly during warm-up. 4 ###### Test Instagram Stories Ad Format Due: Q3 2026 test Did not run Stories format in 2025 BFCM. Industry benchmarks suggest Stories can achieve 40% lower CPM than Feed placements during the holiday season. Run a Stories-specific test campaign during Q3 with $2,000 test budget. Format: 15-second product demo video with swipe-up. Report results before Q4 budget allocation is finalized. 5 ###### Set Email Suppression Rules as Default Campaign Setting Due: Feb 28, 2026 Build a campaign send checklist in Notion with suppression as a non-optional step. Step 4 of every campaign should require the marketer to confirm: "Non-opener suppression segment created for 24h follow-up? Yes / No." If No, send cannot proceed. Assign to Email Manager to implement in current workflow by end of February. #### Appendix — Raw Numbers | Metric | Meta | Google | Email | Total | | --------------- | ------------ | ------------ | ------------------ | ----------- | | Budget Spent | $12,000 | $6,000 | $4,000 | **$22,000** | | Revenue | $45,600 | $10,600 | $38,000 | **$94,200** | | ROAS | 3.80x | 1.77x | 9.50x | **4.28x** | | Impressions | 140,000 | 58,200 | 28,000 (sends) | — | | Clicks / Opens | 4,480 clicks | 3,110 clicks | 14,560 opens (52%) | — | | Orders | 228 | 53 | 190 | **471** | | Avg Order Value | $200 | $200 | $200 | **$200** | | CPA | $52.63 | $113.21 | $21.05 | **$46.71** | ## Frequently asked questions ### What is a campaign post-mortem? A campaign post-mortem is a structured review done after a campaign ends. It documents what happened versus plan, what worked, what didn't, and what to do differently next time. Done well, it turns every campaign into a learning. ### When should you do a campaign post-mortem? Within 2 weeks of campaign end, while the details are fresh. Wait too long and you lose the institutional knowledge — especially if team members change. ### Is this campaign post-mortem template free? Yes — free to use. Share your campaign metrics and the AI will structure the analysis and action items. [Use this template](https://buildpdfs.com/signup?templateId=campaign-post-mortem) — free, no credit card required.