By now you have a door table, an objection map, a payback number and a second offer. The scorecard puts them in one place. An offer that fails a gate doesn’t get the core budget; it goes back to the chapter that gate came from.

The six gates

1. People already want itEvidence of demand before any mechanic: first-order counts, organic pull, reviews, comments asking for it. No evidence means the test lane, not the core. (Chapter 7)
2. It answers the top objectionThe mechanic matches the doubt customers actually have, from the objection map. A discount for a fit doubt fails this gate. (Chapter 10)
3. It pays back inside your windowFirst-order contribution and twelve-month contribution against realistic acquisition cost, with the payback your cash position can carry. (Chapter 9)
4. It has a next step with a clockA written second offer, timed from your reorder curve, that doesn’t depend on another discount. (Chapter 15)
5. It teaches a price you can live withNew customers only, no reorder shock, nothing shown to existing customers that teaches them to wait. (Chapter 6)
6. You can back itEnough creative to give it real variety, and enough inventory to run it for months, not weeks. (Chapter 22)

The thesis

The output of the scorecard is two sentences anyone on the account can repeat: what the first offer is on all five decisions, and why you believe it wins. If the media buyer, the retention lead and the founder can’t all say it, the offer isn’t settled, and the ads, the landing page and the welcome flow will each say something different. That’s where chapter 1 started.

If three people can’t say the offer in two sentences, there isn’t one.

Do this

• Score your current first offer. Copy the thesis into the brief every paid, creative and retention task starts from.
• Re-score every quarter, or whenever the day-180 read changes.