A funnel change needs a comparison. Write down what you expect from the current approach, what the proposal would change and the period you are evaluating. Then calculate the additional contribution available to cover the additional cost.
This worksheet helps you make those assumptions visible before committing work or spending. It uses a fictional service business. Every count and dollar amount is invented for the calculation, with no claim about ClickFunnels AI returns, conversion rates or pricing.
You can complete the exercise without builder access. For a CFAI project, the ClickFunnels AI agent guide explains the workflow and access requirements. A completed worksheet does not open the builder or approve a purchase.
Define the comparison and its period
Describe one proposed change, such as replacing a general enquiry page with a page for one service. Define the current approach you would continue using without that change. That is the baseline.
Use the same start date, end date, currency and business scope for both cases. Include preparation inside the period or record its cost separately and include it in the comparison. Do not place a full setup bill beside one month's benefit while describing the answer as a yearly result.
The fictional example covers preparation and operations over 90 days. It counts completed service orders whose customer payments and associated variable payments are all settled within that period. The baseline assumes 20 such orders across the affected business. The proposal assumes 28.
Those are two planning assumptions. The difference is eight orders. It is not evidence that a new page will cause eight additional sales.
Use your own records to inform the baseline, then record adjustments for the coming period. Seasonality, promotions, staffing and changes in demand may make last month's result a poor forecast. Include orders displaced from an existing channel. Moving an order onto the new page does not, by itself, add an order to the business.
Work with contribution per order
Money collected from a sale still has work to pay for. For this worksheet, define contribution per order as the net customer receipt minus the cash costs that vary with that order.
The fictional service order produces a $400 net receipt after discounts and refunds, excluding sales tax collected for remittance. Its variable cash costs are $260, including the example's fulfillment work, materials and transaction charges. Contribution is therefore $140 per order: $400 − $260.
Choose one unit and keep it consistent. A saved lead, booked conversation, completed order and payment are different events. A lead-generation funnel needs a supported connection to later paid work before you can attach an order contribution to it. Leave that input unresolved if the evidence is missing.
Contribution can cover fixed costs. It is not the business's net profit. This example is before income tax, financing and the time value of money. It also assumes no remaining customer or supplier balance outside the period. If deposits, inventory purchases or delayed payments break that assumption, use a dated cash schedule instead of treating every order as settled cash.
Include costs changed by the decision
ACCA's relevant-cost guidance focuses on cash flows that change because of a decision. An unchanged allocation of an existing bill does not create a new cash payment. Money already spent does not change when you choose whether to proceed.
For the fictional proposal, additional fixed cash costs total $600 within the 90 days. That includes all assumed setup and fixed operating payments caused by the change. Its per-order costs are already in the $260 and must not be added again.
Start from the launch-cost estimate. Mark which costs would change, when they would be paid and what remains unknown. Include lost contribution from work the proposal would displace. Keep unchanged obligations visible in the wider budget even when they cancel out of this comparison.
If an annual payment becomes necessary now, include the payment due inside the period. Record the longer commitment too. Do not also add a monthly allocation of the same payment as another cash cost.
Calculate the difference from the baseline
Use these definitions:
| Symbol | Input for the same period |
|---|---|
| Q0 | Baseline completed and settled orders |
| M0 | Baseline contribution per order |
| Q1 | Proposed completed and settled orders |
| M1 | Proposed contribution per order |
| F | Additional fixed cash costs, net of verified fixed cash savings |
The cash comparison is:
Additional contribution after fixed costs = (Q1 × M1) − (Q0 × M0) − F
For the fictional original case:
| Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|
| Baseline contribution: 20 × $140 | $2,800 |
| Proposed contribution: 28 × $140 | $3,920 |
| Additional contribution before fixed costs | $1,120 |
| Additional fixed cash costs | $600 |
| Additional contribution after fixed costs | $520 |
The $11,200 of proposed net receipts, 28 × $400, would overstate the benefit of the change. It includes baseline business and still has variable costs to cover. The decision subtotal is $520 under the stated assumptions.
If a price or variable cost changes, recalculate the contribution of every affected order. Use separate groups when different orders have different economics. Do not apply a new margin only to the eight additional orders if all 28 would receive it.
Find the threshold with the same assumptions
The SBA's break-even formula divides fixed costs by the difference between unit price and variable unit cost. For this incremental comparison, the simple version works when contribution per order stays positive and unchanged, and additional fixed costs are nonnegative.
Additional orders needed = additional fixed cash costs ÷ contribution per order
Here, $600 ÷ $140 is about 4.29. Round up to five whole additional orders. At four, the added contribution is $560 and the proposal is still $40 short. At five, it is $700, leaving $100 after the additional fixed costs. With the assumed baseline of 20, that means 25 total orders in the period.
This is a cost-coverage threshold, not a forecast or a payback date. Check whether you can fulfill that many orders within the period at the assumed costs. A threshold above your capacity needs a different plan.
Keep owner time visible beside cash
Suppose the proposal also needs six additional unpaid owner hours. At an optional internal value of $50 an hour, that is $300 of owner-time value. The $520 cash subtotal becomes $220 after subtracting that allowance.
To cover both $600 in cash costs and the $300 allowance, the same-margin example needs seven additional orders: round $900 ÷ $140 up from about 6.43. That is 27 total orders. Seven contribute $980, leaving $80 after both allowances.
The $50 rate is an invented input, not a recommended wage. Keep the hours separate if assigning a value is unhelpful. Do not count those hours again if they are already paid in a cost line. If owner work displaces paid activity, record that specific lost contribution instead of adding both it and a second allowance for the same tradeoff. Hours saved are not cash savings unless an actual payment changes.
Change the assumptions before making the decision
These fictional scenarios keep the baseline at 20 orders and $140 contribution per order. Each keeps the $300 owner-time allowance. None has an assigned probability.
Scroll horizontally to compare all columns.
| Scenario | Proposed orders | Proposed contribution per order | Additional fixed cash cost | Cash subtotal | After owner-time allowance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original inputs | 28 | $140 | $600 | $520 | $220 |
| Fewer additional orders | 23 | $140 | $600 | −$180 | −$480 |
| Higher variable cost on all proposed orders | 28 | $100 | $600 | −$600 | −$900 |
| Higher fixed cost | 28 | $140 | $1,000 | $120 | −$180 |
In the third row, proposed variable cost rises to $300 per order while the $400 receipt stays unchanged. The proposal contributes 28 × $100 = $2,800. That only matches the baseline contribution before paying the additional $600.
At that changed contribution, covering the cash cost requires 34 proposed orders: ($2,800 baseline contribution + $600 fixed cost) ÷ $100. The five-additional-order threshold from the original case no longer applies.
The range crosses zero. The original positive subtotal is not enough to settle the decision. Record which uncertain input could change the answer and what evidence could resolve it. Here, checking fulfillment cost and available capacity would be concrete next tasks.
Keep zero and unknown results honest
| Condition | Treatment |
|---|---|
| No additional orders, unchanged contribution | Additional contribution before fixed costs is zero; the original example then has a −$600 cash subtotal. |
| Fewer orders than the baseline | Keep the negative difference. At 18 proposed orders with the original margin and costs, the cash subtotal is −$880. |
| Unchanged zero contribution and positive additional fixed cost | No finite number of additional orders covers that cost under those assumptions. Do not divide by zero. |
| Negative contribution | More orders worsen the result while those unit economics hold. Do not turn a negative quotient into a sales target. |
| Zero additional fixed cost and positive unchanged contribution | The cash cost-coverage threshold is zero additional orders. Owner work and other obligations may still matter. |
| Net fixed cash savings, so F is negative | Show and substantiate the savings in the full comparison. Do not report a negative order target from the simple threshold formula. |
| Missing baseline, receipt or cost | Leave the dependent result uncomputed and name the missing input. A blank is not zero. |
Separate a scenario from measured impact
A tagged sale can show where a recorded journey passed. It cannot establish that the customer would not have bought otherwise. A before-and-after increase can also include changes outside the page.
Google's Conversion Lift documentation describes comparing exposed and control groups to estimate advertising's incremental effect. That is a different evidence standard from a forecast or attributed-sales total. Google also limits access to that tool; this guide does not imply eligibility or a CFAI equivalent.
After a change, use counts with defined groups and denominators to describe what was observed. Keep the causal contribution of the page labeled unknown unless your measurement design supports a stronger conclusion.
Complete one decision worksheet
Download the funnel value and break-even worksheet (CSV). It contains the four fictional cases, a blank comparison and rows for evidence, payment timing, uncertainty, capacity and the next decision. Calculation instructions are plain text. It has no automatic formulas or product prices.
Fill the blank comparison with your own horizon and sources. Calculate the contribution difference before the threshold. Then write the maximum cash and owner time you are willing to commit, what must be checked first and when you will revisit the decision.
Leave one next action with an owner and a date. The useful output is a decision another person can trace back to its assumptions.