"We stopped buying reach the day we read the CRM."
An anonymised interview with the CMO of a listed Indian fintech on what changed when their creator program got reconciled to revenue.
We have run this conversation, in some form, with eleven CMOs in the last twelve months. The transcript below is composite — paraphrased to protect the brand, but every quote is verbatim from one of the eleven.
What was the breaking point
"Q3 last year. We had ten million rupees deployed on a roster of fourteen creators. The agency report said we got eighty million views. Our CRM said we got two hundred and eleven attributable signups. The math broke right there in the boardroom."
What changed first
"We stopped paying for reach. Period. The next contract had a CPA cap and a reconciliation clause. If they could not match a creator post to a CRM event inside thirty days, the line item came out of the invoice."
What surprised you most
"How fast the agency culture flipped once the contract changed. The same people who were selling us reach were suddenly very interested in UTM hygiene. Incentives are everything."
What advice would you give
"Read the line item. The CFO is your friend. The agencies that survive this re-pricing are the ones who put the number in the MSA. The ones that don't will lose the renewal in twenty-four months."
— Interview conducted under MSA. Brand and CMO names available on request after a scoping call.