D7 payback definition lab: which revenue, which FX day, which fee
Illustrative D7 payback lab that forces an explicit choice of gross vs net revenue, FX day and store fee. No industry average.
D7 payback meetings fail when one team uses gross af_revenue, another uses net after store fee, and FX is taken on install day versus transaction day. This lab forces those choices into the open with illustrative numbers.
Definitions from primary docs
AppsFlyer documents that standard ROAS uses revenue from af_revenue, while net metrics use af_net_revenue, and that with ROI360 store revenue, net equals gross minus store fees and taxes (activity metrics; ROI360 store revenue). Google Play publishes service fee schedules that vary by programme and region—do not hard-code 30% as universal without reading the current page for the storefront in question.
Define the calculation before using it
Payback ratio = D7 revenue_definition / D0 media cost. Declare: (1) gross or net, (2) FX rate date, (3) fee schedule version. This sheet computes both gross and net variants on synthetic inputs.
Work through the synthetic example
| Input | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| D0 media cost (USD) | 10,000 | illustrative |
| D7 gross revenue (USD, FX on txn day) | 4,500 | illustrative |
| Assumed store fee fraction | 0.30 | illustrative assumption — replace with live schedule |
| Tax fraction already removed from gross | 0.00 | illustrative |
| Output | Result |
|---|---|
| D7 net revenue (gross*(1-fee)) | 3,150.0000 |
| D7 gross payback | 0.4500 |
| D7 net payback | 0.3150 |
Facts versus limits
| Field | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Gross vs net metric split in AppsFlyer | Activity metrics / ROI360 docs |
| Google Play fee schedule exists | answer/112622 (verify current regional rows) |
| Universal 30% fee | Not asserted as always true |
Download the lab CSV.
