CMRE Handbook

Executive summary

Decisions for the owner

1. Install v3.4 as a new Data Vault project and keep any earlier version running until the launch checklist (L1) passes.
2. Name the five roles: owner, CMO, operator, merchandising lead, technical admin.
3. Confirm the season dates (13 Oct 2026 to 10 Jan 2027) and the shipping cut-offs with the carrier (template: 15 Dec standard, 19 Dec express).
4. Agree the six active channels and who posts on each; others wait until Numbers › Channels shows the six earning.
5. Agree the three kinds of discount: retire the public 10% code once the signup pop-up runs, and limit daily specials to slow movers.
6. Keep paid media paused until the average order reaches $35 or allowable CAC reaches $12; set the monthly cap ($500 in the template) for when it opens.
7. Decide whether the Producer agent writes with the Insight Model (an INSIGHT_MODEL_KEY) or with built-in templates.

Elevator pitch

Three lengths of the same story. Use the one that fits the room.

One line

CMRE turns arcticbarrier.com's own order history into three clear priorities a week, and makes every change safe for a small team and the CMRE Assistant to ship.

30 seconds

Most small apparel brands post, discount and hope. CMRE reads your Commerce Hub orders, stock and returns, ranks the changes that will make the most money per hour of work, and runs them through approvals the database enforces. It tiers your customers so the best ones get early access instead of public discounts, tells you what to reorder, and holds any post whose product sold out before it goes live.

60 seconds

Three proof points

What we kept: the best 75%

Each tool and process from the research scored 1 to 5 on three things: R revenue impact, S speed to value for a small team, and C control (does it prevent a costly mistake). Items scoring 9 or more of 15 stayed. That kept 38 of 50 (76%). In 3.3 the reviews app was re-scored against the live store (it shows no reviews) and restored, so 39 are in use. Cut tools keep a written trigger for when to adopt them.

What was merged

Adopt later: triggers for the cut tools

Use cases

Fifteen situations the platform is built for, each with who starts it, what happens, and the number it moves.

User stories

Written as role, need and reason, with the acceptance check the code and database tests already prove.

User's guide

Step by step, in the order people meet the app. Each step names the page and the role, and every bold label is the exact button or tab you will see. Installing the platform is in the setup guide; this guide starts once you can sign in.

First day

Get signed in, connected and ready to launch.

1. Sign in and open your workspace Sign-in page · everyone

   1. Open the CMRE address your admin gave you and click Sign in. New users click Create account and use the email address the invitation was sent to.
   2. Forgot the password? Click Send reset link, open the email, and choose Save new password.
   3. Pick the workspace (for example Arctic Barrier). An admin creating the first one clicks New workspace, chooses the Winter retail template, then Create workspace.
   4. Look at the top bar: it shows the season phase, whether live mode is on, the shipping cut-off countdown in December, and the red Emergency pause button.
   5. Home opens on This week's focus: three lines telling you what matters most right now. Start there every day.

   You are done when: Home opens and shows the L1 checklist count.

2. Learn the eight pages Left menu · everyone

   1. Home: today, bets and tasks. Launch: the three checklists. Content: posts and articles. Catalog & offers: products, collections, offers, order size, email flows.
   2. Customers: tiers, buying plan, cross-sell, insider offers, quality and returns, NPS, social leads, trade. Creators: scout, roster, reposts, payouts.
   3. Numbers: KPIs, weekly scorecard, unit economics, paid tests. Settings: workspace, connections, team, agents, pause routes.
   4. Buttons you are not allowed to use for your role are greyed out. That is deliberate, not a fault.

   You are done when: you can find each page from the menu.

3. Connect the store and social channels Settings › Connections · admin or owner

   1. Click Load Social Relay profiles and choose the brand profile.
   2. Click Connect store via Social Relay, approve the store in the window that opens, then return to CMRE.
   3. Click Sync accounts from Social Relay. Each social channel (Photo, Community, Short-video and so on) appears in the list. Tick Verified for each one after checking it is the brand's real account.
   4. Click Load store blogs and choose the blog that articles should go to.
   5. Under 6. Channel settings, check the six ticked Active channels, click Load boards and pick the Pin board board; set Video visibility and the Short-video audience; click Save channel settings.
   6. Under 5. Connect the Commerce Hub store, copy the three values into a new app in the Commerce Hub Dev Dashboard (setup guide step 8), then paste the store domain, Client ID and Client secret and click Connect store. If CMRE shows Approve on the store ↗, click it and approve.

   You are done when: channels are listed as connected and verified, and the store panel says it renews automatically.

4. Invite the team Settings › Team · owner or admin

   1. Type each person's email, pick a role, and click Invite.
   2. Roles: Owner controls money, live mode and paying creators. CMO approves content, offers, paid tests and insider codes. Operator builds and schedules. Merchandising owns stock, tiers, buying and quality. Admin handles connections and keys. Viewer reads only.
   3. Each person signs up with the invited email and lands in the workspace.

   You are done when: all five working roles are filled.

5. Set up products, costs and the primary offer Catalog & offers, Numbers · merchandising lead and CMO

   1. Catalog & offers › Products: click Sync products from the store, then star the hero products you will promote this season.
   2. Numbers › Unit economics: click Add basket and enter a typical order (basket, discount, product cost, fulfilment, fees, returns, target contribution). CMRE shows the allowable CAC and break-even return on ad spend.
   3. Catalog & offers › Offers: click Add offer. Run the four checkout tests in the store (eligible basket, below minimum, excluded item, ineligible customer) and click Mark passed on each. Only then can the offer go active.
   4. Catalog & offers › Email flows: for Welcome and Checkout recovery, build the flow in Commerce Mail, trigger each test event, and mark it passed.

   You are done when: the primary offer is active and two flows are live.

6. Finish the launch checklist and go live Launch, then Settings › Workspace · team, then owner

   1. Open Launch. Each item says where it happens; click Open ↗ for the outside dashboard when an item needs one. Tick items as you finish them.
   2. When all twelve L1 items are ticked, the owner opens Settings › Workspace and clicks Turn live mode on. Until then, nothing can be scheduled to publish.

   You are done when: live mode shows On in the top bar.

Every day

Content and the daily check.

1. Create and publish a post Content · operator, then CMO

   1. Click New post. Write the caption, choose the channels (the active channels are listed first; hover a channel to see its job), fill any channel options that appear (a Pin board title, a Video title, the Short-video consent tick), add HTTPS image or video links, pick the products it features, and set the destination page. CMRE builds a tracked link for each channel.
   2. Pick the date and time in store time and click Submit for approval.
   3. The CMO opens the item and clicks Approve, or Send back with a note. Editing approved text sends it back to review automatically.
   4. Click Check release to see any problem in plain words (live mode off, past time, unverified channel, a channel's media or length rule, a missing board or title, product out of stock or on hold, non-HTTPS media). Fix each one.
   5. Click Schedule. CMRE re-checks stock and sends the post to Social Relay. To review it there first, use Push draft to Social Relay instead.

   You are done when: the item shows Scheduled; after publishing, its live links appear on the item.

2. Publish a blog article Content · operator, then CMO

   1. Click New article, write the title, body, excerpt and image, and pick the products.
   2. Use Save draft to Commerce Hub blog to see it hidden on the store, then approve and schedule it as for a post.

   You are done when: the article shows its store link.

3. Do the 10-minute daily check Home › Today · operator

   1. Open the Daily check task created at 9 AM. It lists what goes out in the next 24 hours.
   2. Check yesterday's orders and refunds in the store, stock for promoted products, failed posts and failed emails, and ad spend against the daily limit.
   3. Anything wrong? Click New task (or open the incident CMRE already created) and set the severity. Close the daily check.

   You are done when: the daily task is closed and any problem has an owner.

Every week

Monday review and leads; Tuesday bets and customers.

1. Monday: the 45-minute review Numbers, Home, Settings · CMO leads

   1. Numbers › Weekly scorecard: click Add week (or open last week) and fill sessions, email revenue and signups. CMRE fills orders and sales.
   2. Open the Monday review task on Home. It holds the Analyst's one change, the KPIs and the top quick wins. You can also click Run Analyst under Settings › Agents & CMRE Assistant.
   3. Judge any bet whose review date has passed: write the result against the baseline.
   4. Write this week's one change and give it an owner. Approve next week's content and creator reposts.

   You are done when: the scorecard is filled and one change has an owner.

2. Monday: work the social leads Customers › Social leads · CMO or merchandising lead

   1. Monday's job has already scanned the week's comments and messages. To scan now, choose the window and click Scan comments and messages.
   2. Each person shows a type (buyer, trade buyer, influencer), a score, the niche and a quote. Click the handle to open their profile.
   3. Reply to buyers yourself with the answer and a tracked link. For trade buyers click Copy trade link and send it in your reply. Click Promote to creator for influencers worth seeding.
   4. CMRE never messages anyone. Every reply is sent by a person.

   You are done when: every new lead is marked contacted, promoted or dismissed.

3. Tuesday: pick this week's bets Home › Bets · CMO

   1. The 8 AM refresh ranks quick wins by profit a month for each hour of setup, with the formula shown. To refresh now, click Refresh from Commerce Hub on Numbers › KPIs.
   2. Click Start on the top one or two. CMRE saves the baseline, sets a review date and creates a task.

   You are done when: one or two bets are in progress.

4. Tuesday: read the channel results Numbers › Channels · CMO

   1. Each channel shows its call: Grow, Keep, Pause or Too early, with revenue per post.
   2. Move next week's posts toward the Grow channels. For a Pause channel, untick it under Settings › Connections › Active channels.
   3. Once a month, turn on one new channel and give it four posts before judging it.

   You are done when: next week's calendar matches the calls.

5. Tuesday: tiers, buying plan and cross-sell Customers · merchandising lead

   1. Tiers: check the counts per tier, then click Sync tier tags to Commerce Hub. It updates 100 customers per click; click again until none remain. Build one store segment per tier.
   2. Buying plan: each product is marked Buy more, Hold, Buy less or Clear then decide, with a reason. Take it into the supplier order.
   3. Cross-sell: copy the strongest pairs into the Pairing Engine and the day-14 email.

   You are done when: tags are synced and the supplier order reflects the plan.

As needed

Offers, quality, creators, paid tests, the assistant, and the emergency stop.

1. Raise the average order Catalog & offers › Order size · CMO, owner approves

   1. Read the tiles: average order, orders over the free-shipping line, and orders just short with the average gap.
   2. Follow the free-shipping recommendation; add an "Add $… for free shipping" message to the cart with the listed add-ons.
   3. Under Bundle ideas, click Save as idea on the best two. Adjust the price if the margin check complains.
   4. The owner or CMO clicks Approve; build the bundle in the store; click Mark live. Retire a bundle to change it.
   5. Under Public codes, check what each advertised code leaves per order and how many orders use it; restrict the ones that lose money.

   You are done when: two bundles are live and the cart shows the free-shipping message.

2. Answer a trade enquiry Customers › Trade · CMO or merchandising lead

   1. Each enquiry from the trade page appears here and as a task: business, contact, type, units and message.
   2. Reply the same day with a quote; set the status to contacted, then quoted.
   3. When it orders, set won and enter the order value.

   You are done when: every enquiry has a status and won orders carry a value.

3. Turn on reviews and the signup pop-up Settings › Workspace; Catalog & offers › Email flows · owner and operator

   1. Install a reviews app in the store, then paste its page into Review link under Order size and reviews and click Save. Happy survey answers now see Leave a review.
   2. Build the Review request flow in Commerce Mail and mark its two tests passed.
   3. Add a signup pop-up offering the welcome code; when it runs, retire the public 10% code on the Offers tab.

   You are done when: product pages show reviews and the pop-up is live.

4. Get products into free listings Catalog & offers › Products › Feed check · merchandising lead

   1. Fix each listed product in the Commerce Hub product editor: a photo, a price, a link, and a title that says what it is, the material and the colour (for example "Women's Sherpa Fleece Mittens, Cream").
   2. Click Sync products from the store and check the count of ready products.
   3. Add the free search listings and Pin board sales channels in the Commerce Hub admin.

   You are done when: every hero product passes and both sales channels show products approved.

5. Handle the shipping cut-off and gift cards Settings › Workspace; top bar · owner and operator

   1. Enter the standard and express cut-off dates your carrier confirms, and Save.
   2. From three weeks before, the top bar counts down and the daily check reminds you to update the site banner and email footer.
   3. After the express date the notice switches to Gift cards only: schedule the seeded gift card post and email.

   You are done when: the banner, posts and emails show the same date as the top bar.

6. Clear slow stock with an insider offer Customers › Insider offers · CMO, owner approves

   1. Start a new insider offer. It is pre-filled with the slow movers; set the discount and dates.
   2. An owner or CMO approves it. CMRE refuses any discount at or above your contribution margin.
   3. Click Create code in Commerce Hub. CMRE makes a one-use, product-limited code. Email it to the VIP and Active segments only.

   You are done when: the code exists, and the result is recorded against the baseline at the end date.

7. Handle a product that keeps coming back Customers › Quality & returns · merchandising lead

   1. Products with 3 or more returns and a high return rate are flagged and open a task.
   2. Use Log complaint for complaints that arrive outside the store. Read the topics (fit, quality, delivery, colour, service).
   3. Add a fit note, contact the supplier, or click Hold. A held product blocks every post that features it. Click Lift hold when it is fixed.

   You are done when: the issue has a supplier action and a result.

8. Recruit and pay creators Creators · CMO, operator, owner pays

   1. Scout: paste a list (handle, followers, engagement, posts in your gear, niche). Click Score only to preview or Score and save as prospects.
   2. Roster: move a creator through the stages. Record the signed agreement and usage rights, then create their personal code.
   3. Creator content: click Log creator post for each post; only posts with written rights can be reposted.
   4. Sales & payouts: click Sync creator sales from Commerce Hub, then Generate draft payouts on the first Monday of the month. The CMO approves; only the owner marks a payout paid.

   You are done when: each active creator has a code, rights on file and a payout for the month.

9. Run a paid test Numbers › Paid tests · CMO approves, owner sets the cap

   1. Paid media starts paused. The Paid tests tab says when the average order or allowable CAC supports a test; then the owner unticks Pause paid media in Settings › Workspace › Money.
   2. Click Add paid test. Choose the ad network (social ads, search and shopping ads, or store ads), the daily budget and the creator post it uses.
   3. Enter spend and new customers as the test runs. CMRE gives the verdict against your allowable CAC: collecting data, within allowable, above allowable, or investigate.
   4. Tests cannot pass the launch limit or the monthly paid cap.

   You are done when: the test ends with a verdict and a keep, change or stop decision.

10. Connect the CMRE Assistant Settings › Agents & CMRE Assistant · owner or admin

    1. Name the key and decide whether it may draft. Click Create key for CMRE Assistant.
    2. Click Copy to copy the connector address shown once, then add it as a custom connector in the assistant (the setup guide links to the page).
    3. Ask: "How did last week go and what is the one change?" The assistant can read and draft only; it cannot approve, schedule, publish, pay or go live.
    4. To cut off access, click Revoke key.

    You are done when: the assistant answers with this week's numbers.

11. Stop everything in an emergency Top bar · anyone on the team

    1. Click the red Emergency pause, then Pause everything.
    2. Live mode turns off, every scheduled post and article is held, and a P1 incident lists what was held.
    3. Open Settings › Pause routes & activity and use the links to pause ads, email campaigns and codes in their own dashboards.
    4. When fixed, the owner turns live mode back on and items are rescheduled one by one.

    You are done when: the P1 incident is closed with the cause and the fix.

3D software diagrams

Five isometric views of the system. The same colour means the same thing in all five.

Playbook

The strategy: what the engine does to make money, which numbers prove it, and the rules that keep it profitable.

The weekly loop

1. Measure

   Monday's job pulls last week's orders; Tuesday's refresh rebuilds the eight KPIs, tiers, buying plan, cross-sell and return rates.

2. Choose one change

   Take the Analyst's one change, or start the top quick win on Home. Write it in the week's "one change" box.

3. Ship it through the gates

   Build it in Commerce Hub or the Content page; approvals, release checks and tests apply.

4. Judge it on its review date

   Compare with the baseline saved when it started. Keep, change or drop it, and record the result on the bet.

Five levers

The four money loops

Order size: the main lever at $10 to $32

Every channel, one job each

All sixteen networks the Social Relay supports can receive posts, but six start active; the rest are switched on one at a time when Numbers › Channels shows the active ones earning. Each has a job for a winter-accessories brand and a weekly cadence; the plan on Settings › Connections shows the active ones. Release checks apply each channel's rules: media type, caption length and required settings.

Traffic that costs nothing per click

Social Scout: niche buyers and influencers

The eight KPIs

Quick wins: worked example

Illustrative inputs at this store's price points, to be replaced by its own data on the first refresh: 110 orders a month, $27.40 AOV, 34% contribution margin, 7,300 visits and a 1% signup rate, 35 orders a month just short of free shipping with $9.99 add-ons, $330 a month of public-code discount, 250 abandoned checkouts at 3% recovery, 240 one-time buyers, 410 lapsed and 150 At-Risk clients, three open trade leads, $3,800 of slow stock at retail, and no reviews yet. Ranked by profit per setup hour, as Home shows them.

Season plan, 13 Oct 2026 to 10 Jan 2027: built around gifting

Rules that keep it profitable

• Commerce Hub is the revenue authority. Platform-reported sales are never added to store totals.
• One change a week: one variable, a written hypothesis, the same 7-day window to compare.
• Paid media stays paused until the average order reaches $35 or allowable CAC reaches $12; creators on commission come first.
• Three kinds of discount only: the free-shipping line, private insider codes and creator codes.
• Six active channels; one more only when Numbers › Channels shows the current ones earning.
• Paid new-customer cost stays at or under allowable CAC. Investigate at 2× allowable spent with no customer; scale 10–20% only after 7 days of positive contribution.
• No public discount deeper than the primary offer, and no public code that loses money on a typical order. Clearance goes through private insider codes and bundles, always inside contribution margin.
• LTV of at least 3× CAC before raising acquisition spend.
• No claim without written proof: no waterproof, temperature ratings, "warmest", guarantees or delivery promises. The Producer and Guard flag them.
• Creators: written usage rights before any repost; personal codes never stack with the primary offer.
• Every channel post passes that channel's rules before release; nothing is sent to an inbox-only channel.
• The Social Scout never contacts anyone. People write every reply and follow each platform's messaging rules.
• Customer data stays in Commerce Hub. The platform stores customer IDs and tiers only, never names or emails (except an email a survey respondent chooses to leave, and the business contact a trade enquirer gives to get a quote).

Runbook

How to install it, run it each day and week, and what to do when something goes wrong. Click-through install steps are in the setup guide.

Implementation, stage by stage

1. Decide 1 hour · owner

   Read sections 01 and 03; give each role section 06. Make the seven owner decisions in section 01.

   Done when: roles named; season, cut-off dates, active channels, discounts and the paid pause agreed.

2. Install half a day · admin

   Setup guide steps 1–8: Code Vault, three SQL files, Edge Runtime import, secrets, sign-in URLs, first workspace, every social channel, and the store app from the Commerce Hub Dev Dashboard.

   Done when: /api/config shows version 3.4.0, Home shows L1: 0/12, and the store panel says it renews automatically.

3. Launch the base engine (L1) days 1–14 · whole team

   Connections, hero products and unit costs, allowable CAC, collections, primary offer tests, signup pop-up with Welcome and Checkout recovery, reviews app with the Review request flow, products passing the feed check with free listings connected, first content cycle on the active channels, discounts down to three kinds, pause routes rehearsed.

   Done when: L1 passed and the owner turns live mode on.

4. Measure and start bets week 3 · CMO

   First KPI refresh. Start the top two quick wins on Home. Fill last week's scorecard and write the one change.

   Done when: two bets in progress, each with a baseline and review date.

5. Customers loop (L2, items 1–6) weeks 3–5 · merchandising lead

   Sync tier tags and build a Commerce Hub segment per tier; review the buying plan with the supplier order; load cross-sell pairs; send the first insider offer; work the quality list; add the NPS row to the post-purchase email.

   Done when: those six items are ticked.

6. Creators (L2, items 7–8) weeks 3–6 · CMO

   Set niches and code percent; score 30+ candidates; seed 10–20; sign agreements with usage rights; create codes and test that they do not stack.

   Done when: those two items are ticked.

7. Order size, wholesale and channels (L2, items 9–12) weeks 2–5 · CMO + merchandising

   Free-shipping message in the cart and the first two bundles live; wholesale terms set and the trade page sent to every trade lead; the six active channels connected with their settings and the weekly channel plan in the calendar; four weeks of channel results reviewed and acted on.

   Done when: L2 passed.

8. Peak and steady run (L3) from two weeks before the big event · owner

   Stock for peak, cut-off dates set and shown everywhere, gift cards on sale, codes tested, change freeze, event-week content approved, watch rota named. After the peak: the weekly loop indefinitely.

   Done when: L3 passed; afterwards, one change shipped and judged every week.

Operating rhythm

Who does what

Incidents

Troubleshooting

Verified, and still to confirm