A subscriber base can grow while the economics quietly rot. CAC's creeping up, second-order churn climbing, and deferred revenue masking a thinner month than it looks. Monthly reporting shows you the topline and hides the payback.
Iris surfaces the retention and contribution-margin math that decides whether your growth is worth what you paid for it.
A subscriber and a one-time buyer have completely different economics, and averaging them hides both. Iris splits profitability by purchase type down to the SKU and amortizes membership and pre-paid revenue correctly, so your margin reflects what the business actually earned this month, not what got collected.
Blended margin is the number that makes a churn problem invisible.
SKU profitability split by subscription vs. one-time
Membership and pre-paid revenue recognized over the term
Recharge and Skio subscription data built into the P&L
Retention Economics That Decide
the Business
In VMS, the second order matters more than the first. Iris tracks net dollar retention, CAC payback, and cohort LTV by channel and product, and can isolate subscribers only, so you see whether a cohort pays back before you pour more acquisition into it. A cheap first order that never reorders is your most expensive customer.
Net dollar retention and CAC payback by cohort
Subscriber-only cohort view for reorder behavior
Product-switching cohorts for customers who change SKUs over time
Amazon Cohorts Most Platforms
Can't Build
A huge share of supplement volume runs through Amazon, where customer-level data is famously locked down. Iris reconstructs Amazon cohorts other tools can't touch, so your retention picture isn't blind to the channel that may be moving the most units. If your retention math ignores Amazon, it ignores half the business.
Cohort reconstruction for Amazon Prime orders
1P support showing consumer-level sales, not just POs
Retention read across Shopify, Amazon, and TikTok together
Buy Ingredients Against a Real Cash Picture
Raw-material MOQs and long manufacturing runs tie up cash well before the reorders that justify them arrive. Iris connects production buys to a live 13-week forecast built on your actual reorder curve, so a bulk ingredient commitment doesn't quietly starve the rest of the business.
The reorder rate that funds your next batch is the one you should be watching hourly.
Production and ingredient buys tied to a 13-week cash forecast
Forecast driven by real subscriber reorder curves
MOQ and manufacturing terms modeled per vendor
Reorder rates and ingredient costs move faster than a monthly close. Iris gives each team a current read of the retention and margin math that actually runs a VMS brand.
For Founders & CEOs
See whether your growth is compounding or leaking. Iris puts retention, CAC payback, and contribution margin in one live view so you know if the next acquisition dollar is worth spending.
For Finance Leads
Close in hours with subscription and deferred revenue handled right. Iris automates the amortization and variance work so your numbers reflect earned, not collected
For Marketing Leads
Tie every channel back to payback, not just first-order CAC. Iris shows which acquisition actually returns and which just fills the top of a leaky funnel.
For Operations Leads
Iris connects fulfillment and ingredient costs to reorder-driven demand so you plan batches around the retention curve, not a guess.
"I’m obsessed with Iris Finance . In a matter of a week, it went from "I'll try it out" to "How did I ever live without this?" Iris has become an essential tool in the stack at Allermi, giving me a crystal-clear, real-time read on our entire financial picture."
CEO, Allermi
“Having every single dollar accounted for on a daily basis is incredible — nothing like big red numbers to let you know when you lose money on the day.”
Founder, Ramp Health
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FAQ's
How does Iris handle subscription and deferred revenue for VMS?
Can Iris measure net dollar retention and CAC payback by cohort?
How does Iris build Amazon cohorts when Amazon hides customer data?
Can Iris track retention across Recharge, Skio, and Amazon together?
How quickly can a supplement brand get started with Iris?
