After sacking its chief executive midway through last year and ditching its failed "life admin" campaign, comparison site company iSelect promised a more hard-nosed approach to marketing and cost of sales. Based on its latest results, it does not have much to show for its "ROI-driven marketing expenditure" so far.iSelect earned revenue of A$73.9 million during the six months to December - down 7.3 per cent from the previous corresponding period. Revenue is derived from commissions paid by product providers on its sites.It made a loss of $6.2 million for the half, compared with a loss of $1.7 million in December half 2017.With discontinued operations taken into account, the loss was $6.9 million.Cash flow from operating activities was positive, to the tune of $1.4 million. It would have been negative but for a tax refund. In April last year, iSelect parted company with chief executive Scott Wilson after it became clear that the marketing campaign he had devised was not working. The concept was that iSelect was not just a collection of comparison sites backed by telephone marketers but a "life admin store" and a "destination" for a wide range of consumer needs from superannuation to pet insurance.An investor in iSelect, Forager Funds Management, said the campaign was "uninspiring and poorly executed" and led to underperformance.Brodie Arnhold - a private equity rep trained at Westpac - took over as CEO in August.A tricky part of the businesses of companies like iSelect is getting the cost of sales right, spending the right amount on marketing to drive traffic to its websites but not so much that thin margins are eroded. The company acknowledged mistakes in this area.In its latest financial report, the company says it has successfully implemented "ROI-driven marketing expenditure, reflecting strategic investment prioritising working media (primarily digital)."The company claims this somewhat opaque approach is working, with "return on marketing" rising over the half. Cost of sales was cut from $59.8 million in December 2017 to $47.7 million in the latest half. However, leads and conversions were also down - both key metrics for the company.The number of leads was down from 2.1 million to 1.9 million, year on year, and the conversion rate was down from 10.4 per cent to 10 per cent.The company's biggest segment is health, with revenue of $33.9 million for the half, followed by energy and telecommunications (revenue of $23.3 million), life and general insurance (revenue of$13.2 million).