Recognise when recent marketing results are still incomplete

What this means for your practice

Show when information was updated and allow for the time between an enquiry and its recorded outcome. Compare periods at a similar stage before deciding whether recent results are stronger or weaker.

What to discuss with your agency

Ask the agency to review a recent week alongside what an older week looked like at the same age. Are unresolved outcomes clearly labelled? Agree who supplies the later updates. This helps separate a genuine change in performance from a reporting process that simply has not caught up.

Put the brief into practice

Separate the timing of an enquiry from the timing of its eventual outcome. The latest period may contain many records still being handled, while older periods have had time to develop. Ask the receiving team to describe its normal update process and where delays occur. The dashboard should show freshness and outstanding outcomes clearly enough that a manager can judge whether a comparison is mature. Use equivalent observation windows where possible and explain when they are not available.

Ask the agency to show how a period's figures change as later information arrives, retaining an understandable reporting basis. Review old unresolved records as an operational issue with a named owner rather than leave them indefinitely in a general unknown category. Avoid interpreting every short-term movement as a trend. A useful commentary distinguishes what the completed evidence shows from what remains provisional, helping the practice decide whether to investigate marketing, enquiry handling or simply wait for the agreed information to become available.

How to check the result

Track the share of records awaiting outcome updates and the age of the oldest unresolved items.