These are connected questions, but they are not interchangeable. A photograph, a playback record, a website visit and a completed sale each provide a different piece of information.
Separate four layers of evidence
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways to compare every column.
| Layer | Question | Examples | Important limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Did the booked activity happen? | Operating times, site lists, posting confirmation, playback records, photographs | Evidence should reflect actual activity, including changes |
| Estimated audience | Who may have had an opportunity to see it? | A media-owner estimate with a stated method and period | Opportunity to see is not proof of attention or recall |
| Response | Did people take a recorded next step? | Tagged visits, code use, enquiries, event registrations | Each method captures some responses and misses others |
| Business outcome | What happened after the response? | Qualified leads, bookings, sales or attendance | Other channels and conditions may also have contributed |
Agree delivery records for the format
For a mobile campaign, specify the operating dates, hours, locations, equipment or people and the photographs you need. Ask whether route information is available and how material changes will be recorded.
For a printed placement, agree site and posting confirmation. For digital media, ask what playback or schedule reporting the supplier can provide. For transport media, agree the fleet or placement evidence available under the booking.
A report should identify exceptions as well as highlights. A revised route, a delayed start or a substituted placement affects how the delivery should be understood. Keep the final record distinct from the original plan.
Ask what an audience estimate means
Before comparing audience figures, ask which locations and period they cover, how they were calculated and whether repeated exposures are included. A count of footfall in an area is not automatically the number of people who saw your display.
Likewise, do not compare a screen’s plays with unique people, or a city’s population with a campaign’s reach. If an estimate is used, present it as an estimate with its source and assumptions. Do not attach an invented impressions total to a photograph.
Prepare the response route
Choose a mechanism that fits the campaign. A tagged landing page can help identify recorded visits through a particular link. An offer code can identify redemptions through that code. An enquiry-source question may reveal remembered exposure, although not everyone will answer or recall it accurately.
Test the mechanism before launch. Check the destination, tracking configuration, form submission and the process for handling enquiries. A button click or basket visit is not necessarily a completed enquiry.
If staff record interactions or material distribution, agree definitions. “Leaflets handed out”, “conversations” and “qualified enquiries” should not be treated as one metric. Explain whether counts are observed, sampled or estimated.
Review commercial outcomes with context
Compare like periods and use consistent definitions. A store opening, seasonal demand, another promotion or a change in opening hours can affect outcomes alongside advertising. If several channels ran together, a rise in enquiries does not isolate the contribution of one format.
Where volumes are small, show the actual numbers as well as percentages. Moving from one enquiry to two is a change worth recording, but the percentage alone can give a misleading impression of scale.
For a more structured evaluation, discuss a feasible comparison period or area before the campaign. Explain the differences that remain between them; an observational comparison is not automatically a controlled test.
Build a report people can use
A practical report can contain:
- The objective, agreed scope and dates.
- The actual sites, routes, people or equipment used.
- Delivery evidence and a record of material changes.
- Audience estimates, if supplied, with their source and method.
- Recorded responses using the agreed definitions.
- The advertiser’s commercial outcomes, where available.
- What should change in the next brief.
The Bike Ads’ historical college and local campaigns include reports and photographs. The appropriate reporting for a new campaign should be specified in its proposal; it should not be assumed from a historical example.
Discuss your reporting requirements or build the measurement plan into the campaign brief.