Methodology & data handling
How one ad-budget decision becomes an evidence-bounded recommendation.
The review asks whether the agreed evidence supports one specific move. It is narrow by decision and broad enough by evidence—not a dashboard, broad audit, attribution rebuild, or promise of certainty.
The five-stage method
The recommendation leads; the working remains inspectable.
- 01
Decision
Fix one scale, cut, hold, restart, or reallocation move, its owner, deadline, period, constraints, and cost of being wrong.
- 02
Evidence
Agree the smallest usable evidence set and include every commercial fact that could materially change the decision.
- 03
Distortions
Separate observed conflicts from possible explanations without inventing one true attribution number.
- 04
Economics
Test the move against margin, promotion, inventory, cash, seasonality, repeat-purchase, and operating context where material.
- 05
Verdict
Pair the conclusion with an action, guardrails, monitoring, stop conditions, and evidence that would change it.
Broad-enough evidence
Use the context that can change this decision—nothing more.
Store and channel
Net revenue, spend, platform claims, window definitions, and only the channels relevant to the move.
Unit economics
COGS, fulfilment, payment fees, discounts, contribution assumptions, and a plausible range rather than false precision.
Customer value
Repeat-purchase or subscription evidence when later value materially supports the move.
Operating reality
Inventory, cash, promotion, launch, seasonality, creative capacity, and team constraints only when decision-relevant.
Two-layer written review
The decision at a glance, then the full reasoning.
1. One-page decision summary
- Exact decision and verdict-action pair
- Main reason and largest risk
- What to do and not do
- Monitoring rule and stop or reconsideration condition
2. Full written reasoning
- Evidence register, assumptions, limits, and exclusions
- Commercial implications and strongest counterargument
- Guardrails and evidence that would change the conclusion
- Three to five questions for the agency or internal team
Verdict discipline
Every verdict includes the action.
Unresolved is actionable only with the exact missing evidence, safe interim action, smallest useful test, monitoring and stop rules, review point, and evidence that would support or reject the larger move.
Claims the method will not make
- That a platform is broken or one channel caused the entire discrepancy
- A true per-channel ROAS that the evidence cannot establish
- A revenue, profit, or campaign-performance guarantee
- Independent human review unless a second human actually performs it
Evidence and access
Start with fit. Send no evidence until the brief and transfer method are agreed.
Before fit is confirmed
Send only the brand, proposed move, and deadline. Do not send exports, screenshots, credentials, or customer data yet.
After brief acceptance
Use the agreed redacted screenshots or exports. No passwords or account access. Use redacted screenshots or exports; never send credentials or customer-level personal data.
Customer evidence is not reused for training, benchmarks, testimonials, recommendations, or public case studies without the relevant separate permission.
Case and completion boundaries
Every transition is recorded separately.
The accepted Decision Brief fixes the exact decision, period, constraints, evidence boundary, repeat-purchase requirement, exclusions, deliverable, verdict system, conformance boundary, delivery-clock start, price, payment timing, correction and waiver terms, and re-scoping rule. Decision Brief acceptance, evidence complete and usable, and owner case acceptance are separate events. Evidence must cover the same relevant period. A material scope change requires a new brief, explicit re-acceptance, and a new evidence-completeness confirmation.
Fit
A suitable decision normally affects approximately $10,000, approximately 15% of monthly paid-media spend, or has a similarly material effect on cash, inventory, a launch, or several weeks of activity. Routine daily optimisation is unsuitable. An optional 15–20-minute fit call covers suitability, context, scope, and evidence only. Email-only qualification remains available. No preliminary verdict is given.
Delivery
Review starts only after the latest brief, matching complete evidence, and separate owner case acceptance. QA and complete written delivery are recorded separately.
Handoff
An optional handoff call of up to 20 minutes may explain the written conclusion, assumptions, guardrails, and change conditions; it does not expand scope. It is optional and does not determine delivery completion.