Reporting lag

What it means

The gap between a period ending and the report on it arriving. Two to three weeks after month end is common, which means a March report often covers February and lands when March is half over.

Compounding it, search itself lags. Work published in month one influences rankings in month three and bookings in month four, so a monthly report is describing decisions made a quarter earlier.

Why it matters in HVAC

The combination is punishing against a seasonal book. Content decisions for cooling season need making in February, and the report that would inform them describes December, which is the least representative month of the year.

It is also why owners fire agencies at the wrong moment. A bad report landing in April is describing a February that was always going to be quiet, and the work being judged was published in November.

How to check it

Ask how many days after month end the report lands, and whether you have live access in between. Then ask what the agency considers the earliest honest date to judge the programme, and see whether the answer is shorter than a full season.

Reading a slow month correctly

Valve+Meter publishes a case study for Advantage Heating and Air Conditioning in Columbus, Indiana: 200 new customers and an eight-to-one return on marketing spend across one year, during what they describe as a mild winter that depressed HVAC demand.

Naming the weather is the part worth borrowing. A quarter can be flat because the market was flat, and an agency willing to say so in a case study is likelier to say so in a report.

The practical defence against lag is to agree in advance what a bad month looks like and what would have to be true for it to mean something. Doing that in month two is a strategy conversation. Doing it in month nine is an argument.