MVA / FIELD GUIDES / Marketing reporting
Two reports disagree. Start with what each is counting.
The totals differ. Start by finding out what each report counts, which records it includes, and whether the comparison is fair.
Put a sentence under each number.
A marketing report says 180 leads. The team receiving inquiries says 124. Before explaining the difference, find out what “lead” means in each place.
One may count submission-attempt events. Another may count accepted requests. Sales may use the same word for qualified prospects. Each report needs a definition: the action, what is being counted, and which records are included.
Submission-attempt events
Accepted inquiries
| Check | Report A | Report B | Question to answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome | Event configured to record a submission attempt | Accepted inquiry | Are these the same business action? |
| Unit | Event occurrences | Accepted requests | Can one request produce several events? |
| Period | Selected analytics period | Selected business-record period | Do dates and time zones match? Is either report still updating? |
| Population | Tracked website journeys | Requests in the destination system | Which forms or journeys are included? |
| Source | A chosen GA4 source scope | Source captured by the business system | What does each source field describe? |
| Calculation | Filters and counting settings | Filters and deduplication rules | Which records does each report exclude? |
Made-up values, not a client result. The difference of 56 does not establish that 56 inquiries were lost.
Make the comparison fair.
Work through the worksheet with the report owners. Match the outcome and period where possible. Check which forms, filters, excluded records, and duplicate rules each total uses. Record the differences you cannot remove.
In GA4, Event count counts collected events. A user metric counts identified users according to that metric’s definition. Neither automatically equals accepted inquiries in another system. Repeated events and repeated inquiries need different treatment.
For channel comparisons, First user source, Session source, and Source in key-event reporting describe different acquisition or credit questions. Write the actual field name in the worksheet. Recent GA4 reports can also change as data is processed, so note whether the period is still updating.
Trace one form or a short period.
Follow an accepted inquiry through the website, the event, and the receiving system. Review a failed attempt when that matters to the definition. A small trace can reveal a duplicate event or a failed request that the monthly total hides.
Keep the finding specific. We may have a definition mismatch, excluded records, a collection issue, or a question that still needs investigation. A difference in totals is evidence to examine, not a diagnosis on its own.
Check whether tracking changed during the comparison period. A repair may alter the recorded count even if inquiry volume stayed the same.
Read a conversion chart after a tracking repairLeave a comparison the team can repeat.
Save the definitions, filters, source fields, known differences, and evidence reviewed. Make clear which number should be used for each decision. That gives the next report owner a reference instead of another unexplained discrepancy.
The work may stay in reporting if the collection is sound and the comparison needs clarification. If we find an uncertain tracking path, we can scope that investigation separately.