01What this guide helps you do
Understand what a pre-send matching count does and does not mean.
This guide focuses on one task within reports & measurement. Its completion test is specific: The preview accurately informs campaign preparation. Use that result to decide whether the task is finished. Opening a page, entering a value or seeing a brief notification can be part of the process without establishing the complete result.
02When to use this workflow
Use this workflow when your immediate goal is to interpret an audience preview count. Keep the scope limited to the relevant measurement report. If you are solving a different problem, use the related guides at the end rather than applying every action here to unrelated records.
The usual operational owner is the team lead or reporting owner. If another person owns the relevant business facts or permissions, involve that person before changing the shared record. Individual access and business authority are not always the same thing.
03Prepare the information you need
Define the question before opening the report. Choose the population, event, date range and time zone that answer it. A campaign-specific result and a workspace-wide result may legitimately differ. Decide whether the report is provisional or final and identify the denominator for any percentage. Keep business outcomes such as enquiries or orders separate from provider events such as delivery.
Audience filters, matching count, eligibility count.
04Find the right workspace and feature
Start from Reports, Overview and campaign details. Treat this as a feature locator: the arrangement of menus can differ between the web interface and the native application. Confirm the workspace name and the relevant record before proceeding, especially if you manage more than one business or use both India and UK accounts.
The target of this task is a measurement report. Keep its identity visible while you work. A similarly named record or a previously open browser tab can otherwise make a correct action affect the wrong context.
05Understand the information on screen
| Information | What it means | Practical check |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Records included in the view | Match scope before comparison |
| Period | Date range and time context | Identify partial observation |
| Metric | Event and formula being measured | State the denominator |
| Freshness | Time of the available result | Separate provisional and final |
Apply these distinctions to the specific inputs for this guide: audience filters, matching count, eligibility count. You do not need to collect every possible field in the workspace. Use the information needed to make this decision and to verify its result.
06Inspect the current state first
Read labels and filters carefully. Some funnel stages are cumulative, so adding them can count the same recipient more than once. Pending results need an observation time. A read receipt, a reply and a completed sale are different signals. Check that two reports use comparable scopes before describing their totals as inconsistent or claiming that records have disappeared.
If the intended result is already present, check whether any further action is necessary. This is particularly useful after an interrupted session or when another teammate may have completed part of the work.
07Step 1: Read the selected filters
Begin with the relevant inputs: audience filters, matching count, eligibility count. Resolve any ambiguity that would change which record or business decision the task concerns. Keep a short note of the original state if you will need to compare it later. This creates a clear starting point for the next action instead of relying on memory after several screens have changed.
08Step 2: Compare matching and eligible recipients
Use the result of the first action as the context for this one. Check the exact label, selected value or evidence involved rather than assuming that a default matches the intended task. If you identify an inconsistency, resolve it before proceeding. Keep the change narrow enough that its effect can be understood without comparing many unrelated edits.
09Step 3: Refresh after contact changes
Finish by checking the observable result, not only whether the interface accepted an interaction. If the result is still pending or cannot be verified, preserve that distinction in your notes. A clearly recorded unresolved state is more useful than announcing completion and discovering the missing part during a live customer task. Use the verification guidance below for the relevant feature.
10Audience counts describe different populations
A source file counts rows. Contacts count stored records. A saved audience counts records matching its filters. An eligible count adds the campaign's current checks. A delivered count is a later provider outcome. These numbers can differ without any data being lost.
When investigating a discrepancy, move through those populations in order and use representative records. Do not compare a delivered total directly with every row in an original spreadsheet without accounting for duplicates, exclusions and unsent contacts. Label the denominator when turning the result into a percentage.
| Check | Meaning for this task |
|---|---|
| Source to contacts | Imports may create, update or reject rows |
| Contacts to audience | Filters choose a subset |
| Audience to delivery | Eligibility and provider outcomes further change the count |
11Worked example
A saved audience matches twenty records but only a subset is currently eligible.
The useful lesson is the sequence of decisions, not a promised result for every business. In this scenario, begin with “Read the selected filters”, continue with “Compare matching and eligible recipients”, and finish with “Refresh after contact changes”. Compare the result with the completion test before applying the same process to a wider set of records.
Use invented names and references when practising this example. Keep the structure realistic, but do not copy a live customer conversation or payment record into training material simply to make the demonstration look authentic.
12Verify the result
Trace one representative result from the summary to the underlying campaign or conversation where available. Compare like-for-like periods and identify incomplete observation windows. State the formula used for a rate and explain exclusions. A useful report can be reproduced by another authorised person using the same filters; a number recalled from memory is much harder to investigate.
The preview accurately informs campaign preparation.
13Decide what to do next
| What you observe | Appropriate next step | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| The expected result is visibly present. | Keep the result and continue with the intended business task. | Repeating a completed action without a reason. |
| The result is still pending or uncertain. | Review the current measurement report and the relevant status. | Calling the task complete without evidence. |
| The result conflicts with the intended choice. | Revisit: Compare matching and eligible recipients. | Changing unrelated records to hide the symptom. |
Use the observed state to choose a branch. A recovery action should address the actual cause and preserve any work that is already correct. If several people are involved, make the next owner explicit so a pending state does not become an unattended task.
14The main mistake to avoid
A matching audience is not a guaranteed delivered audience.
This mistake can make the task appear finished while leaving the business outcome unresolved. Return to the inputs and the named steps when the result is unclear. Keep a useful distinction between what you observed and what you expected. If a weaker signal is all that is available, describe the remaining uncertainty and identify how it can be checked.
15Diagnose an unexpected result
Compare the expected result with the exact current state of the measurement report. Record which of the three actions was last completed and what happened next. Keep the exact validation message or visible status where one exists. This separates an input problem from a saved-state problem and helps another person reproduce the same example.
Check the workspace, selected record and current view. Change one relevant factor at a time. If you change several unrelated settings together, a later success may not explain which change actually resolved the issue.
16Recover without duplicating work
If numbers appear wrong, first match the workspace, time range, campaign and update state. Refresh the view and record one specific discrepant reference if the mismatch remains. For business performance concerns, review audience relevance, content and reply handling instead of assuming the report itself is broken. Do not hide failures or change denominators simply to make a percentage look better.
If the result depends on a provider or another authorised person, record that dependency and use the appropriate route. Do not simulate success by manually changing an unrelated display value or by removing evidence of the original outcome.
17Use the workflow on web and mobile
Mobile report summaries may need a tap to reveal individual outcomes or active filters. Before comparing with desktop, align the same period and campaign. Take care when sharing screenshots: a small recipient column can disclose personal information even when the main subject is a chart. A redacted summary is often enough for an operational review without sharing the full audience.
When comparing devices, match the same account, record and relevant filters. A desktop screenshot and a mobile screen from different contexts are not evidence of inconsistent data. If a layout problem prevents completing the task, report the screen name, device context and the affected control with private details removed.
18Keep a useful operational record
Retain only the information needed to explain the task: its purpose, the relevant measurement report, the action taken and the observed result. If the operation produced a safe reference, keep it with the time and workspace context. This makes a later handover or support query more precise than a screenshot with no explanation.
| Record | Useful content |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Understand what a pre-send matching count does and does not mean. |
| Inputs reviewed | Audience filters, matching count, eligibility count |
| Outcome to verify | The preview accurately informs campaign preparation. |
| Next owner | Team lead or reporting owner |
19Protect private information
Use the minimum customer or business information needed for the task. Restrict access to authorised colleagues, and redact unrelated names, numbers and message content when sharing a screenshot. An evidence reference is often more suitable than copying the underlying private document into a general field or support message.
For this workflow, the useful input categories are audience filters, matching count, eligibility count. They should help you make and verify the decision; they are not a reason to publish a customer database, credentials or internal operating notes. The fictional example in this guide can be used for training without exposing live records.
20Know the limits of this workflow
A dashboard is a view of recorded events within a scope and date range. It does not prove causation or guarantee revenue from a message.
Define the population, time zone, time range and event before comparing numbers. Separate operational delivery from business outcomes such as enquiries and completed sales.
Read the linked source material for decisions controlled by a provider or by the applicable commercial terms. A practical guide explains how to approach the task; it does not add a new contractual guarantee or establish that every business use is legally suitable. Use the responsible business owner for unresolved exceptions.
21Review the process over time
Keep recurring metric definitions with the report, including source, formula and exclusions. Review whether the measure still answers the business question as workflows change. A rise in message volume or AI consumption is activity, not automatically value. Weekly reviews are most useful when they turn a few meaningful findings into owned corrective actions rather than simply reading every available total aloud.
Update related instructions when the underlying business fact or product behaviour changes. Keep a representative example from this workflow so a future revision can be compared with an explicit expectation rather than judged from memory.
22Practical questions
What should I check before starting?
Prepare audience filters, matching count, eligibility count. Then confirm the workspace and the relevant measurement report. The first action is “Read the selected filters”. Starting there keeps later decisions grounded in the correct record and avoids trying to solve a different problem with this workflow.
How do I know the task is complete?
Use this observable test: The preview accurately informs campaign preparation. If a state is pending, describe it as pending. If a save or provider operation is uncertain, inspect the current record before repeating it. The result matters more than whether a button was pressed.
What if the result still does not match?
Review this risk first: A matching audience is not a guaranteed delivered audience. Keep the exact symptom, the relevant reference and the last completed action. Ask the team lead or reporting owner or the appropriate support route to review the remaining issue, using a small reproducible example rather than a broad export of customer data.
23Completion checklist
Use this checklist as a final review of the task, not as a substitute for the steps above. If an item remains unresolved, identify the next action and its owner. Do not mark a provider-dependent or unverified result complete merely because the rest of the checklist is finished.
- The intended workspace and measurement report were identified.
- The necessary inputs were reviewed: audience filters, matching count, eligibility count.
- Read the selected filters.
- Compare matching and eligible recipients.
- Refresh after contact changes.
- The result was checked: The preview accurately informs campaign preparation.
- The task-specific risk was considered: A matching audience is not a guaranteed delivered audience.
- Any unresolved issue has an accountable next owner and a useful evidence reference.