Business data monitoring: knowing which numbers to trust

What makes a business number stop telling the truth?

The platforms' own help pages list the usual causes. Each page below answers one question owners ask, with the causes in the platform's own words and how to check each one yourself.

• Why did Google Analytics stop collecting data?The tag that sends visits to Google Analytics is missing from your site, often after a site, theme or app change.
• Why aren't my key events showing in Google Analytics?A key event you just set up can take a full day to appear in your reports.
• Why does Google Analytics show (not set)?(not set) means Google Analytics got a visit but was missing a piece of information about it.
• Why is yesterday's data missing in Google Analytics?Google Analytics can take one to two days to finish processing a day's data.
• Why doesn't my Accelo invoice total match what I expected?Each line's total comes from its amount and the tax code chosen for it, so a different tax code gives a different total.
• Why did my invoiced total drop in Accelo?Work that has not been approved can be left off invoices, so invoicing can dip while approvals are behind.
• Why did my Accelo invoiced total suddenly jump?Invoices for many clients are often raised together at the end of a billing cycle, so that day can be much bigger than an ordinary day.
• Why did my ActiveCampaign active contacts drop?Bounces and unsubscribes both take a contact out of your active count, so a send that bounces or a wave of unsubscribes can lower it.
• Why doesn't my ActiveCampaign contact count add up?One person can be active on one list and unsubscribed on another, so adding up the counts by status gives more than your real total.
• Why didn't my ActiveCampaign import add new contacts?If the import file is saved in a different text encoding, ActiveCampaign can add none of its contacts.
• Why are so many Acuity Scheduling appointments being canceled?Acuity records a no-show on a canceled appointment, so no-shows sit together with cancellations.
• Why do I suddenly have so many more appointments in Acuity Scheduling?If recurring appointments are on, one client booking can add several appointments at once.

See every question.

Which numbers should a business watch?

Feder sorts them into seven questions, its signals. Each one below says what it watches, with the guides and questions that belong to it.

Roots

Feder's main number, from 0 to 100. It answers one question before anything else: can these numbers be trusted?

• Why aren't my Google Tag Manager changes live on my site?Saving a change is not enough. It only reaches your site once it is published.
• Why did a tag disappear from my live Google Tag Manager container?Going back to an earlier version replaces the current draft with that version, so tags added after it can be left out once it is published.
• Why is my Google tag not firing?The page you are checking may not have the Google tag on it at all.

Connection guides: Google Tag Manager.

Money

The signal that answers: is money moving the way it should? Feder reads what your payment, store and accounting apps recorded each day.

• Why doesn't my Accelo invoice total match what I expected?Each line's total comes from its amount and the tax code chosen for it, so a different tax code gives a different total.
• Why did my invoiced total drop in Accelo?Work that has not been approved can be left off invoices, so invoicing can dip while approvals are behind.
• Why did my Accelo invoiced total suddenly jump?Invoices for many clients are often raised together at the end of a billing cycle, so that day can be much bigger than an ordinary day.
• Why doesn't my Adobe Commerce sales report match my orders?Sales reports are built from figures Adobe Commerce saved earlier. Until those figures are refreshed, recent orders and revenue can be missing from the report.

111 more Money questions are on the questions page.

Connection guides: Accelo, Adobe Commerce, Bill (Connect API), Billit, Braintree, Chargebee, Commercetools and Conta Azul, and 23 more.

Reach

The signal that answers: are people seeing me? Feder reads what your email, outreach and community apps recorded each day, such as emails sent or delivered and the size of your list.

• Why did my ActiveCampaign active contacts drop?Bounces and unsubscribes both take a contact out of your active count, so a send that bounces or a wave of unsubscribes can lower it.
• Why did Adyntel find fewer ads for a company than before?A Meta search can come back empty when the company's website does not link to its Facebook page, because, as Adyntel's developer docs explain, that link is how the lookup finds the page.
• Why did Adyntel suddenly find more Google ads for a company?A Google ad search with no media type counts text, image and video ads together, so a count can rise when an earlier search was narrower.
• Why does my Adyntel Meta ad count change when I search more than one country?Each country in a multi-country Meta search runs as its own job, so adding countries can add their ads on top of each other.

108 more Reach questions are on the questions page.

Connection guides: Apollo, beehiiv, Brevo, Discord, Google Ads, Google Search Console, Keap and Lob, and 2 more.

Visits

The signal that answers: are people coming in? Feder reads the page views and clicks your analytics apps recorded each day.

• Why did Google Analytics stop collecting data?The tag that sends visits to Google Analytics is missing from your site, often after a site, theme or app change.
• Why does Google Analytics show (not set)?(not set) means Google Analytics got a visit but was missing a piece of information about it.
• Why is yesterday's data missing in Google Analytics?Google Analytics can take one to two days to finish processing a day's data.
• Why are more Algolia searches showing no results?A search is recorded as it ran at the time, so it can show as without results even though the same words find results today.

60 more Visits questions are on the questions page.

Connection guides: Google Analytics and Pendo.

Interest

The signal that answers: are people raising a hand? Feder reads the new contacts, replies, clicks and form submissions your apps recorded each day.

• Why doesn't my ActiveCampaign contact count add up?One person can be active on one list and unsubscribed on another, so adding up the counts by status gives more than your real total.
• Why didn't my ActiveCampaign import add new contacts?If the import file is saved in a different text encoding, ActiveCampaign can add none of its contacts.
• Why did my Airtable form submissions drop?A form limited to one email domain can turn away people outside that domain, which can lower submissions.
• Why did my Airtable record count suddenly jump?If your plan includes the CSV import extension, an import run with merging left off creates new records from the file instead of updating existing ones.

121 more Interest questions are on the questions page.

Connection guides: ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact, Everflow, Instantly, Intercom, Jotform, Klaviyo and lemlist, and 8 more.

Wins

The signal that answers: are they booking and buying? Feder reads the deals won, bookings kept and orders your apps recorded each day. Wins are counts only; the money sits in Money.

• Why aren't my key events showing in Google Analytics?A key event you just set up can take a full day to appear in your reports.
• Why are so many Acuity Scheduling appointments being canceled?Acuity records a no-show on a canceled appointment, so no-shows sit together with cancellations.
• Why do I suddenly have so many more appointments in Acuity Scheduling?If recurring appointments are on, one client booking can add several appointments at once.
• Why are fewer appointments being booked in Acuity Scheduling?If an appointment plus its buffer time is longer than the open gap, that time is not offered, so clients see fewer slots.

173 more Wins questions are on the questions page.

Connection guides: Acuity Scheduling, Attio, Blackbaud, Cal.com, Copper, Dentally, HubSpot and JobNimbus, and 15 more.

Experience

The signal that answers: did it work for them? Feder reads the survey and poll responses your apps recorded each day.

• Why did average call duration change in Aircall?Average call duration mixes answered inbound and outbound calls, so a change in the mix of the two can move it.
• Why did my missed calls jump in Aircall?A call can be counted as missed even when agents were available, if it rings for more than a short time and nobody picks it up.
• Why did average wait time jump in Aircall?Wait time counts welcome messages, menu steps and ringing, so a longer greeting or an extra menu step can raise it without agents answering any slower.
• Why did my CSAT responses drop in Atlas?Tickets that are still open have not had a survey yet, so a backlog of open tickets can mean fewer ratings.

48 more Experience questions are on the questions page.

Connection guides: Fairing.

How do I check a number myself?

Start with the platform that holds the number. The first check its own help gives:

• Google Analytics: Open your site, click around, then check the Realtime report in Google Analytics a minute later to see if your visit shows up. More on why did google analytics stop collecting data.
• Accelo: Before saving an invoice, look over its tax codes and totals. More on why doesn't my accelo invoice total match what i expected.
• ActiveCampaign: Look at unconfirmed contacts as well as active ones when you compare days, since signups that never confirm stay outside the active count. More on why did my activecampaign active contacts drop.
• Acuity Scheduling: Check how close to the appointment your clients are allowed to cancel. More on why are so many acuity scheduling appointments being canceled.
• Adobe Commerce: Ask whoever runs your store to check that scheduled jobs are running, since the order list waits on them when updates are scheduled. More on why aren't new orders showing in adobe commerce.
• Adyntel: Run the same Meta search for all ads, not only active ones, to see whether the drop is ads that stopped running. More on why did adyntel find fewer ads for a company than before.
• Affinity: Ask whoever built the dashboard which lists its tiles draw from, so you can confirm you can open each of them. More on why are deals missing from my affinity dashboard.
• Aimfox: Look at the interaction limits set for each LinkedIn account in Aimfox and compare them with the pace you expect. More on why is aimfox sending fewer connection requests each day.
• Aircall: Look at answered inbound and outbound calls separately, since average call duration counts both together and a shift between them can move it. More on why did average call duration change in aircall.
• Airtable: Fill in the form yourself through its share link in a browser to confirm a test submission becomes a new record. More on why did my airtable form submissions drop.

Every other platform's checks are on its question pages.

Do I still need this if I already have analytics?

Keep your tools. They show the number. Monitoring checks whether the number underneath is still being counted, and says so the day it stops. Each page below says what the other tool does better.

• Feder and ActiveCampaignActiveCampaign is marketing automation for any business that takes everyday campaign, automation and reporting tasks off an owner's list.
• Feder and AddingwellAddingwell is a server-side Google Tag Manager platform, now part of Didomi, that hosts server-side tagging so businesses can recover events that ad blockers and browser limits would otherwise lose.
• Feder and Adobe AnalyticsAdobe Analytics is Adobe's enterprise analytics product that brings together web, mobile and product interaction data for reporting and analysis.
• Feder and Adobe CommerceAdobe Commerce is a B2B and B2C commerce platform for running storefronts and checkout across markets and channels.
• Feder and AgencyAnalyticsAgencyAnalytics is a client reporting and dashboard platform built for marketing agencies.
• Feder and AmplitudeAmplitude is a product analytics platform that brings AI into each step of building digital products, from analytics to feedback to code.
• Feder and AnalyzifyAnalyzify is a Shopify data analytics and server-side tracking app that connects a store with marketing platforms such as Google Analytics, Meta and TikTok.
• Feder and AnodotAnodot is business monitoring software that detects and groups anomalies across silos, to help find and fix business incidents in real time.

See every comparison.

How does Feder do it?

• One thing a customer did, counted at the source, such as an order placed, a booking made or a payment received. Every business number is built on root events, and Feder checks each one where it is recorded.
• What normal looks like for one of your numbers, learned from your own history, not an industry average. A reading outside it is worth a look.
• What a signal says while there is not yet enough of your own history behind it to judge fairly. Until then nothing is scored.
• What Feder shows when a reading could not be taken. A reading Feder could not take is never shown as zero.
• Feder only reads. It never changes anything in a connected app.

Some numbers are too quiet to judge daily, such as a form filled in a few times a week. Feder says so rather than guessing.

What do these words mean?

• Business data monitoringChecking the numbers a business runs on, such as visits, sign-ups, bookings and payments, where each one is recorded, so you know which numbers to trust.
• Root eventOne thing a customer did, counted at the source, such as an order placed, a booking made or a payment received.
• ReadingOne number Feder takes from a connected app for a day, such as the page views or payments it recorded.
• SignalsThe seven questions Feder answers about a business: Roots, Money, Reach, Visits, Interest, Wins and Experience.
• RootsFeder's main number, from 0 to 100.
• MoneyThe signal that answers: is money moving the way it should?
• ReachThe signal that answers: are people seeing me?
• VisitsThe signal that answers: are people coming in?
• InterestThe signal that answers: are people raising a hand?
• WinsThe signal that answers: are they booking and buying?
• ExperienceThe signal that answers: did it work for them?
• Usual rangeWhat normal looks like for one of your numbers, learned from your own history, not an industry average.
• Still learningWhat a signal says while there is not yet enough of your own history behind it to judge fairly.
• Quiet or broken rootA root event that stops being counted while the business carries on, such as a form that sends but is no longer recorded.
• UnconfirmedWhat a signal shows in place of a number when a root under it has broken, so a number Feder cannot confirm is never shown as fact.
• Not readWhat Feder shows when a reading could not be taken.
• ConnectionThe link that lets Feder read one of your apps.