# Read your analytics

> Insights · Any team member · Dashboard and Analytics · 30 days, 90 days, or all time · Canonical page: https://kindlinghq.com/docs/analytics/

What the dashboard and analytics screens measure, how each number is calculated, and which ones are worth acting on.

## The dashboard

**Needs your attention** sits at the top. It lists submissions pending review, grouped by program, and payouts pending with their total. If any advocate with a pending payout has no Stripe account connected, the payout item says how many and is flagged as blocked. This is the only part of the dashboard that is a to-do list. Everything below it is reporting.

**The KPI strip** shows impressions with the approved post count, total spend with the approval rate, earned media value with its ROI multiple, advocate count, and program count. Impressions, spend, and earned media follow the date range. Advocates and programs are always all-time.

**Program health** lists every program except drafts, with its status, advocates, impressions, spend, and how many submissions need review. It is a list, not a ranking. Drafts appear separately below it.

**Recent activity** shows the five most recent events of four kinds: a submission arrives, a payout is created, an enrollment is approved, an invite code expires. It is not limited by date.

The date range switches between 30 days, 90 days, and all time. All time is the default.

## The analytics screen

Deeper than the dashboard. Same range switcher, same all-time default, plus an **Export payouts CSV** button.

**Earned media value** leads, with the ROI multiple, average per post, actual spend, and total engagements. The engagements row is hidden when it is zero. See [Earned media value](/docs/earned-media-value/).

**Headline figures** follow: total impressions with approved post count, total spent with approval rate, active in range, and average CPM as an effective rate.

**Performance trends** charts monthly impressions against spend for the trailing six calendar months. It ignores the range switcher. If there are no approved posts in that window, the chart slides back to the six months ending with the most recent approved post, and its subtitle says so.

**Program performance** lists every program, most impressions first, with its target CPM and post cap, advocates, submissions with approval rate, impressions, spend, and effective CPM labelled **above**, **at or below**, or **at target**.

**Top performers** shows the five advocates with the most impressions in range, with post count and earnings.

## The metrics

| Metric | How it is calculated | What it tells you |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Impressions | Reported impressions across approved submissions in range | Total distribution earned |
| Total spend | Sum of the payout amount calculated at approval, for approved submissions in range. Counted when you approve, whether or not the payout has been disbursed yet | Your variable cost |
| Approval rate | Approved submissions ÷ all submissions in range, including those still pending review | Whether your guidelines are landing. Read it after the review queue is clear |
| Earned media value | What the reach would have cost to buy | See [Earned media value](/docs/earned-media-value/) |
| Effective CPM | Spend ÷ impressions × 1,000 | Actual cost per thousand |
| Active in range | Advocates with at least one approved post in the range | Real participation, not roster size |

Because pending submissions sit in the approval-rate denominator, a full review queue pulls the rate down until you clear it. A persistently low rate after the queue is clear is a guidelines problem, not an advocate problem.

The dashboard's advocate count and the analytics screen's **active in range** measure different things. The dashboard counts distinct advocates with an approved enrollment; pending applicants are excluded. Active in range counts only those with an approved post in the window. The gap between them is your silent roster, and it is the most useful number on either screen.

## Effective CPM against target

Your target CPM is what you set on the program. Your effective CPM is what you actually paid per thousand impressions.

Each payout is the lower of impressions ÷ 1,000 × CPM rate and the post cap. So:

- **Effective below target** means the post cap is binding. Some posts reached further than the cap paid for. That is the cap doing its job.
- **Effective at target** means no post is hitting the cap. If that holds while reach grows, consider whether the cap is set higher than it needs to be.

The label on the program performance table reads **at or below** when the program has impressions and its effective CPM is at or under target, **above** when it is over target, and **at target** when the program has no impressions in range. Because the cap can only lower a payout, effective CPM reads above target only when the program's CPM rate was lowered after those posts were approved.

## Comparing programs

Program performance puts every program side by side. Read it by cost efficiency, not by size. A program with fewer advocates and a lower effective CPM is outperforming a larger one.

Two programs at the same rate producing very different effective CPMs usually differ in who is in them, not in how they are run.

## Questions the numbers answer

- **Which program earns the most reach per dollar?** Compare effective CPM.
- **Are guidelines clear?** Look at approval rate once the queue is clear.
- **Is the program actually running?** Compare approved posts against advocate count.
- **Is anyone stalled?** Look for advocates with zero posts on the advocates screen.
- **What is reach worth?** Earned media value against spend.

## FAQ

### Why do dashboard and analytics numbers differ?

Check the date range on each. Both default to all time, but the range is carried in the URL, so a bookmarked link can pin a different window. Two definitions also differ by design: the dashboard's advocate count is anyone with an approved enrollment, while analytics counts advocates active in range. The performance trends chart ignores the range switcher entirely.

### Are impressions verified?

They are reported by advocates, and a screenshot is required with every submission. Your review is the verification step.

### Do rejected submissions count?

Not in impressions or spend. They do count in the approval-rate denominator.

### Can I export this?

Export payouts CSV, from either the analytics or payouts screen. For anything else, connect the [AI assistant](/docs/mcp/) and ask for the figures directly.

### What do "above", "at or below", and "at target" mean on program performance?

They compare a program's effective CPM against its target. Programs with no impressions in range show at target.

Questions about a number that does not add up: support@kindlinghq.com.