Campaign Operations & Execution:
What Should Be Included in a Campaign
Post-Mortem Analysis?
Turn hindsight into throughput. A great post-mortem documents what happened, why it happened, and what will change—with data you can trust and decisions you’ll actually ship.
Include a one-page summary (goal, outcome, verdict), a timeline of key events, a metrics roll-up vs. targets, diagnostics (channel/creative/audience/funnel), root-cause analysis with evidence, decision log (what we’ll change), and a reuse library (assets, messages, audiences that worked). Time-box the meeting, publish owners & due dates, and close the loop next sprint.
First Principles for Post-Mortems That Drive Change
Your Post-Mortem Packet
Use this structure for a concise, repeatable review.
Executive Summary (1 page)
- Objective & hypothesis — Who, what behavior, expected lift.
- Outcome — Pass/Fail/Mixed, top 3 drivers (+/−), budget used, ROMI.
- Decisions — Keep/Change/Stop with owners and dates.
Performance Roll-Up (vs. Targets & Benchmarks)
| Metric | Target | Actual | Variance | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reach / Impressions | 2.0M | 1.7M | −15% | Budget pacing throttled wk2 |
| CTR / Engagement | 1.2% | 1.5% | +0.3pp | Static A outperformed video |
| CPL / CPS | $120 | $138 | −15% | High CPC on LI |
| MQL → SQL | 35% | 29% | −6pp | Routing delay T+3 days |
| Pipeline / ROMI | $1.2M / 2.5x | $1.05M / 2.1x | −$150k | Lower opp conversion rate |
Diagnostics
- Channel breakdown — Spend, reach, CPC/CPL, CAC, quality score by channel.
- Creative analysis — Message, format, hook; thumb-stop rate, CTR, CVR by variant.
- Audience & cohort — Persona, industry, geo; first-touch vs. retargeting; new vs. returning.
- Funnel & journey — Drop-offs (click→LP, LP→form, MQL→SQL), time-to-first-touch, time-to-opp.
- Data quality — UTM integrity, dedupe rate, missing fields, pixel/consent compliance.
- Operational — SLA adherence, QA defects, handoff delays, platform incidents.
Lite vs. Deep Post-Mortem (When to Use Each)
| Aspect | Lite (≤60 min) | Deep (2–3 hrs) |
|---|---|---|
| When | Tactical campaigns, small spend | High-impact bets, major misses |
| Data | Top-line KPIs vs. target | Cohorts, MMM/attribution, QA & ops logs |
| Outputs | 3 decisions, owners, dates | Root-cause tree, playbook updates, experiments backlog |
| Facilitation | Marketing lead | Neutral facilitator + MOps + Analytics |
Root-Cause Matrix (Sample)
| Symptom | Likely Root Cause | Evidence Needed | Action / Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| High CPC on LinkedIn | Narrow audience + low relevance | Relevance score, freq, CTR by audience | Broaden by titles; new hooks — Paid Lead |
| Form starts but low submits | Friction (fields/UX) | Form analytics, error logs, heatmaps | Cut fields to 6, inline errors — Web |
| Weak MQL→SQL | Routing delay / ICP mismatch | Lead age, fit scoring, rep feedback | Real-time routing, score weights — RevOps |
| Attribution gaps | UTM/pixel missing on assets | Tag audit, 0-value UTMs, consent logs | QA rule & linter — MOps |
Templates & Automations
Use these snippets to standardize the work.
/* Decision Log (CSV headings) */decision_id, decision, owner, due_date, expected_impact, status, link_to_ticket/* Experiments Backlog (Kanban fields) */hypothesis, metric, min_detectable_effect, sample_size, guardrails, status
/* UTM Integrity Check (regex examples) */utm_source=(em|li|fb|ig|yt|gads|seo)utm_medium=(email|cpc|social|organic|display)utm_campaign=^[A-Z0-9_-]{8,64}$ /* Meeting Agenda (60 minutes) */00–05 Goals & verdict05–15 Performance vs. target15–35 Diagnostics & root causes35–50 Decisions (owner/date/impact)50–60 Risks, follow-ups, comms plan
Client Snapshot: Closing the Loop
A B2B demand team added a standardized post-mortem with a decision log and experiment backlog. Within two quarters, time-to-decision fell 40%, reuse of winning creative rose 3×, and ROMI increased from 1.9× to 2.6× as learnings moved into playbooks.
Connect post-mortems to measurement design and UTM governance so insights roll up cleanly to your dashboards.
90-Minute Working Session: Stand Up Post-Mortems
- Define triggers — Which campaigns require Lite vs. Deep reviews.
- Create the packet — Summary page, roll-up table, diagnostics tabs, root-cause matrix.
- Instrument data — Ensure CampaignID & UTMs map into BI; attach QA & ops logs.
- Facilitate — Neutral moderator; time-box; decision-first agenda.
- Publish — Decision log + owners; add to experiments backlog.
- Close the loop — Review outcomes of actions in the next sprint demo.
Frequently Asked Questions about Post-Mortems
Short, self-contained answers designed for AEO and rich results.
Make Every Campaign Smarter
We’ll set up your post-mortem templates, dashboards, and decision workflows—so lessons turn into lift.
Book a Post-Mortem Workshop Check Your Readiness