This month’s revenue includes customers who inquired before this month’s advertising
Advertising to overseas customers can generate inquiries well before revenue. Some people investigate services and prices before arranging their trip to Korea. Others already have flights booked and ask about available appointments. Even inquiries received on the same day can have very different lengths of time between inquiry and visit.
Monthly reports commonly put spend and revenue for the same calendar month side by side. This month’s inquiries may be waiting to visit next month, while current revenue includes customers acquired earlier. Reading the ratio alone as an improvement or decline in the latest campaign leaves out the customer’s progress.
growly does not view a longer reporting period as a sufficient solution. Link each customer’s first inquiry date to their current status. Monthly results describe the business’s present position; results grouped by inquiry date describe how acquisition develops. Both views are needed to make decisions about spend and execution.
Before nationality, distinguish current location and possible visit dates
Customers of the same nationality may live in Korea, be travelling there now or plan to arrive months later. Grouping only by nationality evaluates people who can attend immediately at the same speed as people who still need to arrange travel. Current location and possible attendance dates add necessary context to audience performance.
Within the information needed for consultation and booking, record whether the customer is currently in Korea, their preferred date and the service requested. Mark an undecided arrival date accordingly. Do not infer current location from nationality. Connect a repeat inquiry through another messaging app to the same customer record.
The purpose is to make the next action useful. A customer preparing overseas may need information for planning a visit; someone already in Korea may need available dates and a clear inquiry route. Recognizing the different timetables also prevents faster attendance from becoming an unsupported claim that one nationality makes better customers.
Show when the inquiry began alongside the customer’s current status
Begin with a customer identifier and first inquiry date. Connect the source where known, requested service, booking date, actual visit date, payments, refunds and last update. Keep unknown sources unknown. Distinguish a customer’s stated discovery source from a source recorded by tracking tools so the origin of the information remains explainable.
Grouping records by inquiry week or month shows the progress of customers acquired together. Moving someone from consultation to booking does not create another customer. Update the status while retaining the first inquiry date. Adding cumulative bookings to cumulative completed visits would double-count customers who appear in both.
The status structure below is designed to avoid that overlap. At the reporting date, each customer occupies one current status; earlier bookings and other events remain in a separate history. Agree who updates the status and when. With a small inquiry volume, a simple shared sheet can support this structure.
| Current status | What to confirm | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation; date undecided | Service fit, preferred timing and open questions | Provide information needed to plan |
| Visit scheduled | Confirmed date, changes and booking terms | Confirm booking and preparation |
| Visit completed | Actual visit, payment and service delivered | Update the inquiry group’s results |
| Cancelled or did not attend | Outcome and reason where known | Separate unsuitable conditions from process issues |
| Consultation closed | Unavailable service or the customer has explicitly ended the inquiry | Review targeting and service information |
| Awaiting confirmation | Current outcome remains unknown after contact | Record last check and next review |
Compare campaigns after the same time has elapsed since inquiry
Comparing the attendance rate of a campaign observed for months with one launched last week gives the older campaign a timing advantage. The comparison needs elapsed time since inquiry as well as a reporting month. You need to know the older group’s status after the same amount of time had passed.
For example, if the agreed review point is 30 days after inquiry, use completed visits through that point for both groups. Leave a newer group awaiting comparison until it reaches that point. Thirty days is an illustrative checkpoint, not a universal recommendation. Select actual intervals from past visit delays and booking patterns, continuing to update customers scheduled to arrive later.
Matching dates is insufficient when services and customer conditions differ substantially. Separate campaigns for people in Korea from campaigns reaching people before travel. Record price and promotion changes. With small groups, show customer counts alongside attendance rates and avoid settling an audience decision on one or two visits. A narrower comparison produces a more usable operating judgment.
There are still problems to fix while customers wait to travel
Travel delays cannot explain every weak result. Check whether the service requested is available, whether there are feasible dates and whether consultation is progressing. Having no revenue yet is different from having no evidence of a possible booking.
A suitable service, workable dates and an active booking provide reasons to wait. Repeated inquiries for an unavailable treatment call for changes to search targeting or advertisement wording. Suitable customers repeatedly stalling over included costs or recovery schedules suggest missing page information. Medical explanations should remain within material reviewed by clinicians and should not replace individual assessment.
Define a qualified inquiry with the business. Receiving a reply alone does not reveal what needs improvement. Check service fit and attendance conditions, leaving unconfirmed fields blank or marked unknown. Advertising staff can use these records to improve messages and acquisition routes while the service team updates booking progress.
Keep deposits, expected sales and completed-visit payments distinct
Receiving a deposit does not establish that the entire service amount has been secured. The expected value of a scheduled visit that has not yet taken place, the deposit received and payments confirmed after attendance are different information. Record actual receipts and refunds in the cash view, and completed visits with their associated amounts in the acquisition view.
Link the deposit and final payment to the same customer record. Check that the deposit is not counted again after the full payment amount has been recorded. Update the relevant inquiry group for cancellations or refunds. Since older results can change, record the reporting date and retain visibility into revisions rather than silently overwriting the previous month’s table.
A reported ROAS needs an explainable connection between the revenue and advertising cost used. Do not allocate customers to advertising revenue when their acquisition source and cost cannot be connected. Where the link is incomplete, show advertising spend alongside verified inquiry progress without forcing a single return ratio. Define the next records to connect instead of filling gaps with assumptions.
Leave the monthly meeting with three decisions
First, decide which spending to maintain or reduce using customer groups with sufficiently observed outcomes. Second, set the allowance and next review date for groups still awaiting visits. Third, identify the advertisement, page information or inquiry route to improve. These decisions move next month’s work forward while revenue is still developing.
Two views are enough to begin. The first shows monthly advertising spend with actual receipts and refunds. The second shows customer counts by inquiry period, current status and amounts associated with completed visits. Link the underlying inquiry, visit and payment records using the same customer identifier. This allows revenue received in one month to be traced to inquiries from another. Agree the update owners and the date for reviewing both views together.
growly’s priority is to preserve demand still progressing while limiting spending whose prospects remain unconfirmed. Read the evidence on the customer’s actual timetable. That makes it possible to explain why a budget should be held and why the advertising should change in the same meeting.
Tell us which marketing services you need.
Contact us