Days 61 to 90 of a paid social plan: reconcile, decide, exit

The last thirty days of a paid social ninety day plan answer two questions: what did the pilot actually show, and can the client leave cleanly? Day numbers are planning boundaries, not a promise that supplier approval, legal review or learning will finish on schedule.

What to take away

Start from what days 1 to 60 left behind

Days 61 to 90 only work if days 1 to 60 left evidence to reconcile against. Ownership, spending authority and recovery contact were fixed in writing, the design was proved on synthetic records, and the pilot ran inside the signed account and cap. Check both records before opening any export.

The ownership record names the client sponsor, the media payer and the recovery contact. It also lists every advert account, page, billing profile, creative store and measurement property. Without it, a reconciliation cannot say whose spend or whose data it is examining.

The metric cards are the second record. Each metric card defines population, numerator, denominator, unit, period, timezone, inclusions, exclusions and source, so a platform event and a client record can be compared like for like. Cards written after the results arrive are not evidence.

Days 61 to 80: reconcile before interpreting

Reconcile first and interpret second. Deduplicate client records under the pre-written rule, then report unmatched platform and client events, missing periods, consent changes and exclusions. Report missing data as missing. Do not quietly turn an unknown into a zero.

The finance owner checks spend and billing evidence, and the analytics owner reports platform-attributed events separately from client outcomes. Both work from the records of the approved account that governed delivery. An unexplained reconciliation failure is a stop trigger, not a footnote.

Platform exports differ by product. The approved account might sit in Meta Business Suite or LinkedIn Campaign Manager, but the signed record controls which platform is used, and each export is checked against that record rather than against the platform's own summary.

Test whether the design can support a causal claim

Ask first whether the question is causal. If it is, the measurement specialist assesses whether the design has a defensible comparison. HM Treasury's Magenta Book is its guidance on what to consider when designing an evaluation, so a causal question needs that design agreed before the pilot starts.

Without a defensible comparison, describe association or platform attribution only. A platform-attributed event shows what the platform credits to the campaign. It is not the client's business outcome, and the report should keep the two apart.

Days 81 to 90: decide on the thresholds

The decision meeting compares the evidence with the pre-agreed thresholds and chooses one of three outcomes: continue unchanged, redesign one documented variable, or stop. Record dissent and uncertainty rather than averaging them away. Thresholds written before the pilot cannot be bent to suit the result.

Gate: the sponsor may extend the pilot only inside the original cap and scope. Any new audience, channel, creative proposition, data flow or objective returns to design review.

As a planning example, an England pilot with one objective and a small audience might carry a media cap of £5,000 to £15,000 over four weeks. Agency fees are separate, and Finance sets the final cap. File the outcome in the decision, control, evidence and release records of the strategy framework.

Rehearse the exit before anyone needs it

Rehearse the exit in a controlled exercise while the account is still healthy. Pause delivery, export the evidence, revoke agency access and verify billing closure. The account owner then restores only what an approved continuation requires.

Check the result against the termination and data return terms in the contract areas agreed in the first fifteen days. Protect the client's own route back in as well. The NCSC's social media guidance recommends 2-step verification, so that even a criminal who knows a password cannot access an account protected by it.

Day 90 ends with a signed decision, unresolved limitations, the next review trigger and a tested route out.

Stops that override the plan

Pause immediately for unauthorised spend, lost administrative control, changed claims or destination, tracking outside the reviewed state, blocking accessibility defects or unexplained reconciliation failure. Preserve screenshots, exports, timestamps and the last approved version. Platform approval does not override any stop.

Tracking outside the reviewed state deserves a second look in days 61 to 80, because the data protection roles were mapped against the design that was reviewed, not against a later change.

The ICO's final storage and access technologies guidance is the current UK starting point for relevant cookies, pixels and similar tools. Named privacy and PECR review is still required for the actual design, and a tracking change after review reopens it.

Before you act

Common questions

What must exist before days 61 to 90 can start?

An ownership record naming the sponsor, media payer and recovery contact, and metric cards for every figure to be reported. Without them the reconciliation has nothing to compare against.

Who decides at day 90?

The decision meeting compares the evidence with the pre-agreed thresholds. The sponsor may extend the pilot only inside the original spending cap and scope, and any new variable returns to design review.

Why rehearse the exit if the pilot succeeds?

A tested route out is part of the decision, not a sign of doubt. The rehearsal shows that delivery can be paused, evidence exported, agency access revoked and billing closed before a continuation is approved.