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Data freshness

Understand why today's numbers keep moving, and how recent the data behind your reports is.

Paylode's analytics are not real time. Metrics are refreshed on a schedule rather than updated the moment something happens — expect a lag of roughly 6–12 hours between an event and its appearance in your queries, so a figure you read now may differ from the same figure read a little later. This is normal and expected; this page explains where the lag comes from so you can plan reporting around it.

Why the numbers lag​

Two things sit between an event and the number you read:

  • How fast the event itself becomes known. A click is known almost immediately, but a conversion often isn't. A purchase becomes a conversion only after it's reported back to Paylode, which can take hours to days, and the earning on it can stay pending for a while before it locks. See the conversion concept for that side of the timing.
  • How often analytics refreshes. Once an event is known, it flows into your analytics on a refresh schedule. Between refreshes, the numbers hold steady; after a refresh, recent figures update.

What this means for your reports​

  • The current day keeps changing. Day-grained figures for today update at each refresh as more of the day's activity lands. Expect today's number to climb through the day and firm up afterward.
  • Recent periods firm up over time. Because conversions arrive late and earnings settle from pending to locked, the last several days (and their earnings) will keep adjusting for a while. Older periods are stable.
  • For reconciliation, prefer settled data. When you need a number you can rely on, use a date range that's a little in the past and filter to locked earnings.
note

If you re-run the same query minutes apart and see slightly different numbers for the most recent days, that's the refresh cycle at work, not an error. Pull a completed, older period when you need a figure that won't move.

  • Conversion — why a conversion becomes visible after the click, not at the click, and the pending → locked earning lifecycle.
  • Query your metrics — running the queries whose freshness this page describes.