Query Set Design and Coverage Validation (Onboarding)

Query Set Design and Coverage Validation (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Write the client's decision list before touching any monitoring tool

   Capture the four to six decisions the retainer is meant to support (crisis escalation, share-of-voice defense, product launch read, competitor move tracking). Every query you build later must map to one of these decisions or it gets cut.

2. 02

   Translate each decision into a boolean query with named exclusions

   Specify brand variants, misspellings, product names, competitor handles, and negative keywords for false positives. A query without exclusions will bury the analyst in noise and inflate delivery hours.

3. 03

   Set source coverage per query and record the sampling limits in writing

   Note which networks are fully indexed versus sampled, and which languages the client actually needs. Coverage claims that outrun the tool's index become client disputes at month three.

4. 04

   Run a 72-hour backfill test and count true positives by hand

   Sample 100 returned mentions, tag each as relevant or noise, and compute a precision rate. Below roughly 70 percent precision, rewrite the query before the client ever sees a dashboard.

5. 05

   Assign an analyst owner and an escalation owner to each query group

   Crisis queries need a named human on call with a response window, not just an alert email. Document who reads what and within how many hours.

6. 06

   Price the engagement against analyst hours, not seat count

   Estimate weekly review time per query group, add escalation standby, and build the retainer around the review cadence the client receives. Dashboard access alone is not the deliverable.

7. 07

   Get written client sign-off on the query set and the review rhythm

   Record the approved queries, the reporting cadence, and the escalation thresholds in the onboarding document so scope changes later are a conversation, not an argument.