How to decide after two weeks: reading the scorecard and the log

Score again before you talk

On day 14, each person who used the tool fills in the five scores alone, before any discussion. Use the same scale: 0 for not there, 1 for there with a gap, 2 for working on your own content. Leave the weights exactly as they were.

Then compare with the scores you gave after the demo. Rows that went up are pleasant surprises. Rows that went down are the ones a demo flattered, and each deserves a sentence on what happened.

Four numbers from the log

The scorecard says what the tool can do. The log says what the two weeks were like. Pull four numbers from it.

• Posts out as planned. Published against planned, across both weeks.
• Fixes by hand. How many times someone finished the job in a platform's own app.
• Stalled approvals. Drafts that waited longer than a working day.
• Minutes against the baseline. Week two compared with the week you measured before starting.

Three outcomes

Almost every evaluation ends in one of three places.

A clear leader

One option is ahead on the total and on the rows you weighted 3, and the log shows less time spent than your baseline. Decide, and move to planning the switch.

A close call

Two totals sit within a point or two of each other. Do not add rows until one wins. Use the tie-breakers below, in order.

No fit

Nothing gets near your ceiling, or the minutes went up. Staying with your current routine is a legitimate result. Write down which row failed, because that is the knock-out for your next shortlist.

Tie-breakers that hold up

When totals are level, these four settle most cases. Price is deliberately absent. If it mattered enough to break a tie, it should have been a row.

• The heaviest row. Whichever option scored higher on the row you weighted 3 first.
• Hand work left over. The option with fewer fixes by hand in week two.
• The daily user's preference. The person who will open it every morning, not the person who signs the invoice.
• The cost of leaving. The option that lets you take your calendar and content with you.

Plan the switch and set a review date

A decision is not finished until the old routine is switched off. Pick a start date at the beginning of a week. Move the next two weeks of planned posts across. Tell everyone who posts where drafts now live and who approves them. Remove publishing access nobody needs any more.

Then put a date in the calendar ninety days out and score the five rows one more time.

Where Link AI fits in the decision

Our editorial pick is Link AI by Linkme, and we would rather it won on your sheet than on our say-so. Going by Linkme's description, its case rests on two rows small teams tend to weight highest. One is content supply: images, videos and post drafts are produced by the agent. The other is calendar and queue: the week arrives planned, and one queue serves all five platforms.

For the review at ninety days, Linkme lists an owner report written by the Reports role and an Analytics view (profile views, link clicks, total interactions, engagement rate). What real use before committing looks like is for Linkme to say. Put that question in writing before you book a demo to try Link AI.

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