🎯 Goal
Benchmark your current-period performance against a prior period using Agency Insights — so you can see what's up, what's down, and what's trending across your agency's activity.
❓ Why
A standalone metric is a number. A metric compared to a prior period is a story. "We did 14 viewings this week" means nothing; "14 viewings this week, up 40% on last week" tells you something worth discussing. Period comparisons turn dashboards from reports into decision support.
🔍 Overview
Agency Insights has a built-in Historical Data Set toggle. It compares the time period you've set against the immediately-preceding equivalent period of the same length — so a 7-day view compares to the previous 7 days, a quarter to the preceding quarter, and so on.
📊 Step-by-step
Open the dashboard you want to review (or build one)
Set the time period you care about — last 7 days, last month, last quarter, or a custom range.
Toggle Historical Data Set (or the equivalent compare-to-prior-period toggle).
Kato automatically compares your current period to the equivalent prior period of the same length.
The dashboard shows percentage change, directional arrows, and side-by-side numbers where relevant.
📊 How the historical comparison works
It compares:
The time period you have set (e.g. this week)
vs. the period immediately before (e.g. last week)
Example: looking at a 7-day period which is the week of 15–21 April 2026, the historical dataset is the previous 7 days (8–14 April 2026). Kato shows both numbers and calculates the change.
✅ You've done it when…
Your dashboard shows current-period figures alongside prior-period equivalents and percentage change — ready for your team review or leadership discussion.
💡 Common mistakes & pro tips
Weekly comparisons can be noisy. Short periods have high natural variability. Monthly or quarterly comparisons tend to be more meaningful.
Watch for seasonality. "August vs. September" naturally shows a jump because August is a quiet month. Year-on-year comparisons (same period last year) are better for spotting underlying trends — use custom date ranges for this.
Focus on the big movers. A 5% change is often noise; a 40% change deserves investigation. Don't drown in minor variations.
Context beats percentage. "Transactions up 60%" means different things if you went from 5 to 8 vs. 50 to 80. Always check the absolute numbers alongside the percentages.
Use period comparison as a conversation starter, not a performance verdict. The trend raises questions; answers come from digging in.
💬 Need Help?
📞 0203 772 8898