To get a clear pic­ture of your impact, it’s impor­tant to col­lect the right data ear­ly on and eval­u­ate how well your prod­uct or ser­vice is actu­al­ly work­ing. At this point, you’re using a mix of qual­i­ta­tive meth­ods (like inter­views or focus groups) and quan­ti­ta­tive tools (such as sur­veys or track­ing soft­ware) to build a broad under­stand­ing of your impact.

There’s a data col­lec­tion plan in place that out­lines what infor­ma­tion is gath­ered, how often and why. You’ve defined clear goals and meth­ods, and you’re check­ing reg­u­lar­ly whether your indi­ca­tors still reflect the out­comes you’re aim­ing for – espe­cial­ly those aligned with step 4 of the impact lad­der. If a method turns out to be too time-con­sum­ing or no longer rel­e­vant, you’re adjust­ing it accord­ing­ly.

A struc­tured approach and easy-to-use tools help you avoid data gaps and incon­sis­tent results. These ear­ly insights allow you to make tar­get­ed improve­ments and ful­ly unlock your impact poten­tial – with­out wast­ing time or resources.