The marketing operations audit checklist we run in week one

How to use this checklist

This is the checklist we run in week 1 of a marketing operations audit, before recommending any tool or hire. It covers 5 areas: numbers and definitions, systems and data flow, campaign process, reporting rhythm, and compliance of tracking. Each of the 24 items below is a question with a stated pass condition, answered pass or fail against that condition rather than a general impression of how things feel.

Score each of the 5 sections separately, then add up passes across all 24 items. A team passing most items in every section has a tooling problem at most. A team failing a third or more, 8 or more of the 24, has an operations problem: something is missing that a new platform will not fix, because the gap is in ownership and process, not features.

Run it honestly. The most common failure mode among the 24 items is scoring 1 “pass” because the team intends to do something, rather than because it actually happens every time. A consent banner that sometimes fires late, or a naming convention that half the team follows, counts as a fail here. The checklist is only useful if the score reflects what happens on a normal week, not what the process looks like on its best day.

Numbers and definitions

1. Is there 1 written definition of a lead, shared by marketing, sales and finance? Pass: a single document defines it, and all 3 functions use the same one.
2. Does every stage in the funnel have 1 definition that does not depend on who is looking at it? Pass: a rep and a marketer would classify the same record the same way.
3. Can last month’s marketing-sourced revenue be traced to specific campaigns without a manual rebuild? Pass: the number comes from a report, not a spreadsheet someone reassembles by hand.
4. Do marketing and finance agree on how a conversion is counted? Pass: both functions can point to the same definition when asked separately.
5. Is there a named owner for the data dictionary, someone other than “whoever notices it’s wrong”? Pass: 1 person’s name is attached to keeping definitions current.

Systems and data flow

1. Does a lead move from the marketing automation platform to the CRM without manual export? Pass: the transfer happens automatically, within 24 hours, not days.
2. Are required fields actually required in the CRM, not just labeled that way? Pass: the system blocks a save when a required field is empty.
3. Is there a single source of truth for campaign spend, rather than 1 number in the ad platform and another in the finance sheet? Pass: 1 number is authoritative, and everyone reporting spend pulls from it.
4. Can someone outside the marketing team see current campaign performance without asking marketing for a screenshot? Pass: a live dashboard exists and the relevant people have access to it.
5. When a tool is added or removed, does anyone check what breaks downstream? Pass: there is a documented list of what each tool feeds, checked before a change.

Campaign process

1. Does every campaign launch follow the same written sequence, regardless of who runs it? Pass: a checklist or brief template exists and gets used, not just referenced.
2. Is there a standard naming convention for campaigns and UTM parameters? Pass: a new campaign can be identified in reporting without asking the person who built it.
3. Does someone review a campaign brief before launch for consistency with the funnel definitions above? Pass: a second person signs off, not just the person who built the campaign.
4. Is there a documented process for what happens when a campaign underperforms mid-flight? Pass: a decision point and an owner are defined in advance, not improvised after the fact.
5. Are past campaigns archived with their results in a place the whole team can search? Pass: someone new to the team could find what was tried last year without asking around.

Reporting rhythm

1. Do the same numbers appear in the weekly or monthly report every cycle, rather than shifting based on what looks good? Pass: the report template is fixed, and changes to it are visible, not silent.
2. Does a report reach decision makers on a fixed schedule, rather than when someone remembers to send it? Pass: a calendar invite or automated send exists, not an ad hoc habit.
3. Is there a gap between when data is available and when it is reported, and is that gap known? Pass: someone can state the lag in days, rather than guessing.
4. When a number looks wrong, is there a documented way to trace it back to its source? Pass: someone can explain, step by step, where a report’s figures came from.

Compliance of tracking

1. Does the site have a consent banner that blocks non-essential tracking tags until a visitor consents? Pass: analytics and ad tags do not fire before consent is given, verified in a browser with tracking blocked.
2. Is consent state actually passed to the ad and analytics platforms, not just collected and ignored? Pass: the platform’s own documentation confirms the signal is received, not assumed.
3. Does every marketing email include a working opt-out link and a valid physical address, as the Federal Trade Commission requires? Pass: unsubscribing removes the recipient within 10 business days, tested with a real email address.
4. Are sponsored posts and paid placements disclosed clearly enough that a reader would notice them, not just technically labeled? Pass: per the Federal Trade Commission’s .com Disclosures guidance, the disclosure sits next to the claim it qualifies, not buried in a bio or footer.
5. Is there a record of what data each tracking pixel or tag collects, and why? Pass: a current list exists and someone could produce it without an audit.

Scoring and what to do next

Add up the passes. A score of 20 or more out of 24 means the operations are largely sound, and any remaining fixes are narrow enough to schedule internally. A score of 15 to 19 means real gaps exist, usually concentrated in 1 or 2 sections, worth a focused fix rather than a full rebuild. Below 15 means the gaps are structural: fixing 1 section will not hold if the others stay broken, because campaign process depends on clean definitions, and reporting depends on both.

This checklist is the starting point for the marketing operations audits we run, and the Marketing-Operational System practice page explains how a 2-week engagement turns a low score into a working system. For the regulated-industry version of this same audit, see how fintech marketing operations and healthcare marketing operations add sector-specific checks, or read about the AI workflows that remove the manual steps this checklist surfaces. If your score points to a structural gap, get in touch to scope a full audit.

FAQ

Sources

1. Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business
2. Google for Developers, Consent mode overview
3. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Official Journal of the European Union
4. Federal Trade Commission, .com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising

Ilia PushinFounder, Pushers · Co-founder and COO, ARBI ExchangeIlia builds operating systems for growing companies in fintech and healthcare. Since 2021 he has run cross-border payments at ARBI Exchange, a licensed currency exchange in Thailand, including KYC and AML and the move into new jurisdictions.About the authorLinkedIn