SearchLight vs Scorpion: Reporting or Agency Support?

SearchLight and Scorpion enter the buying decision at different points. SearchLight documents revenue reporting, while Scorpion describes marketing delivery and technology for home-service businesses.

If your campaigns need someone to run them, evaluate an agency. If you already have execution and need clearer reporting, evaluate the reporting setup first.

Identify who owns the decision

Write down the last marketing decision your team struggled to make. Perhaps you could not choose which branch deserved more budget, or whether replacement inquiries were profitable.

Start with the missing answer. A new report helps only when it provides information someone can use.

Test the agency report you already have

Ask your agency to trace a marketing charge to a lead and then to a completed job. Use a real record with customer details removed if necessary.

Include an unbooked inquiry, an existing customer and a canceled job. Ask how each affects lead count, acquisition cost and reported revenue.

If the current report answers those questions clearly, write down the process and use it consistently. A separate reporting product needs a defined advantage over what already works.

Evaluate a separate reporting layer on access and continuity

Ask SearchLight to confirm the exact ad accounts, lead sources and CRM connections your business requires. Request a diagram showing who supplies each field and who corrects errors.

Keep your own administrative access to the agreed accounts. Decide whether the agency will work directly in the reporting product, receive exports or join a shared review.

Ask what happens to historical reporting when you change agencies. Do the same for any report included in an agency package.

Separate software does not automatically mean independent evidence. Check the source records, settings and permissions behind it.

Make differing totals explainable

SearchLight’s attribution documentation describes a first-touch approach for its standard reporting. Have your agency explain its own attribution rules before comparing totals.

Agree on the date used for revenue, the treatment of repeat customers and the source credited when several campaigns touch the same household. Record any differences you intend to keep.

Use the finance team’s completed-job records as a reconciliation point. A marketing report can assign credit to that work without creating additional revenue.

Assign the response to a weak result

A report might show that one location gets inquiries but books few jobs. Agree who investigates the campaign, who reviews call handling and who changes the schedule or service-area settings.

Give each finding an owner and a date. Otherwise, you are paying people to discuss the same chart every month.

Use the fractional-CMO comparison if no one has authority across the agency and your office. For direct agency replacements, start with Scorpion vs RYNO.

The marketing-stack comparison hub maps the other buying categories, including TV advertising and website visitor identification.