The difference between monitoring and evaluation
Launch library · evergreen read
Monitoring is the ongoing, routine tracking of a campaign's activity and early indicators, usually happening continuously while a campaign is underway and still very much in motion. Evaluation is a more considered, periodic assessment of whether the campaign is actually achieving what it set out to achieve overall.
Monitoring gives quick, regular feedback that helps a team notice problems early, while evaluation takes a step back to ask deeper questions about overall effectiveness, questions that routine monitoring on its own is rarely designed or equipped to answer with any real depth or nuance, which is exactly why the two need each other in practice.
Campaigns that combine both tend to catch problems earlier through monitoring while still building a genuine, considered understanding of their overall effectiveness through periodic evaluation, rather than relying too heavily on one approach at the expense of the other entirely, losing the distinct benefit each approach was meant to provide.