How to measure an AI agent at work

Measure the agent and the function separately

Two different questions hide inside 'is the agent working?'. One is whether the agent does its job: the posts appear, the replies are drafted, the report arrives. The other is whether the function is helping the business: more inquiries, more bookings, more visits.

Keep them apart. An agent can do flawless work on a plan that was never going to bring in customers, and a clumsy agent can look good in a strong season. If you mix the two, you will end up replacing the wrong thing.

Four measures of the agent

Track four things. None of them needs special software; a notebook will do.

• Work delivered. Of the tasks you set for the week, how many were completed?
• Approved as drafted. What share of drafts did you release without changing them? A rising share means your direction and its drafts are getting closer together.
• Waiting time. How long does a comment or DM sit before a reply goes out? Include your own approval time.
• Hours returned. For two weeks, jot down the time you spend on the function. Compare it with the time you spent before.

Measures of the function

For marketing and social media, the function's measures come in two layers. The first is social: how many people viewed the profile, clicked a link or interacted, and at what rate. The second is commercial and sits in your own records: bookings, orders, sign-ups, foot traffic.

Read the layers together. Rising link clicks with flat bookings usually points to the page people land on. Flat clicks with rising bookings may mean the growth came from somewhere else.

Record where you started

Every measure needs a starting figure, and the only time to capture it is before the agent begins. Write down how often you posted last month, how long replies took and what the social numbers were. Ten minutes of notes now prevents an argument later.

A monthly review in fifteen minutes

Put a short review in the calendar on the same day each month.

• Read the report. Mark one thing that worked and one that did not.
• Check the four agent measures against last month.
• Compare the social figures with your own count of bookings or orders.
• Choose one change to the direction you give the agent, and write it down.

Where Link AI fits

Part of our reason for recommending Link AI by Linkme for the marketing function is that the social layer of those measures comes from the agent itself. Its Analytics view has four figures a monthly review can use: profile views and link clicks for reach, total interactions and engagement rate for response. The owner's report is written and sent by the agent's Reports role, which takes care of the first step of the review above. And a question such as 'Which recent posts drove engagement and sales?' can be put to it in chat.

The agent-level measures and your commercial records remain yours to keep, and no report makes a result certain. Link AI reports on marketing and social media only, so any other function needs figures of its own. To look at the Analytics and the owner's report before you decide, book a demo to try Link AI.

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