Trust and transparency

Why Trust Imprint

Intelligence is only useful if you can verify it. Every score, source, and assumption is documented. Here is how we earn that trust, and where our limits are.

01Methodology Transparency

Transparent scoring criteria, no black boxes.

Evidence

Published formula reference with full equations and weights for all six axes.
Open score band definitions (Emerging through Elite).
Calibration history with dated justifications for every formula change.
Any customer can independently verify the math behind their report.

02Data Integrity Infrastructure

We catch our own bugs before they reach customers.

Evidence

SP1 validation gates reject bad data before it enters scoring (484 automated tests).
SP2 golden baselines catch formula regressions across a 5-tier regression suite.
SP3 cleaned 114 legacy creators from the catalog.
SP4 runs a nightly data integrity audit with 15+ anomaly checks and publishes a structured run manifest tracking cost, errors, and data quality per pipeline run.

03Data Sourcing

Primary-source public data, no purchased datasets.

Evidence

YouTube Data API (official, ToS-compliant).
DataForSEO (licensed search volume data).
Anthropic Claude (analysis layer, not data fabrication).
No scraping behind authentication.
No synthetic or generated data.
No purchased audience databases.

Known limitations

YouTube-only platform coverage (Instagram and TikTok integration planned).
Approximately 10-20 videos analyzed per creator, not the full archive.
Engagement rate unreliable for channels under 1,000 subscribers and nulled rather than faked.

04Limitations and Disclaimers

We are transparent about what the Imprint Score can and cannot tell you.

Evidence

The Imprint Score is not investment advice.
Not a guarantee of creator performance or return on investment.
Not a substitute for direct creator relationships and due diligence.
Data freshness: analyses are valid for approximately 30 days and refreshed nightly.
Platform coverage: YouTube only, with multi-platform integration planned.
Creator focus: the 50K-250K subscriber range where audience relationships are strongest and purchase intent is most measurable.

05Independence Statement

Imprint has no financial relationships with analyzed creators.

Evidence

No commissions, referral fees, or sponsored placements in any report.
Analysis is identical whether the creator knows about it or not.
Imprint does not accept payment from creators for inclusion or favorable scoring.
Revenue comes exclusively from report buyers, not from the creators analyzed.

Questions

Want to dig deeper?

We walk through our process on every discovery call. Every score, every source, every assumption is open to scrutiny.