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Data chat
Ask questions about your connected ad data in plain English.
At a glance
- Where in Orbit
- Sidebar › Workspace › Data chat
- Who can use it
- Anyone at your agency: Owners, Admins, Managers and Specialists.
What it’s for
Data chat answers questions about your ad performance in plain English. Ask “What did we spend on Google Ads last month?” and it replies with the numbers, a table and often a chart.
Answers come from the same synced data as your clients’ performance reports, over the same date windows, so the two agree. When a question needs something Orbit doesn’t store, such as today’s numbers or a breakdown by age or device, Data chat can ask the platform directly where that’s possible.
It also answers questions about your setup: how many clients you have, which platforms are connected, which accounts are mapped, and whether your data is up to date.
It only reads. It never changes anything on your ad platforms, and each person can ask up to 30 questions an hour. Check numbers you’ll share against the report: Data chat says itself that “Orbit can make mistakes. Always verify with the underlying report.”
Guides
Questions
Who can use Data chat?
Everyone at your agency: Owners, Admins, Managers and Specialists. Data chat is always in the sidebar.
Can I turn Data chat off for my team?
No. There’s no setting to hide Data chat from people at your agency.
Do Data chat’s numbers match the performance report?
Yes, when you name the client and use the same period. Data chat reads the same synced data and uses the same date windows, ending yesterday.
Does Data chat include today’s numbers?
Not from synced data: every period ends yesterday. Ask about “today” and Data chat queries the platform directly where it can; otherwise it answers through yesterday and says so.
What period does Data chat use if I don’t say?
The last 30 days, ending yesterday.
How far back can I ask about?
One question covers up to 365 days. Ask for a longer range and you get its most recent 365 days.
Can I ask about just one client?
Yes. Name the client in your question, such as “What did Acme spend last month?”. Data chat recognises only clients you can see.
Can I break results down by age, gender, device or location?
Only for platforms Data chat can query directly, because Orbit doesn’t store those breakdowns. Shopify, Amazon Marketplace, The Trade Desk and Amazon Ads can’t be; for those, ask by campaign, ad group, creative, platform or channel.
Break down results by campaign, platform or creativeWhen Data chat asks a platform directly
Can Data chat answer questions about The Trade Desk or Amazon Ads?
Yes, from Orbit’s synced data when there is some. It never queries them directly, so it can’t give today’s numbers or age and device breakdowns for them.
Can Data chat show today’s Shopify or Amazon Marketplace numbers?
No. Data chat never queries Shopify or Amazon Marketplace directly, because their raw records include customers’ personal details.
Can Data chat answer questions about HubSpot, Salesforce or Slack?
Only by querying that source directly through its connection, since its data isn’t stored with your ad results. The same goes for Google Drive, monday.com and BigQuery.
Can Data chat pause campaigns or change budgets?
No. Data chat only reads data. It never changes anything on a platform.
Can I ask Data chat why a number changed?
Yes, as a follow-up. Data chat answers “why” questions from the numbers already in the conversation and doesn’t fetch new data for them, so ask for the numbers first.
Can my teammates see my Data chat conversations?
No. Only the person who started a thread can open it; Owners and Admins can’t open yours either. Press Copy on an answer to share it.
Can I delete or rename a conversation?
No. Threads can’t be deleted, renamed or searched. Each is named after the first 60 characters of its first question.
How many past conversations can I see?
Your 50 most recent, newest activity first, under Recent threads.
Reopen a past conversationConversations, history and suggestions
How much of the conversation does Data chat remember?
The last 20 messages of the current thread. Press New when you change topic.
Is there a limit on how many questions I can ask?
Yes: 30 an hour and 150 in 24 hours, per person. A question answered by querying a platform directly can count more than once; clarifying questions and “why” follow-ups don’t count.
Can I ask how many clients we have, or whether our data is up to date?
Yes. Questions about clients, connections, mapped accounts and sync status are answered from Orbit’s own records, for example “All connections are up to date.”
Why does Data chat say it couldn’t match a platform to my data?
The platform or channel name you used doesn’t match any with data, so it didn’t answer rather than mix everything together. The reply lists the names that do have data.
Why does Data chat say it doesn’t have any performance data for that period?
Nothing synced for those dates. The period may be before the client’s data starts, or their accounts may not be assigned in Account Mapping. The performance report shows the same.
Ask Data chat about one clientWhat assigning an account does
Why does Data chat say the date range is too large?
The period was too big to total in time. Ask about a shorter period, or split it into parts.
Break down results by campaign, platform or creativeData chat’s limits
Why does Data chat ask me which data source to use?
It couldn’t tell which connection or account you meant. Press the option that fits and it answers your original question with that choice.
Can I export a Data chat answer?
Yes. Export CSV downloads the answer’s first table of numbers as data.csv, and Copy copies the answer’s text.
Why is there no chart on my answer?
Charts need a table with at least two columns, two rows and a column of numbers. Results by day open as a line chart; others show View chart for a bar chart.
Which metrics can Data chat report?
Spend, impressions, clicks, conversions, revenue, leads and purchases, plus CTR, CPC, CPM, CPA and ROAS worked out from the totals.
Does Data chat convert currencies?
No. Amounts are added up as they are, so accounts in different currencies are summed together.
Where do the Suggested questions come from?
Suggested shows up to four starter questions. With Facebook Ads or Google Ads connected they’re about those platforms; otherwise they’re general. Pressing one sends it straight away.
Why do I see “Get Started with Talk to Your Data” instead of the chat?
Your agency has no connections yet. An Owner or Admin can press Add Connection and then assign accounts in Account Mapping.
I’m a Manager. Why can’t I add a connection from Data chat’s setup page?
Only Owners and Admins can add connections. The catalog says “Only agency owners and admins can add connections. Ask one of them to connect this platform.”
Can I trust Data chat’s numbers?
It reads the same synced data as the performance report, but check anything you’ll share. Data chat says itself: “Orbit can make mistakes. Always verify with the underlying report.”
Can I stop an answer that’s taking too long?
Yes. Press Stop, which replaces Ask while Data chat is answering.
How do I add a new line without sending my question?
Press Shift+Enter. Enter on its own sends the question.
What AI does Data chat use?
Claude, by Anthropic, as the Powered by Claude note says. The numbers themselves come from your synced data or the platform, not from the AI.
How it works
Explainer: What Data chat can answer, and where answers come from
Data chat answers from the same synced performance data as your clients’ reports. Questions about your setup come from Orbit’s own records, and a few kinds of question need the platform itself.
| You ask about | Data chat answers from |
|---|---|
| Spend, clicks, conversions, revenue and other results | Orbit’s synced performance data, the same data as performance reports. |
| Your setup: clients, connections, mapped accounts, sync status | Orbit’s own records, counted directly. |
| “Why” follow-ups about an earlier answer | Only the numbers already shown in the conversation. |
| Today’s numbers | The platform directly, where it can be queried. Otherwise complete days only. |
| Age, gender, device, placement, location, keyword or hour | The platform directly, where it can be queried. Otherwise it says it can’t. |
| HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Google Drive, monday.com or BigQuery | That source directly, since its data isn’t stored with your ad results. |
| Something it can’t pin down | It asks you what you meant, with options to pick. |
- Results can be split by date, platform, channel, account, campaign, ad group or ad set, creative and client.
- Metrics are spend, impressions, clicks, conversions, revenue, leads and purchases. CTR, CPC, CPM, CPA and ROAS are worked out from the summed totals.
- If the synced data has nothing for your period, Data chat says so. It never fills the gap with numbers from the platform, so it stays in line with the report.
- Answers are read-only. Data chat never changes anything on a platform.
Explainer: Which dates an answer covers
If you don’t name a period, Data chat uses the last 30 days. Every period ends at the last complete day, which is yesterday in UTC, because platforms are still adding to today’s numbers.
| You ask for | What it covers |
|---|---|
| No period | The last 30 days, ending yesterday. |
| “Last 7 days”, “last 30 days” or “last 90 days” | Those days, ending yesterday: the same windows as the performance report. |
| “This month” or “month to date” | The start of this month to yesterday. |
| “Last month” | The previous calendar month. |
| Dates, such as “March 1 to March 15” | Exactly those dates, up to yesterday. |
| More than 365 days | The most recent 365 days of the range you asked for. |
| “Today” or “right now” | Live numbers where the platform can be queried directly. Otherwise complete days only, with a note. |
- Follow-ups such as “break that down by campaign” keep the period from your previous question.
Explainer: When Data chat asks a platform directly
Data chat asks a platform directly only when Orbit’s synced data can’t answer: for today’s numbers, a breakdown Orbit doesn’t store, or a source whose data isn’t synced.
It does this through the connection you added for that platform in Integrations. These can’t be queried directly, so questions that need it get complete days only, or a note that the breakdown isn’t available:
- Shopify and Amazon Marketplace, because their raw records include customers’ personal details.
- The Trade Desk and Amazon Ads, which reach Orbit another way. Data chat answers about them from synced data only.
- A question answered this way can count more than once toward your hourly limit: once for each query Data chat runs on the platform.
Explainer: Conversations, history and suggestions
Each conversation is a thread. Your first question starts one, and it’s listed under Recent threads so you can pick it up later. Only you can open your threads.
- A thread is named after the first 60 characters of its first question.
- Recent threads lists your 50 most recent threads, newest activity first, dated Today, Yesterday or by date.
- Within a thread, Data chat remembers the last 20 messages, so follow-ups like “now by campaign” work. Press New when you change topic.
- Only you can open your threads. Teammates, including Owners and Admins, can’t open them.
- Threads can’t be renamed, deleted or searched.
- Suggested offers up to four starter questions. With Facebook Ads or Google Ads connected, they’re about those platforms. Pressing one sends it straight away.
Limits: Data chat’s limits
Each person can ask 30 questions an hour and 150 in 24 hours. Both are rolling windows, so questions free up as older ones age out.
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Questions per person per hour | 30, rolling |
| Questions per person per 24 hours | 150, rolling |
| Clarifying questions and “why” follow-ups | Don’t count toward the limits |
| A question answered from the platform directly | Counts once for each query it runs |
| Longest period in one question | 365 days |
| Conversation memory | The last 20 messages of the thread |
| Threads listed | Your 50 most recent |
- Breakdowns and rankings show the top rows. Ask for a number, such as “top 50 campaigns”, to see more.
- A very long period can be too big to total in time. Data chat then asks you to try a narrower range.
Limits: What Data chat can’t do
Data chat reads your data; it can’t change it. It also can’t answer from data Orbit doesn’t hold and can’t reach.
- Change anything on a platform, such as pausing a campaign or moving budget.
- Show today’s numbers for a platform it can’t query directly. It answers through yesterday and says so.
- Break results down by age, gender, device, placement, location, keyword or hour for a platform it can’t query directly.
- Answer about HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack and similar sources unless it can query them directly.
- List a source’s tables or columns unless it can query that source directly.
- Answer about a platform or channel name that doesn’t match your data. It tells you which names do.
- Convert currencies. Amounts are added up as they are.
Prevention: Get accurate answers from Data chat
Name the client, the metric and the period, and ask one thing at a time. That’s what Data chat needs to pull the right numbers first time.
- Name the client to get that client’s numbers alone, for example “What did Acme spend last month?”.
- Use the standard periods, “last 7 days”, “last 30 days”, “last 90 days” or “month to date”, when you want to match the performance report exactly.
- Use platform names as they appear in your data. If a name doesn’t match, the reply lists the ones that do.
- Ask multi-part questions one part at a time. If an answer fails part-way, ask again in parts.
- Ask for breakdowns by campaign, ad group, creative, platform or channel, which Orbit always stores.
- Press New when you change topic, so earlier questions don’t steer the answer.
- Check numbers you’ll share against the report: “Orbit can make mistakes. Always verify with the underlying report.”
Explainer: What assigning an account does
Each ad account belongs to one client. That decides whose dashboards, reports, pacing and Data chat answers its data appears in.
- Until an account has a client, its data syncs but appears nowhere: not in dashboards, reports or Data chat.
- An account can belong to one client only.
- Assigning an account starts a sync straight away. Earlier days catch up as Orbit re-syncs them, up to 90 days back.
- When you choose accounts on a connection, Suggested means Orbit pre-filled a client because its name appears in the account’s name. Nothing is saved until you save.
- Find Accounts adds accounts already chosen on a connection that are missing from this list. It doesn’t fetch new accounts from the platform: to add those, open the connection from Integrations.
- Re-check account names from Google/Meta refreshes names for every connection whose accounts you pick from a list, not only Google and Meta. Google Analytics, Shopify and Amazon Marketplace aren’t included.
Explainer: System Role: what each one can do
A System Role sets what someone can change in Orbit. Owners and Admins can do almost everything. Managers and Specialists work on plans, reports and pacing, and can view clients and connections without changing them.
Owner and Admin have the same permissions, with three exceptions. Only an Owner can make someone an Owner. The last Owner can’t be demoted or removed, so your agency always has one. And only an Admin can choose a client’s Trade Desk advertiser and push to The Trade Desk.
A System Role decides what someone can do. Which clients they can see is set separately, in their Client Access.
| Task | Owner and Admin | Manager | Specialist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add and edit clients | Yes | View only | View only |
| Connect, reauthenticate or delete platforms | Yes | View only | View only |
| Assign ad accounts to clients | Yes | View only | View only |
| Invite teammates and change their roles | Yes | No | No |
| Branding, report templates and agency goals | Yes | No | No |
| Choose what clients see in their portal | Yes | Yes | No |
| Create and edit media plans | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Delete, archive or restore media plans | Yes | Yes | No |
| Change taxonomy | Yes | Yes | No |
| Build custom reports | Yes | No | No |
| Build AI Reports, where your agency has them | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Send reports to clients | Yes | Yes | No |
| Set pacing targets and budgets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| See margin and profit in pacing | Yes | No | No |
| Ask Data chat | Yes | Yes | Yes |