---
title: Category Loop Health Check
seo_title: Category Loop Health Check | Score your category loop | Advise
description: How well does your category loop run? Answer 18 questions in about 5 minutes and get a free Loop Score for each of the six stages.
slug: /health-check
template: standard
date: 2026-10-19
resource: "Free · 5 minutes"
category: Tool
card_title: Category Loop Health Check
pin: true
tags: [loop, projects, category]
schema: WebPage
next_heading: Ready to move your loop forward?
next_text: See Advise in its full glory in a 30-minute demo, or talk to us about how our services and adoption programme can help your team run the loop.
next_ctas:
  - { label: Book a demo, href: "/demo" }
  - { label: Chat to us about how we can help, href: "/services" }
---

# Category Loop Health Check

How well does your category loop run? 18 questions, about 5 minutes. Get your Loop Score free.

## The six stages {#stages}

Every range review, promotion plan and joint business plan goes round the same loop. The Health Check scores your team on each stage, from 0 to 100, and adds them up to a Loop Score.

- **Brief:** the work starts from a written request with the retailer, the objective, the deadline and an owner.
- **Diagnose:** the team builds a clear view of the category from retailer, market and panel data together.
- **Recommend:** more than one option is compared, against KPIs and targets written down before the meeting.
- **Decide:** someone approves, changes or rejects the plan, and the record says who, why and the result they expect.
- **Execute:** what the buyer actually agreed is recorded and passed to the teams who have to act on it.
- **Measure:** the expected result is checked against what happened, and the lessons go into the next brief.

## What your Loop Score means {#bands}

- **Reporting (0 to 24):** the team reports on the category, but the loop isn't running yet.
- **Reviewing (25 to 49):** parts of the loop run, usually around the big retailer moments.
- **Running (50 to 74):** the team runs most of the loop. The record and the review are the usual gaps.
- **Learning (75 to 100):** the team runs the loop and checks results against the plan. Learning needs a strong Measure score as well as a high total.

Your free result shows your Loop Score, your band and your weakest stage. The full report adds what each stage score means and three next steps for every stage.