How Long Do Surmado Reports Take to Generate?

Signal: 10-15 minutes (tests 7 AI platforms with 50+ queries) Scan: 15-30 minutes (depends on site size: 30 pages vs 100 pages) Solutions: 15-20 minutes (6-AI adversarial debate + synthesis)

Reading time: 11 minutes

What you’ll learn:

• The minute-by-minute breakdown of what happens during processing (Signal’s 8-12 minute response analysis phase, Scan’s 5-20 minute page testing)
• Why variance exists (Signal 10-20 min depending on AI platform delays, Scan 15-45 min based on site speed and page count)
• Factors that make reports faster or slower: standard vs custom personas, fast vs slow websites, JavaScript-heavy sites
• When to contact support (Signal over 30 min, Scan over 60 min, Solutions over 30 min are concerning delays)
• Time comparison vs alternatives: Signal 300x faster than manual testing (10 min vs 2-4 hours), Solutions 2,000x faster than consultants (15 min vs 2-4 weeks)

Total time investment: 5 minutes to submit + 10-30 minutes automated processing + 15 minutes to read report = 30-50 minutes end-to-end.

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Signal Processing Time

Average: 10-15 Minutes

What Signal does during processing:

Minutes 1-8: Query testing

• Submits 50+ persona queries to 7 AI platforms (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek)
• Each platform responds in 5-30 seconds
• Parallel processing (tests multiple platforms simultaneously)

Minutes 8-12: Response analysis

• Parses AI responses (mentions, rankings, sentiment)
• Calculates Presence Rate and Authority Score
• Identifies competitors and Ghost Influence

Minutes 12-15: Report generation

• Compiles findings into PDF
• Generates JSON Intelligence Token
• Sends email notification

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Factors That Affect Signal Speed

Faster (10 minutes):

• Standard personas (Signal’s built-in templates)
• Fewer custom personas (3-5 vs 10-15)
• AI platforms responding quickly (low load)

Slower (15-20 minutes):

• Many custom personas (15+ unique queries)
• Complex multi-part queries
• AI platform delays (rare: platform maintenance or high traffic)

Very rarely slower (30 minutes):

• Signal encounters rate limits from AI platforms
• System retries queries automatically
• Happens <1% of the time

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Scan Processing Time

Average: 15-30 Minutes

What Scan does during processing:

Minutes 1-5: Site discovery

• Crawls website to find all pages
• Reads sitemap.xml if available
• Identifies page structure

Minutes 5-20: Page testing (depends on site size)

• Tests each page (Core Web Vitals, accessibility, technical SEO)
• Scan Basic: Up to 30 pages (5-10 minutes)
• Scan Pro: Up to 100 pages (15-25 minutes)

Minutes 20-25: Issue aggregation

• Compiles all issues across pages
• Prioritizes by severity (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW)
• Calculates overall score

Minutes 25-30: Report generation

• Creates PDF with page-level recommendations
• Generates JSON Intelligence Token
• Sends email notification

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Factors That Affect Scan Speed

Faster (15 minutes):

• Scan Basic (30 pages or fewer)
• Fast-loading website (good Core Web Vitals)
• Static content (no heavy JavaScript)

Slower (30-45 minutes):

• Scan Pro (100 pages)
• Slow website (poor performance, 5+ second load times)
• JavaScript-heavy site (requires rendering)
• Many images (thousands of images to check)

Very rarely slower (60 minutes):

• Very large sites (near 100-page limit)
• Complex page interactions (SPAs, dynamic content)
• Server rate-limiting Scan’s crawler
• Happens <2% of the time

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Solutions Processing Time

Average: 15-20 Minutes

What Solutions does during processing:

Minutes 1-10: Six-AI debate

• CFO AI analyzes financial feasibility (2 minutes)
• COO AI analyzes operational execution (2 minutes)
• Market Realist AI applies benchmarks (2 minutes)
• Game Theorist AI models competition (2 minutes)
• Chief Strategist AI evaluates strategic fit (2 minutes)
• Wildcard AI surfaces non-obvious risks (2 minutes)
• Parallel processing (all 6 models run simultaneously)

Minutes 10-15: Synthesis

• Combines perspectives into coherent recommendations
• Prioritizes actions (HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW)
• Identifies conflicts or consensus across AI models

Minutes 15-20: Report generation

• Formats findings into PDF
• Generates JSON Intelligence Token
• Sends email notification

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Factors That Affect Solutions Speed

Faster (15 minutes):

• Simple question (single decision)
• Clear context provided
• Standard business scenario (SaaS, e-commerce, services)

Slower (20-25 minutes):

• Complex multi-part question (comparing 3+ options)
• Novel business model (AI needs more analysis time)
• Very detailed context (more data to process)

Rarely slower (30 minutes):

• Solutions Pro (complex scenario modeling)
• Multiple strategy comparisons
• Happens <3% of the time

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When You Receive Results

Email Notification

When processing completes:

• Email sent to address used at purchase
• Subject: “Your [Signal/Scan/Solutions] report is ready”
• Contains:
  • Link to PDF report
  • Intelligence Token
  • Link to account dashboard

Check spam folder if you don’t receive email within expected time.

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Account Dashboard

Real-time status:

• Login to surmado.com/reports
• See report status:
  • “Processing” (yellow indicator)
  • “Complete” (green indicator, download available)
  • Estimated time remaining shown

Download anytime:

• Reports stored permanently in account
• Access PDF and JSON anytime
• No expiration date

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Typical User Timeline

End-to-end timing (from purchase to reading report):

Step 1: Submit report (5 minutes)

• Fill in business info
• Choose or write personas
• Complete purchase

Step 2: Automated processing (10-30 minutes)

• Signal: 10-15 minutes
• Scan: 15-30 minutes
• Solutions: 15-20 minutes
• You can close browser, go do other work

Step 3: Email notification (instant when ready)

• Check email
• Click link to download PDF

Step 4: Read and analyze report (15-30 minutes)

• Review findings
• Note key recommendations
• Prioritize actions

Total time: 30-65 minutes (5 min submit + 10-30 min processing + 15-30 min reading)

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What If Report Takes Longer Than Expected?

Normal Variance

Acceptable delays:

• Signal: 10-20 minutes (within normal range)
• Scan: 15-45 minutes (depends on site size)
• Solutions: 15-25 minutes (depends on complexity)

No action needed if within these ranges.

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When to Contact Support

Concerning delays:

• Signal: Over 30 minutes
• Scan: Over 60 minutes
• Solutions: Over 30 minutes

What to do:

1. Check account dashboard (surmado.com/reports) for status
2. Check spam folder for email notification
3. If still no report: Email hi@surmado.com with order ID

Response time: Support responds within 4 hours (business days)

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Common Delay Causes and Solutions

AI platform rate limits (Signal):

• Cause: ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity temporarily rate-limiting queries
• Solution: Signal automatically retries (adds 5-10 minutes)
• Rare: Happens <1% of the time

Slow website (Scan):

• Cause: Website takes 10+ seconds to load pages
• Solution: Scan waits for pages to load fully (adds 15-30 minutes)
• Common for slow e-commerce sites with many products

Complex strategy (Solutions):

• Cause: Multi-part question requiring extensive analysis
• Solution: Synthesis engine takes longer to reconcile 6 AI perspectives
• Rare: Happens <3% of the time

System load (all products):

• Cause: High volume of concurrent reports
• Solution: Reports queued, processed in order
• Rare: Happens during promotional periods only

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Can I Speed Up Report Generation?

Not really (already optimized). But you can optimize input:

For Signal:

• Use standard personas (faster than custom)
• Submit 3-5 personas (not 15+)
• Trade-off: Fewer personas = less analysis across 7 AI platforms

For Scan:

• Choose Scan Basic if site is under 30 pages (faster)
• Optimize your website speed (Scan crawls faster on fast sites)
• Trade-off: Basic tier tests fewer pages

For Solutions:

• Ask specific single question (not 3-part comparisons)
• Provide concise context (not 1,000-word background)
• Trade-off: Less context = less nuanced recommendations

Bottom line: Turnaround time is already fast (10-30 minutes). Optimizing input saves 5-10 minutes max, not worth sacrificing quality.

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Bulk Report Processing

If ordering multiple reports (e.g., agency running reports for 10 clients):

Processing:

• Reports run in parallel (not sequential)
• 10 Signal reports: 10-15 minutes total (not 10 × 15 = 150 minutes)
• System handles concurrent processing

Limits:

• Up to 10 concurrent reports
• Above 10: Queued and processed in batches
• Contact sales@surmado.com for bulk pricing and dedicated processing

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Report Delivery During Off-Hours

24/7 automated processing:

• Submit report anytime (midnight, weekend, holiday)
• Processing starts immediately
• No delays for off-hours

Example:

• Submit Signal Saturday 11pm
• Report delivered Saturday 11:15pm (15 minutes)
• No “business hours” requirement

Human support:

• Available business hours (M-F 9am-6pm PT)
• Off-hours support: Email hi@surmado.com (response next business day)

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Time Comparison vs Alternatives

Signal vs manual AI testing:

• Manual: 2-4 hours (testing 7 platforms, 50+ queries)
• Signal: 10-15 minutes (300x faster)

Scan vs manual website audit:

• Manual: 8-16 hours (developer checking 150+ issues)
• Scan: 15-30 minutes (30x faster)

Solutions vs consultant:

• Consultant: 2-4 weeks (meetings, analysis, report delivery)
• Solutions: 15-20 minutes (2,000x faster)

Surmado optimizes for speed without sacrificing accuracy.

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The Bottom Line

Surmado reports are fast:

• Signal: 10-15 minutes (AI platform testing)
• Scan: 15-30 minutes (website audit)
• Solutions: 15-20 minutes (strategic analysis)

Total time investment: 30-50 minutes (submit + processing + reading)

Faster than:

• Manual testing (hours to days)
• Consultants (weeks)
• Traditional research (months)

You can run a report, grab coffee, come back to complete analysis in under an hour.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get a report instantly?

No. Reports require real-time testing:

Signal: Must query 7 AI platforms (10 minutes minimum) Scan: Must crawl and test website pages (15 minutes minimum) Solutions: Must run 6-AI debate (15 minutes minimum)

No shortcuts that maintain accuracy. Instant reports would be cached/simulated (not real-time).

Do I need to stay on the page while report processes?

No. Close browser after submitting:

• Processing happens server-side
• Email sent when complete
• Access report anytime via dashboard

Don’t need to wait on screen (go do other work).

Can I track report progress in real-time?

Yes, via account dashboard:

• Login to surmado.com/reports
• See status: “Processing” with progress bar
• Estimated time remaining shown
• Refresh page for updates

Email notification sent when complete (no need to refresh constantly).

What if I need a report urgently?

Standard turnaround (10-30 minutes) is already fast.

For true urgency:

• Email hi@surmado.com BEFORE ordering
• Explain urgency (board meeting in 2 hours, etc.)
• Support can prioritize in queue

Priority processing: Not guaranteed, but we try to help urgent cases.

Do re-runs take the same time?

Yes. Every report is generated fresh:

• Re-running Signal monthly: Each takes 10-15 minutes
• Re-running Scan quarterly: Each takes 15-30 minutes
• Not faster on subsequent runs (not cached)

Why: AI platforms and websites change. Fresh testing = accurate data.

Can I order multiple report types simultaneously?

Yes. Ordering Signal + Scan + Solutions:

• All process in parallel
• Total time: 30 minutes (longest of the three)
• Not sequential (not 15 + 30 + 20 = 65 minutes)

Example:

• Order Signal, Scan, Solutions at 2:00pm
• All three complete by 2:30pm
• Receive 3 reports in one batch

What happens if report fails during processing?

Rare (<0.5% of reports), but if it happens:

Automatic retry:

• System detects failure
• Retries automatically (adds 10-15 minutes)
• Usually succeeds on second attempt

If second attempt fails:

• You receive email notification
• Full refund processed automatically
• Or option to re-run at no charge

Support contact: Email hi@surmado.com if report fails. Response within 4 hours.

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Questions about turnaround time? Email hi@surmado.com or check status at surmado.com/reports during processing.