Getting Value From Your Monthly Reports

So, you’ve received your monthly marketing report: now what?

This is the question on every marketing manager’s mind at the beginning of each month. What does the report mean and where to go next? There are so many different ways to report on success, and a successful report is the best one to receive. However, there are certain reports where the outlook doesn’t seem so positive: what does this mean for your business and your investment in digital marketing?

It is important to have a report that, no matter the outcome, doesn’t overwhelm you with numbers and statistics. You need to know exactly what your agency partner is doing and why they are taking the actions that they are for your business.

Here at Snaptech, we operate according to what we call “The 4 H’s”:

• Happy
• Hungry
• Honest
• Humble

In order to give you the most value out of your monthly marketing report, we have to be honest. This means reporting on the successes, challenges, and anomalies that your account has faced each month. However, showing your account’s stats and numbers for the month can only go so far; we need the reports to provide you with value.

In order to ensure you get the utmost value from your reports, here are some questions that we ask ourselves when writing:

Why does this specific client need a marketing report?

We need to make sure that the report aligns with the goals of your account and your business.

What are we measuring?

Success needs to be scalable and determined with clear metrics.

Who needs this report?

Sometimes, it’s just the agency’s main point of contact reading the report each month. Other times, reports will be used in internal discussions with the main stakeholders in the business. We must have a clear sense of what the report is adding to your entire business vision.

Answering these questions ensures that we’re providing value when reporting. Considering who needs the report –  be it one person, a team, or an entire sector of your business – we then can determine what success means to each person reading the report and how our metrics reflect that success.

Metrics

Most monthly reports cover baseline metrics such as CPC (Cost-Per-Click), CTR (Click-Through Rate) and SIS (Search Impression Share). For digital marketers, this is familiar jargon. We ensure that we explain exactly what each metric means and why it is important to your business. At Snaptech, we ensure that we are familiar with what you aim to achieve in partnering with our agency. We then link this with our reports and only report on the metrics that reflect your definition of success.

We take a holistic approach to each report and look at every factor that can affect your business. Let’s say that you’re a client who is exclusively paying for Google Ads management. There are different aspects that can affect your bottom line beyond Google Ads, such as organic rankings or changes made to your Google My Business profile. This holistic approach gives us important data to determine how to adjust our strategy in maintaining your Google Ads account’s success.

Visuals

Visualizing data is perhaps one of the most challenging parts of reporting. Using tools like Google Data Studio allows us to visualize data more easily than ever before. Data visualization is a great way to present numbers in a clear, understandable way. It can also be used to show the ‘why’ behind certain things. For example, Google Data Studio can link weather reports to a drop in foot traffic, or show how a print media campaign led to an upturn in visits to your site.

Supporting Software

Reporting leads is another challenge we face each month. I’ve worked with clients where a form submission or phone call is reported as a lead. However, upon closer inspection, it turns out that the user did not interact with the form or called another business! This is why we use Call Tracking Metrics; a tool that allows us to monitor your leads no matter where they are in their journey to purchase is so important. This cannot be achieved by simply looking at Google Analytics.

Another software that we work with to elevate reporting is HotJar. HotJar allows us to see where users are clicking and scrolling on each page. Using this information within our reports gives us the ability to optimize sites and landing pages to make your users’ journeys seamless. It takes the guesswork out of what will improve conversions, improve your bottom line, and make your digital marketing expenditure go further.

A report is like a story…

We’re telling you the story of the last month, quarter, or year. A jumble of metrics does not provide you with any value, It’s your digital agency’s job to interpret what all of the data you compile means and reveal the narrative behind the numbers.

You deserve a clear, defined marketing strategy that can help your business grow. This strategy can enhance your entire business, especially with reporting that you can understand and trust. Snaptech makes this a priority with all of our clients – get in touch with us today to talk about how we can create a digital marketing strategy that works for your business.