Marketing analytics & reporting

5 Effective Agency Reporting Tips for 2024

Agency reporting is the backbone of an agency's and a client's strong and clear communication. However, there are some technicalities that must be addressed in order to provide a high level of transparency and conduct fluid reporting. In this article, we will discuss the concept of agency reporting, its purpose, and five exclusive tips for developing the best client reporting processes.

Whatagraph marketing reporting tool
Dominyka Vaičiūnaitė

Mar 10 2020 10 min read

agency reporting tips

Table of Contents

    What is Agency Reporting? 

    Agency reporting is when a marketing agency provides clients with access to real-time data and updates them on the status of the agency's marketing efforts. These reports usually include the most important KPIs & metrics and instantly give an overview of how their investment is paying off. 

    These days client reporting has become a piece of cake. Due to the entrance of SaaS, especially automated marketing reporting software, like Whatagraph, agencies can:

    Save precious time. In 2019 91% of agencies spend five hours or less per week on reporting for each client. These hours can be cut down to minutes with Whatagraph and its automation features; 

    Reduce the number of manual data entry errors. Eye strain, inattention, and difficult-to-read information all contribute to hiccups;

    Easily manage growing clientele lists. Whatagraph allows you to manage all of your clients and marketing campaigns from a single platform.

    40 data sourcesAgency Reporting Benetifs

    Data analytics necessitates even a basic understanding of where to look for information and what it means. Numbers on a spreadsheet will mean nothing to your clients, and you will almost certainly be bombarded with follow-up questions. These misunderstandings and constant Q&A sessions will tire you out and reduce your client's satisfaction with your service.

    Client reporting is all about providing quick, clear & concise information to keep clients up to date on the status of their projects. They are only concerned with your goals and whether or not you are achieving them. If you are meeting their expectations, great! If you don't, you'll need to include some notes in your report to explain what's going on. 

    When agency reporting is done right, you can easily benefit from:

    Good rapport with clients. How? By providing an exceptional level of customer service. All you have to do to accomplish this is consider your clients' needs. Customers will appreciate the following features in reporting: interactive elements; data visualization; access to real-time data; timely delivery of reports; and quick response time. 

    HubSpot conducted research and discovered that 68% of consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from a brand known for providing excellent customer service.

    Happy clients, happy business, right? Make them satisfied with your service by letting them know about any drastic changes. Have you generated a significant amount of leads? Increased organic traffic by xx%? Depending on the objectives you've agreed to meet, make sure your clients know the status of your progress at all times.

    Whatagraph generates a link that can be distributed to others. This feature ensures complete transparency between an agency and a client, allowing clients to learn about the performance of all marketing channels. (visual)

    Client retention. 68% of customers leave a company when they believe that the company doesn't care about them. Solution? Set yourself apart from the competitors in the same market. Create tailored reports and impress your clients. One of the best features of Whatagraph is customization. Change the colors of the reports to meet your client's brand, add custom email domains, generate individual templates and upload images to make reports more engaging. Make sure to edit your images online before adding them to the report so that they are of pristine quality.

    Essentials of Agency Reporting

    The purpose

    It's pointless to create a report or even plan a marketing strategy if you don't know what the client requires. Sit down with them and talk about their desires and dreams. What do they hope to accomplish? What prompted them to reach out to you in the first place? Agree on and plan the goals your agency will focus on before launching a strategy.

    Key Metrics

    Client reporting differs from standard reporting in that it only includes key metrics. You are not required to conduct audits and provide every metric available. Maintain them within your team. Clients only need to see the results of your efforts. Here are some of those metrics, depending on your targets:

    If the goal is to increase brand awareness, your clients will be most interested in:

    Search engine impressions;

    Followers;

    Subscribers;

    Video views;

    Social media reach;

    Social media impressions.

    If the goal is to drive more traffic to the client's website: 

    User sessions;

    Backlinks;

    New sessions;

    Clicks;

    Pageviews.

    If the goal is to make more engaging content that results in more time spent on their website:

    Likes;

    Time on a page;

    Click-Through Rate;

    CTA clicks;

    Time on site;

    Bounce rate;

    Exit rate;

    Shares.

    If the goal is to drive conversions: 

    Advertising spend;

    Conversion rate;

    Leads;

    Form submissions;

    Cost per acquisition.

    If the goal is to increase sales:

    Sales-qualified leads (SQLs);

    Deals/contracts;

    eCommerce sales;

    Opportunities;

    Revenue.

    Prove Your Worth

    Showcase the work you've fulfilled for the client. Leave comments or notes at the top of the report about how far you went for them. Your clients may not feel anything if they see a '20% increase in conversions,' but they will feel much better if they see 'we did XY of extra activities trying to increase conversions.' Numbers may still be a little too abstract for your clients. Make sure you inform them of some of the activities you engage in to help them grow their business.

    Monthly summary

    There are no two client reports that are the same; the specifics vary depending on the type of campaign you're focusing on. However, all reports should include a monthly summary. This is a crucial aspect of the report.

    Few clients are tech-savvy, and they can easily become lost in the data. 

    Making summaries of the previous month's performance and accomplishments will not only provide them with an overview of their business status but will also provide evidence of your work. Furthermore, because looking at multiple source reports can be confusing, summaries are excellent at providing key data. To avoid any misunderstandings, a few sentences will get them on the right track to understanding data.

    Automating monthly reports saves tons of times for agencies

    5 Key Reporting Tips 

    How to improve your agency reporting and help your clients see the value of your work? Follow these agency reporting tips:

    • Keep it simple
    • Customization is key
    • Show that you care
    • Report the bad stuff, too
    • Include images, notes, tweets, etc.

    1. Keep it Simple

    When creating client reports, avoid any complications, messiness, or overcrowding. We can't emphasize this enough: only provide the most relevant information. You'll ensure smooth communication with your clients and instant approval as a result.

    To demonstrate what has been completed, you can either download a PDF or automate reporting and send it to their email addresses.

    2. Customization is Key

    Each customer is unique and has specific needs.

    Some clients prefer monthly reporting, while others prefer weekly. Some reports will require information from multiple data sources, such as Facebook Ads and LinkedIn, while others will only require Google Ads data from Google Analytics.

    Depending on the agreed-upon goals, you'll need to report to your clients on a variety of metrics. These will vary from client to client. How do you keep track of everything?

    Whatagraph is an effective platform for addressing the mentioned issues:

    You can automate reporting and send reports at the required frequency; 

    Connect to and pull data from any data source; 

    Use pre-created report templates and modify them to meet your clients' needs. (visual)

    40+ data

    3. Show that you care

    Reporting entails more than simply doing X to obtain Y. It also includes gathering feedback from clients and asking them if they understand, for example: why you spend so much money on PPC; why posting on social media 5 times a day is better than 2 times; or why trying to rank on Google is important to their website.

    They may also want to monitor additional key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics. Don't be ignorant and ask if they'd like a more comprehensive report/extra data.

    You should also include a budget breakdown that shows how you spend the client's money. This includes spending on SEO, content creation, or PPC campaigns.

    4. Report the Bad Stuff Too

    There are far more advantages to reporting both good and bad results. Clients will value the truth over cherry-picked results. What you should try to do is maintain an open relationship with your client and create opportunities to identify and generate new ideas. These are the types of discussions you might have with your client if you tell them the entire story. 

    Keep in mind, however, that your client may be more interested in high-level information. Just make sure you can offer solutions when the numbers are low.

    5. Include Images, Notes, Tweets, etc

    It's great to use charts and numbers in your report, but how can you make data more interesting? Use Whatagraph to upload images related to, for example, your social media campaign, or to display the most popular post.

    Tweets will undoubtedly surprise your client, so why not include them? How many news reports have you read and smiled at? Well, with Whatagraph, you can achieve just that. 

    Use Whatagraph to upload images related to, for example, your social media campaign, or to display the most popular post.

    3 Types of Client Marketing Reports

    You should have figured out by now that Whatagraph is one of the best agency reporting software. It includes and has everything an agency needs to generate engaging real-time data reports. Here are 3 key report templates to get you started. They all cover the most important aspects of digital marketing data analysis while also focusing on key metrics. cross-channel reports

    1. Analytics report

    Analytics reports simplify the evaluation and discovery of any issues. Agencies could benefit from these reports when there is a need to understand which marketing efforts are most profitable. They also help marketing teams better accomplish business goals and evaluate return investment figures. 

    Analytics reports simplify the evaluation and discovery of any issues.

    Whatagraph has more than 40 of the most popular integrations, allowing to pull information from any data source. Not only that, but agencies can also analyze multiple channels on one page, allowing them to immediately spot trends and patterns. 

    2. Digital marketing report

    ‍The digital marketing report will assist in measuring progress, demonstrating value, and identifying actionable steps to improve marketing strategy. The goal of creating digital marketing reports is to analyze current data and forecast future figures. This report will assist you in determining whether you will be able to meet your objectives and will provide data for future strategy development.

    ‍The digital marketing report will assist in measuring progress, demonstrating value, and identifying actionable steps to improve marketing strategy.

    What metrics you include in this report will be entirely dependent on the type of campaigns you are running for your clients. Typical campaigns include:

    SEO;

    Social media;

    Content marketing;

    Account-based marketing;

    PPC;

    Revenue reports;

    Overall comparison reports. 

    3. Advertising report

    The advertising report collects and visualizes data from your client's marketing channels, allowing agencies to create a customized report. Agencies create advertising reports when, for example, a client wants to increase brand awareness of their brands or increase the number of impressions. 

    white-label customize

    Moreover, advertising reports enable the agency to keep track of their marketing performance and, when necessary, inform the client.

    Because of the customization and drag-and-drop features, these reports can be as detailed or as brief as needed. 

    Conclusion

    Agency reporting shouldn't cause any headaches! In fact, agencies should be able to save time on reporting with the right data analytics tools, such as Whatagraph. Because Whatagraph's primary goal is to assist agencies, all of its features have been tailored to their specific requirements.

    What are you waiting for? Take a look at the provided templates, contact us if any questions occur, and we will get you started as soon as possible.

     

    Published on Mar 10 2020

    Whatagraph marketing reporting tool

    WRITTEN BY

    Dominyka Vaičiūnaitė

    Dominyka is a copywriter at Whatagraph with a background in product marketing and customer success. Her degree in Mass Communications/Media Studies helps her to use simple words to explain complex ideas. In addition to adding value to our landing pages, you can find her name behind numerous product releases, in-app notifications, and guides in our help center.