Automating Reports: Improve Agency Client Reporting

In general, reports require at least 5 hours per week for each client. Moreover, marketing agencies might have to check 20 different tools just to get valuable information for a single report. It's time-consuming, and without the right tools, it's messy and uninspiring.

Stick around to learn more about the automating reports functionality and how you can streamline your reporting processes for yourself or your clients.

What Exactly Is Report Automation?

Report automation is the workflow when a marketing professional creates any type of report and sets it to be sent out on a particular date, on a regular basis. This feature eliminates the need to manually collect and update data, as well as manually type each recipient's email address and waste time on email production.

Marketing agencies in particular enjoy creating reporting dashboards and reports that improve their efficiency and data analytics. Automation can help with that!

EXAMPLE

Here is how easy it is to automate your data analysis with Whatagraph:

1. All you need to do is to press More
2. And then select Automate report

3. Schedule reports on the needed frequency and delivery day

4. Enter the email addresses of your recipients

And you’re ready to go!

Top Benefits of Automated Reporting

Save Time

Have you counted how many hours you spend compiling manual reports? According to one of our clients, Matt Spivak, who is a marketing consultant, they were able to reduce the report-building workload from 60 hours per month to around 20 hours.

Now imagine that instead of wasting time on data reporting, you dedicate it to building rapport with your clients.

With Whatagraph’s automated reporting system, you will not only keep your clients up to date and informed, but you will also improve your customer service. Spend more time communicating with clients and receive even more vital feedback, helping you to improve your offer and positioning.

Create Consistency

To take advantage of marketing reports, you need to evaluate and assess the same KPIs and metrics for your clients. More importantly, your agency must do it in a consistent manner in order for clients to understand the patterns and trends in your marketing efforts.

It’s tough and challenging to maintain long-term consistency while still relying on manual data entry and sending different types of emails to clients. This is especially true if the same client is updated by different people in your team.

With automated reports, you can easily achieve the best results an agency can desire: consistency and a good client-marketer relationship.

Save Money

Every agency out there wants to save money. And it might be strange to consider spending more money on yet another tool to actually get some savings. But as life keeps proving us, sometimes we need to invest in something to gain even more.

Whatagraph’s report automation software CAN and WILL save your money in the long run. Instead of requesting that your employees spend those hours generating reports, they may be experimenting with marketing initiatives and seeking new ways to increase profits.

The thing about KPI report automation is that while it costs money, it also gives you more time to create revenue-generating channels. Moreover, you can create another source of revenue by charging additional money for reports you send.

How to Automate Reporting Processes for Agencies?

Without a proper automated marketing reporting tool, marketing agencies set themselves up for human errors and missed deadlines, among other things.

To prevent any reporting errors and to create the most efficient report, marketing agencies need to follow these steps:

1. Determine the data sources and integrations your clients are currently using

Find out the products and services your client is using now and decide which ones have the most valuable data. This will help you evaluate the current state of their marketing efforts and learn about the behavior of their customers.

For example, if your marketing agency offers outbound marketing services, you’ll most certainly want to see how your clients’ affiliate programs, search engine marketing, or Google ads are performing.

2. Make sure you and your clients agree on the most important KPIs

Don’t waste even more time on report generation that is irrelevant or doesn’t provide any information. Find out what your client’s goals are and together identify the metrics and KPIs accordingly.

3. Connect your clients’ data sources and your reporting tool

Connect the channels keeping valuable data and your reporting tool (Whatagraph is recommended) and create your first report. Whatagraph currently has over 40 different integrations with popular CRM tools, social media platforms, analytics tools and many others.

Simply plug them into your new Whatagraph report to get all of your data in a single agency dashboard. That way, your clients will have an easier time comparing different channels.

4. Automate the report you have created

Now that you have determined the channels your client uses and the metrics they need to see, you are ready to send this report on a regular basis. Read the last paragraph to learn even more about it.

Whatagraph - Report Automation Tool

Whatagraph is an automated reporting tool for marketing agencies offering cross-platform reporting with a white-label feature. As mentioned, it offers automation and some more cool features:

• Customize your automated report. This feature allows you to create and add new email styles. Add your or your client’s logo, prepare heading and body texts in advance, and set this report as active for new reports.

• Access 24/5 customer support. Whatagraph offers Live Chat support available 24/5. The Whatagraph team can help you out when it comes to setting up your account, troubleshooting, and looking for advice. We also provide a personal Customer Success manager to personally help you along the way.
• Create an unlimited number of reports and real-time dashboards. Some of the other data reporting tools will only offer a predetermined number of reports. With Whatagraph, you won’t have to worry about it. Generate and automate as many different reports and dashboards.
• Access different kinds of sharing options. Whatagraph also has quick sharing functions like URL links and PDF files. If you want to immediately present a report without automating it, these features will come along handy.
• Automate pre-made templates. Whatagraph’s automated reporting software has more than 90+ templates in the library. Aggregate your own business data into one of them, base your decision-making on it, and, again, automate it!

Wrapping up

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of how and why to automate your reports.

Assuming you need to start the reporting process right away, take a look at our platform. You can use Whatagraph to combine data from a variety of sources and keep track of the numbers in real-time. You can share the automated performance report with your clients or colleagues with only one link. Ready to get started? Sign up for a free trial today!