TL;DR
Challenges:
| Solution:
| Results:
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Challenges
For about a year and a half, YourFellow used a combination of Funnel and Looker Studio to report on their 35-40 clients.
This setup brought multiple challenges, most of which fell on Linda van Baal, Online Marketing Consultant and a self-proclaimed “data geek” at YourFellow.
A Complex Reporting Setup That Costed One Day Per Week
For one, Funnel and Looker Studio were complex and required specific know-how to operate.
“Looker Studio and Funnel was quite a difficult setup,” Linda noted. “You really need to know how to work with it.”
This meant all the work and questions related to dashboards landed on Linda's plate.
She spent one full day every week just building and maintaining dashboards for 35+ clients at the agency, on top of managing her own clients and their campaigns.
“All the dashboarding stuff came to me, which was quite a large workload,” Linda shared. “It can be annoying when you’re working on a client, but you have to answer a question about dashboards.”
But it wasn’t just the workload, the tools themselves were breaking down.
15-Minute Load Times and Constant Rate Limits
Funnel and Looker Studio were slow and unreliable.
Because the team exported data from Funnel and then imported it into Looker Studio, they ran into constant rate limits. Opening a dashboard could mean waiting 15 minutes (or longer) just to see the data load.
Rate limits restrict how many API requests can be made per second or per day to advertising platforms like Google Ads or Meta, according to this documentation.
When Funnel pulls data for a single report, it often needs to make dozens (or even hundreds) of API requests because platforms limit how much data can be retrieved at once.
With YourFellow managing 35-40 clients – each with multiple campaigns and data sources – those requests added up fast, constantly hitting Funnel's rate limits.
“Whenever we wanted to watch data in one of the dashboards, we had to wait for at least 15 minutes and couldn't access the dashboard right away,” Linda recalled. “A lot of my colleagues were frustrated.”
This meant the team couldn't check campaign performance, spot issues, or answer client questions without significant delays.
Fragmented Tools and Calculations That Were Hard to Trust
Another challenge was that reporting logic lived in too many places at once.
With Funnel and Looker Studio working together, some calculations were handled in Funnel, others in Looker Studio, and additional data flowed through spreadsheets. That made even simple questions harder to answer.
As Linda explained, “One metric was calculated in the report, and the other metric was calculated in Funnel. Everything was in a different place.”
When numbers didn't line up, troubleshooting became a three-step process: checking the ad platform, then Funnel, then Looker Studio to understand where the discrepancy came from.
"If we had issues, we really had to dig into it to see where it came from," Linda said.
And while Funnel offered support, Looker Studio didn't, which made resolving issues slower and more frustrating.
Linda knew they needed a better solution: one that was easier to use, faster to load, and comes with smoother user experience.
That's when Whatagraph entered the picture.
Funnel and Looker Studio were quite complex, and all the dashboarding work came to me, which was quite a large workload. And whenever we wanted to see data in one of the dashboards, we had to wait for at least 15 minutes because of rate limits.
Solution
Phase 1: Choosing Whatagraph
During a quieter summer period, Linda came across Whatagraph thanks to a colleague who introduced her to it as a Funnel.io alternative.
What stood out about Whatagraph right away was how self-contained it felt. Dashboards lived inside the tool, looked cleaner than their Looker Studio reports, and felt easier to work with.
“Whatagraph looked really neat compared to Looker Studio dashboards,” Linda noted. “And it looked like it was all easier and faster to start working with it for my colleagues.”
But three key things needed to work for Linda to choose Whatagraph:
- Custom integrations: YourFellow used specific tools like Spotler Mail that weren't standard integrations at the time. (Now it is.)
- Complex custom metrics: Linda regularly built complicated formulas to combine data across platforms, and she needed to make sure Whatagraph could handle them.
- Google Sheets exports: The team exported product performance data to Google Sheets and fed it into Channable for advertising strategy. This workflow couldn't break.
What made the difference with Whatagraph was that these requirements weren’t treated as edge cases.
Missing integrations were built specifically for YourFellow, and others were already in development. “Whatagraph really listens to you and tries to help you,” Linda said. “The product team made this customized solution for us, quite fast too.”
For the Google Sheets workflow, Whatagraph set up exports to BigQuery, which Linda could then connect to Google Sheets, preserving the entire product feed workflow without disruption.
Once Linda confirmed that everything she needed was possible, YourFellow made the decision to migrate.
Phase 2: Building Out Templates - A Race Against Time
The biggest concern going into the migration for YourFellow was time.
Linda had a limited window: roughly one and a half to two months to complete the migration. On top of that, she had never worked with BigQuery before, which she needed to learn in order to keep their Google Sheets workflow intact.
Despite those constraints, the approach was clear from the start.
Linda began by rebuilding their reporting structure from the ground up. She created two core templates based on the dashboards they already used:
- One for e-commerce clients (check out this ecommerce report template)
- One for lead generation clients (check out this PPC report template)
These templates included all the key metrics, widgets, and layouts that made sense for each client type.
The idea was simple: colleagues could copy the template, connect their client's data sources, and have a polished dashboard ready in minutes.
As Linda worked through templates, custom metrics, and edge cases, questions came up constantly. So she did what any smart marketer would do: she reached out to Whatagraph's support team via live chat.
“I had about three to five support tickets a day,” Linda admitted with a laugh. "I think the support team went a little crazy because of me.”
What impressed Linda greatly was how quickly her questions were handled. Responses typically came back in under 30 minutes, and when needed, multiple people jumped in to help – from support engineers to account managers and technical specialists.
“The support team made it much easier to solve issues and the help was really quick,” Linda said. “This helped me finish the templates as soon as possible.”
Without that level of support, she’s clear the migration wouldn’t have been possible within the given timeframe.
“The help of Whatagraph’s support team was very, very important,” Linda said. “Otherwise I would’ve had to do everything myself and I definitely wouldn't have made the deadline that we had.”
These templates were also reviewed multiple times with colleagues to make sure nothing critical was missing.
“I showed the templates several times to my colleagues who work on those projects to see if everything was in there that they needed,” Linda said.
That iteration phase took the most time, but it ensured the new setup would actually work for the whole team.
Phase 3: Training the Team
Once the templates were ready, Linda faced the next challenge: getting her colleagues to actually use Whatagraph.
She didn't want to build every single dashboard herself – that would just recreate the same bottleneck problem they had with Funnel and Looker Studio.
So Linda organized a team-wide dashboard-building session.
“We organized a session in which we were building dashboards all together with the whole team,” she said. “So that we could figure out some problems together, and everyone already had their first dashboards made.”
This was a smart move for several reasons:
- Hands-on training: Colleagues learned by doing, not just watching.
- Real-time troubleshooting: Linda could answer questions as they came up.
- Immediate value: Everyone left the session with dashboards for their own clients.
The feedback from her colleagues was overwhelmingly positive.
“My colleagues said Whatagraph is so much easier than what we had before,” Linda recalled. “That was nice because it was exactly what we hoped for.”
After the training session, the team started building dashboards for their own clients using the templates Linda had created.
For most clients, this was straightforward: copy the template, connect the data sources, adjust one or two metrics, and they were done.
But for more complex clients, like those operating in multiple countries with separate ad accounts or those with very specific reporting needs, Linda still stepped in to help.
“Sometimes I still need to help them, but that's mainly with the more complex structures,” explained.
The Result: Migration Across 35+ Clients Complete in Under Two Months
Despite the tight timeline, Linda successfully moved all ~40 clients to Whatagraph in under two months while only spending 20-30% of her time on the migration.
In summary, here are the three key factors for the migration success:
- Responsive support: Whatagraph's team answered questions in under 30 minutes and built custom integrations when needed.
- Reusable templates: Linda's templates gave the team a foundation to build on, rather than starting from scratch every time.
- Team training: By getting colleagues to build dashboards together, Linda made sure they could work independently going forward.
How YourFellow Uses Whatagraph Today
Today, Whatagraph sits at the center of YourFellow’s reporting workflow.
The team manages 190+ data sources and 35+ client reports inside one platform, using a small set of standardized templates.
For most clients, dashboards are used daily to monitor performance and spot issues or opportunities early.
For larger clients, dashboards are checked even more frequently. Once a month, reports are shared with clients alongside a written summary outlining what was done, what happened, and what opportunities the team sees next.
Importantly, dashboard creation and maintenance is no longer centralized. Most consultants now build and update dashboards for their own clients, without needing any help. Linda only steps in for more complex setups or edge cases.
The result is a reporting process that’s consistent, scalable, and easy to maintain — without relying on one person to keep everything running.
The help of Whatagraph's support team was critical during the migration process. The support team made it much easier to solve issues and the help was really quick – which made it possible to complete the migration before our deadline.
Results
16 Hours Saved a Month on Reporting
Before Whatagraph, Linda spent one full day each week on dashboarding work.
That dropped to half a day after Whatagraph, translating into 16 hours saved on reporting per month.
That's a 50% reduction in time spent on dashboards – time Linda can now spend on strategic work for her clients instead of maintaining reporting infrastructure.
“I get a lot less questions now from my colleagues, and I can focus more on my work now,” Linda said. “Whatagraph saved me at least half a day a week, maybe even more.”
The time savings come from two key changes:
- Colleagues create their own dashboards: With user-friendly templates and an intuitive platform, Linda's teammates now build dashboards for new clients themselves.
- Fewer interruptions: Because Whatagraph is easier to use, Linda gets far fewer questions. And when colleagues do have issues, they can often resolve them by contacting Whatagraph's support directly.
Up to 65% Cost Savings on Reporting Cost
Whatagraph also saved YourFellow money by cutting out the middleman: Funnel.
“Funnel was two to three times more expensive than Whatagraph,” Linda said. “That was also a big part of the consideration for the migration.”
If Funnel cost roughly 2.5x what Whatagraph costs, that translates to approximately 65% savings on reporting tool costs.
For a growing agency, that's a significant budget that can be reinvested into talent, tools, or client acquisition.
Everything in One Platform, No More Three-Way Data Checks
But perhaps the biggest advantage was having all reporting logic in one place.
With Funnel and Looker Studio, troubleshooting data discrepancies meant checking three different places: the ad platform, Funnel, and Looker Studio.
Now, if something looks off, Linda only needs to compare Whatagraph against the source platform – cutting troubleshooting time and reducing cognitive load.
“The biggest advantage of switching to Whatagraph is that now everything is in one tool,” Linda shared. “Everyone knows where they can find everything because it's in one place.”
Having calculations, metrics, and dashboards centralized in Whatagraph also makes it easier to maintain consistency across clients and onboard new team members.
Fast Dashboards That Load in 2 Minutes (or Less)
Remember those 15-minute wait times caused by rate limits in Funnel and Looker Studio?
They're gone.
“We almost never run into rate limits on Whatagraph,” Linda said. “The dashboards load very fast. For the bigger dashboards with many connections in it, it takes about two minutes, but most of the time it's even faster.”
This means Linda and her colleagues can answer client’s ad-hoc questions, check performance any time they want, and spot opportunities or issues fast.
Professional Reports That Clients Love
YourFellow's reports didn't just get faster, they got better looking.
“The dashboards look way better and more customized also to our own brand,” Linda said.
Clients noticed the difference immediately.
One client – Linda's "test case" for the new system – said Whatagraph’s dashboard “looked really clean and clear, but also fun to look at with the icons.”
Other clients appreciated the flexibility too. In Looker Studio, clients could only change the report date, but the comparison period stayed fixed. In Whatagraph, they can adjust both – and that makes it easier for clients to compare performance.
Would Linda Recommend Whatagraph?
When asked what she'd tell another agency using Funnel and Looker Studio, Linda didn't hesitate.
“I would recommend using Whatagraph, because it's just easy, and almost anything is possible – like custom calculations, niche connectors, and exporting to Google Sheets with BigQuery in between.”
Linda also appreciated how Whatagraph continues to improve based on customer feedback.
“Whatagraph really listens to customer feedback,” she said. “If you put in a feature request or a ticket, then a few months later, you really see the difference and they really do something with the feedback you give.”
For Linda, the migration was more than just switching tools.
It was about reclaiming her time, empowering her team, and building a reporting system that scales with YourFellow's growth.
Whatagraph saved me at least half a day a week, maybe even more. The biggest advantage is that everything is now in one tool and the dashboards look way cleaner and more customized also to our own brand.