Most digital marketing agencies should send reports to their clients. If you are engaged in a monthly retainer, be it SEO program or PPC program, you need to get those reports and understand how these services are benefiting your business and what value they provide.
Main Elements to Look For
- Data and analytics analysis: traffic increase/decrease, time spent on site, organic KPIs and funnel analysis. Just to name a few basic ones. Generally, the report should explain whether these and many other metrics improved – and their impact on the overall performance of the digital marketing strategy.
- Comparisons: you would want to see data and KPI comparisons to previous month, overtime and to previous year. While the growth may not always be exponential – it should exist and hence justify the digital marketing investments.
- Global KPIs: if you operate an eCommerce business, then this is crucial. Serious agencies will also provide global KPI analysis – ROI, ROAS and CLTV (and other top ties KPIs) for each marketing channel they are managing. Eventually, this would give the best clue on the final impact and value of each marketing channel.
- Performance summary: in many cases, the clients are not marketers and for some, the terminology could be somewhat overwhelming. Well-composed report will explain in simple words what is happening with the website and what the results are for a given time period. If you still have questions after reading the report – it was simply not clear enough!
Not all Reports Are the Same
Obviously, each agency or marketing company generates reports the way they want, as there is no set of rules or regulations for that matter. Some reports could contain dozens of useless and irrelevant information, while others could be one-pagers that are super on-point. However, the reports should always answer the same purpose: simplify information and highlight real value. If that is missing – it is time to consult independent marketing specialists and get an unbiased audit and consulting.
