The Ultimate Guide to Client Reporting: Simplify, Optimize, and Prove Value

Transparent communication with client SMBs through client reporting is key to the success of any digital marketing agency. Astonishingly, one recent survey revealed that 42.86% of the clients in the digital marketing industry are unsatisfied with their agency’s reports. 

This article will focus on examining the concept of transparency in client communication, give advice to marketing agencies on what metrics to include in their client reports, and provide an overview of Vendasta’s white-label AI-powered client reporting tool.

What Is Client Reporting?

Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are skeptical of marketing services due to a lack of clear evidence regarding return on investment (ROI). Client reporting addresses this customer pain point by equipping business owners with clear evidence that the marketing strategy aligns with and contributes to their business goals.

Client reports measure the progress toward achieving marketing goals set at the initial meeting between the marketing agency and an SMB owner. Digital marketing reports aggregate data from various marketing channels used in multi-channel marketing strategies. 

Client reports also make sense of this data by highlighting the causal connections between every marketing effort and events that have value for businesses, such as an increase in the number of social media subscribers or a boost in the number of sales.

Why Client Reporting Is Important

According to research, 73% of small business owners feel uncertain about their current marketing strategy and need to figure out if it's working effectively. Along with the aforementioned skepticism about marketing ROI, SMB owners’ unfamiliarity with marketing doesn’t help. 

Client reports kill two birds with one stone. They not only reassure SMB owners that their investments in marketing pay off, but they also help the clients get a grasp of the basics of marketing. 

Let’s take a closer look at some of the other benefits of client reporting.

Builds Trust

The key to any successful partnership between a marketing agency and its clients is a clear alignment in terms of goals, main duties, and accountability. Client reporting is one of the means for clients to hold marketing agencies accountable. 

If clients notice that their sales stay stable or even decrease over a certain period, client reports are the go-to documents to uncover the root causes. Client reports are the marketing agency’s way of proving that the lack of success in meeting the client’s goals isn’t due to their lack of professionalism or mismanagement of funds. 

Client reports document how the funds were spent daily and open up opportunities to position the marketing strategy within the broader industry context. 

Through client reports, SMB owners can see that while their budget was well-managed, the ROI has been less than stellar, perhaps, due to market conditions, such as inflation or a general decrease in demand for the SMB’s products or services.

Proves ROI

In the same way that client reporting helps marketing agencies escape becoming victims of scapegoating, it also helps marketing professionals get credit where credit is due.

With the SMB owners’ everlasting focus on decreasing operating expenses, it’s all too easy for them to ascribe their growing sales to factors unrelated to marketing. 

Also, SMB owners may put pink glasses on and think that their partnership with a marketing agency has given them a sufficient leg up and they can now hold the reigns of their marketing strategy. 

Client reporting is unambiguous evidence that marketing efforts are paying off and is a strong argument for why clients should retain their partnership with a marketing agency. 

Maintains Client Retention

Research shows that 68% of customers leave because they think a company doesn’t care about them. In the context of marketing, care can manifest itself in the form of transparent communication. 

Indeed, trust is the foundation of any successful partnership. When marketing agencies are transparent about the successes and failures of their marketing strategy, their clients have fewer reasons to churn.

Pro Tip: Are you looking for ways to lower your churn rate with efficient client reporting? Do your client reports take too long to pull together? Vendasta’s AI-powered white-label reporting tool, known as Advertising Intelligence, brings analytics for Facebook and Google Ads under one roof, helping marketing managers save time on manual tasks and focus on strategic goals.

Key Metrics to Include in Client Reports

Key metrics for client reporting will differ depending on your client’s industry niche and the KPIs that you agree on at the start of your partnership.

Website Traffic

This is an important metric if your marketing agency launches a marketing campaign with the goal of increasing brand awareness and generating demand.

Higher website traffic creates more opportunities to generate qualified leads by capturing online visitors’ contact information through AI webchats, forms, and newsletter subscriptions.

Here’s an overview of the key metrics used to analyze website traffic:

• Total Traffic
• Traffic Sources
• New vs. Returning Visitors
• Geographic Location
• Top Pages
• Bounce Rate

Lead Generation

This metric shows how many people express their interest in an SMB’s products or services through any of the lead capture mechanisms such as form submissions, phone calls, AI webchat communication, and so on.

Here is an overview of how to break down lead generation metrics to get the most value out of these metrics:

• Total leads
• Cost per lead (CPL)
• Lead sources
• Conversion rate of leads

Pro Tip: Discover tips on how to boost lead generation by watching this video:

Conversions and Sales

These are the most important metrics for marketing campaigns focused on enhancing sales. Here is a list of metrics to include in client reporting for the most visibility: 

• Revenue generated
• Cost per acquisition (CPA)
• Customer lifetime value (CLV)

SEO Metrics

Marketing campaigns that rely heavily on SEO metrics as KPIs typically include:

Content Marketing Campaigns

The success of content marketing campaigns can be measured using the following SEO reporting insights:

• Organic traffic growth
• Keyword rankings for target terms
• Backlinks earned
• Time on page and bounce rate for content pieces
• Scroll depth
• The number of times the content was shared on social platforms 
• Organic conversions from content

Pro Tip: Read this ultimate guide to white label link building services to deliver most value for your clients with your SEO content marketing. 

Website Optimization Campaigns

SEO KPIs that measure the success of boosting websites’ visibility in search engines include:

• Overall organic traffic
• Page load speed
• Mobile-friendliness scores
• Crawl errors and indexation rates
• Domain authority

Local SEO Campaigns

For businesses targeting local customers, important SEO KPIs are:

• Local pack rankings
• Google Business Profile views and actions
• Local keyword rankings
• Citation consistency across directories
• Local organic traffic

E-commerce SEO Campaigns

Here’s a list of SEO KPIs to include in client reporting:

• Organic revenue and transactions
• Product/category page rankings
• Rich snippet appearances in search results
• Organic conversion rate
• Share of organic search traffic vs. competitors

PPC Advertising Performance

The primary goal of PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising is to drive targeted traffic to a website to generate more revenue. 

The efficiency of this type of digital marketing advertising can be measured with the following KPIs:

• Impressions
• Clicks
• Click-Through Rate (CTR)
• Cost per Click (CPC)
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

Social Media Metrics

Social media advertising is the most effective way of increasing brand awareness. Here is a list of KPIs to track to assess the effectiveness of social media marketing:

• Followers growth
• Engagement rate
• Reach
• Social traffic
• Conversions from social media

Email Marketing Metrics

This is one of the most effective marketing channels. Email marketing boasts an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent. 

If you want to harness the power of email marketing to boost your clients’ revenue, consider including the following statistics in your client reporting:

• Open Rate
• Click-Through Rate (CTR)
• Conversion Rate
• Bounce Rate
• Unsubscribes

Reputation Management and Reviews

With nine in 10 consumers considering reviews when making a purchase decision, it is important to include reputation management in any digital marketing strategy.

The metrics below help prove the effectiveness of a marketing agency’s efforts in reputation management:

• Number of reviews
• Average star rating
• Review response rate
• Sentiment analysis

Customer Retention and Loyalty

Countless researches prove that SMBs can succeed if they’re effective in keeping current customers because the costs of acquiring new customers far exceed the costs required to retain current customers. 

To support this point, one study has shown that between 2013 and 2022, the average customer acquisition cost (CAC) has increased by 222%. Another study has suggested that acquiring a new customer can cost 5 to 25 times more than retaining an existing one.

Pro Tip: Watch the following video to discover tips from a $7M agency on how to increase client spending while minimizing churn:

Here are some KPIs to include in client reporting to prove that your customer retention strategy is successful:

• Repeat customer rate
• Churn rate
• Net promoter score (NPS)

Pro Tip: Vendasta’s AI-powered Advertising Intelligence comes with an option for Advanced Reporting that allows to view deeper analytics for individual ad campaigns, customize data ranges to discover trends, establish campaign funnels and objectives, and perform keyword and ad analysis.

Client Reporting Best Practices

Set Clear Objectives

In client reporting, setting SMART goals is key. 

These goals should be tailored to every SMB’s business goals and measured with key performance indicators (KPIs). 

Here’s a visual summary of KPIs that matter the most in some of the key industries:

Be Consistent with the Frequency of Client Reporting

SMB owners usually expect frequent and consistent client reports. It’s important to find a balance between having report meetings too frequently versus too scarcely. While monthly client reporting is a general rule of thumb, the frequency may vary based on the client’s industry and the type of digital marketing advertising campaign. 

Here are some best practices for the frequency of client reporting in the main industries:

Here are some recommendations for reporting frequency for different types of marketing campaigns:

Keep It Simple and Concise

Most SMB owners are, probably, not familiar with technical terms such as  "bounce rate," "CTR," or "PPC." Consider replacing professional jargons with explanations that break down what these metrics mean. For example, instead of saying "bounce rate," explain it as "the percentage of visitors who leave the site without interacting." 

Charts, graphs, and data visualizations make complex data easier to digest. This not only makes your report more engaging but also helps clients quickly grasp performance trends.

Provide Actionable Insights

Client reporting doesn’t consist of just metrics. If the results of marketing efforts are less than spectacular, it’s important to give clients a clear understanding of why and bring them up to speed with your plans on how to improve going forward. 

Remember that negativity bias is quite commonplace. While your clients may not pay attention to your marketing efforts if everything goes well, they will, for sure, zoom in on the quality of your services if they experience a dip in sales. 

With this in mind, consider enhancing your client reporting with a recommendation of specific actions you plan to take to optimize results. This is a precious opportunity for valuable upselling and cross-selling. 

Let's say your agency has an e-commerce client selling outdoor gear who is struggling with low conversion rates and high customer acquisition costs. If the client has only purchased PPC advertising services, but you discover that their website could be better optimized, you could include website traffic metrics into your client reporting to persuade the client to opt for your web services.

Challenges in Client Reporting and How to Overcome Them

Now that we’ve covered the nuts and bolts of client reporting and the best practices, it’s time to take a closer look at some common challenges that marketing agencies face with client reporting and brainstorm some solutions together.

Data Overload

While it's tempting to showcase every available metric, too much data can make it difficult for clients to understand key insights and arrive at clear conclusions about how efficient the marketing strategy is. 

Instead of dumping a mountain of data, zero in on the client-specific KPIs that matter—whether it’s customer acquisition cost (CAC), return on ad spend (ROAS), or website conversion rates.

Lack of Customization

Generic, one-size-fits-all client reporting isn’t the best solution for marketing agencies. Your clients will appreciate and value your work more if they see that you’ve taken the time to make your reports appealing and insightful. 

While your clients are probably well aware that their SMB isn’t the only one that your marketing agency works with, they will be grateful to see your dedication to their business goals. Nothing makes a worse impression than getting the SMB’s title spelling wrong or addressing the client's report to the wrong CEO.

Pro Tip: With Vendasta’s customizable Executive Report, you can create reports that are fully tailored to each client’s needs. This includes adding your branding, choosing specific KPIs that matter most from 3rd-party apps including Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Facebook and Google Ads, and customizing the frequency of automated report notifications.

Time-Consuming Processes

For many agencies, the process of collecting data and creating detailed reports is extremely time-consuming.

Manually pulling in data from various sources, analyzing it, and then crafting a professional report can take hours or even days. This often takes away from more strategic work and can lead to human errors in the process.

The solution here is to automate client reporting as much as possible. Vendasta’s platform allows for automated data collection and report generation. 

Simplify Reporting with White-Label Client Reporting Software

Vendasta offers a white-label platform known as Business App that gives your clients, whether they’re SMBs, franchisees, or multi-location businesses, real-time information on each of your marketing initiatives, such as white-label SEO reports, PPC reports, and more. 

Business App comes with an automated reporting feature, Executive Report, that shows your clients where the marketing efforts are winning and where the strategy may benefit from some modifications. 

Conclusion

There’s no need to build your client reporting from scratch. If you don’t have enough budget, time, or staff, why not opt for a white-label solution? No need to invent a wheel. 

Start using Vendasta today to automate your client reporting, simplify client communications, and prove the value of your services with AI-powered, data-driven insights. Request a demo today!