AdWords has a Report Editor tool built-in that you can use to build custom reports.
| Using the Report Editor – YouTube |
in addition to the AdWords Report Editor, you can link Google Analytics to your clients’ Google AdWords account and generate predefined AdWords reports as well as designing your own custom reports and dashboards. If you want something more advanced you can check out Google Data Studio for more graphic-based report designs.
Also worth mentioning is the Google Analytics Spreadsheet add-on You can create very nice charts and graphics that can be easily embedded in a webpage and automatically updated.
With the readily available reporting options, it is easy to overwhelm your clients with too much information. Just puking massive amounts of data in detailed reports isn’t all that useful for your clients. They typically want, and need, concise reports that show them the basic information summarized in a way that makes it clear if their campaigns are on track to reach their specific marketing goals.
You can typically use a report that shows them what they spent, what they got for their ad spend.
- Ad Spend
- Ad Impressions
- Ad Clicks
- Conversions
- Conversion Rate
- Cost Per Conversion
- ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)
- AOV (Average Order Value)
- Estimated Profit (Based on Lifetime Customer Value)
Depending on the client you might need to show a little more, or a little less.
But the absolute minimum needed on a report is:
- Your Ad Spend
- Your Goal
- Progress Made Toward That Goal.
Those are the essential stats that tell a client if he’s on track to reaching his marketing goal. Everything else you put into reports is just details that tell that story of success, or failure. Some people just want the bottom line, others want all the details, you can customize your reporting to fit the client’s needs, or give them all the details. Generally, 2 sets of reports will suffice, the summary report, and the details.
Another report that you don’t often see mentioned is an “insights” report. The goal of marketing is to gain insights, so it makes sense to provide a regular report of insights you have gained while managing your client’s campaigns. Insight reports are not easily automated and are probably best prepared by a marketing analyst that truly understands the client’s goals. Insight reports are based on marketing ideas, the report shows data based on that idea, and analysis of that data allows you to take action to improve your campaign performance. A report of those insights gained and acted upon can demonstrate value that might not be easily recognized otherwise.
