We’ve revamped our monthly marketing reports to deliver more information to our clients. Here’s what to expect.
If you’ve had a marketing report with us recently, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve made a few updates to the usual format. Reporting for us has always been an important part of how we demonstrate value to our clients. In the past, Matthew, our Head of Marketing, took it upon himself to handle the reporting process with our clients. He compiled the report, delivered it to the client, and then came back to the team with the next month’s tasks.
It was an efficient way to get things done that kept hours focused on tasks rather than meetings, but over time, we started to notice that our clients didn’t actually want a brisk monthly check in—they wanted detail, collaboration, and strategy. So, we revisited our reporting process to look for ways to improve the dialog with our clients and give them the in-depth analysis they wanted. Here’s how we’re changing things up.
1. An updated design and delivery format.
You may have noticed that we’ve updated the design of our marketing reports. We’ve done this for two reasons. First, we want you to be able to see the information we have to present more clearly. We believe that the more readable and accessible that information is, the better use it will be to our clients.
And second, we know that appearances matter. So do your metrics. We want to deliver those metrics in a polished report that makes you feel excited about what you’re about to see. Because if we don’t treat them like they’re important, all too often, our clients forget that they’re important, too.
2. Tailored metrics reporting that’s based on what you need.
We want to bring the focus of our reports back in line with the numbers and figures that are most important to you. If you want us to drill down into your competitor’s keyword rankings, we’ll pull those numbers. If you want us to spend more time looking at your social media engagement, we’ll dig into those, too.
The point is, our clients have different businesses, different customers, and different goals. So their reports should be different, too.
Read our post: Your Website Metrics Report Is Due: What Should You Track?
3. More collaboration and input from our team.
Writing and reviewing the marketing reports has become more of a team effort these days. While Matthew still spearheads the data gathering and report writing, we have more of an internal review process in place to check in with each other about the results. We want to make sure that everyone’s contribution is represented in the report, and team members can chime in with suggestions for the next month’s actions before our client meeting. This builds our own internal awareness of the client’s goals and helps the client meetings stay on task.
4. A deeper level of analysis on report feedback.
Our original vision for marketing reports was to give an overview of website performance for our clients. By offering a monthly snapshot, we could make sure everything was headed in the right direction without getting lost in the weeds.
However, when it comes to improvements on the margin, the devil is in the details. By changing our reporting methods, we’ve come to look at different data points than we had previously. That is giving us a new opportunity to delve into metrics that didn’t get as much attention in the past, which in turn gives us new insights for how we can improve performance even more.
Read our post: 4 Google Analytics KPIs for Site Performance
5. A strategy discussion for upcoming work.
Delivering this level of detail in our monthly marketing reports won’t help anyone if we don’t turn it into actionable marketing tasks. That’s why we’re bringing more of our team onboard for our monthly client check-ins, and turning these meetings into mini strategy sessions.
What we want from this process is ultimately to create a more focused, collaborative marketing plan with our clients. We want you to leave the table feeling excited about the progress we’re making and looking forward to the next report. Because ultimately, marketing is about bringing your business to the next level.
What would you like to see in your monthly marketing report?
At the end of the day, our reports are about you—our clients. If the monthly marketing reports we’re delivering to you aren’t answering the questions you need answered, we want to know. Because for us, it’s not a question of whether we can get you those answers, but of knowing what your questions are to begin with.
We hope that you’ll see our monthly reports as an opportunity to chime in and make your needs known. The more dialog we can have about your business and your strategic goals, the better we can deliver the services you’re looking for.