Building marketing reports that people actually read

A report exists to support a decision. If nobody changes anything after reading it, the report is decoration. The fix is not more data, but a tighter format that leads to action.

Choose three numbers

Pick the metrics most closely tied to revenue or to the goal of the campaign. For many small businesses these are leads or orders, cost per result, and repeat purchases. Everything else can live in an appendix.

• One number for volume: leads, orders or sign-ups
• One number for efficiency: cost per result
• One number for quality: repeat or retained customers

Write the so-what

Add two or three sentences explaining what changed and what you recommend. AI can draft this summary from the numbers, but a person should check it before it goes out.

A report without a decision is just a list of numbers.

Automate the collection

Pulling numbers by hand from ad managers and spreadsheets is where most reporting time goes. Automate the collection into one sheet or dashboard, and spend the saved time on analysis instead.