A successful marketing report consists of a whole bundle of measures that ideally complement each other perfectly and are optimally coordinated. But which measure brought which result in the end? This question becomes all the more important for a company if it fails to succeed.
So it is not just a matter of putting together a bundle of measures, but also measuring the effect of the whole package. And to determine how much each element ultimately contributed to the overall success. So that you can adjust the screws of your marketing concept in such a way that the greatest possible benefit is achieved with adequate expenditure.
So you always have to keep an eye on your numbers. This is sometimes not that easy if you simply collect the data you receive. Then followers, visitors, leads, and buyers quickly become an opaque jungle of numbers. To have your ROI permanently under control, you have to prepare data and relate them to each other. Here you get the information on how it works.
Create a marketing report – why?
Especially in the field of online marketing, a large flood of data can come your way. Channels such as SEO or AdWords produce different numbers, plus social media or newsletters.
To be able to bring order to this mass of data, you have to proceed systematically. Reports bring structure to the numbers from the various channels and show you how they interact with each other and how many conversions have resulted. This gives you a good overview of the cost-benefit ratios of your measures. A marketing report is therefore the best basis for further strategic planning.
Marketing report: What should be considered when creating it?
There are different types of reports, so you should first be clear about your objective. Before creating a marketing report, it is important to answer the following questions:
1. Which figures and data should be included in the report?
2. How often should reports be created?
3. For whom and for what purpose is the material prepared?
An SEO manager needs different numbers for his balance sheet and pays attention to different KPIs than, for example, the managing director of a company. The cooperation partner is interested in different information than a marketer or employee. The individual recipients of reports need different intervals to be able to draw a balance of success.
The basic approach of a report must therefore be established before it can be finalized. A list of the data that is requested from each target person helps with the determination. A marketing report should only contain those numbers that the recipient needs.
Once an adequate approach has been found, numbers come into play. It is best to start roughly with the reach, for example looking at the number of readers and followers or determining the number of subscribers to a newsletter. You can then collect more specific data step by step and, for example, determine where the readers of a blog came from. How did the traffic come about, where did leads come from, and how many new customers were won? The answers to these questions can then be used to conclude the ROI.
Where do you find these answers? There are numerous sources to determine such numbers. If possible, use several available tools so that you get a good overall view of the data material. Next to
- Google Analytics,
- Google Search Console and
- Facebook Business Manager
you should include your internal evaluations in your marketing report. Other fee-based data acquisition tools may also be considered. Here it is important to capture the elementary numbers and to distinguish important information from less important data. Of course, this distinction also depends on the orientation of the respective report.
The structure of a marketing report
First of all, it is important to sort out which marketing measures are particularly important for the report and which others are more of a sideline activity with a low budget. Depending on the weighting, the evaluation can then be more or less detailed.
Key points that every marketing report should include:
- The total range of all channels used
- The individual ranges of each channel
- All visitor numbers on the website
- Visitor numbers sorted by source
- The total number of new leads acquired
- New leads sorted by source
- The total amount of new customers generated by the marketing
- New customers sorted by source
- The conversion rates (visitors to leads, leads to customers, visitors to customers)
Tips for creating a marketing report
Of course, a good report must be easy to understand. The target person for whom a report was created should be able to grasp its essence in a few minutes.
A marketing report becomes even more informative when compared with corresponding periods. The development of an important key figure can be made visible at first glance in a graphic.
A few tips on how to make your marketing report clear and meaningful:
| Breakdown by source | KPIs broken down by source allow the various traffic channels to be viewed individually. This makes it clear at first glance how much budget is in which channel. To ensure clarity, drop-down menus are suitable, with which the channels can be selected individually. |
| Automatic reports | Analysis tools allow the creation of automatic reports or downloads. This provides a good basis for preparing the data import. |
| Presentation in Excel | In Microsoft Excel, it is very easy to import data using pivot tables. There are then several options for graphical representation. Diagrams or curves illustrate the imported figures. |
| Transparency | A success curve does not always point upwards – the figures determined are subject to fluctuations. A marketing report should also show negative developments so that optimizations can be made. |
| Precision | A report is only as good as its figures are reliable. Therefore, the creator must be meticulous to ensure that no careless mistakes creep in. It is therefore better to compare the data once too often than once too little. |
| Simple representation | Graphics should never be overloaded, as this will make them lose their clarity. A diagram should always be designed so simply that its meaning is clear at first glance. |
| Interpretation | Of course, the reader can also conclude this marketing report. However, an interpretation by the author is a mandatory part of every report. The short explanation of the numbers and their meaning is the perfect conclusion to the marketing report. It makes sense to put the current data about comparable periods. Individual KPIs also become more meaningful when interpreted in connection with related numbers. |
Which KPIs are for optimal reporting?
An important decision when creating a marketing report is the selection of the KPIs. The same key figures are not important in reporting for every company. These must therefore be determined individually. The website type also plays a role here.
We want to distinguish between four types that require different KPI selections:
1. Online-Shop B2C
2. Websites with advertising content (e.g. a blog)
3. Websites B2B
4. Websites with support content (e.g. instructions or help)
In the case of mixed forms, it is important to create the possibility of a separate evaluation of the individual areas.
The most important KPIs by website type:
Online-Shop B2C
- revenue
- expenditure
- cost per order
- session count
- conversion rate
- the average number of products in the shopping cart
- average purchase amount in the shopping cart
- bounce rate
- proportion of returns
- the average revenue per customer
- ROI
Content Websites
- revenue from Ad Networks
- revenue from sales
- expenditure
- session count
- session duration
- number of page views
- bounce rate
- scroll depth
- Conversion rate
Websites B2B
- the respective number of leads from the different channels
- expenditure
- cost per Lead
- session count
- conversion rate
- number of page views
- number of subscriptions to the newsletter
Support-Websites
- number of downloads
- expenditure
- session count
- session duration
- number of page views
- reviews
These are the absolute basic key figures that you should not do without when creating a marketing report.
Of course, many other KPIs can be important in reporting. This includes, for example, a ranking of the individual keywords or a visibility index for Google. The KPIs are compiled by the objective and addressee of a report.
Reporting-Interval
Depending on the objective, marketing reports can be created daily, weekly, monthly, or annually.
| Daily | Daily reporting enables you to react to changes very quickly. E.g. for organic traffic on social media and website. |
| Weekly | Weekly reporting is suitable for determining medium-term marketing success. Creates the basis for new strategic approaches. |
| Monthly | Monthly reporting considers long-term developments. Creates the basis for new approaches in the marketing concept. The generally used interval for reports. |
| Yearly | Annual reporting serves as a balance sheet for the monthly marketing reports. This allows you to compare periods and summarize the success of individual measures in retrospect. |
Tools for creating a marketing report
Some online tools help create a marketing report. This saves you a lot of time and gives you a clear and descriptive result. The perfect preparation of data is just as important as a visually appealing presentation of the report.
It saves a lot of work when marketing reports are automatically delivered directly to your inbox. Reporting tools can therefore be useful helpers in the day-to-day work of the marketing department.
Here are four examples of the most popular tools:
XIV
This tool focuses on search engine optimization. Because SEO is still of great importance for a good online marketing strategy.
With XOVI you can measure and analyze your SEO features. These can be simple backlinks, but also, for example, a complete WDF/IDF text analysis. The layout of a marketing report created with XOVI is individually adaptable and can be designed with your logo and desired colors. The tool offers pre-scheduled, automated reports that are generated and automatically sent at the chosen time.
Costs: 80 to 400 euros per month. You can test XOVI for 14 days free of charge.
Google Analytics
Perhaps the most well-known marketing reporting tool that allows you to measure numerous factors. A very versatile tool with a wide range of reporting options.
A large number of custom reports created by other users with a variety of analyzes are available. Below you will find reports with access numbers or reports on the subject of backlinks as well as traffic measurements in the area of social media. If you want to create your marketing report, you can choose from a large selection of measurable metrics.
Cost: The basic tool is free. The premium version is charged according to the package
HubSpot Analytics
This tool focuses on inbound marketing. This allows you to precisely analyze where your traffic is coming from and receive a source report. A graphic interface allows the individual preparation of the created diagrams.
Cost: Sources reports are free. Advanced marketing reports are chargeable.
AgencyAnalytics
With this extensive tool, you can assign customers to different needs. Features such as PPC performance, SEO rankings, or tracking mailing success are included, as is social traffic.
You can create custom dashboards for individual customers. It is also possible to integrate Google Search, Facebook Ads, or Mailchimp with AgencyAnalytics.
Costs: 49 to 399 euros per month. There are packages for freelancers, agencies, or companies.
Conclusion: How to create a Marketing report
Regular reports are an important control tool in online marketing. However, determining and maintaining the data is quite time-consuming. Once a statistic has been created, the additional time required for the evaluation and analysis of the collected figures follows.
However, you cannot do without marketing reports, because this is the only way to keep track of the successes or failures of measures and campaigns. The reports provide valuable information on the parameters that need to be adjusted within the marketing strategy. Concepts can be adapted and optimized again and again. The budget can be optimally distributed and only flows into really successful marketing activities.
But how do you recognize a good marketing report? A clear graphic representation of the data, which has been prepared simply and understandably, is the be-all and end-all in reporting. Good reports have also taken into account the respective website type and relate comparative periods to each other. The connection between the individual KPIs shown should be visible. In this way, the recipient of the marketing report gets the greatest possible benefit from the data presented.