PPC Reporting Made Easy: Goals and Tips for Outstanding Reports
Picture this. You have finished putting together your PPC campaign and are enjoying a well-deserved cup of tea and then you remember that your work isn’t done yet – it never is with PPC.
Many businesses even work with a PPC agency if they don’t have the time or expertise in PPC to support them on their campaigns.
However, for some companies this isn’t an option so all their marketing is in-house and they’ll have to get to grips with reporting software.
Reporting software spits out information you tell yourself you’ll never need …but will you? Surely it wouldn’t be there otherwise? Unexplained fluctuations in performance seem nonsensical and disheartening. Worst of all, you know you will probably have to try and make this jumble of data make sense to someone who has never worked in PPC.
Big spreadsheets full of huge amounts of data swim menacingly before your eyes and the prospect of those inevitably impossible questions that come down from higher-ups chill you to the bone. Whether or not you wish to indulge in a little melodrama when it comes to unenviable task of PPC reporting, I’m sure we can all agree that it can be a painful experience for all involved.
We can’t make this pain go away but we can sympathise and offer a few solutions to alleviate the symptoms. By the end of this article we hope you’ll see that PPC reporting isn’t as bad as all that.
The most important goals for a PPC report
What is the purpose of a PPC report? You might be rolling your eyes at what seems like a very stupid question but if you are having difficulties with formulating effective and meaningful reports, this is the perfect place to start.
Creating a report is not really a difficult task. Yes, it can be tedious but it is certainly not onerous – at least if you are doing it right.
PPC reports can serve two purposes. Most obviously, it is a way of communicating with your clients if you are an agency or with other members of your team if you are an in-house marketing team. It is perhaps helpful to think of a PPC report as answering a question that they may have which probably is along the lines of, ‘how are the campaigns lining up to my goals?’
Understanding the individual nature of these goals is key. There are critical metrics that will appear in nearly all reports, for example ROAS. However, the other metrics that you use to build a report should be pertinent to the aims and purposes of the campaign. For example, if increasing sales is the key goal then views are not going to be a priority.
Good reports should cut through the noise and offer an insight into the campaign that is understandable and accessible. Throughout all our years in PPC, we have seen time and time again what a difference this can make. When performing a Google audit, for example, the analytics often display unnecessary metrics. These metrics can even hinder informed decision making by offering appealing numbers that show little about the actual performance.
From an agency perspective, we have found that creating good reports plays a vital role in client retention. At an event we held in Krakow, the CEO of a prominent agency was sharing how he realised just that. By focusing on clear, open communication in which reports play a central part, he noticed that clients were more content and less likely to leave.
It is also important to note that PPC reports also serve to help you. You should be managing PPC campaigns by making data-driven decisions and having a clear record and assessment of the metrics allows you to do your best work.
What should a PPC report do?
This may be another relatively basic question but it is worth ironing these aspects out before we move on: you need to have a solid idea of what data to include before considering how best to present it.
There are four basic aspects that a PPC report should be delivering:
1.Highlighting the key metrics clearly and succinctly
You might be the expert but that doesn’t mean that the data should be solely in your hands. Keeping the simple aspects at the core of a report allows others to see the key takeaways easily without delving into the specifics that they may not need to know.
2.Demonstrating the (hopefully good) ROAS
This is something to highlight no matter what the goals may be – it is just a simple way of keeping people happy. This will certainly be helpful where there are issues with budgets and a real need to justify ad spend.
3.Evaluating performance and drawing insights.
This is the space to let your expertise shine. Numbers are great but they are even better with context. As mentioned above a report is all about communication so this is your chance to explain, compare, identify areas for improvements and make suggestions. It may also be useful to offer benchmarks for your industry or really any other information that allows for a more comprehensive understanding.
If you are an agency this is especially important. A report is an assessment of the PPC campaigns but your clients are also likely to be using it as an assessment of you. Here you can demonstrate the value you add, how you improve ROI and what benefits your expertise is having on their PPC.
Tips for creating a great PPC report
Having set the foundations for a good report, we can now delve into the specifics that turn the core information into meaningful insights. In our experience a good report begins with the raw data as a high-level overview of performance before working its way down into the specifics, contextualising the data and providing clear next steps.
There are certain ways though to elevate your reporting, turning it from a boring account of performance to an engaging story that is easy-to-understand and makes everyone’s lives easier.
Honesty is the best policy
It should be obvious but honesty is essential. It may be tempting to embellish the truth a little to make the performance seem stronger but this is ineffective in the long run. I won’t labour the point as I’m sure none of you fine readers would ever do that but remember truthful, open communication makes for a more successful working relationship.
Having the right tools at your disposal
You can’t do your job, if you don’t have the right reporting software. Your current software could simply not be up to scratch but if you are still relying on a good old spreadsheet, it is time to move on – trust me!
There are many options out there on the market depending on your needs. Perhaps, you need a software that goes into minute details or maybe you need something that consolidates data from many sources in the form of an all-in-one marketing platform.
If you have been struggling to build effective reports and are always wondering why you don’t have the right data, this could be the problem. It is worth taking some time, consider your requirements and search for something that meets them.
Finding the right metrics
Now onto the data itself. This was briefly touched on above but there is a lot more to say about this.
It all starts with you having a thorough understanding of the business goals. Having a conversation that drills down into the specifics and what ‘success’ looks like for them is a crucial first step.
You should also trust your own experience here. It would be a mistake to treat this goal in utter isolation to other considerations though, for example maybe your ad has an extraordinary reach (which is what your client is after) but if there are no clicks perhaps the audience isn’t relevant. A report is about more than simply telling them what they want to hear but also the ways in which they could be seeing a better performance overall and meeting their goals in a suitable rounded manner.
Consider intent and the whole customer journey
Remember when building these reports, it is not just about the data itself but your understanding of it.
By breaking down your insights into different stages of the customer journey, you will offer a truly valuable report that will properly contextualise the data you present and consolidate your own position too.
These will allow for greater decision-making and more comprehensive campaign oversight by identifying specific areas for improvement, all of which have an impact upon performance no matter what the definition of success may be.
Make your report appealing
Your data may be accurate and pertinent, your insights valuable and intelligent but if your report is boring, long and dull then all your hard work could be for nothing.
The president of RankHammer, Steve Hammer, said:
“I like to assume that I have 2 minutes of somebody’s time when I’m showing a PPC report. I like to present everything in a one-pager and make it as simple as possible.”
This is a good thing to keep in mind when designing a template. You certainly don’t want to sacrifice depth of analysis for the sake of a shorter report but by making your report appealing and accessible you will be helping your reader to digest the information faster.
A good way to achieve this is by using visuals to display your data. This all comes down to personal preference so it make take a little while to find a way that is most effective but the hard work will pay off.
Talk, talk and more talk
This leads onto the final tip: talk to whoever is reading your report. You don’t need to get it right first time and your report should certainly not be the extent of communication between you and others involved in the PPC campaigns.
Your team members or clients will most likely appreciate you trying to workshop ways to make the report as great as possible – whether that is choosing the right data, what insights they find most important from you as well as simply how to display the information. Afterall, you are a digital marketer not a mind reader.
Get your PPC report right
This blog started by dramatizing PPC reporting which hopefully made you chuckle a little. It is nice sometimes to indulge in a bit of self-pity at the demands of working in PPC but hopefully now reporting is not something to worry you anymore.
There are some basics tenets to stick to with reports but the rest is down to you. Open communication really is the answer and remember to trust in your own expertise – you know what you are talking about.
If you are looking for an all-in-one digital marketing software that gives you unparalleled insights into your PPC campaigns and helps you to manage them, then why not consider Diginius Insight. Whether you are an agency or an in-house team, discover how our all-in-one marketing platform, Diginius Insight Platform boosts your ROI.
