Client reporting best practices for a small agency

Client reporting best practices come down to four habits: send the report on the same day each month, put every number in plain words, say a bad month plainly, and end with one next step. They hold for any report you send, whatever it measures. None of them takes a new tool.

What are the client reporting fundamentals?

The client reporting fundamentals are four habits you keep every month, for every client: a fixed send day, plain words beside every number, a straight account of a bad month, and one next step to close.

1. Send it on the same day each month. Pick the day, tell the client, and keep it. The client knows when to look, and you know your deadline.
2. Put every number in plain words. Beside each number, write one line that says what it counts. Skip the line only when the client could say what the number means without your help.
3. Say a bad month plainly. If the numbers fell, the opening lines of the report say so, ahead of any good news.
4. End with one next step. Close with the one thing you'll do next, or the one thing you're waiting on from the client.

These habits fit every kind of report you send, from the monthly one to a one-time audit. If you haven't settled which reports to send, and when, start with SEO reports for clients.

Plain words, with Google Analytics as the example

Here's the second habit at work on the main counts in Google Analytics, each of which Google defines on its help pages. A line apiece is enough for a client.

• Sessions: how many sessions started on the website or app. A session is a span of time when a user is active there.
• Engaged sessions: sessions that ran for 10 seconds or more, or had at least one conversion event, or took in at least two page or screen views.
• Active users: how many distinct users visited. Reports show this count as "Users".
• Key events: how many times users set off a key event. Google says a key event measures an action that matters a great deal to the business's success.

Write the line once for each number, and use the same line every month. The same habit works for every other number in the report. For what each SEO number means, see SEO metrics.

If these habits get harder to keep as your client list grows, look at how the reports get built. For reports that take less time as you add clients, see how to scale client reporting.

How do you report SEO success in a month when the numbers dip?

Say the dip first, in the opening lines of the report, in plain words. Then report what went right that month, and say what you'll do about what didn't.

1. Open with the dip. Name the number, and say it went down.
2. Give a cause only if you can point to it. If you don't know yet, say so, and say how you'll find out.
3. Report the wins that are real. A number that held, a number that rose and work that went live all count. Put them after the dip.
4. Say what you're changing. One or two plain lines on what you'll do because of the dip.
5. Close as you always do. One next step, and the day the next report comes.

Here's how the top of a down-month report can read:

Calls from the website were down this month. We don't know why yet. Visits held steady, so we're checking the contact page and the phone link first. You'll hear what we found in next month's report, or sooner if the fix is quick.

Three things are worth leaving out of a down-month report.

• A new chart that shows up only when the usual one looks bad.
• A long explanation that comes before the plain line.
• Blame for something you can't show.

A down month is also a good month to follow the report with a call, so the client can ask questions. For the monthly report and its call, see how reporting helps you keep a client.

What makes a client reporting template worth keeping?

A client reporting template is worth keeping when it stays the same month after month and still tells the client what they want to know. The point of a template is that nothing moves: same parts, same order, same spot for bad news.

Keep the template if you can say yes to each of these.

• Can the client set this month beside last month without your help?
• Does every number have its plain line?
• Is there one fixed spot for the summary, in a good month and a bad one?
• Does it end with one next step?
• Could someone else on your team fill it in from written steps?

A no on any line is a reason to fix that part, and only that part.

Change the template when the client's goals change, or when the client tells you a part isn't useful. Make the change once, and tell the client what moved and why in the report where it moves. Then hold the new layout steady.

The template is also where your name lives. Your logo and your agency's name sit on it every month, whoever fills it in. For why a report with your name on it matters, see Why is white label SEO reporting important?.