Article
Paid Ads Management: How Agencies Should Report Results
Paid advertising on Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms can bring customers quickly. It can also spend money quickly. If you hire an agency to manage your ads, the monthly report is how you know whether your money is working.
Unfortunately, many reports are confusing: pages of screenshots, technical terms and big numbers like impressions that do not tell you whether you got more customers. This guide explains what a good paid ads report should include and what questions to ask.
Start with your business goal
A report should connect ad performance to your business goal. Before the campaign starts, agree on what success means:
- Leads, such as form submissions, calls or WhatsApp enquiries
- Online sales and revenue
- Bookings or appointments
- Store visits or event registrations
Every report should begin by showing progress towards that goal. Our guide to agency KPIs helps you choose the right ones.
The essential numbers
A clear paid ads report should include, for the period and compared with the previous period:
- Total ad spend: how much was spent, by platform and campaign
- Conversions: the number of leads, sales or bookings
- Cost per conversion: spend divided by conversions
- Revenue and return on ad spend: for ecommerce, revenue from ads and the ratio to spend
- Conversion rate: the share of clicks that became conversions
- Click-through rate and cost per click: signals of ad relevance and cost efficiency
Impressions and reach can be included for context, but they should not be the headline.
Key takeaway: if a report cannot tell you how many leads or sales you got and what each one cost, it is not doing its job.
Tracking must be set up properly
Reports are only as good as the tracking behind them. Ask your agency:
- Which conversions are tracked and how, such as pixel, Conversions API, Google tag or call tracking
- Whether conversions are deduplicated across platforms
- How WhatsApp clicks or phone calls are counted
- Whether offline sales can be connected back to ads
Platforms may each claim credit for the same sale, so total conversions across platforms can be higher than your actual sales. Compare reported conversions with your real enquiries and orders.
Insights, not just numbers
A good report explains what happened and why. Look for:
- Which campaigns, audiences and creatives performed best
- What changed compared to last month, and possible reasons
- Tests that were run and their results
- Problems spotted, such as rising costs or landing page issues
Numbers without explanation leave you guessing. A short summary at the top, in plain language, is extremely valuable.
Clear next steps
Every report should end with recommendations:
- Budget changes, such as moving spend to better-performing campaigns
- New creatives or offers to test
- Landing page improvements
- Audiences to add or exclude
Agree on these together in a short monthly call. Our guide on running a useful monthly review shows how to structure it.
Red flags in ad reporting
Be cautious if:
- Reports only show impressions, reach and clicks
- The agency avoids discussing cost per lead or sale
- You do not have access to the ad accounts yourself
- Numbers change between reports without explanation
- Every month is described as great, regardless of results
You should always have admin or at least view access to your ad accounts, owned by your business. Read our article on owning your domain, hosting and ad accounts.
Reporting frequency
Monthly reports are common, with quick updates during big campaigns or launches. For larger budgets, a live dashboard can help. But dashboards do not replace a regular human summary of insights and recommendations.
Ask for context on creative performance
Ad results depend heavily on the creative: the image, video, headline and offer. A useful report shows which creatives were used and how each performed, ideally with thumbnails so you can see them. This helps you understand what your customers respond to, whether that is price-led messages, product demos, testimonials or seasonal themes. Those lessons are valuable beyond advertising. They can shape your website copy, social media content and even product packaging.
Ask the agency how often creatives are refreshed. Audiences tire of seeing the same ad, and performance usually drops over time. A plan for regular new creatives is a sign of an agency that manages ads actively rather than leaving campaigns to run on autopilot.
FAQ
What is a good cost per lead?
It depends on your industry, location, offer and the value of a customer. Compare cost per lead with your profit from a customer rather than with generic benchmarks.
Why do platform numbers not match my sales?
Platforms use different attribution models and may count the same customer more than once. Always cross-check with your own sales and enquiry records.
Should the agency's fee be shown in the report?
It helps to see total cost, including management fees, alongside ad spend, so you can judge the full return on investment.
Clear reporting builds trust between you and your agency. Ask for reports that connect spend to real business results, explain what happened and recommend what to do next.