A monthly report exists to settle next month’s decisions, not to replay last month’s numbers. Clients rarely read past page two. The report that gets used is the one a busy stakeholder can absorb in five minutes without ever opening the ad accounts.
Every table below pastes cleanly into Excel or Google Sheets.
Report Sections
1. Executive Summary
Three sentences: the result, its main driver, and the decision requested.
Example: “September revenue from paid media came in 8% above target. Most of the gain came from new video creative on Meta. We recommend moving 15% of the Google Ads non-brand budget to Meta prospecting in October.”
2. Targets vs Actuals
| Metric | Monthly target | Actual | Variance | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total ad spend (including platform fees and surcharges) | ||||
| Paid conversions or qualified leads | ||||
| Cost per conversion | ||||
| ROAS | ||||
| New customers |
3. Channel Performance
| Channel | Spend | Clicks | Conversions | CPA | ROAS | Change vs last month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads – Brand search | ||||||
| Google Ads – Non-brand search | ||||||
| Google Ads – Performance Max | ||||||
| Meta Ads – Prospecting | ||||||
| Meta Ads – Retargeting | ||||||
| Total |
Diagnostic metrics such as impressions and CTR are left out on purpose. They help explain why a channel moved, but they rarely change the monthly decision, so they belong in an appendix when needed.
Brand search and retargeting always look efficient because they reach people who already know the brand. Keeping them on separate rows stops them from masking how prospecting actually performs.
4. Metric Definitions
Agencies lose client trust fastest when numbers change meaning between months. A fixed definitions table at the end of every report prevents that, even when account managers change.
| Metric | Definition used in this report | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | Platform spend plus country surcharges and fees shown on invoices | Platform invoices |
| Conversions | Primary conversion actions, using each platform’s attribution setting | Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager |
| ROAS | Conversion value divided by spend including fees | Platform data and invoices |
| New customers | Customers whose first order falls in this month | Client’s order system or CRM |
| Total sales | All sales regardless of channel | Client’s order system |
Including total sales gives both sides a sanity check. When platform conversions rise while total sales fall, measurement needs a look, as covered in Why Did Conversions Drop?.
5. Change Log
| Date | Platform | Campaign | Change | Reason | Expected impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Platform change history records what changed. Only the agency’s log records why. Three months later, when a client asks why performance shifted in a particular week, this table answers in seconds.
6. Tests
| Test | Start | End | Hypothesis | Result | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7. Next Month’s Actions
| # | Action | Owner | Due date | Expected impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 |
Three to five actions get done. A list of fifteen tends to reappear unchanged in next month’s report.
Automate the Numbers, Not the Judgment
Channel tables can be filled automatically with Looker Studio, as covered in What Is Looker Studio?. Consistent campaign tagging keeps channels separable, as covered in What Are UTM Parameters?. The executive summary, change log reasons, and actions still need a person who understands the account.
Summary
A strong monthly report leads with a three-sentence summary and a decision. Targets are tracked against fee-inclusive spend. Brand and retargeting sit on their own rows. Fixed metric definitions and a change log keep months comparable and explain past performance. Numbers can be automated, while interpretation and actions are written by hand.