How Agencies Use Smart Reports & Dashboards to Improve Reporting

With everything on a marketing agency's to-do list, the efficiency (or lack thereof) of client reporting can make or break an agency's workflow. When juggling multiple clients, compiling data into comprehensive reports takes precious time away from client acquisition, client onboarding, account management, campaign optimization, and more. 

Our clients look to us to interpret the data, see the results, and deliver insights. 

Jonathan Cheek, SEO Account Manager, SEO Direct

Enter Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards–two game-changing tools that streamline the reporting process down to a few seconds, turning a tedious chore into a seamless part of your agency’s routine. With this feature, agencies quickly get started producing comprehensive reports with the most important metrics for each integration, based on industry standards.

Imagine having a client dashboard or monthly marketing report that brings your client’s essential metrics into one intuitive view and transforms complex data into clear, actionable insights. Imagine doing all of that in less time than it takes to refill your cup of coffee. 

But time isn’t the only advantage. Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards do more than just automate; they enhance your agency’s ability to present data that speaks directly to your client's needs and goals. 

These tools are the secret weapons in the arsenal of forward-thinking agencies, offering a smarter, faster path to impressive client communications.

We’re a relationship-based team. There are a hundred agencies out there that are going to do similar work to what we do, some better, some worse. Setting up the relationship and making that connection between people helps separate what we do from others out there. 

I come from a bunch of different agency backgrounds, and the ones that tend to grow and be successful and renew clients leverage the relationship.

Michael Smith, Operation Manager, EOS Healthcare Marketing

Advanced client reporting features like Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards save time, boost the accuracy and clarity of your client reports, and provide instant transparency. 

This results in better decision-making and happier clients. By adopting these advanced tools, your agency creates a competitive edge and ensures that every client feels informed and valued.

This article will explore how agencies use Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards to make client reporting lightning-fast and find new ways to present data for improved client communications. 

Let's dive in.

The Problem With Manual Client Reporting

Manual client reporting creates a bottleneck for agencies, hindering efficiency and effectiveness. If you’ve ever suffered through what many agency leaders refer to as Client Reporting Hell Week, you know the struggles of pulling together mountains of data from disparate data sources.  

This time-consuming process diverts valuable resources away from strategic planning and client engagement, leading to missed opportunities and diminished value for clients. 

Before using AgencyAnalytics, a client report would take anywhere from two hours to half the workday, depending on the client. 

Having to manually pull the data, input it into a Microsoft PowerPoint template, get it proofed and approved, and finally send the email (making sure everyone necessary is CC’d in!) is not only tedious work, it’s also time that could be better spent elsewhere. 

We also disliked the fact our clients didn’t have easy access to their stats, so it meant we would spend a lot of time sending emails and having phone calls in order to keep them in the loop.

Claire Aldridge, Digital Marketing Specialist, Victory Digital

Here are some of the key reasons why manual reporting is problematic for a growing marketing agency:

• Time-Consuming: Manually creating reports takes a significant amount of time, often requiring hours of data collection, analysis, and formatting. This consumes valuable resources and limits the time available for strategic planning and client engagement.

• Error-Prone: When reports are compiled manually, the likelihood of human errors increases. Data entry or analysis mistakes lead to inaccurate reports, which could mislead clients and impact their decision-making.

• Customization Challenges: Every client has unique needs and goals, requiring tailored reports that highlight the most relevant metrics. Manually customizing reports is a cumbersome process, leading to generic reports that may not fully address each client’s specific requirements.

• Data Inefficiency: Collecting and presenting data manually is inherently inefficient. It often involves multiple steps that delay report delivery. This inefficiency frustrates clients who expect timely and accurate insights.

• Lack of Data Visualization: Manual client reports often leave clients lost in a sea of raw numbers, making it difficult for them to grasp the insights needed to make informed decisions. Without effective data visualization tools, reports are overwhelming and fail to communicate the story behind the data.

• Overwhelming To Start From Scratch. Figuring out the best way to organize and design reports when you start using new reporting software also eats up time. 

These pain points highlight the need for a more streamlined approach to client reporting. By addressing these issues, agencies automate and improve key processes, ensuring more accurate and timely delivery of insights to clients. 

Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards offer KPI and data visualization inspiration so you hit the ground running. Although the metrics used by a majority of marketing agencies may not exactly match what your client reporting needs, Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards will get you most of the way there within a few seconds.

Once you've added your customization, easily turn these into your custom templates to speed up the process even more as you go!

Smart Reports automate the reporting process, transforming complex data into clear, actionable insights. They update automatically for each reporting period, helping agencies deliver accurate, up-to-date information on campaign progress. 

What Are Smart Reports?

By leveraging templates based on the top metrics used by over 7,000 other marketing agencies, Smart Reports ensure the focus remains on the most relevant data without the guesswork.

Smart Reports are a great idea. They automatically put in good, relevant data and look at the data streams we have connected. 

Jonathan Cheek, SEO Account Manager, SEO Direct

Key Features of Smart Reports

• Automation: Data is pulled automatically from multiple integrations, reducing manual effort and increasing consistency.

• Integration With Multiple Data Sources: Seamlessly integrates with top tools such as Google Analytics 4, SEO analytics, social media reporting, and over 80 other marketing integrations, bringing all relevant data into one place.

• Templates Based on Top Metrics: Smart Report templates use the top metrics tracked by over 7,000 marketing agencies, ensuring the most relevant data is highlighted without the guesswork.

• Customization: Easily tailored to meet specific client needs, including custom branding, expert commentary, and clear data visualization.

• Scheduled Delivery: Reports are sent out automatically, ensuring timely delivery without the need for manual oversight.

How To Create a Smart Report 

Smart Reports are designed to save time and enhance the quality of your client communications, so setting one up is super easy. Follow these simple steps to create a comprehensive and insightful Smart Report in seconds.

What Are Smart Dashboards?

Building on the efficiency of Smart Reports, Smart Dashboards offer a dynamic way to visualize and interact with each client’s data. These dashboards provide a centralized view of all the key metrics, making it easy to monitor performance across various campaigns and channels. 

Key Features of Smart Dashboards

• Live Data Visualization: Smart Dashboards update automatically and present up-to-date data from various sources. This immediate access to current metrics helps make timely and informed decisions.

• Integration With Multiple Data Sources: Connect with over 80 marketing platforms to automatically retrieve relevant data.

• Templates Based on Top Metrics: Smart Dashboard templates were created based on the most commonly tracked metrics tracked by agencies just like yours.

• Customization: Quickly tailor dashboards to fit each client’s unique needs, incorporating dynamic charts and graphs, custom branding, and personalized views.

• User-Friendly Interface: Designed for ease of use, Smart Dashboards allow agencies and clients to interact with their data effortlessly. This includes filtering, sorting, and drilling down into specific data points.

• Client & Staff Access: Provide round-the-clock access to client dashboards and ensure that clients always have the latest information at their fingertips.

How To Create a Smart Dashboard 

Smart Dashboards offer a dynamic and interactive way to present data to your clients. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a Smart Dashboard with AgencyAnalytics.

Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards vs. Pre-Built Templates

Pre-built report templates are valuable tools, especially for agencies that focus on specific niches like social media, PPC, or SEO. For example, a social media report template is perfect for agencies managing multiple social media accounts, as it provides a standardized way to present performance metrics. 

However, when clients have diverse marketing needs, Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards offer a more tailored and comprehensive solution.

For example, consider an agency managing a client’s social media, SEO, and email marketing campaigns. While a broader digital marketing report template can cover all these areas, it might not fully capture the unique performance metrics across different platforms, including specific data points from GA4 analytics or data from various SEO tools. This is where Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards excel.

Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards automatically display SEO performance data alongside a Google Ads report, social media analytics, and email marketing results, giving a holistic view of their overall marketing efforts. 

It's our job to tell a simple story through reporting to our clients.  The report is the client's proof that what we are doing is benefiting their business in a positive way. 

Using AgencyAnalytics allows us to quickly create beautiful reports that tell a story in a way our client can understand.

Brian Ferritto, Partner, 42connect

While pre-built templates are useful for standardized reporting, Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards offer the flexibility to meet each client's unique needs.

How Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards Enhance Client Communications

Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards make creating client reports faster and easier than ever before. But what does this mean for your agency? 

Here are just a few of the core benefits of using Smart Report and Smart Dashboards. 

1. Less Time Creating Reports Means More Time Delivering Insights

With Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards, agencies spend less time manually creating reports. This efficiency frees up valuable time for agencies to focus on analyzing data and delivering actionable insights to clients. 

I can confidently say that AgencyAnalytics has transformed the way we approach client reporting and analytics. From the moment we made the switch, we experienced a profound positive impact on our agency's efficiency, client communication, and overall performance.  

The time-saving capabilities of the platform have been nothing short of remarkable. What used to take hours of manual report generation now happens with a few clicks, freeing up our team to focus on what truly matters: delivering exceptional marketing solutions to our clients. 

The ability to automate reports, access real-time data, and customize dashboards has made our reporting process not only efficient but also visually appealing and professional.  Our clients have been thoroughly impressed with the level of transparency and insights provided through the reports.

Jessica Crist, Production Manager, High Five Media

By reducing the burden of data collection and formatting, agencies prioritize strategic discussions and provide deeper value to their clients.

2. Centralized View of Key Metrics and KPIs

Smart Dashboards and Smart Reports offer a centralized view of all key metrics and KPIs, combining data from various sources into one cohesive platform. This holistic view simplifies monitoring and analyzing performance across different channels. 

With custom reports, we can zoom in on the key performance indicators and metrics that matter most to our clients, making our reporting experience incredibly valuable and directly relevant to their success.

Michelle van Blerck, Communications Manager, Digital Freak

Whether tracking SEO metrics, GA4 metrics, PPC metrics, or social media metrics, Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards provide a comprehensive overview that enhances understanding and decision-making.

3. Interactive and User-Friendly Interface

The interactive and user-friendly interface of Smart Dashboards makes it easy for clients to engage with their data. Clients filter, sort, and drill down into specific metrics to explore the data that matters most to them. 

The response from our clients has been overwhelmingly positive, as they appreciate the convenience of having their Google Search Console, rankings, and Google Analytics data consolidated in one user-friendly interface. 

This eliminates the hassle of logging into multiple platforms and navigating through complex interfaces.

Alexa Rees, SEO Manager, seoplus+

This level of interactivity not only makes data more accessible but also empowers clients to take an active role in their performance analysis.

4. Enhanced Transparency and Client Trust

Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards enhance transparency by providing real-time data updates and concise visualizations. 

This transparency fosters trust, as clients see the latest performance metrics without delay or manipulation. Agencies build credibility and strengthen their client relationships by consistently delivering accurate and up-to-date information.

Communication and transparency are key. Even if the numbers are down, clients prefer to know what is happening and what we are doing to manage than stay in the dark. 

The money they use for our management and their budget is a big deal to them, and all they want to know is that they are being taken care of.

Gabriela Paiva, Marketing Manager, Digilatics

Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards are not just reporting tools but instruments for enhancing communication, fostering transparency, and building trust. By leveraging these advanced tools, agencies transform client interactions, deliver greater value, and achieve better results.

Best Practices When Using Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards

Leveraging Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards significantly improves your agency’s client reporting process. To maximize their potential, consider the following best practices.

Customize Your Smart Report or Smart Dashboard

Customization is critical to making your Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards truly effective. Tailor these tools to meet each client's unique needs, highlighting the metrics that matter most to them. 

My experience in digital advertising taught me that clients want real-time access to reporting, even if they don’t always use it. We still build a lot of custom reports, but we're able to also customize AgencyAnalytics in a lot of ways to automate that process. We've created multiple dashboards for clients, based on the multiple things we do for them. 

For example, we work with a 15 location group of medical practices. We need to keep track of every location's ad budget, as well as their local SEO separately. So, we have custom dashboards built that help them with that process, while helping our team know where to focus their energy.

Ryan Burch, Owner, Tobie Group

Custom branding and personalized commentary also make reports more relevant and engaging. 

Adjusting the layout and data visualizations and including custom goals and annotations ensures that the most important information stands out, facilitating better client understanding and decision-making.

Use Smart Dashboards and Smart Reports for Inspiration

Sometimes, the built-in features of Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards offer new perspectives on data presentation. 

Sometimes, what’s showing on the Smart Report provides more value than what we had in our report templates. Data that we're showing with the raw number, Smart Reports presented as a bar chart. That's a better way, so we use those widgets. 

Michael Smith, Operation Manager, EOS Healthcare Marketing

Use Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards to Demonstrate Your Agency's Reporting Acumen

Smart Reports and Dashboards are powerful tools for showcasing your agency’s expertise to potential clients. You demonstrate your ability to deliver high-quality, actionable reports by presenting data clearly, professionally, and insightfully. 

Our reports are an important tool to show value on what we've done but also the platform where we demonstrate potential opportunities for our clients.

Ryan Hayes, CEO, Sparrow Digital

This builds trust with current clients and serves as a compelling selling point for attracting new business. Highlight your agency’s proficiency with these tools during pitches and client meetings to set yourself apart from the competition.

Summary and Key Takeaways

Smart Reports and Smart Dashboards make it easy to ditch those old reporting spreadsheets. Instead, craft impactful reports in seconds with automated client reporting software from AgencyAnalytics. 

Client-ready reports and custom marketing dashboards are created in seconds, and extensive customization options let you tailor reports to each client's needs. 

Focus on strategy and client engagement while AgencyAnalytics helps you to deliver clear, actionable insights that drive results.