A report that doesn’t answer whether something made money isn’t a report, it’s a newsletter. That line applies past the hire-or-fire decision it came from. Here’s what to actually check for, whether you’re reading your own numbers or someone else’s report.
The four swaps that matter
Most reporting problems come down to the same four substitutions, repeated across channels. Social followers get reported; social referrals and engagement, the number of people a social presence actually sends somewhere, rarely do. Clicks and conversions get reported; revenue and cost per sale, what those conversions were actually worth, often don’t. Sessions get reported; session source and on-site engagement, which traffic actually did something once it arrived, often don’t. Clicks to call get reported; where those calls came from and whether they turned into business, often don’t.
Each pair looks related. They’re not the same metric, and only the second half of each pair tells you if the money’s working.
The gap agencies don’t like to talk about
Phone calls are the clearest version of this problem. A recent survey of over 200 marketers found 62% struggle to track which calls came from which marketing channel. If your reporting can’t trace a call back to its source, it can’t tell you whether that channel is worth the budget, and whoever built the report either doesn’t know that or isn’t saying.
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What to actually ask for
Four numbers cut through almost everything else: cost per lead, cost per sale, customer acquisition cost, and customer lifetime value. If a report doesn’t include at least the first two, it’s measuring activity, not results. We’ve written separately about tracing which marketing actually made the phone ring if attribution is the specific piece you’re missing.
The practical test
Pull up your last report and ask whether any number on the page tells you what you got for the money, not just what happened. If the honest answer is no, that’s the fix to ask for, whether you’re building the report yourself or paying someone else to.
If you want help building reporting that actually answers that question, Analytics & Reporting is where that work starts.
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