How to Read a Marketing Report Without Getting Lost
A report full of charts can hide more than it shows. The four questions to ask to know whether the work is producing effects.
Receiving a twenty-page report can give the impression the work was thorough. Not necessarily. The quantity of data says nothing about its usefulness: what counts is what it lets you decide.
The four questions to ask
1. Compared to what?
Every number only makes sense against something: the previous period, the same period last year, the stated goal. An isolated figure isn't information.
2. Are the periods comparable?
Comparing a full thirty-day month with one broken up by holidays produces differences that have nothing to do with the work done. The same goes for seasonality and external events.
3. How much reached the action that counts?
Views and interactions describe the journey. The final question is always about the reference action: how many enquiries, how many bookings, how many orders.
4. What changed, and why?
A good report explains the variations: what was modified, what happened externally, which hypothesis is being tested. Without explanation, charts are decoration.
Warning signs
- Metrics that change from one report to the next with no stated reason.
- Percentages without absolute values next to them.
- Charts whose vertical axis doesn't start at zero.
- No section dedicated to what didn't work.
A report that never contains bad news isn't a reassuring report: it's an incomplete one.
Sources and Further Reading
Official documentation and guidelines cited or useful for going deeper.