How to Streamline Marketing Agency Reporting: 10 Tools to Use

Looking for marketing agency reporting tools?

Your search ends today.

This guide explores everything you need to know about marketing reporting for agencies — what it is, why it matters, and which tools can get the job done.

Let's get started.

What is Marketing Agency Reporting?

The goal of marketing reporting is to keep clients and other data stakeholders in the loop on essential campaign metrics and Key Performance Indicators. Often, this is accomplished through a marketing agency reporting tool to translate data into readable, visual reports.

Some marketing agencies may use white-label reporting features baked into analytics platforms. Others, however, opt for more powerful Business Intelligence (BI) solutions to support more advanced data analysis and feedback loops.  

Why effective reporting matters for your clients

There are several reasons why your agency needs marketing reporting, including but not limited to:

• Make complex datasets readable and digestible. Well-made reports sift through a web of complex data to make key insights more readable through quality data visualizations. This is important if you have non-technical stakeholders, like operations managers, board members, and non-technical founders.
• Conduct competitor research. Marketing reports are also powerful tools for competitor analysis. A usual approach is to scan a competitor's domain, be it a business blog or online store, to uncover their strategies and determine which ones are worth adopting.
• Justify marketing spend. Reports give clients a clear view of their spending, where their money goes, and how much they make in return from your marketing campaigns. Revenue and costs are often tracked over time, enabling clients to grasp the long-term potential and impact of your marketing.
• Refine your marketing strategy. Marketing reports help clients and agencies make data-driven decisions. They can reveal weaknesses, improvement opportunities, and strengths that can be leveraged to maximize campaign performance.
• Enable advanced data analysis techniques. Reporting gives agencies access to quality data that can be used for advanced data analysis tactics. This includes cohort analysis, predictive analytics, and multidimensional scaling.

Reporting scenario: Measuring marketing impact on revenue

Your clients could care less about the technical side of marketing, but there's one language they surely understand — the one that comes with dollar signs.

While it's important to highlight KPIs in your report, they ultimately need to find out how your marketing efforts translate to sales. For this, you need a report that breaks down your individual marketing channels along with their performance metrics, like conversion rate, click-through rate, cost, conversion value, and Return on Ad Spend.

Data source(s):

• Google Analytics
• Ecommerce analytics (i.e., Shopify Reports)
• Lead tracking software
• Pay-Per-Click analytics

Reporting scenario: Dismantling your top competitor's SEO strategy

Competitor analysis can be a highly effective tactic in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). To help clients outrank competitors, your agency can prepare a competitor research report that unveils their top SEO keywords, backlink sources, content topics, and more.

Data source(s):

• Google Analytics
• Ahrefs
• Semrush
• Google Search Console

Reporting scenario: Tracking your most profitable social media channels

Social media is one of the pillars of successful omnichannel marketing. However, it's not always easy for some clients to connect the dots between social media engagement and pocketed earnings.

Detailed marketing reports can bridge this gap by underlining user interactions that actually contribute to sales. This can be measured through engagement metrics like impressions, clicks, and conversion rate on social media ads and regular posts.

Data source(s):

• Google Analytics
• Facebook Ads
• Instagram Business
• Twitter Ads

What are the different types of marketing reporting tools?

When talking about marketing agency reporting software, know that it can point to any of the following:

• Built-in reporting. It's not uncommon for marketing channels to have built-in reporting tools, which can be shared directly with different data stakeholders. This type of reporting may be limited in terms of data visualizations and presentation options, but it's guaranteed to generate relevant, quality data sifted throughout your campaign's timeline.
• Business Intelligence dashboarding. Full-service digital marketing agencies use BI software to consolidate data across multiple channels into a cohesive dashboard. Modern BI solutions also endow agencies with advanced features, like interactive charts, real-time data synchronization, and embeddable visualizations.
• Data visualization software. Data visualization tools like Piktochart and Canva do the bare minimum of marketing agency-client reporting, which is presenting data in a more readable format. But they do offer a practical, efficient, and convenient way to highlight facts, especially for stakeholders who are focused on one particular key result.
• Marketing software. Special areas of digital marketing, namely SEO, social media, and advertising, are backed by a handful of third-party analytics software designed to filter out meaningful insights. They also include tools that enable you to inject data-driven insights into your live campaign, like keyword lists in SEO tools and hashtag suggestions in social media marketing tools.

Why use marketing agency reporting software?

Marketing reports overcome the communication barrier between technical marketers and non-technical data stakeholders. More importantly, it makes the whole process easy for both clients and agencies.

Not only are standalone marketing reporting tools designed with usability in mind, they're also built to streamline agency-client communication.

For example, some platforms have automated and autonomous reporting features, like direct links, embed codes, and automated emails.

These features allow agencies to create better reporting experiences for clients. It also gives them more time to focus on core marketing activities rather than worrying about reporting and client follow-ups.

Internally, agencies can also use marketing reporting tools to spot improvement opportunities and make data-driven decisions. Just remember that for advanced tasks like Marketing Mix Modeling, you need a tool with the data management and visualization firepower needed for your objectives.

What to look for in a marketing agency reporting tool?

Apart from multiple reporting options and automated reporting features, here are other things you should look for when choosing a marketing reporting tool:

• Flexible data visualizations. Charts, graphs, tables, and other data visualizations make up much of the reporting experience. Choose a platform with a comprehensive selection of data visualization tools to cover different marketing reporting scenarios.
• Branding and customization tools. White-label reporting features, including logos and brand colors, foster brand recognition among your clientele. It can help you build stronger client relationships as well as strengthen your credibility to stakeholders.
• Native data source connectors. Data integrations make it easy for you to import marketing data across multiple channels and platforms into a single source of truth. Be sure to pick a reporting solution that connects directly with the marketing channels, platforms, and services you use.
• User-friendly interface. Not all marketing teams have an appointed data scientist who can do high-level data management. If you're part of this group, try to use a free trial or demo version of the reporting platform to identify potential skill gaps.
• Integrated data management. Lastly, look for a reporting platform that can help you address outliers and set standardized labels or column headers. This is useful if you're compiling data from multiple sources to generate a single report.

Top 10 Marketing Agency Reporting Tools to Consider

Without further ado, here are the top 10 marketing agency reporting tools on the web right now:

1. Polymer

Polymer is a powerful, easy-to-use BI platform that checks all the boxes when it comes to marketing reporting.

It has flexible data visualization options, built-in data connectors, and frictionless reporting tools — kicked up a notch by advanced AI features.

For starters, you can quickly whip up an entire marketing analytics.

If you prefer building reports from scratch, you'll be pleased to know that Polymer's drag-and-drop editor is designed to keep your team's productivity in high gear.

Creating interactive data visualizations is seamless and can be sped up with AI. You also have a variety of elements to choose from, including pivot tables, pie charts, scatter plots, heatmaps, timelines, scorecards, and more.

Note that you can also include rich text, galleries, images, ROI calculators, and embedded videos (via Loom).

In addition, Polymer lets you include your agency's logo, apply your brand colors, and create an info banner to personalize your report.

When it comes to reporting, Polymer allows agencies to grant clients direct access to data dashboards via a link. This provides clients with 24/7 access to their marketing data, rich text explanations, and filters to sieve out relevant information.

Polymer also lets you schedule automated email reports or export dashboards in PPT and PDF formats.

To try Polymer for your marketing reporting needs, click here to start a free 7-day trial.

2. Looker Studio

Looker Studio is Google's official data visualization and dashboard reporting tool with easy-to-use features.

Its biggest strength is its wide range of data integrations — supporting over 900 data sources, including Google products and third-party services.

Looker Studio also implements a usability-focused design philosophy. Using the visual report builder and ready-made templates, you don't need extensive training or self-learning to get your productivity going.

Check our side-by-side comparison of Polymer and Looker Studio here.

3. Tableau

Tableau and reporting tasks.

For agencies, Tableau offers a good range of features to help get your clients up to speed on what's going on with their marketing campaigns. It allows you to add labels, tooltips, and trend lines to visualizations, making it easier for clients to understand the story behind your data.

Check out our comprehensive guide to Tableau and some of the main alternatives.

4. Databox

Databox is a business analytics platform with an impressive mix of usability, flexibility, and integrability.

To speed up your reporting efforts, Databox offers dashboard templates your campaigns are performing.

5. Whatagraph

Whatagraph is an analytics reporting platform that's specifically built to track marketing campaigns.

Every integration, data visualization, and reporting feature is geared toward marketing teams. Quickly pull data from your marketing channels and use templates to generate ready-to-share reports within minutes.

Whatagraph also comes with flexible report-sharing tools. You can share a live dashboard link, atomate a report email, or export your data to BigQuery.

6. DashThis

DashThis may not be as flexible as most of the top-tier marketing analytics and BI tools, but it paves one of the most frictionless data reporting workflows for agencies.

Set up data connectors, automate the creation of data visualizations, customize your report's branding, and share key insights with clients in a matter of minutes. DashThis has all the templates you'll need — be it for reporting advertising performance, SEO, social media presence, and email marketing campaigns — ready and waiting for your data.

7. Mixpanel

Mixpanel is a data analytics platform that focuses more on the client-facing aspect of marketing reporting.  

Aside from creating interactive data visualizations, your Mixpanel dashboard can include rich text, images, videos, and other data exploration tools to turn data into actionable insights. You can then share or embed reports in your project management interface for clients to see.

8. Klipfolio

Klipfolio is actually two products that cater to different types of organizations looking to foster a more data-driven internal culture.

For large businesses, Klipfolio PowerMetrics lets you attach a data visualization and reporting layer to your existing data warehouse or marketing analytics platform. It also offers auto-generated metrics, forecasting, data governance tools, and more for power users.

For smaller teams, Klipfolio Klips can pull your marketing data into a single, customizable dashboard with all the essential reporting features you need. You can rely on the drag-and-drop Klip editor, piece your board together from the pre-built chart library, and tailor everything to your client's preferences using JavaScript, CSS, and HTML customization.

9. ClickUp

ClickUp is more accurately defined as a project management platform with a robust, integrated analytics tracking system.

It's perfect for client-agency relationships wherein the client seeks a more active role in their marketing campaigns. Not only can they access marketing reports generated by ClickUp AI, they can also have a granular view of your marketing team's progress and ongoing tasks.

10. AgencyAnalytics

AgencyAnalytics is a straightforward reporting platform that's all about helping clients be in touch with the state of their marketing campaigns.

Agencies can take advantage of its wide range of integrations with popular marketing platforms, like Ahrefs, Google Ads, Google Search Console, and CallRail, to quickly consolidate their client's datasets. The available reporting templates follow a traditional, multi-page layout ideal for PDF sharing and printing.

Use Best-In-Class Marketing Agency Reporting with Polymer

Ready to create marketing reports your clients will love?

Whether you're handling campaigns for social media, SEO, content marketing, or advertising, Polymer has the tools you need to turn data into useful nuggets of wisdom. We also have a flexible pricing structure that can fit agencies regardless of size.

Take Polymer for a spin by starting a free 7-day trial here!