PPC Reporting Strategies: How to Create PPC Campaigns Your Clients Will Love

Welcome to the complete guide to PPC reporting.

Here, we'll help you understand what PPC reporting really is, why it matters for your business or agency, and how to create effective reports with the right tools.

Let's start with the definition.

What is PPC Reporting?

Whether you're an agency, freelancer, or online business owner, PPC reporting is a must-have in your digital marketing arsenal.

PPC reporting is the process of analyzing and compiling your advertising campaign data in a readable, visual format. This lowers the barrier to better decision-making by enabling even non-technical users to extract actionable insights from raw data.

Benefits of PPC Reporting

Here's a quick rundown of the benefits of PPC reporting for your campaign:

• Optimize your PPC advertising strategy. PPC reporting lets you analyze marketing data with ease, highlighting tactics that work, fail, and require tweaking.
• Fine-tune your PPC budget. Apart from tracking the profitability of your ads, analyzing performance on a campaign level lets you adjust your budget to prioritize winning PPC strategies.
• Improve the client experience. For agencies, PPC reports reassure clients that their advertising dollars are spent well without having to dig for the truth in complex datasets.
• Get to know your best audience. A comprehensive PPC report can include data tied to user demographics or preferences, including location, age, gender, device performance, and keyword used.
• Promote brand recognition. Creating white-label reports with elements like your logo and brand colors strengthens recognition and loyalty among your clients.

Metrics and KPIs to Include in PPC Reports

The essence of any analytics report lies in the metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) it contains.

Below are some of the most important pieces of data you should consider in your PPC reporting efforts:

1. Cost Per Click (CPC) — The average amount you spend for each click on your ad.
2. Impressions — The total number of users who saw your ad.
3. Click-Through Rate (CTR) — Measures the likelihood of users to click your ad after seeing it.    
4. Conversion Rate (CVR) — The percentage of ad clicks that actually result in a conversion.
5. Return on Ad Spend — Compares the revenue you generate from ads over your total ad spend to analyze profitability.
6. Cost Acquisition Cost (CAC) — The estimated amount you spend on ads to acquire a single paying customer.
7. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) — The average revenue your generate from a single customer throughout their lifecycle.

Not sure what metrics to include in your PPC report?

Remember, your focus metrics and KPIs are determined by the goal of your PPC report, which can be any of the following strategies:

1. Executive PPC report

An executive PPC report aims to provide a broad, multi-faceted view of campaign performance. This overview report keeps clients in the loop through a bird's-eye view of important, high-level metrics like CPC, ROAS, CPA, CAC, and impressions.

To help you understand the scope of executive PPC reports, take a look at the Google Ads performance overview template:

Executive PPC reports should be sent regularly — often automated via email attachments. Another approach is to share an access link to a live PPC analytics dashboard, which allows clients to leverage interactive features like filters, explanations, and ROI calculators.  

2. PPC competitor analysis report

Sometimes, the best way to improve your PPC strategy is to look at what's working for your top competitors.

Doing so eliminates the guesswork and reduces the amount of research you need in the planning process. For example, rather than spending hours compiling a list of target keywords, you can export a PPC competitor analysis report and capitalize on ideas that are already proven to get results.

PPC competitor analysis can be done with tools like iSpionage, Semrush, or Ahrefs.

The metrics and data points you should pay attention to when conducting PPC competitor analysis are:

• Paid keywords
• CPC
• Paid traffic

You can also use competitor analysis tools to analyze their landing pages and ad copies. Of course, you still need to export your competitor's data into an actual white-label reporting tool to help clients understand the data and make informed decisions.  

3. PPC ROI report

This next PPC reporting strategy focuses on answering just how profitable an advertising strategy really is. As an agency, it's also important to highlight factors and improvement opportunities that will help clients maximize their PPC earnings.

PPC ROI reports need to include the following metrics:

• ROAS
• CPC
• CAC
• CLV

Other than pivot tables or scorecards that present these metrics, agencies can get creative with data visualizations to help clients see the big picture. For instance, you can create a time series or bar chart to communicate how your client's campaign performed month after month.

4. Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) report

OKRs are goal-tracking tools that can be used internally in your agency or business. They allow you to connect specific data points or "key results" to objectives for your team, individual, or whole organization.

For example, in a PPC campaign, your objective can be to maximize your revenue per customer. That can relate to a few key results, like:

• Increasing CLV from $50 to $150
• Lowering average keyword CPC by 40%
• Reducing CAC from $10 to $5 through ads

Take note that there's no universal way to create an OKR report for PPC analytics. Some like to use spreadsheets, while others prefer a data management or a full-on Business Intelligence (BI) platform.

Choosing the latter allows you to utilize a more diverse mix of data visualizations in your report.

5. Audience analysis report

Another PPC reporting strategy focuses on helping clients get to know who they should be advertising to.

Most PPC advertising platforms come with built-in audience analytics features. This can simplify the reporting process since you don't really need a third-party reporting tool to aggregate and visualize the numbers.

Some of the data points you need in a PPC audience analysis report are:

• Impressions by location
• CVR per device
• CVR per age/gender group

Remember, audience analysis mostly revolves around the attribution of datasets to specific audience segments. You then compare the metrics and KPIs — be it CVR or CLV — to determine who your best audiences are.

PPC Reporting Pitfalls to Avoid

Nice — we now covered five PPC reporting strategies every agency should know.

PPC reporting isn't exactly rocket science. As long as your report effectively communicates actionable insights from raw data, it already served its purpose.

However, a few mistakes can prevent you (or your client) from making the most out of your PPC reports.

Without further ado, here are five PPC reporting pitfalls your business or agency should avoid:

1. Not specifying PPC reporting goals. While an executive PPC report can keep clients in the loop just fine, other report formats allow for deeper analyses while enabling a smoother experience for viewers. Defining clear PPC reporting goals will help you decide which strategy and data visualizations should be included to achieve these results.
2. Ignoring the landing page factor. If you're trying to get your PPC performance numbers up, you shouldn't forget about the optimization of your landing pages. The landing page experience doesn't affect traffic-level metrics like CTR and impressions, but it plays a significant role at the bottom of the funnel, including CVR and CLV.
3. Not providing additional context. Even with visualizations, some non-technical clients may still have trouble comprehending the data. The good news is, most modern reporting tools like Polymer to your report.
4. Not using automation. One of the main advantages of using a third-party reporting tool is that it usually comes with automation features. This is one of the must-know PPC best practices that will save time on repetitive tasks, like data synchronization and email reporting.
5. Excluding branded keywords. From an SEO standpoint, branded keywords aren't always prioritized because your own website should naturally rank for keywords that contain your company name. However, branded keywords for PPC ensure you don't get overshadowed by resellers and third-party marketplaces that offer your products on SERPs.

Tip: There's no one-size-fits-all blueprint to PPC success — and reporting will help improve your strategy bit by bit until you find something that works for you. Alternatively, you can set up a Performance Max campaign on Google Ads and let AI make the fine adjustments to your strategy over time.

Top PPC Reporting Tools

Check out the top tools you can use for effective PPC reporting:

1. Polymer

Polymer is a full-powered BI platform with white-label capabilities, no-code data integrations, flexible visualization options, AI tools, and report automation features. In short, it has everything you need to create effective PPC reports your clients will enjoy.

What makes Polymer great is its usability. After pooling your PPC campaign data into your account, you can generate entire reports in minutes using the Google Ads performance template or the drag-and-drop dashboard builder.

In terms of reporting, Polymer lets you set up automated email reports, embed PPC dashboards via code, or share a direct access link with your clients.

2. Looker Studio

Looker Studio is Google's free, no-code data visualization tool that connects with an extensive library of data sources. It also supports community-sourced charts, graphs, and other reporting elements — making it easy to create unique reports that can set your agency apart.

In addition to white-label features, Looker Studio lets you export reports as a downloadable file, automate email deliveries, share a public access link, and privately invite data stakeholders to your dashboard.

3. DashThis

DashThis is a straightforward marketing reporting solution packed with time-saving features for busy agencies. Quickly build reports with templates, native data integrations, and other automation-driven tools aimed at speeding up your data visualization workflow.

Choose from DashThis's pre-defined color schemes, add custom logos, and set up a branded domain to deliver a unique reporting experience to your clients.

4. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is perhaps the only product on this list that isn't dedicated to data visualization or reporting. However, it's very effective in conducting PPC competitor analysis as well as running exhaustive site audits that can level up your client's marketing.

On the flip side, Ahrefs lets you export reports as CSV files or Google Sheets documents. These options are perfect for exporting datasets into another platform that focuses more on data visualizations.

5. Tableau

For many marketers and agencies, Tableau is a popular choice for quickly creating interactive, professional-looking visual reports that take the complexities out of data analysis.

Tableau connects seamlessly with Google Ads and a wide range of other data sources. It also simplifies white-label reporting with its drag-and-drop dashboard builder, customizable layouts, and interactive elements.

Check out this list of Tableau alternatives to find similar platforms you can use for PPC reporting.

How to Create PPC Reports with Polymer

Want to take Polymer for a spin?

To easily create your PPC report, the first step is to connect your Google Ads account.

Upon logging in to Polymer, click 'Manage Data,' switch to 'New Data Source,' and select 'Google Ads' from the list of native data connectors.

Follow the on-screen instructions to connect the correct Google Ads account and specify the campaign you want to report on. When done, you're ready to create your report by clicking 'New Board' or 'Browse all Templates.'

Choose the latter if you want to use the Google Ads performance overview template — perfect if you're trying to create an executive report.

Otherwise, create a new board, select your Google Ads data source, and choose between a blank page or an AI-generated board.

Choosing 'Auto-Generated Board' lets Polymer determine the best data visualizations and configurations to present your PPC campaign data. Choosing 'Blank Board,' on the other hand, lets you build your report from scratch.

Either way, you'll be able to fine-tune everything, create your own visualizations, and apply white-label customizations all the same.

In terms of actual reporting, click 'Share Board' and copy your direct access link or embed code. To automate reports, go to the 'Email Report' tab and specify the recipients' emails (your clients and other data stakeholders).

Here are a few other notable Polymer features you'll enjoy:

• Instantly generate and embed data visualizations with PolyAI.
• Turn your dashboard into a presentation to emphasize explanations.
• Effortlessly spruce up your report with AI-suggested insights.
• Create filters to give clients a more focused view of their PPC data.
• Add presentation and explanation elements like correlation charts, Loom videos, images, ROI calculators, and scorecards.

Conclusion

PPC reporting not only helps you identify weaknesses, strengths, and optimization opportunities in your advertising strategy. It's also a great way to fortify your relationships with clients and secure business for your agency.

Ready to take a stab at white-label PPC reporting with Polymer?

Evaluate the platform yourself without the risks by starting a 7-day free trial.