A report can be visually impressive and still leave the business unsure what to do next. Ask it to explain what happened, what remains uncertain and which decision the evidence supports. Google Analytics provides report collections organised around business objectives. That is useful context, but a dashboard export is only an input. The review structure below is our original recommendation for a monthly conversation between a business owner and its marketing provider.

Check the period and the cost boundaries

Begin with the reporting dates, currency, time zone and included channels. Ask whether spending means advertising only or also includes production and management fees. Compare the same definitions across periods and note unequal month lengths or major changes in activity. A rise in enquiries after a higher budget needs a different explanation from a rise at unchanged spending. Keep the original exports or records available so that someone can verify the headline figures.

Separate visibility, enquiries and confirmed work

Read the customer journey in stages. Reach describes exposure, while an enquiry records a different action and an accepted job records another. Ask where each number came from and whether duplicate contacts were removed consistently. Do not add overlapping audience figures and present them as unique people without a reliable basis. Where the business records qualified requests and completed sales separately, compare them without pretending that every platform result can be matched to a customer.

Ask for an explanation and its confidence

A useful report distinguishes an observation from an explanation. “Enquiries increased” is an observation; “the new video caused the increase” requires stronger evidence. Review simultaneous changes in offer, budget, availability and response handling. Record tracking gaps and external factors as limitations. Request examples of questions or objections with identifying details removed. These can reveal a communication problem that a chart alone misses, such as customers misunderstanding the delivery area or what a package includes.

Finish with a decision someone owns

Choose a small set of actions tied to the evidence. For a hypothetical cleaning company, repeated confusion about apartment size could justify revising the quotation form before buying more traffic. Name the owner, due date and evidence that will be reviewed next month. Keep service improvements separate from media experiments. Retain the explanation when you pause or continue a campaign. The purpose of the meeting is a better decision, not a promise that next month will inevitably outperform this one.

READ THE ORIGINAL SOURCES

Sources & further reading

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