Have you ever looked at a report produced by someone else and thought, 'What exactly am I meant to do with this data?' Chances are, if you're in any level of management across any number of industries, the answer to that question is a resounding 'yes'.
You're not alone, that much is very true. But when it comes to deciding what to invest your business's time, money, and efforts in, you need actionable insights to inform your next steps. That's where executive reporting comes in – understanding exactly what your report needs to tell you so that you can effectively make the decisions that will lead your team to better overall results.
What is my data trying to tell me?
Data by itself tells you nothing. Or rather, data by itself can be moulded into whatever story you need to tell – it cannot stand up to you and tell you your bias is getting in the way. And we all know that confirmation bias can be a disastrous lens through which to view your business performance.
So, when trying to build an accurate reporting structure, you first need to know:
1. What data do I need?
What exactly am I looking for? Do I need to see how many leads I've got in my bucket this month, what the cost of a lead is this week, the value of a particular lead from today's activity, or the potential for leads to become opportunities this month? Any combination of these questions, or do you need to dive into a different area of your business?
No matter what you're looking for, the first thing to do is look at your timeframe. My examples above each include their own specific timeframe, which will certainly provide you with data. However, if I tell you I have five leads, each with a value of €10,000, what is your next move? Which lead would you focus on first? What is the potential for each of these five leads to become an opportunity? And if you focus on the first lead, do the remaining leads become less valuable over time?
My point here is that a snapshot of your data can reveal whatever you need to know for that specific period or question. Still, it won't fill in the gaps – you've asked a particular question and gained a relevant answer, but without the context to lead you to your next action.
So, your first question when dealing with data becomes: What do I need to know, and how do I find that information? Nine times out of ten, you'll be looking for a trend – an obvious up or down-turn in performance, hopefully correlating with a particular campaign. You'll also need to ensure that you're using the right analytics tool and that your analytics tools are set up correctly before you begin.
Using the previous leads example – while it is good to note you have five leads this week, is that better or worse than previous weeks? Are the leads of better quality this week? Or did something break along the way (e.g. Google Ads spending failed, so your campaigns didn't pull in enough leads)?
Another example is future sales and pipeline – how do you currently decide on this? Out of thin air and hope for a miracle, or by reviewing: the previous years' performance, how many quality leads you receive monthly, how many salespeople you have, their average close rate, and the wider environment? (My guess is the latter).
2. Why do I care?
One would hope that you care about any report that crosses your desk regarding the performance of your business. Why? If you don't care, why is the work being done? Is there another activity that would benefit more from the time you've allocated to a redundant report? What reporting would be better for your team to focus on – what knowledge and insights would be more beneficial for moving the needle?
Reporting, in and of itself, is a fickle tool – it relies on (a) the reporter's understanding, and (b) the reader's needs. As a marketer, for example, I'd be tasked with preparing a report that highlights the marketing work undertaken over a specified period and how that translated into your defined conversion metrics (such as leads and website visits). However, if I'm sending this report to a sales director, she may want to see the potential for these leads to turn into sales – what action did the lead take? Did they download an ebook to help them learn about a specific product? Did they meet your sales rep at an event and discuss a potential product? Or did they register for a webinar and not show up?
An operations manager, on the other hand, might want to see how their website performs – the number of monthly visits, the number of leads, and the marketing spend – so they can determine where their budget is most effective.
Knowing the mindset of both parties can help the reporter to present the data in the best possible way, enabling the reader to understand exactly what the data is showing, and why they should be interested in the results.
Reporting in this fashion does present the traditional barrier that account-based marketing, in particular, aims to remove – the communication between teams. Marketing insight can only go so far – we don't move the lead through the sales process, nor do we manage the lead fully post-sale. To provide you with accurate, honest, and actionable insights, we also need data from you, the end user – data gathered from being on the ground, as it were.
3. What should I do now?
As a result of your report, the reader should be able to divine the answers to the two questions above – but most often the most difficult answer to decipher is: 'What should I do as a result of this insight?' This is where most reporting breaks down, as a failure to interpret the data for the reader can muddy the end goal and make it difficult to take the next right step.
Here, the reporter must highlight the insights they've gleaned from both their interpretations of the data and how they feel it fits into what the reader needs to know. So, for instance, if I have a report that showed a consistent downward trend in visits to my client's website, my next steps would be: (a) look into what channels were affected by the drop, and (b) what might have caused that change. From there, I'd decide on the best potential course of action to rectify the issue – if Organic Search is dropping, I'd look at the performance of my selected keywords and metadata. For Paid Socials, I'd look at my audiences and the ad content.
The same could be done if my client suddenly sees a change in the quality of leads – having a sample of both poor and strong leads will help me to dive into where they've come from and what changes might have impacted their quality. That research would then help me to decide on changes I could implement to improve their quality again. I'd then use this research and my determined next step to form the basis of my report back to the client, breaking down the data to show the change found and the next steps needed to address that change.
Your next move
Building on the three questions discussed, the reporter should have a clear line of sight into what is working and what is not – and how to portray these to the reader accurately. Anything that does not serve the business needs to be addressed quickly and either improved or removed. In contrast, anything that has historically boosted business needs to be monitored for hiccups or undesirable trends.
As your dedicated marketing team, our experts at Maverick Communications International can work with you to tailor your reports as needed – whether you prefer a sales or operational lens, or you want to know details about an exact area of your business. We can work with you to provide the best reporting solution – designed to ensure you can always answer these three questions and keep moving your business forward.
Contact us today to learn more.