Reading your monthly report.
The report is written to be read in ten minutes without a call. This page is the key to it: when it arrives, what each section is for, what the numbers mean, which period we compare against, and why a number is marked red. Read it once and the report will never need translating again.
When it arrives
In the first week of the month, for the previous month, as a PDF on its own email thread. Your agreement states the latest date it can arrive. It comes without being asked. If it is the first week and you have not seen it, check the thread from last month first, then email Stephen with "report" in the subject.
While campaigns are live you also get a short written check-in each week: what is running, what changed, what we need from you. The weekly note is two paragraphs. The monthly report is the full picture.
The six sections
| Section | What it tells you | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Executive summary | Two or three bullets: what happened, and what it means for you. | If you read nothing else, read this. It is written last, after the numbers, so it is the conclusion and not the introduction. |
| 2. KPIs vs targets | A table of the numbers that matter for your goal, this month against target and against the comparison period. | Each row carries a mark: a tick is on track, a warning mark needs attention, a cross is off track. A red or crossed number is explained in section 5, always. Never read a red number without reading its explanation. |
| 3. Work completed | Everything delivered, mapped to the lines in your Schedule A. | This is also your "what is live right now" list: every campaign and ad that ran, by name. If you want to know what is running mid-month, the weekly check-in carries the same list. |
| 4. Key wins | Two or three specific, quantified highlights. | The creative that carried the month, the audience that worked, the cost that came down. This is where we tell you what to do more of. |
| 5. Issues and blockers | What underperformed, why, and what changes. | Honest by design. If something on our side went wrong, it is here. If something is waiting on you (an approval, an access grant, a card), it is here with the date we first asked. |
| 6. Next month priorities | Three to five actions, with what we need from you for each. | Reply on the thread if you disagree with any of them. Silence means we proceed as written. |
Which period we compare, and why a number is red
Three rules, so you always know what "up 40 percent" is up against:
- Like for like. This month against the same month last year where the account is old enough, otherwise against the previous month. We never compare a quiet month against a peak month and call it a trend. If a comparison period had almost no activity, the percentage will look wild and we say so next to it.
- The period is printed on every table. Dates run from the first to the last day of the month, in Europe/Malta time. Partial months (a launch mid-month) are labelled as partial and compared only with themselves.
- Blended, not just platform. Where we report return on spend, we count your ad spend plus our fee, so the number is what you actually paid against what actually came back. Many reports quote only the platform's number, which looks better and means less.
Why a number is red. Red means it moved the wrong way against the comparison period or the target. It does not on its own mean something is broken. A returning-customer percentage goes red when new customers double, because the share fell even though the count rose. Section 5 explains every red mark; if one is missing an explanation, that is our mistake and you should ask.
Glossary
| Term | Meaning | What a change in it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Impressions | How many times an ad was shown. | On its own, almost nothing. It is the denominator for the numbers below. |
| CPM | Cost per thousand impressions. What the platform charges to show your ad a thousand times. | Rising CPM means more competition for your audience (seasonal, or a competitor spending) or a narrowing audience. Not something a creative fixes. |
| CTR | Click-through rate. Of the people who saw the ad, the percentage who clicked. | The creative's job. Falling CTR means the ad is tired or the hook is weak: new creative, not more budget. |
| CPC | Cost per click. | CPM divided by CTR, roughly. Useful for spotting whether a cost rise came from the market (CPM) or the creative (CTR). |
| Hook rate | On video ads, the percentage of people who watched past the first three seconds. | The first line and first frame. Low hook rate means the opening is not stopping the scroll, whatever comes after. |
| Frequency | How many times, on average, one person saw the ad in the period. | Climbing frequency with falling CTR means the audience has seen it enough. Rotate creative or widen the audience. |
| Lead | A person who gave contact details: a form, a booking, a message with a phone number. | The count is real people. Compare it to the CRM, not to the platform's own lead column, which counts differently (see below). |
| MQL | Marketing qualified lead. A lead who matches the profile we agreed: right area, right size of business, stated interest in the service. | Leads minus the obviously wrong ones. The qualification question on the form and your per-lead feedback decide who counts. |
| CPL | Cost per lead. Ad spend divided by leads. | The number most goals hang on. Rises for a week after any launch or change (learning phase), then settles. |
| Booked call | A lead who chose a time in the diary. | For pipeline campaigns, this is the number we optimise for. Dates in the diary, not proposals sent. |
| Show rate | Of booked calls, the percentage who turned up. | Reminders, the time between booking and call, and how fast your team made first contact. The report says whether yours is healthy for your sector. |
| Cost per purchase / cost per booked call | Ad spend divided by purchases, or by booked calls. | With your margin or your close rate, this tells you whether to scale. It is the number that decides the budget conversation. |
| ROAS | Return on ad spend. For every euro spent on ads, the euros of revenue that came back. 1x is break-even on spend alone. | There is no universal "good" ROAS: it depends on your margin. A high-margin service is comfortable at 3x, a low-margin retailer needs far more. We state the target for your account in the report. |
| Blended ROAS | Revenue divided by ad spend plus our fee. | The honest version. Lower than platform ROAS by definition; it is the one to judge us on. |
| Attribution window | How long after seeing or clicking an ad a sale still gets credited to it. The platform default is seven days after a click or one day after a view. | A purchase on day eight is real revenue but not attributed. Someone who saw the ad on a phone and bought on a laptop is often lost too. The platform number is a floor, not the truth. |
| Learning phase | The period after a launch or a significant change during which the platform is still working out who to show the ad to. | Roughly the first week. Costs are unsettled and should not be judged. Big budget jumps, new audiences and new objectives all restart it. |
| Landing page views | Clicks that actually loaded the page. | A gap between clicks and page views means slow loading or people leaving before it opens. A site problem, not an ad problem. |
Why Ads Manager and the CRM disagree
They count different things. The CRM counts a real person who submitted, so it is the number of leads you got and what they cost. Ads Manager counts what it can attribute inside its window, minus everything privacy settings, consent banners and device changes hide from it, so it is usually lower on leads and useful for which creative and audience are working. In the other direction, the platform's "leads" column can be higher than the CRM when it mixes form submissions with pixel events that fired on a button press. The full explanation, including which number to trust for what, is in the onboarding FAQ: Facebook Ads Manager reports fewer leads than my CRM shows. Which number do I trust? For your report we lead with the number we can prove directly, and label anything that is a platform estimate.
The same applies to your shop or till. We can see what happened online through the tracking we installed. We cannot see in-store sales, phone orders or your accounting system unless you send them. If you want the report to show the whole effect, send us the month's totals (or month-by-month percentages if you prefer not to share amounts) and we add a line for them.
How we scale spend
When cost per result is healthy and you have the cash flow, we raise the budget. We never raise it by more than 25 to 30 percent at a time, because a bigger jump restarts the learning phase and the cost per result goes up. Each step holds for about two weeks, then we step again until we reach the ceiling you set. The report tells you where we are on that ladder and what the next step needs from you. When cost per result rises, the fix is nearly always fresh creative rather than more money, and we say which. How to change your ceiling is on Scope.
What we need back from you
- Outcomes in the CRM. Every closed deal marked Closed Won with its value, every dead lead marked Lost with a reason. Without this we cannot report cost per sale and cannot make the case to scale. See for your sales team.
- Per-lead feedback when quality is off: a one-line verdict per lead, in the CRM notes or as a list on the report thread. See how to give feedback.
- Offline numbers if you want them in the report: store sales, phone enquiries, closes from leads we sent, as totals or percentages, by the fifth of the month.
- Anything that changed on your side: a price rise, a stock-out, a new competitor, a closure week. It explains the numbers and stops us chasing a ghost.
How to ask questions on the report
- Reply on the report thread. Quote the number or the line you are asking about.
- If you want to talk it through, say so in the same reply and add a line or two on what you want to cover, so we can prepare the right numbers.
- Stephen replies with three slots. The review call is 30 to 45 minutes, on video, and works from the report you have already read.
Written first, call second. The written report is the check-in; the call is for decisions. Most months, the reply on the thread is enough.
What we do when a month underperforms
Some months are down. Seasonality, a competitor's launch, a creative that stopped working, a tracking break, a card that failed for two days. This is what happens when the numbers are off:
- We say so in section 1, not in a footnote.
- Section 5 names the cause, separating what was in our control from what was not, and what was waiting on you.
- Section 6 states the changes already made and the ones planned: new creative, a targeting change, a budget step down, a form change, a tracking fix.
- We set an expectation for when the change should show, allowing for the learning phase, so the next report can be judged against it.
- We ask you for the one thing that would help most: usually per-lead feedback, an approval that is waiting, or a real photo.
Nobody can give you a baseline before three or four weeks of data, and one bad week after a change is not a trend. Two consecutive months off target with the causes fixed is when we sit down together and reconsider the plan itself.
Common questions on this page
What is ROAS, and what is a good one?
Return on ad spend: for every euro spent on ads, the euros of revenue that came back. 1x is break-even on spend alone. There is no universal good number because it depends on your margin: a high-margin service can be delighted at 3x while a low-margin retailer needs many times that. Your report states the target for your account, and the blended version (spend plus our fee) is the honest one to judge us on.
Did that sale come from an ad? Was it Meta or my website?
Both can be true. The first click can be on an ad and the purchase can come through a search or direct visit days later, so the sale appears in the platform and in your shop. The platform credits a sale within seven days of a click or one day of a view; outside that, or across devices, the sale is real but not attributed. That is why we lead with the number we can prove and treat the platform figure as a floor.
Sales are up hundreds of percent. What is the benchmark?
Check the comparison period printed on the table. A huge percentage usually means the comparison period had very little activity, and the report says so next to the number. Look at the absolute figures beside the percentage, and at cost per purchase, which is the number that decides whether to scale.
Is the spend figure the ads only, or does it include your fee?
The report labels both. Ad spend is what Meta or Google charged your card. Our fee is on our invoice. Blended ROAS uses the two together; platform ROAS uses ad spend only. If a line is unclear, ask on the thread and we relabel it in the next report.
From what date are you tracking? Is today counted?
Every table states its date range, first to last day of the month in Europe/Malta time. Reports are built after the month closes, so nothing partial is included unless the table is labelled partial. Tracking starts on the date it was installed and tested, which is stated in your first report.
How do I see what is live right now?
The weekly check-in lists every live campaign and ad. Section 3 of the monthly report lists everything that ran. If you would like to look yourself, ask for a read-only view of your ad account: you keep ownership of it anyway, and adding your own user to it takes a minute.
Why did you not send a monthly review meeting invite?
The written report is the review. It is faster for you to read than to sit through, and it leaves a record. If you want a call after reading it, say so on the thread and Stephen offers slots the same day. Most months a written reply answers the question.
Can you give us a baseline before we start?
Not honestly. Nobody can predict cost per lead for a new account before three or four weeks of data. What we can do is set the starting point against your current inbound (an export of the last few months from your CRM or inbox), and after one full month tell you how to scale. If your inbound today is zero, the baseline is zero and the first report is the benchmark.
What is the learning phase and why do you keep mentioning it?
After any launch or significant change, the platform spends roughly a week working out who responds to the ad. During that week costs are unsettled and higher. Big budget jumps, new audiences, a new page or a new objective all restart it, which is why we change one thing at a time and why we do not judge a campaign on its first days.
Stuck? Email stephen@thegrowthbully.com with a screenshot of the whole window.