A monthly report should answer one question: is the money you pay turning into customers? Many reports from marketing agencies do not. They show impressions, clicks and followers, which look impressive and say very little about your business. If you work with a digital marketing agency in Cyprus, or you are about to hire one, here are the seven things a good monthly report must show.
1. Real enquiries, not just clicks
The first number should be how many people contacted you: forms sent, calls, WhatsApp messages and emails. Clicks and page views are not enquiries. In one audit of a Cyprus agency, 85 of the 145 conversions reported by Google Ads were simply page visits, and only 59 were real enquiries. The report looked successful, but the system was optimising for the wrong thing. Ask your agency to list exactly which actions count as a lead, and to show each type separately. Google explains how conversion tracking works, and why only actions that matter to your business should be counted.
2. Cost per enquiry, month by month
Total spend alone says nothing. What matters is the cost of one enquiry and whether it is going up or down. A good report shows this number for the last three months, so you can see the trend and not only a single month. If the cost per enquiry is higher than what a new customer is worth to you, the report should say so plainly and explain what will change.
3. Where the budget went
You should see the spend split by campaign or channel: Google Ads search, Meta Ads, remarketing, and so on. Each line should show its own results. This is how you find out that one campaign brings most of the enquiries while another only spends. A report that shows only one combined figure hides this.
4. Wasted spend and what was done about it
In Google Ads, a part of the budget usually goes to searches that will never become customers: jobs, free tools, other companies’ names, or the wrong service. A good report lists the search terms that cost money without results and the negative keywords added to stop them. It should also show what the agency kept because the sample was too small to judge. Cutting keywords after a handful of clicks is a common mistake.
5. Tracking health
Everything above depends on tracking. The report should confirm that forms, calls, WhatsApp and email clicks are measured, and that nothing broke after a website update. If a tag stops working for two weeks, the numbers for those weeks are wrong. We explain our approach in the GrowthPulse method: we check tracking first, before we change any campaign.
6. Organic search: queries, pages and positions
If SEO is part of the work, the report should show which searches bring visitors, which pages receive them, and how the positions changed. It should also show enquiries from organic search, not only visits. SEO takes time, so a report that shows steady progress in positions and impressions in the first months is normal. If you are a local business, the report should also cover your Google Maps visibility, as in our local SEO service. Google’s own Search Console performance report guide shows what clicks, impressions and position mean. Our page on SEO services in Cyprus explains what to expect month by month.
7. What was done and what comes next
A good report ends with a short list: the work completed this month, and the plan for the next one. For example, new pages published, ads rewritten, negatives added, a tracking fix. Without this, you cannot tell whether the agency is actively working or only sending numbers. You should also be able to reach the person doing the work, by phone, email or WhatsApp.
Warning signs in a report
- It starts with impressions, reach or followers and never reaches enquiries.
- It does not define what a conversion is.
- Results are shown as percentages with no real numbers.
- There is no comparison with the previous month.
- Nobody explains why a number went down.
- It cannot be read in five minutes without a call.
If you are comparing agencies, our guide on how to choose an SEO agency in Cyprus lists more questions to ask.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I receive a report?
Monthly is enough for most small businesses, with a short check-in when something changes. Campaigns with a large budget may need a weekly look at spend and enquiries.
Should the report be in plain language?
Yes. You should understand it without knowing Google Ads or SEO terms. Technical details can be added at the end for anyone who wants them.
Who should own the accounts?
You. Google Ads, Google Analytics, Search Console and your Business Profile should be in your name, with the agency as an invited user. That way you keep your data if you ever change agency.
How long before the numbers improve?
Paid campaigns can show movement within weeks once tracking is correct. SEO usually shows the first movement after 2 to 3 months and stronger results after 4 to 6 months, depending on competition and the starting point of the website.
See what a clear report looks like
Our case studies show the kind of numbers we report: enquiries, cost per enquiry and what changed. If you want to know what your own accounts would show, you can ask for a free review or message us on WhatsApp, and we will tell you what we would check first.
Property businesses can see how this applies to them in our guide to digital marketing for real estate in Cyprus.
By Stavros Christodoulou, founder of GrowthPulse, a digital marketing agency in Paphos, Cyprus.
