Write a monthly report a business owner will actually read

This page shows how to write the monthly marketing report I send clients: one page, in plain English, that an owner can read in two minutes and use to make a decision. It covers what the report is for, the structure in order, the language rules, what to leave out, how the report grows as the engagement grows, and when and how to send it. A template you can copy is at the end of the steps.

Before you begin

• A lead record for the month: the CRM, a form log, call tracking, or the booking calendar. The headline number comes from here.
• Access to the other sources you will cite, such as Google Analytics, the Google Business Profile performance data, and any ad accounts.
• Last month's report, so every number has a comparison.
• A list of the work done this month, and next month's plan with dates.

What the report is for

A monthly report is not decoration, and it is not a record of effort. It does two jobs. It helps the owner make a decision, such as where the next dollar goes or what to fix first. And it shows, every month, that the money is doing something. Reports are the easiest work to skip in a busy month and the first thing a client notices missing.

Three rules run through every report I write. Show the real number, including in a down month. Explain what each number means in one sentence. And keep the actions short: what I am doing next, and at most one thing the owner can do to help.

Build the report

1. Pull the numbers the same way every month

   Use the calendar month, and pull on the same day each time, such as the last business day of the month. Write the pull date on the report. Some sources, ad platforms especially, keep adding conversions for recent days, so the end of the month can rise after you send it. Read Google Ads results without fooling yourself explains why.

2. Write the headline result as one sentence

   Lead with the count that matters most, compared with last month, and its source. An example with invented numbers: "31 new leads in October, up from 24 in September. Source: CRM." If the business records booked jobs, lead with those instead. The headline comes first, before any chart, caveat, or explanation.

3. Break leads down by source

   Show where the leads came from in a small table or bar chart: Google Business Profile, the website form, calls from the website, ads, referrals, and everything else. Put this month and last month side by side, then add one sentence on what the breakdown means, such as which channel carried the month and which one slipped.

4. Add cost per lead where there is spend

   For each paid channel, divide spend by the leads it produced. Where the CRM records outcomes, add cost per booked job, which is the number that decides whether a channel pays. Do not show a cost per lead for channels with no media spend. For ad platform counts, name the column the count came from.

5. Say what worked

   Two or three items, each tied to a number: the page that produced the most form fills, the search that booked jobs, the review push that moved the profile. Connect the work to the result where the data supports it, and say plainly where it does not.

6. Say what did not

   Explain down months instead of hiding them: the likely cause and the fix. If the cause sits on the business's side, such as calls going unanswered, frame it as a gap in the system with a proposed fix, never as the owner's or the staff's fault. If nothing needs attention this month, leave the section out rather than inventing a problem.

7. Say what happens next, with dates

   One to three items, each with a date and a one-line reason it matters to the business. "Launch the water heater page on November 6, so those searches land on a page about water heaters" is a plan. "Keep optimizing" is not.

8. Put the ask last, and keep it short

   End with at most one thing the owner can do, written as a single action with its reason, such as asking three recent customers for a Google review this week. A list of asks reads like homework, and homework gets ignored.

9. Cite sources, cut empty sections, and fit one page

   Put the source beside every number, such as "Source: GA4" or "Source: Google Business Profile". Delete any section with nothing real in it this month, because an empty section looks worse than a missing one. The finished report should fit one printed page, roughly 600 words plus the source table or chart.

[Business name] marketing report, [Month Year]
Numbers pulled [date]

[Headline: the count that matters, compared with last month, and its source]

Leads by source            This month   Last month
Google Business Profile    [n]          [n]
Website form               [n]          [n]
Calls from the website     [n]          [n]
Google Ads                 [n]          [n]
Referrals and other        [n]          [n]
What this means: [one sentence]

Cost per lead (paid channels only): [channel] [amount]. Source: [platform and column]

What worked: [two or three items, each tied to a number]
What did not: [cause and fix, or delete this section]
Next month: [one to three items, each with a date and why it matters]
One thing you could do: [a single action and why]

Plain language rules

• Write for a sharp owner who is not a marketer. Define a necessary term the first time it appears, in the same sentence.
• Give every number a one-sentence meaning. A number without a meaning is decoration.
• Keep the same order and the same definitions every month, so the owner learns where to look and a lead means the same thing in March as in October.
• Never round to flatter. Nine leads is nine, not about ten.
• When a source is not connected yet, write "not connected yet" instead of showing a zero. A zero says nothing happened, which may not be true.

What to leave out

Leave out anything the owner cannot act on. Most of it is vanity: numbers that rise and feel like progress without saying whether the phone rang.

Those numbers are not useless. Keep them in your own working notes, where they help diagnose problems. They just do not belong in front of the owner unless they explain a decision.

Scale the report with the engagement

The one-page report is the base. As the work grows, sections get added, each one answering a new question. Nothing gets added before the business has the data to fill it.

The written summary stays on top at every level. A dashboard can answer any question; the report tells the owner which questions matter this month.

Cadence and delivery

Verify it works

• After a two-minute read, the owner can say how many leads came in, where they came from, and what happens next.
• The headline number is the first thing on the page, and it matches the lead record.
• Every number has a source beside it.
• Cost per lead appears only for channels with spend.
• Every next step has a date.
• There is at most one ask, and it comes last.
• Nothing in the report blames the owner or their staff.
• It fits on one printed page.