How SEO agencies can report ROI to their clients
Several SEO agencies face an issue while devising their reports. Clients do not understand the language of SEO, while marketers are accustomed to that language. Thus, there is a constant tussle between the SEO agency and the client regarding reports. This article discusses how agencies can prepare reports that showcase the ROI earned by the client.
Monday September 18, 2017 , 3 min Read
Clients need to know their return on investment and hence are very specific about the reports they get every week or month from their agency. Many clients are also irritated with their SEO agencies sending them automated reports. These reports contain too much data and are difficult for the client to interpret. Businesses understand the language of sales, numbers, figures and conversions. These should be the focal points of your report.
Let’s look at some ways you can report ROI to your clients:
• No automated reports
The first thing you need to keep in mind as an SEO agency is not send an automated Google Analytics report to your client. These are too complicated for them to understand. Mentioned below are a few disadvantages of automated reports:
i. Difficult terminologies
ii. Complex data
iii. No graphical representation
The major issue is clients see decreasing bounce rates as an alarming factor. Why? Simply because it’s not a language they are acquainted to. Instead SEO agencies should prepare a report with graphs and pie charts that showcases the increase in traffic or pages visited.
• Conversions – The focal point
The client only wants to know about the number of people their SEO agency drove to sales. Well, it’s fair! Isn’t it? Clients invest their money in SEO activities and expect it to drive more traffic to their website and eventually increase sales. Thus, present these numbers in a graphical form and highlight them so that they can clearly see the return on their investment made. Ecumen provides weekly reporting to their clients which helps them stay in the loop.
• Tracking calls
Every SEO agency should do this. Insert numbers and track calls. This allows you to track source of all the incoming calls. In fact, you can set these as your goals in Google Analytics. Moreover, landing page report can help you know which pages were responsible for getting the call. Hence, SEO agencies can present this number to the client in the report.
• Attach screenshots
Clients freak out completely if a certain keyword is not performing well. Thus, it’s always better for the SEO agency to attach screenshots of the search engine page before starting any SEO activity and a screenshot after finishing it. Highlight the keywords performing well to your clients by attaching screenshots of the same.
• Estimate the revenue earned
Make your report more valuable to the client by estimating the total revenue earned for them. They will never leave the SEO agency that does this for them. Present the revenue earned in the report with a graph showing the increase in the revenue. This increases loyalty and may also help you get testimonials from your client.
The key to efficient reporting for SEO agencies is including figures and numbers clients are actually interested in. It’s best to think like a business owner and less like a marketer. Follow these tips and you will never receive any reporting complaints from your client.
