This post reveals the 5 most common gaps in agency reports: search term waste, new vs returning customer split, actual profit (not just ROAS), competitive context, and what they tested and learned.
1. Search Term Waste Analysis
Your agency probably reports on clicks, impressions, CTR, and conversions. But do they show you which search terms are eating your budget without converting? In most accounts, 15-30% of search spend goes to irrelevant or low-intent queries. And unless someone is actively reviewing and reporting on this, the waste continues month after month.
A good agency report should include a section on search term analysis: which terms drove spend without conversions, which new negatives were added, and the estimated savings from those additions. If your agency never mentions search terms in their reports, they are probably not managing them.
This is especially important for PPC management on Google Ads, where broad match and phrase match keywords can trigger on searches you never intended to show for.
2. New vs Returning Customer Breakdown
Here is a question most agency reports cannot answer: of the conversions you got this month, how many were new customers vs existing customers who would have bought anyway? This distinction matters a lot, and most agencies just report total conversions without separating the two.
If 60% of your "conversions" are returning customers clicking branded ads, your true customer acquisition cost is much higher than what the report shows. You are paying for clicks from people who already know you and would probably find you organically.
3. Actual Profit, Not Just ROAS
ROAS tells you revenue per dollar of ad spend. It does not tell you if you made money. A campaign with 4x ROAS on a product with 25% margins is barely breaking even after you factor in ad spend, COGS, shipping, and overhead.
Your agency should be able to (and willing to) work with your margin data to report on actual profitability, not just ROAS. This does not mean they need full access to your financials. They just need average margin percentages by product category to calculate whether campaigns are truly profitable.
If your agency resists working with margin data, they are choosing to optimize for a vanity metric. That is a problem.
4. Competitive Context
Your CPC went up 20% this month. Is that because your agency did something wrong, or because three new competitors entered the auction? Without competitive context, you cannot tell.
Good agency reports include at least basic competitive data: impression share trends, auction insights showing who is competing against you, and context for how market changes are affecting your costs. Google provides this data in the Auction Insights report. It takes five minutes to include it.
An agency that reports your numbers without any competitive context is leaving you to wonder whether changes are internal problems or external market shifts. That creates unnecessary anxiety and leads to bad decisions.
5. Test Results and Learnings
This is probably the biggest gap. Most agency reports tell you what happened, but not what they tested and what they learned. Testing is where real improvement comes from, and if your agency is not reporting on their tests, they are probably not running any.
Every monthly report should include: what tests ran this period, what the results were, what was learned, and what will be tested next. This creates a record of learning that compounds over time. Without it, you are paying for maintenance, not growth.
If you are seeing any of these signs in combination, it might be time to check whether your agency is coasting.
6. How to Fix Your Agency Reporting
You do not have to fire your agency over bad reporting. Start by sending them this list and asking them to include these elements in next month's report. A good agency will welcome the feedback. A defensive agency will push back. Pay attention to which response you get.
Create a simple reporting template that covers the basics:
- Revenue, spend, ROAS, CPA (by campaign type)
- Search term waste: top wasted terms, negatives added, estimated savings
- New vs returning customer split (even if estimated)
- Profitability analysis by product category or campaign
- Competitive landscape changes
- Tests run, results, and next tests planned
If your agency cannot or will not provide this level of reporting within 60 days, you have a data gap that is costing you money. An independent audit can fill in what your agency reports are missing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Weekly snapshot reports and detailed monthly reports is the standard. Weekly reports should take 5 minutes to read and highlight any urgent issues. Monthly reports should be thorough enough to understand performance trends, test results, and next steps.
Conversions, cost per acquisition, ROAS, and revenue generated. Everything else is supporting context. If your agency leads with impressions and clicks instead of conversions and revenue, that is a sign they are deflecting from what matters.
Yes, if you share your margin data with them. ROAS alone does not tell you if campaigns are profitable. A good agency will work with your margin percentages to report on estimated profit per campaign or product category.
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