Client reports are a basic requirement of digital marketing, but creating meaningful reports can be a real challenge for most marketers. Well-designed reports aren’t just easier to understand, they improve client relationships -- and even account performance -- in ways that templated dashboards can't. In this session, you’ll learn how to use emotion and storytelling to prepare reports that matter to your audience, promote emotional buy-in and drive meaningful change.

1. KEYNOTE Data-Driven Reports
that Turn Critics into
Cheerleaders
Amy Hebdon
FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
PAID SEARCH MAGIC
MIAMI, FL ~ JUNE 23 - 24, 2022
DIGIMARCONFLORIDA.COM | #DigiMarConFlorida
DIGIMARCONCARIBBEAN.COM | #DigiMarConCaribbean

2. Have you ever…
2

3. 3

4. 2005 Digital Marketing Client:
High-end Steakhouse

5. Cost per Reservation
Display / Banners: $66

6. Cost per Reservation
Display / Banners: $66
Google Ads: $10

7. Cost per Reservation
Display / Banners: $66
Google Ads: $10 $5

8. Are we sure we’re reaching
the right user profile?
The cost per impression is
awfully high!
How do we know they’ll
be brand loyal?
Let’s revisit this
next… quarter
@amyppc

9. Critics block buy-in
@amyppc

10. Why am I working
so hard…
to drive amazing results
for people
who don’t know enough
about their own business
to appreciate
how big of a win
this is?

11. 11

12. 12

13. •Agreement & approval
•Better results
•Professional success
13

14. Persuasion Formula
@amyppc

15. Problem

16. 16
Your client imagines
Image source: https://www.maxpixel.net/Shark-White-Sharks-Fish-Predator-Ocean-Water-Sea-3004153

17. Stop sending
sanitized,
cherry-picked
reports that make
you look good
You won’t get buy-in
to solve a problem
the client doesn’t
believe they have.
17
Image source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Dawn%27s-Paradise.jpg

18. This is NOT the problem:
“Performance increased during the first half of the year,
and fell during the last half of the year.”
18
This is NOT the problem:

19. 19
This is the
problem
Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Iceberg_in_the_Arctic_with_its_underside_exposed.jpg
@amyppc

20. What’s causing the problem?

21. Internal
▪ Primary KPIs
▪ Directives
▪ Projects & initiatives
▪ Budget
▪ Offers
▪ AOV
▪ Channels
▪ Tracking
▪ Forecasting
▪ Landing pages
▪ Messaging
21
External
▪ Competition
▪ Market / marketplace
▪ Audience / demographics
▪ Advertising costs
▪ Buying power
▪ Seasonality
▪ Restrictions & laws
▪ Govts & taxes
▪ Technology
▪ Exclusivity
▪ Algorithms, platform rules
Context
▪ Relationships
▪ Comparisons
▪ Trends
▪ Historical data
▪ Changes
▪ Proportions
▪ Distributions
▪ Opportunities
▪ Differences
▪ Challenges
@amyppc

22. Internal
▪ Primary KPIs
▪ Directives
▪ Projects & initiatives
▪ Budget
▪ Offers
▪ AOV
▪ Channels
▪ Tracking
▪ Forecasting
▪ Landing pages
▪ Messaging
22
External
▪ Competition
▪ Market / marketplace
▪ Audience / demographics
▪ Advertising costs
▪ Buying power
▪ Seasonality
▪ Restrictions & laws
▪ Govts & taxes
▪ Technology
▪ Exclusivity
▪ Algorithms, platform rules
Context
▪ Relationships
▪ Comparisons
▪ Trends
▪ Historical data
▪ Changes
▪ Proportions
▪ Distributions
▪ Opportunities
▪ Differences
▪ Challenges
@amyppc

23. STEAKHOUSE PPC PROBLEM
Missed opportunity to
drive significantly more reservations
for the same marketing budget
@amyppc

24. Expose the problem

25. My old reports did not reveal the problem
25

26. 26
AdWords drives significantly more reservations
for its marketing budget

27. Visualize the problem

28. Dashboards are the wrong tool
to share most problems with stakeholders
@amyppc

29. 29
YOU need this
THEY need this
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawker_1000_cockpit.JPG
@amyppc

30. Design charts to be read by your audience
● Establish hierarchy (big to small)
● One idea per slide
● Title and label each chart
● Use descriptions and microcopy
where needed
○ acronyms
○ definitions
○ annotations
○ instructions
○ context
30
Most Important
Main Ideas
Supporting
Details
@amyppc

31. 31

32. 32
Titles and context make your charts easier to interpret

33. 33

34. 34

35. 35

36. 36

37. 37

38. “Traffic is down due to the pandemic”
38

39. 39
AdWords drives significantly more reservations
for its marketing budget

40. 40
AdWords drives significantly more reservations
for its marketing budget

41. 41
AdWords drives significantly more reservations
for its marketing budget

42. Agitate

43. Make the problem feel real

44. 44
$62,000
$9,000

45. Psychophysical Numbing:
The higher numbers get,
the less sensitive we get to them

46. 46
AdWords drives significantly more reservations
for its marketing budget

47. 47
For every $100 we spend on AdWords, we drive about
20 reservations
Reservations per $100 marketing spend

48. In 2021, slower page load speeds contributed to:
48
(or)
a $3,000,000 loss in revenue
conversion rates declining from 2.56% to 2.17%

49. make it emotional

50. “Logic drives action”
is a lie

51. • How do we want them to feel?
• What needs to happen for them to feel that way?
51

52. What I learned from
my Google Ads rep

53. Know their currency

54. How can I make your job easier?
• Is there anything you want to see in the report
that you’re not seeing?
• Is there anything that’s confusing?
• What questions do you need to answer to
leadership that you’re having a hard time with?

55. Category X has
declined 40% YoY
55
Category X is becoming
more efficient over time
Category performance
is changing over time
@amyppc
A B C

56. 56
Preattentive Attributes

57. 57

58. 58
For every $100 we spend on AdWords, we drive about
20 reservations
Reservations per $100 marketing spend

59. 59
For every 1 reservation we drive,
we lose 2 to our direct competitors
because of poor budget distribution.

60. 60
Top 10 Landing Pages (Users)

61. Landing page traffic is down 63% MoM
because of XYZ
61

62. Solve

63. A clearly defined problem
is already partially solved.
@amyppc

64. Paul smith
organizational storyteller
explains about <anecdote>
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

65. Make action
obvious and easy
@amyppc

66. There is nothing obvious or easy about this table
66

67. The good news:
67
For every $100 we spend on AdWords,
we drive about 20 reservations
Reservations per $100 marketing spend

68. The bad news:
68
We’re missing out on 1000s of reservations each
month due to unoptimized budget distribution
Current Budget
Optimized
Fully Funded
Projected Reservations

69. What does “fully
funded” look like?
How many incremental
reservations can we get?
What’s the ideal market
mix?
What other opportunities are
we missing?
@amyppc

70. Current Budget
● Spend: $77,000
● Res: 1,500
● CPA: $51
70
● Spend: $77,000 (no change)
● Res: 4,300 (+2,800)
● CPA: $18 (-$33)
● Spend: $100,000 (+$23,000)
● Res: 5,000 (+3,500)
● CPA: $20 (-$31)
Optimized Budget
Fully Funded
@amyppc
Projections

71. Buy-in ≠ Action
@amyppc

72. Keep the momentum
● Identify next steps
● Specify who’s responsible
● Clarify the task
● Set deadlines
● Use active voice
● Follow up / project manage
72
@amyppc

73. Make them the
heroes of the story

74. P-A-S Model
@amyppc

75. 3 Act Story Structure
@amyppc

76. Be the Yoda to their
Luke Skywalker
The journey
(and the victory)
is theirs, not yours
76
@amyppc

78. 78

79. ✓ Identify
✓ Expose
✓ Visualize
✓ Feel real
✓ Perspective
✓ Emotional
✓ Lightbulb
moments
✓ Call to action
✓ They’re the
heroes
@amyppc

80. Amy Hebdon
Google Ads Conversion Strategist
@amyppc
paidsearchmagic.com