Digital marketers have to show their clients and teams that what they are doing is valuable. That’s why they have to do data-based reporting regularly when working in the e-commerce industry. On the one hand, it shows their accountability and performance, which is crucial for long-term client retention and account management. In fact, it’s only natural that they want to show their clients how good they are doing their job.
But, on the other hand, there’s too much data a digital marketing agency tracks and records every month, which takes too much time to gather, analyze, and report on it. They create charts and graphs manually which are then moved over to a slide deck or a document. Marketers may be required to manually create and update reports to depict the results of their campaigns. In a fast-paced e-commerce environment, accurate marketing analytics matter – you need to make the right decisions quickly or fall by the wayside.
In a digital world with tons of data, automated reporting is the key. Whether a person’s job directly involves PCC, SEO, or digital marketing in general, it’s crucial that they are efficient with their reporting. And, report automation can help them achieve that more easily, quickly, and effectively.
Here’s how automated reporting can benefit digital marketing workflow and in turn improve the turnover of your e-commerce business.
#1 It Frees Up Valuable Time They Can Use for Something More Useful
Building and using a fully automated reporting system enables freeing up valuable time. The time spent gathering, filling in numbers in Excel, and assembling data and combining different spreadsheets exports is significantly reduced.
Web Analysts spend around 20 hours a month to create, update, and distribute reports.
Automated reporting frees up this valuable time to web analysts, allowing them to use those 20 hours for something more useful.
They can use it to improve their analytic skills, to educate junior analysts in their company, to share their knowledge by writing blog posts and build their brand, or to think of advice that will serve their customers better.
In other words, instead of spending too much time assembling reports, agencies and digital marketers can now spend more time on analyzing the data and focus on strategies and insights that can be more valuable for the client.
#2 It Allows Clients and Bosses to Get Direct Access of New Reports
Clients want to get the new reports each and every week as soon as possible, and that’s completely normal. They want to see the progress of the agency they hired. With automated reporting, this is no longer a problem.
Once marketers automate the creation and distribution of the reports, their bosses and clients will have direct access to the most important key performance indicators (KPIs.) Here are a few samples of e-commerce report templates that can simplify marketing reporting tasks and save time for improving ROI and relationships with clients and teams.
#3 Improved Accuracy
Digital marketers are human beings capable of making a mistake just like any other person. Pasting a number at a wrong section and a problem is created.
Manually created reports increase the chances of mistakes.
On the other hand, automated reporting reduces the risk so that practically no mistakes can occur. This makes reports more accurate.
#4 Standardized Presentation
Manually created reports are usually not presented the same way every month. That’s normal because the manual process involves human errors and fallibility.
But, the management or clients may only have a little time to review the data, and in those cases, they expect consistent formats that allow them to locate the information they need easily.
Also, they rely on clear and concise reports that help them understand what they are looking at and why that is important for their business.
Fixed templates of automated reporting ensure the time of clients and bosses is well spent, thus ensuring client satisfaction and long-term collaboration.
#5 Increase of ROI
Automated reporting frees our time for other activities and allows gaining more insights from data. One way that it helps improve digital marketing workflow is that it gives more time for agencies to market their client’s budgets more effectively. This, in turn, can lead to improved ROI or return on investment.
#6 Simpler Scope Changes
Thanks to automated reporting, agencies can easily adapt to client needs which can change from time to time. It’s a lot easier to make a quick change in the scope of the reporting when it’s not made manually.
Manually created and assembled reports can’t handle sudden additions so well, unlike automated reporting. It may cost agencies hours of extra work to make even a slight change.
#7 Increases Productivity and Reduces Costs
When it comes to reporting, integrating all digital services into one reporting dashboard saves valuable time, and let’s be real, time is money.
An automated reporting will allow an agency with hundreds of clients to scale their analysis and reporting structure across all of them. The ability to configure once and deploy cuts costs that will make the accountants happy.
#8 Flexibility
Automated reporting allows you to customize your reports to your needs. But, you must use an external tool to do data manipulation in case you want to combine data sources.
Automating your report and using an external tool provides all the flexibility you need. Combining multiple data sources results in a better overall understanding of visitors and their behavior.
#9 Higher Job Satisfaction
Agencies should prevent their good analytic employees from becoming tired and bored of doing monthly reports. Boredom reduces job satisfaction significantly. That’s why they should incorporate automated reporting and keep their best employees interested and focused.
To Sum Up
Agencies and digital marketers want to do their job the best they can, which includes delivering accurate and measurable results to their clients. However, spending too much time on creating and assembling reports can become a financial burden on the bottom line of your e-commerce business. That’s where automated reporting comes in.
It makes the reporting easier, more clear and concise, and cost-effective for you. Plus, it’s fun and rewarding to have the job done as quickly and effectively as possible.