Agency reports get long for the same reason bad essays get long. Here is the short version that actually drives decisions.
1. Spend, split brand and non-brand
Without this split, everything else is unreadable. Why it matters.
2. Revenue and orders from ads, checked against the store
Not the platform number alone. If Google says 300 orders and Shopify says 190, the conversation starts there.
3. ROAS against your break-even, not in isolation
"3.1x" means nothing on its own. "3.1x against a 2.4x break-even" is a sentence you can act on. Work out yours.
4. CPA against maximum allowable CPA
Often more useful than ROAS when order values swing. One number, one ceiling, immediately actionable.
5. What changed, and what it did
Not a metric — the most important line in the report. What did the agency do this month, why, and what happened afterward. If that section is missing, the numbers are just weather.
Vanity metrics
- Impressions — unless you are explicitly measuring reach or impression share for scaling headroom.
- Clicks on their own. Clicks are a cost, not an outcome.
- CTR in isolation — a creative signal, not a business one.
- Quality Score as a headline. Diagnostic, occasionally useful, never the point.
- Conversion rate without traffic context — narrowing targeting raises it while shrinking the business.
If your report cannot be summarised in five lines, it was written to look like work rather than to inform a decision.