As a freelance marketer, how do I produce a clean monthly metrics summary for a client from raw platform totals?

Why a client needs a summary, not a platform screenshot

A screenshot from Ads Manager is full of columns the client does not understand, and their definitions can change when someone tweaks the view. A good summary is short: four numbers in, five metrics out, and one fixed definition per metric from month to month. That is what lets the client trust a month-on-month comparison, and what lets you defend your numbers easily when asked.

Example: two consecutive months for one client

Month one: 250,000 impressions, 3,750 clicks, a spend of 7,500 AED and 150 orders. Month two: 260,000 impressions, 3,380 clicks, a spend of 7,800 AED and 130 orders.

This is where the summary earns its keep. CPM held at 30, so reaching the audience did not get more expensive. But CTR and conversion rate both slipped, which lifted CPA from 50 to 60. The line you write for the client is clear: the market did not raise our price; the ad drew fewer clicks and the page persuaded fewer visitors, and here is the plan for next month.

Preparing the summary each month

1. Fix the period as the full calendar month and the level as the whole account or the campaign, and make the same choice every month.
2. Copy the four figures from one report, and note the conversion definition used, such as click-through purchases.
3. Enter them in the Campaign performance calculator and pick the client's currency from the list.
4. Press 'Copy result': the four inputs, the five metrics and any warning are copied together. Paste them into the client's sheet under the month.
5. Add a line or two on what changed, why you think it changed, and what you will test next.

What the calculator does not do for the report

• It does not keep earlier months or draw a chart. The sheet you keep is the report's memory.
• It does not connect to the client's account; every figure in it was copied by you. Check the copying before you send.
• It does not work out return on ad spend. If the client asks about profit rather than cost, add sales value and calculate it in the ROAS calculator.
• If a warning appears, such as conversions exceeding clicks, do not delete it from the report. Explain it to the client in a line.

So that one day you can show the orders came from your campaigns and not from other sources, tag every campaign's links from the start with the UTM campaign link builder.