Read an agency report by testing every headline number against a record you control. Check which conversion actions are counted, compare the reported leads with your own CRM for the same dates, and look for the column that makes the number bigger. If your records and the report disagree, the report owes you an explanation, not a larger chart.
By Avi Vatsa, CEO, Exchange Four Agency. Avi leads the team that installs and runs AI-leveraged revenue systems for owner-led companies. His background spans law, technology, and marketing; he also co-founded Dialora, an AI voice-agent platform for automated lead capture and booking. (Marketer of the Day #1411)
Why can a report look good while your leads fall?
Because a report is a count of events someone chose to track. The agency decides what counts as a conversion, how long after a click a platform may take credit, and which of two columns goes on the first slide. None of that is dishonest by itself. It becomes a problem when the owner cannot see the choices.
Picture a dashboard that says conversions are up 40% while the phone has been quiet for a month. Both can be true, because the dashboard counted something the phone never heard about. In an industry survey distributed through Businesswire, 71% of brands said they were frustrated by how hard it is to demonstrate marketing ROI. Part of that frustration is a report and a bank balance that do not describe the same month.
What metrics a marketing agency should report lists the numbers that belong in a report. This page is about reading the one you were sent.
Which Google Ads number is the headline?
Check the column name first. Google Ads keeps two conversion counts, and they are not the same thing. According to Google's help page on primary and secondary conversion actions, primary actions "are reported in the 'Conversions' column in your reports and used for bidding." Secondary actions "are used for reporting in the 'All conversions' column in your reports, but not for bidding."
So a report that quotes "All conversions" is quoting a bigger pool than the one the account is optimized toward. One column is what the account is built to win. The other includes things it is only watching. The page adds one exception: a secondary action that sits inside a custom goal is used for bidding after all.
None of this means the agency is hiding something. It means the label on the number matters, and you should know which one you are looking at. Ask which column the report uses, and ask for the list of conversion actions behind it.
What should count as a conversion?
Ask the agency to list every action the account counts, and sort each one by a single question: would you pay for it?
| Action | Worth paying for? | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| A booked call or consultation | Yes | Is it counted once per person? |
| A form that asks for a quote | Usually | Does it count a visit to the thank-you page too, so one form becomes two? |
| A click on the phone number | Sometimes | How many of those clicks became a call that lasted longer than a minute? |
| A newsletter signup | Rarely | Is it counted in the same total as leads? |
| A page view or a scroll | No | Why is it a conversion at all? |
A conversion list with a page view in it is not a scandal. A conversion total that mixes page views with booked calls, with no way to separate them, is a report you cannot use.
How do you reconcile the report with your own records?
Use records the agency does not control: your CRM, your phone log, your booking tool, your bank.
- Pick one closed month. A full calendar month that ended a week ago.
- Count the real leads from the paid channel. Use your own system. People who contacted you, with a name and a way to reach them.
- Take the conversions the report claims for the same dates. Use the column you identified above.
- Divide. Reported conversions by real leads. A ratio of 1 means the report and your records agree. A ratio of 2 means the report counts twice what you can find.
- Repeat for three months. One month can be timing. A ratio that stays high across three is a counting habit.
- Send the gap, not an accusation. For example: "The report shows 84 conversions. Our CRM shows 41 leads from paid search. Please list what the other 43 are." The numbers are yours; these are placeholders.
Why do the numbers usually differ?
Rarely because of one dramatic cause. Usually it is a few ordinary ones stacked together:
- The same lead is counted twice, once on the form and once on the confirmation page.
- Actions that are not leads, such as phone-number taps or signups, sit in the total.
- Each platform decides how long after a click or a view it may claim a result, and two platforms can claim the same customer.
- The report and your CRM use different dates, so a lead that arrived on the 31st lands in different months.
- Your CRM misses leads that arrive by phone, which makes the report look bigger than it is.
The last one runs the other way, and it is worth checking honestly. If the gap closes when you add the phone log, the agency was not padding anything, and you have found a hole in your own records.
What should the report say in money?
Conversions are a middle number. The report should end in two figures you can check with your bank: what you spent, and what that spend produced in booked work. How to calculate marketing ROI walks through tying a dashboard to a dollar, and what to ask in a quarterly review turns the reconciliation into a standing agenda item.
The ANA's Greg Wright described the aim of a good client and agency relationship as "a collaborative approach built on a foundation of trust and transparency," in the ANA and 4As 2025 tenure release. A report is where transparency either shows up or does not.
What should you send with the next report?
Five questions, in one email:
- Which conversion column does this report use, and which actions are in it?
- Which of those would you call a lead?
- How many leads does that leave, and how do you count them?
- What attribution window does each platform use here?
- Can I have read access to the account so I can check for myself?
If the answers are quick and specific, you have an agency that wants to be checked. If they are slow and general, you have learned that before the renewal date instead of after it.