Sales and Onboarding
Weekly Client Report SOP
A written report sent to every active client every Monday by 9am (client local time). The weekly report is the single most important retention tool an agency has. Clients who feel informed stay. Clients who feel ignored churn — even when results are good.
Guiding principles:
- The client should never have to ask “what are you working on?” If they’re asking, you’re already behind.
- If there’s bad news, call first. Never bury a problem in a written report.
- Never use agency jargon without immediately translating it into plain English. If you write “CTR,” write “the percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked it” the first time. After three reports, you can abbreviate.
- Short is better than long. A 5-bullet report that takes 2 minutes to read gets read every week. A 3-page report gets skimmed once and then ignored.
Who Owns It
Section titled “Who Owns It”Account Manager — writes and sends the report. The account manager is also responsible for flagging bad news to the client by phone before the report is sent (see rule below).
Rule: Call First for Bad News
Section titled “Rule: Call First for Bad News”Before sending any report where something went wrong — a campaign underperformed, a ranking dropped, an ad got disapproved, a target wasn’t met — call the client first. Leave a voicemail if they don’t answer.
The call script:
“Hey [name], before you get the report Monday morning I wanted to give you a quick heads-up. [One-sentence description of the issue]. Here’s what happened and here’s what we’re doing about it. You’ll see the full picture in the report but I didn’t want you to read that cold. Call me if you have questions — [your number].”
A client who hears bad news from you directly will give you the benefit of the doubt. A client who reads bad news in an email for the first time will wonder what else you’re not telling them.
Report Format: 4 Sections
Section titled “Report Format: 4 Sections”Every report follows this exact structure. Keep each section to bullet points. No paragraphs.
Section 1 — What We Shipped This Week
Section titled “Section 1 — What We Shipped This Week”List every completed deliverable from the past 7 days. Be specific — vague updates like “worked on SEO” destroy trust. Specific updates like “published 4 new service area pages targeting [city] keywords” build it.
Examples:
- Published blog post: “How Much Does [Service] Cost in [City]?” — live at [URL]
- Updated Google Business Profile: added 6 new photos, expanded services list, updated hours for holiday weekend
- Launched Google Ads campaign: [Campaign Name] — 3 ad groups, 47 keywords, live as of Tuesday
- Submitted business to 12 local citations: Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Angi, HomeAdvisor, and 7 others
- Fixed broken contact form on /contact page — confirmed form submissions now arriving in inbox
Rule: If you can’t list at least 3 completed deliverables, flag it internally before sending the report. Either work was done but not logged (fix the logging) or the week was genuinely unproductive (address it directly, don’t send a thin report and hope they don’t notice).
Section 2 — The Numbers
Section titled “Section 2 — The Numbers”Report the metrics that matter for this client’s service tier. Always show: this week vs. last week vs. the goal. Context prevents confusion.
Format:
| Metric | This Week | Last Week | Goal | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Metric name] | [value] | [value] | [value] | [plain-English note if needed] |
Standard metrics by service type:
Lead generation (Google Ads / Local SEO):
- Inbound leads (calls + form fills)
- Cost per lead (what we spent to get each lead — paid media only)
- Google Ads spend
- Google Ads impressions (how many times your ad showed up)
- Google Ads clicks
- Click-through rate — the % of people who saw the ad and clicked it
Local SEO / GBP:
- GBP profile views (how many people saw your Google listing)
- GBP calls (calls made directly from Google)
- GBP direction requests
- Organic keyword rankings (show top 5 target keywords + position)
Website:
- Website sessions (total visitors)
- New users
- Contact form submissions
- Top traffic sources (where visitors came from)
Plain-English translation rule: Every metric that uses industry shorthand must include a translation in the Notes column for the first 4 weeks of reporting. After that, abbreviations are acceptable if the client has demonstrated they understand them.
Example row:
| Inbound leads | 14 | 9 | 15 | Up 56% week-over-week. 11 from Google Ads, 3 from organic search. |
Section 3 — What’s Next
Section titled “Section 3 — What’s Next”List the 3 specific priorities for the coming week. Be concrete enough that the client could verify whether you did them or not.
Examples:
- Launch retargeting campaign for site visitors who didn’t convert — targeting 500+ people who visited /services in the last 30 days
- Publish 2 new location pages: [City A] and [City B] — targeting “[service] in [city]” keywords
- Complete monthly link-building outreach — 10 outreach emails sent, goal of 2 new referring domains
Rule: The items in “What’s Next” should appear in next week’s “What We Shipped” section. If they don’t, explain why in the following week’s report.
Section 4 — What We Need From You
Section titled “Section 4 — What We Need From You”List every open blocker, approval needed, or decision required from the client. Be explicit about deadlines.
Examples:
- Need approval on the 3 ad copy variations attached — please reply by Wednesday so we can launch Thursday
- Can you send 3 photos from a recent job? Real job photos outperform stock photos in ads by a significant margin. Any clear shots of your team working on-site work great.
- Heads-up: your Google Ads daily budget is pacing to run out by Thursday. Do you want to increase by $20/day or keep it capped? Let me know by Tuesday.
- The [platform] login credentials you provided aren’t working — can you double-check and resend via [secure link]?
Rule: Never let a client item sit in the “What We Need” section for two reports in a row without escalating by phone. Stalled blockers are your problem as much as theirs.
Delivery
Section titled “Delivery”- Delivery time: Every Monday by 9am client local time
- Delivery method: Email to the primary contact (and any secondary contacts they requested)
- Subject line format:
[Client Name] | Weekly Report — Week of [Month Day] - Example:
ABC Plumbing | Weekly Report — Week of April 28
Email body structure:
- One sentence greeting (keep it warm, not corporate)
- Paste all 4 sections directly in the email body — do not attach a PDF or link to a Google Doc. Clients open emails; they often do not open attachments.
- Close with your direct contact info and a one-line invitation to call if they have questions
Monthly Reporting Addition
Section titled “Monthly Reporting Addition”On the first Monday of each month, add a fifth section to the weekly report:
Month in Review:
- Total leads generated this month vs. last month vs. 90-day goal
- Total ad spend this month
- Biggest win of the month (with screenshot if possible)
- One thing we’re changing next month and why
This replaces the need for a separate monthly report and keeps the client in a single communication cadence.
Definition of Done
Section titled “Definition of Done”- Report sent by 9am Monday (client local time) every week without exception
- All 4 sections present: Shipped, Numbers, Next, Needs
- No agency jargon used without a plain-English translation (first 4 weeks minimum)
- Bad news communicated by phone before the report is sent
- Open client action items followed up if unresolved for 2+ weeks
- Report logged in [YOUR CRM] activity timeline for the client record