How to Read Google Ads Reports and Not Get Fooled
Many agencies send reports that are 40 pages long and full of colorful charts. They look nice, but they rarely answer the specific question: how much money was actually left in the company register after deducting advertising costs? At Wisła Digital Solutions, we believe that numbers don't lie, which is why we show how to fish out the important ones from the thicket of unnecessary data.
The trap of empty impressions
We often see reports where a huge number appears on the first page, for example, 245,670 impressions. It sounds proud, but for a business owner from Lodz or Zgierz, this number itself is worth zero zlotys. Impressions only mean that someone saw your ad on a phone screen, maybe even for a split second before scrolling past. These are not customers, they are just a statistic meant to improve the mood of the person paying the invoice.
In March 2024, we analyzed the account of a spare parts manufacturer. The previous agency bragged about a 42% increase in impressions year on year. The problem was that sales during the same time fell by 12%. It turned out that the ads were being shown to people looking for free advice, not specific products. Impressions feed the ego, but they don't pay the electricity bills in the office on Piotrkowska. Always ask what happened after someone saw that impression.
If your agency focuses on reach instead of sales, it's a sign that you're wasting money. Real analysis starts where looking at pictures ends. At Wisła Digital Solutions, we check facts, we don't guess from tea leaves. We focus on whether that specific impression led to a click by a person who actually wants to buy your service or goods. Only such an approach makes sense in hard business.
Impressions feed your ego, but real sales pay the electricity and office rent bills.
ROAS: The king of your wallet
The most important acronym you need to know is ROAS. It's simply return on ad spend. If you spend 1,000 PLN on Google Ads and sell goods for 5,000 PLN, your ROAS is 5.0. This is a concrete fact you can enter in Excel. At Wisła Digital Solutions, the average ROAS for our e-commerce clients in the second quarter of 2024 was 4.82. Every zloty invested by a client brought nearly five zlotys in revenue.
Remember, however, to watch your margin. If your product has a low margin, a ROAS of 3.0 might mean a loss. That's why we always ask our clients for honesty in numbers. We need to know how much you earn on one pure product to set the ads so that it simply pays off. Without this knowledge, marketing is just shooting blindly with expensive bullets, which rarely ends in financial success.
A good report should show ROAS not just for the whole account, but for specific product groups. It may turn out that one clothing category earns well, and another just burns the budget. In July 2024, we turned off an accessories campaign for one of our clients, which raised his store's overall profitability by 19%. Sometimes less is more if you can read the data with a cool head.
Cost per conversion: How much a new customer costs
Imagine you run a renovation company in Lodz. Every phone call from a potential customer is a chance for an order for you. Cost per conversion is the amount you have to pay Google for someone calling you or filling out a form. In October 2024, the average cost per inquiry acquisition for our service industry clients was 34.20 PLN. Is that a lot? It depends on the value of your order.
If an average bathroom renovation order brings you 4,000 PLN profit, then paying 34 PLN for a contact is a great deal. But if you sell small items for 20 PLN, such a cost will ruin you. Agencies often hide a high cost per conversion under the guise of 'brand building'. We say it straight: if the cost of acquiring a customer exceeds your capabilities, we must change the strategy or target group. This is simple math, not marketing magic.
We track this data daily. If we see that on Tuesday the cost per conversion suddenly jumps to 90 PLN, we immediately check what's going on. Maybe the competition raised rates, or maybe the form on your site broke? We react quickly because we know that every hour of delay is your money leaking into the pockets of the giant from Mountain View. An action done on time allows for saving the budget from total burning.
It is also worth looking at the quality of these conversions. What good is it if you have 50 phone calls if 45 of them are mistakes or people looking for something you don't do? At Wisła Digital Solutions, we regularly filter out so-called 'empty clicks'. Thanks to this, in the third quarter of 2024, we improved lead quality for a transport company by 27% without increasing their monthly budget by a single zloty.
If the cost of acquiring a contact is higher than your profit on it, it's not marketing, but an expensive hobby.
Clicks aren't everything
Many people look at CTR, which is how often people click on your ads. A high CTR is pleasing to the eye because it suggests the ad is interesting. But beware: a high CTR without sales is the shortest path to bankruptcy. You can write on an ad 'We are giving away iPhones for free' and you will have a CTR of 50%, but no one will buy anything from you. This is classic fluff, which in our agency we avoid like fire.
We focus on intent. When someone types 'cheap plumber Lodz Retkinia' into Google, they need help immediately. When they type 'how to fix a faucet', they want to do it themselves. Our task is to show your ad only to that first person. In June 2024, we changed the ad copy for an appliance repair service, which lowered the CTR by 5% but increased the number of actual repairs by 22%. It simply pays off.
Always check the 'Search Terms' report. That's where you'll see exactly what words Google spent your money on. If you find phrases completely unrelated to your business there, it means the agency is not doing its job reliably. We review these reports at least twice a week to block unnecessary words and save your budget for what actually earns.
How to talk to the agency at a meeting?
The next time you sit down to a report, don't let yourself be talked over with difficult words. Ask straight out: 'How much did we spend?', 'How much did we earn?' and 'How much did one new customer cost us?'. If the analyst starts dodging and talking about reach, know that something is wrong. At Wisła Digital Solutions, reporting takes us an average of 14 minutes during a conversation because we focus only on these three points. We respect your time and your money.
Demand specifics regarding dates. 'In December 2023, sales were 15% higher than in November' is concrete. 'We see a positive growth trend' is fluff. Compare results to analogous periods from last year to exclude seasonality. Sale of votive candles in October will always be better than in May; that's not marketing's merit, but the calendar's. We always take this into account in our analyses.
A good agency is not afraid to admit a mistake. If some campaign in August didn't work out, they should be the first to tell you and propose a solution. Numbers don't lie, so hiding them makes no sense. Honesty is the foundation of a long cooperation. Since our company was founded in September 2016, we have bet on clear rules, and thanks to that, many of our clients have been with us for over 5 years.
