- 01Start every report from the client's goal, and lead with the one or two numbers that measure it.
- 02Report Facebook ads weekly in short form and monthly in full, with the same structure each time.
- 03Explain what changed and what you will do next, not only what the numbers were.
- 04Ads Manager's own reports are enough for a few clients; a reporting tool pays off when you manage many accounts or several platforms.
- 05Reporting depends on access, so get the client's ad account shared with your business portfolio before the first campaign goes live.
Learning how to report on Facebook ads to clients is mostly about deciding what to leave out. Ads Manager can show hundreds of columns. A client wants to know whether the money is working, why, and what happens next. A good report answers those three questions in a few minutes of reading.
This guide covers what to include when reporting Facebook ads, how often to send reports, a Facebook ads report template you can copy, and how to choose between Ads Manager and a Facebook ads reporting tool.
Before you report: get access set up properly
You can't report on an account you can't see. The cleanest setup is that the client owns the business portfolio and the ad account, and your agency's business portfolio is added as a partner with access to the ad account, the Page and the pixel. That way you can build reports in Ads Manager, connect a reporting tool, and keep the history with the client if the relationship ends.
If you're still at that stage, our Facebook ad account access page shows how to request the ad account, Page and pixel in one link, and the beginner guide to running Facebook ads covers the account checks to make before launch.
Agree two things with the client at kickoff, before any spend:
- The goal. Sales, leads, sign-ups, app installs or awareness. One primary goal per campaign keeps the report readable.
- What counts as success. A target cost per lead, a target return on ad spend, or a number of booked calls. Write it down. The report then measures progress against something the client already agreed to.
If the client sells products, work out their break-even point before you set a target. The break-even ROAS calculator gives the lowest return on ad spend a product can run at before the ads lose money, which is a useful floor to show in the first report.
Which metrics to include when you report Facebook ads
Pick metrics by goal. Showing every metric for every client makes the important number harder to find.
| Client goal | Lead with | Supporting metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Online sales | Purchases, return on ad spend (ROAS), cost per purchase | Purchase value, add to carts, click-through rate, frequency |
| Leads | Leads, cost per lead | Lead form opens or landing page views, lead quality notes from the client |
| Sign-ups or bookings | Results, cost per result | Landing page views, conversion rate on the landing page |
| Traffic | Landing page views, cost per landing page view | Click-through rate, bounce rate from the client's analytics |
| Awareness | Reach, frequency, cost per 1,000 people reached | Video plays, ThruPlays, ad recall lift if available |
A few notes on the common ones:
- Amount spent. Always include it, next to the budget for the period. Clients want to know the money went where it was meant to.
- Results and cost per result. In Ads Manager, "Results" follows the optimisation event of each ad set. If ad sets optimise for different events, label each one clearly instead of adding them together.
- ROAS. Only meaningful if purchase events send a value. If the client's pixel doesn't pass purchase value, fix that before reporting ROAS.
- Frequency. How many times, on average, each person saw the ads. A rising frequency with a falling click-through rate is a common sign that the creative needs refreshing.
- Click-through rate (CTR). Useful as a creative health check, not as a goal in its own right.
Attribution: say which numbers you're using
Meta reports conversions using an attribution setting, for example a click within a set number of days or a view within one day. The client's own analytics or Shopify dashboard will use a different method and almost always show a different number.
Don't hide the gap. State the attribution setting in the report, and if the client relies on another source, show both numbers side by side with one line explaining why they differ. Pick one as the number you'll judge success by, and keep it the same every month.
How often to send reports
A simple cadence works for most accounts:
- Weekly: a short update. Three to five lines in an email or a message. Spend, the main result and cost per result for the week, one thing that changed, and one thing you'll do next week.
- Monthly: the full report. The template below, sent in the first few working days of the new month, ideally with a short call for larger accounts.
- Quarterly: a review. Look at trends across three months, revisit targets, and agree the plan and budget for the next quarter.
New accounts often need closer contact for the first few weeks, while campaigns are still settling. Tell the client that early results move around, so a slow first week isn't read as failure.
Whatever cadence you choose, keep the structure the same each time. Clients learn where to look, and you spend less time building each report.
A Facebook ads report template
Copy this structure into a document, a slide deck or your reporting tool. Each section should be short.
1. Summary (three to five lines)
- The goal and the target, in one sentence.
- This period's main result against the target.
- One sentence on why it moved.
- One sentence on what happens next.
If the client reads only this section, they should still know where things stand.
2. Headline numbers
A small table with this period, the previous period and the change:
| Metric | This month | Last month | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount spent | |||
| Main result (e.g. purchases or leads) | |||
| Cost per result | |||
| ROAS (sales accounts) |
Keep it to four to six rows.
3. What worked and what didn't
Two or three points each. For example: which audience or ad set delivered the lowest cost per result, which creative had the highest click-through rate, and which one you paused and why.
Include thumbnails of the top ads. If you're showing new concepts for approval, a Facebook ad mockup generator lets you show the client how each one will look in the feed before it runs.
4. Breakdowns that explain the result
Only include breakdowns that tell the client something, such as:
- Placement (Feed, Stories, Reels), if one placement is far cheaper or more expensive.
- Age and gender, if the buyers differ from the audience you expected.
- Region, for clients that serve specific areas.
5. Changes made this period
A dated list: budgets changed, ad sets paused, new creative launched, audiences tested. This is the part clients often find most reassuring, because it shows the account is being worked on.
6. Next steps
Three or four actions for the next period, and anything you need from the client, such as new product photos, offer details or feedback on lead quality.
Building the report in Ads Manager
For a small number of clients, Meta's own tools are enough.
- In Ads Manager, set the date range and choose or customise the columns for the client's goal. Save the column set so you can reuse it.
- Use the Breakdown menu to add placement, age or region when it helps.
- Open Ads Reporting to build a custom report with your chosen metrics and breakdowns, and save it.
- Schedule the saved report to be emailed to you on a regular basis, or export it as a spreadsheet for your own template.
- Add the commentary yourself. Exports show numbers; the summary, what worked and next steps are the parts the client actually pays for.
If clients ask about the other places they've seen ad data, our post on Facebook Ads Manager vs Meta Business Suite explains why Ads Manager is the one to report from.
Choosing a Facebook ads reporting tool
A dedicated Facebook ads reporting tool pulls data from the client's ad account automatically and builds dashboards or PDF reports on a schedule. Common options include AgencyAnalytics, Whatagraph, DashThis and Supermetrics, and Looker Studio with a partner connector, since Google doesn't provide a native Facebook Ads connector for it.
A tool is usually worth it when:
- You manage enough clients that monthly reporting takes days.
- Clients run ads on several platforms and want one report covering Meta, Google Ads and analytics.
- You want branded, client-facing dashboards they can check between reports.
When comparing tools, check:
- Which platforms it connects to, and whether it pulls the custom conversions and breakdowns you use.
- How it handles attribution, and whether its numbers match Ads Manager for the same date range.
- White-labelling, if clients should see your agency's brand rather than the tool's.
- Pricing per client or per data source, since this grows with your client list.
Whichever you pick, it connects to the client's ad account through your access. If that access was set up through a personal profile instead of your business portfolio, reports can break when that person leaves or loses access.
Common reporting mistakes
- Reporting every metric. If everything is highlighted, nothing is.
- Changing the structure each month. Consistency makes trends easy to spot.
- Numbers without explanation. "Cost per lead rose" needs a reason and a plan next to it.
- Mixing attribution sources without saying so.
- Waiting for the monthly report to share bad news. Mention a problem in the weekly update, with what you're doing about it.
Start with access, then report the same way every time
Reporting Facebook ads well comes down to a clear goal, a few metrics that measure it, a fixed template and an honest explanation of what changed. None of that works without reliable access to the client's ad account.
ClientInvite gets you that access with one branded link: the client approves the ad account, Page and pixel, and they're shared with your business portfolio, ready for Ads Manager and any reporting tool you connect. For the rest of the setup, see the client onboarding checklist for marketing agencies.