At the end of every month, thousands of Singapore SME directors receive a 25-page automated PDF report from their marketing vendor filled with colourful pie charts showing “Impressions up 14%,” “Page views up 8%,” and “Post reach: 12,400.” While those numbers look busy, they fail to answer the only question a business owner cares about: Did our marketing generate qualified commercial enquiries at a profitable cost, and what are we changing next month?
Whether you manage marketing in-house or work with an agency (see our in-house vs agency cost comparison), structure your monthly review around these eight commercial metrics.
1. Deliverables promised vs deliverables shipped (Scope Accountability Log)
Why it matters: Before looking at traffic or ad charts, confirm that the work you paid for actually happened. If your retainer promised 4 SEO articles, 8 social videos, and 2 landing page tests, the report should open with clickable links to every completed asset.
How to report it: Include a simple table at the top of the report listing Planned Deliverables vs Shipped Links—matching our 9 Marketing Proposal Deliverables checklist.
2. Total Verified Enquiries vs Qualified Commercial Leads (by channel)
Why it matters: Raw “conversion” counts in Google Ads or Meta Ads Manager frequently include spam submissions, job seekers, or accidental duplicate clicks. Reporting raw platform conversions without filtering for real commercial enquiries distorts your unit economics.
How to report it: Reconcile ad platform conversion counts against actual verified enquiries logged in your CRM (LeadPlus), separating total enquiries from qualified sales-ready leads across Organic Search, Google Ads, Paid Social, and Direct.
3. True Cost Per Qualified Lead (CPQL)—separating raw media spend from agency fees
Why it matters: Knowing your Cost Per Click (CPC) is S$4.20 is a diagnostic detail; knowing that you spent S$3,000 in media + S$1,200 in management fees to generate 20 qualified B2B enquiries (S$210 blended cost per qualified lead) tells you immediately whether the channel is profitable against your contract value.
How to report it: Show both Media-Only CPQL (Ad Spend ÷ Qualified Leads) and Blended All-In CPQL ((Ad Spend + Retainer Fee) ÷ Qualified Leads).
4. Landing page conversion rate by traffic source and device
Why it matters: If Google Ads sent 400 targeted clicks to your service page and only 4 people enquired (1% conversion rate), the bottleneck is not your ad budget—it is your landing page conversion layout or mobile UX.
How to report it: Track conversion rate (Enquiries ÷ Sessions) separately for Desktop vs Mobile on your top 5 commercial landing pages.
5. Non-brand commercial keyword visibility and Search Console click growth
Why it matters: For SEO retainers, ranking #1 for your own company name is not an achievement. You want to see steady impression and click growth on non-brand commercial queries (such as “custom software requirements singapore” or “b2b web design”) in Google Search Console.
How to report it: Report 28-day and 90-day Google Search Console impressions, clicks, and top-20 query movements for your target service pages and buyer-guide articles.
6. Creative hook winner vs loser analysis (for Paid Social & Organic Video)
Why it matters: Simply reporting aggregate social reach hides which specific video or carousel drove 80% of the results. Identifying the top-performing creative format tells your studio team what to shoot more of next month.
How to report it: Highlight the top 2 winning creative assets and bottom 2 underperformers from your paid social creative tests, explaining why the winner held attention.
7. Sales follow-up speed and lead-to-quote progression
Why it matters: Marketing and sales share responsibility for revenue. If marketing delivers 30 qualified WhatsApp and form enquiries, but internal sales staff take 48 hours to reply, close rates will plummet regardless of ad quality.
How to report it: Review average first-response time and what percentage of qualified leads progressed to a quotation or discovery call.
8. Three concrete actions and hypotheses for the coming 30 days
Why it matters: A report that only looks backward is an archive, not a management tool. Every monthly review should conclude with what is being paused, what is being scaled, and what is being fixed in the next cycle.
How to report it: Close every report with 3 specific next-month commitments (e.g., “Pause Ad Group B, add 15 negative keywords from search audit, and test new founder explainer Reel on Landing Page A”).
Vanity Metrics vs Director-Level Commercial Metrics
Replace superficial agency reporting with this executive scorecard:
| Channel | Low-Value Vanity Metric (Ignore in Isolation) | Director-Level Commercial Metric (Demand Monthly) | Decision It Supports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope Execution | “Hours spent optimising” | Itemised list of live URLs, ads & shoots shipped | Verifies retainer deliverables were completed |
| Google Ads (SEM) | Total Impressions & raw clicks | Qualified Leads, Search Term Audit & CPQL | Shows whether to scale or reallocate ad spend |
| SEO & Content | Sitewide traffic including irrelevant blog hits | Non-brand commercial query clicks & service-page leads | Measures progress toward top-20 commercial visibility |
| Social & Video | Post likes & raw reach | 3-second hold rate, outbound clicks & assisted enquiries | Guides next month’s photoshoot & video scripts |
Work with a marketing partner that reports on real business outcomes
At W Creates Digital, we keep monthly reporting concise, transparent, and tied directly to shipped deliverables and qualified enquiries. Contact our Singapore team to review your current marketing performance.