That Tuesday last month where 3 clients all said the same thing about our reporting

I'm still not sure if it was a coincidence or something in the water but on the same day three different clients all told me our monthly reports were too much to read through. One said she just skips to the last page. Another said he only looks at the graph. The third one straight up asked if we could send a one paragraph summary instead. So now I'm rethinking how we do reports entirely. Has anyone else had clients push back on reporting like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

cole_patel411d ago

Real talk though, did you ask them what they actually WANT to see in those reports? I had a similar situation and it turned out one client just wanted the top 3 numbers she cared about, another wanted a trend comparison, and the third just needed a bullet list of action items. So I started doing a one page version with a graph, 3 key takeaways, and then the full report as an appendix. Cut way down on the complaints.

uma_baker8822h ago

Nah, that's way too much work for zero payoff. You're out here customizing reports for every single client like you're a personal assistant or something. The whole point of a standard report format is efficiency and consistency. If you bend over backwards for everyone with a specific ask, you'll end up with 50 different templates and your brain will explode trying to track who gets what. Plus clients will keep asking for more changes once they know you'll just say yes. Set a standard, stick to it, and if they don't like it they can find another vendor. Works way better than trying to please everybody.