There are 3 general ways that we typically see Agencies use Databox: for reporting, as a tool to help with retention/ upselling existing Clients, and in the Sales process with new Clients.
HOW TO
- Use Databox for Reporting
- Use Databox to retain and upsell existing Clients
- Use Databox in the Sales process
How to use Databox for Reporting
When it comes to data monitoring and reporting, there are typically two separate interests within the Agency. Those include having access to a high-level view across all Client Accounts, and automating Client reporting.
HOW TO
How to access a high-level view across all Client Accounts
For a high-level view across all Clients, you can use the Client Performance page in Databox. Here, you can view up to 5 KPIs for each of your Clients on one screen. Similarly, if you are setting Goals with your Clients, you can track your progress towards reaching each Goal on the Client Performance page. This allows you to perform quick, up-to-date health checks across all of your Client Accounts. Learn more about Client Performance here.
How to automate Client reporting
When using Databox to automate performance reports for each individual Client, the goal is typically to eliminate the hours of copying and pasting data into a spreadsheet or formatting a PowerPoint presentation for Reporting Meetings.
In Databox, the automated Databoards refresh hourly in paid Accounts and daily in Free Accounts, so your data remains up-to-date at any time. This allows for more real-time analysis and actionable insights based on the state of the data.
The Databoards built in Databox are typically shared through the Shareable Link, which is a centralized location to view the full set of Databoards that you created for a Client. Multiple Databoards can be looped together with Looped Databoards functionality to create a comprehensive report that you share with your team and your Clients. Often, the Shareable Link is played on a TV or large monitor in offices to ensure everyone stays up-to-date on the state of the data.
Databoards can also be shared via Scheduled Snapshots, which is a great way to export your reports and bring the data to your team, rather than waiting for them to seek out the data themselves. This helps to incorporate data into your team's regular routine while simultaneously giving them the tools they need to become more data-driven and agile in their role(s).
Account managers typically add Annotations and Notes to clearly highlight the insights that they have gathered from the data and actions that they have taken to improve performance. This helps Agencies draw a direct correlation for their Clients between the work that you're doing and the results that the Client is seeing.
To ensure you're monitoring your data appropriately, you can enlist the Databox system to start automatically and proactively monitoring your data using Alerts. Alerts can help notify you to any emerging trends, Goals that you've hit, etc.
Learn more about building and sharing Databoards here.
How to use Databox to retain and upsell existing Clients
Ultimately, the reason for reporting is to prove your Agency's value to your Clients. One way to do this is by setting clear Goals with your Clients to ensure you are working towards the same objective(s).
To figure out what Goals to set with your Clients, you can simply ask them, "What are you looking for from this engagement?" If they're looking for lead generation, the next questions should then be, "Would you fire us for 10 Leads a month? Would you fire us for 100 Leads a month?" These allow you to not only determine what your Goals should be, but also whether the expectations of the Client aligns with the work your Agency is doing.
Here's some advice from 36 Agency Partners on setting Goals with Clients. Goals can be added directly into the Client Account in Databox and visualized on your reports to ensure you're on track to reach them.
The stricter you are with your Databox usage, the easier it will be to prove the correlation between your Agency's work and the Client's results. For example, Annotations allow you to highlight significant activities that took place on your side, and the impact of that activity on your Client's business. So, if you released a blog post for your Client on August 27th that increased Sessions to their website from Social Media by 6% for the next 4 days, adding an Annotation to a Line Chart explaining the reason behind the spike in Social Media Sessions after August 27th helps connect the dots between the work and the results.
Not only does this further prove the value of your Agency to the Client, but it also may also lead to conversations about how you can do more for them. For example, if they're looking for a steady 10% increase in Organic Traffic, how many blog posts would you need to release a month to get there? With the proper setup and tools, this can all be identified through data.
Databox can also be used to introduce entirely new services to your Clients. With 75+ integrations, we can help you introduce more robust SEO services, Social Media services, PPC services, Video Marketing services, Outbound Prospecting services, etc. to your Clients.
Need more ideas? Here are the top Databox features that Agencies love.
How to use Databox in the Sales process
The main reason a Client hires a Marketing Agency is to improve their business. Therefore, the more specific you can get in diagnosing issues and improvement opportunities, the better.
In Databox, you can create some standard Databoard Templates in your Agency Account to use during the Sales process with prospective Clients. These Templates should allow you to get a good view into the prospect's business, and better understand what's working well and what can be improved upon. You can then send copies of these Templates to Client Accounts in order to analyze data for a specific prospect and produce a stronger sales pitch.
Annotations and Notes allow you to highlight areas directly on the report where the prospect could improve their performance. This makes your Sales pitch based on fact rather than assumptions about the Client's business.
If you don't have access to the Client's Data Source(s) to connect them in Databox, you can follow these steps to report on their data.