Every client of AMZ Ad Firm gets a weekly scorecard alongside a monthly report. The monthly report tells the full story. The weekly scorecard has a narrower job: it tells you, in a few minutes, whether things are on track and whether anything needs a decision this week.
A scorecard is only useful if the person reading it knows what to look for. This guide walks through how we suggest reading one, whether it comes from us or from anyone else running your ads.
What a good weekly scorecard contains
Formats vary, but a useful scorecard usually has the same building blocks:
- →A small set of business-level numbers: spend, revenue or qualified leads, and an efficiency metric such as MER, blended ROAS or cost per acquisition.
- →Targets for each number, so you are reading against a goal and not in a vacuum.
- →Week-over-week and month-to-date comparisons.
- →Budget pacing: how much of the monthly budget is spent compared with how much of the month has passed.
- →A short channel breakdown for each platform you run.
- →Notes: what changed this week, what is being tested, and what happens next.
If your scorecard is a raw export with dozens of columns and no targets or notes, it is a data dump, not a scorecard. Ask for a version built around decisions.
Step 1: start with the business number
Read the top line first and ignore channel detail until you have. For ecommerce, that is usually total revenue, new customers and blended efficiency. For lead generation, it is qualified leads (or booked calls, or opportunities) and cost per qualified lead. The question is simple: are we on track to hit the month's goal?
Month-to-date against target is usually more useful than week over week, because individual weeks are noisy. A slow Monday or a public holiday can move a weekly number more than any campaign change.
Step 2: check pacing
Pacing tells you whether spend is where it should be. If you are halfway through the month and have spent 30 percent of the budget, ask why. It may be deliberate, for example holding budget for a launch, or it may be campaigns that are limited by bids or audience size. If you have spent 70 percent, make sure the results justify the faster pace and that there is a plan for the rest of the month.
Step 3: look at the channel breakdown, with context
Once you know the overall picture, the channel section tells you where it comes from. Read it with two rules in mind:
- 01Compare each channel against its own history and target, not against other channels. Platforms attribute conversions differently, so a Meta number and a Google number are not directly comparable.
- 02Look at volume next to efficiency. A channel with excellent cost per acquisition but tiny volume is not where growth will come from. A channel with slightly higher costs but large volume may be carrying the business.
Step 4: read the leading indicators
Revenue and leads are lagging indicators. Some metrics warn you earlier that something is changing:
- →Cost per thousand impressions (CPM): rising CPMs mean the auction is getting more expensive, often seasonally.
- →Click-through rate: a steady decline on the same ads often signals creative fatigue.
- →Frequency: rising frequency in prospecting campaigns can mean you are saturating the audience.
- →Landing page conversion rate: if clicks are stable but conversions drop, look at the site, the offer or the tracking before blaming the ads.
You do not need to act on every movement. You need to notice trends that last more than a week or two.
Step 5: read the notes
The notes are the most valuable part of a scorecard and the most often skipped. They should answer three questions: what changed this week, why the numbers moved, and what will be done next. Good notes connect actions to results, for example: 'Launched three new creative angles on Meta; early click-through rates are above the current winners; we will move budget on Thursday if conversions hold.'
If the notes only repeat the numbers, push for more. The point of working with a specialist is the judgment, not the spreadsheet.
Questions worth asking every week
- →Are we on track for the month? If not, what is the plan?
- →What is being tested right now, and when will we know the result?
- →Is there anything on our side, such as stock, pricing, site changes or sales follow-up, that is affecting results?
- →Is anything unusual in the data that we should double check, such as a tracking gap or a sudden spike?
- →Is there an opportunity to spend more profitably, or a reason to pull back?
Common mistakes when reading scorecards
- →Reacting to one bad day or one bad week. Look for trends over several weeks.
- →Adding up platform-reported conversions and expecting them to match your store or CRM. They rarely will.
- →Ignoring things outside the ad account. Promotions, stock-outs, site speed and sales response time all show up in ad results.
- →Changing targets every week. If the goal moves constantly, the scorecard cannot tell you anything.
Key takeaways
- →Read the business number against target first, then pacing, then channels.
- →Compare channels against their own history, not against each other, and always look at volume next to efficiency.
- →Use CPM, CTR, frequency and landing page conversion rate as early warnings.
- →The notes should explain what changed, why and what is next. If they do not, ask.
