# How to build a weekly ad report

> Build a one-page weekly ad report: six numbers, three ads, one headline and next week's decisions. Steps, a worked example and mistakes that make reports useless.
- **Author**: Marxx
- **Published**: 2026-10-23
- **Category**: Reporting
- **URL**: https://marxx.ai/library-guides/how-to-build-a-weekly-ad-report

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Build a weekly ad report on one page: a two-sentence headline, six numbers against last week, three ads and your decisions for next week. Pull the numbers on the same day each week and write the headline last.

Copy the free [weekly ad report template](/templates/weekly-ad-report-template) to start.

## Steps

1. **Fix the day and the window.** For example, every Monday, covering the last Monday to Sunday. Keep it the same so weeks compare.
2. **Pull six numbers, this week and last.** Spend, store revenue, MER, cost per result, new customers and link CTR.
3. **Take revenue from your store,** not from Meta or Google. Both platforms can claim the same sale, so the store is the check. See [MER](/glossary/mer).
4. **Name three ads.** The best one, the worst one and the one that is tiring.
5. **Write the headline.** What happened, why, and what you will do about it. Two sentences.
6. **List the decisions.** Scale, pause or test. A report with no decision is only a log.
7. **Send it at the same time each week,** in the same format.

## A worked example

Say a skincare brand reports on Monday.

| | This week | Last week | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spend | INR 1,40,000 | INR 1,30,000 | +8% |
| Store revenue | INR 5,60,000 | INR 4,94,000 | +13% |
| MER | 4.0 | 3.8 | +0.2 |
| Cost per purchase | INR 560 | INR 610 | -8% |
| New customers | 310 | 270 | +15% |
| Link CTR | 1.3% | 1.2% | +0.1 points |

**Headline:** Revenue grew 13% on 8% more spend. The new founder-voice video drove most of it, so we are moving INR 20,000 more into it and briefing two new cuts.

**Best ad:** the founder-voice video, which opens on a customer question.
**Tiring ad:** the "summer sale" static. Its frequency passed 4 and its CTR fell.

**Decisions:** scale the founder-voice video, brief two more cuts, replace the static. See [how to fix ad fatigue](/guides/how-to-fix-ad-fatigue) and [how to know when to turn off an ad](/guides/how-to-know-when-to-kill-an-ad).

The whole report took one page. The reader knew what to approve in ten seconds.

## Make the numbers mean something

A number alone says little. Put each one next to your own normal range, so a reader sees at once whether it is good or bad. [How to benchmark your ad performance](/guides/how-to-benchmark-your-ad-performance) shows how to set those ranges. Track cost per result as your [cost per acquisition](/glossary/cpa).

## Mistakes to avoid

- **Too many numbers.** Six is plenty. Put the rest in an appendix.
- **Platform numbers only.** Add store revenue.
- **Changing definitions mid-month.** Keep each metric defined the same way.
- **No decisions.** End with what you will do.
- **Writing it late.** A report on Friday about last week is stale.

We make Marxx. It sends digests and alerts from your Meta ad account, and has a Slack bot, so the numbers for steps 2 to 4 arrive without a manual pull.

## FAQ

### How long should a weekly ad report be?

One page. A reader should get the point from the headline and the six numbers alone.

### Should I report ROAS or MER?

Both. Use MER for the whole business and ROAS to compare campaigns.

### Who should get the report?

Whoever decides on budget, plus the people who make the creative. Send it to both at the same time.

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