A weak LSA client report shows lead count and cost per lead, declares the number went up, and hopes the client is satisfied. A strong report shows what the client actually cares about: how many real jobs the channel produced, what each one cost, and what it returned. The gap between those two reports is the gap between an agency that gets fired when results wobble and one that keeps clients through the rough patches because the value is legible.
This article covers which Local Services Ads metrics belong in a client report, which are vanity, and how to structure the story so a busy business owner understands it in thirty seconds.
Vanity metrics vs. decision metrics
Lead count is the classic vanity metric. It feels like progress — more leads must be better — but it says nothing about whether those leads became jobs. Recall that roughly 45% of raw home-service leads are unbookable by third-party estimates; a report celebrating a lead-count increase might be celebrating a surge of junk. Cost per lead has the same problem: a falling CPL looks like efficiency but can simply mean you're buying cheaper, worse leads.
Decision metrics, by contrast, tie to money and drive action. The question every metric should pass: would the client make a different decision based on this number? If not, it's decoration.
The metrics that belong in the report
| Metric | What it answers | Report priority |
|---|---|---|
| Booked jobs | How many real jobs did LSA produce? | Headline |
| Booked revenue | What did those jobs bring in? | Headline |
| Cost per booked job | What did each real job cost to win? | Headline |
| Return on ad spend (ROAS) | Revenue per dollar of spend | Headline |
| Booking rate | Share of leads that became jobs | Supporting |
| Credit recovered | Money clawed back on bad leads | Supporting |
| Position / visibility | Are we showing at the top? | Supporting |
| Review count & velocity | Is the reputation engine healthy? | Supporting |
| Speed-to-lead | How fast are leads answered? | Supporting |
The headline metrics answer the central question the client truly has: is this making me money? The supporting metrics explain why and point at what to fix.
Why booked revenue requires pipeline tracking
You can't report cost per booked job unless you know which leads became jobs, which is harder than it sounds. It requires tracking each lead through its stages — from a new lead, to contacted, to quoted, to booked, to completed, to paid — and, ideally, tying that to revenue from the client's CRM or field-service software. An agency that only looks at Google's raw lead feed can report leads and CPL; an agency that tracks the pipeline can report jobs and ROAS. That difference is what makes a report defensible when a client asks "but what did I actually get?"
Supporting metrics that reveal account health
- Booking rate tells you whether lead quality is the problem. A high lead count with a low booking rate means you're buying noise — a targeting or screening issue, not a volume win.
- Credit recovered makes visible the money clawed back on invalid leads. Realistically recoverable spend is around 6–7% of budget; showing it demonstrates active management rather than passive spending.
- Position and visibility answer whether you're actually at the top of Google — a leading indicator that moves before revenue does.
- Review count and velocity track the reputation engine, a known performance factor. A stalling velocity predicts a visibility problem before it shows up in bookings.
- Speed-to-lead connects a controllable behavior to outcomes: faster answers book more jobs.
These belong in a report not to pad it, but because each one either explains a headline number or warns of a change before it hits revenue.
Structuring the report
Lead with the answer. The top of the report should state, in plain language, what the channel produced this period: jobs, revenue, cost per booked job, ROAS — ideally against the prior period. Then use the supporting metrics to explain the story and flag what you're working on. A business owner should grasp the bottom line in thirty seconds and be able to dig into the "why" if they want to. Avoid drowning the report in every available number; a wall of metrics hides the signal and trains the client to skim past all of it.
One honesty note that builds long-term trust: report the down periods plainly too. A slow month explained with context — seasonality, a competitor's storm-chasing surge, a temporary position dip you're addressing — keeps a client far more effectively than a report that buries bad news under a rising lead count. Confident, specific honesty is what makes a client believe the good months.
The reporting takeaway
A client report is a trust document, not a data dump. Lead with booked revenue and cost per booked job, support it with the health metrics that explain and predict, track the pipeline so those numbers are real, and tell the truth in the slow months. Do that and the report stops being a monthly obligation and becomes the reason clients stay — because they can see, in their own terms, exactly what the channel is worth.
Frequently asked questions
Which LSA metrics belong in a client report?
Lead with booked jobs, booked revenue, cost per booked job, and return on ad spend as headline numbers, supported by booking rate, credit recovered, position and visibility, review velocity, and speed-to-lead.
Why is lead count a poor LSA reporting metric?
Lead count says nothing about whether leads became jobs; roughly 45 percent of raw home-service leads are unbookable by third-party estimates, so a rising lead count can simply be a surge of junk.
Why does reporting cost per booked job require pipeline tracking?
You can only report cost per booked job if you know which leads became jobs, which means tracking each lead from new through contacted, quoted, booked, and paid, ideally tied to revenue from the client's CRM or field-service software.