The essentials
- The basic rule: the client owns the accounts (GA4, Tag Manager, Ads, the Google listing) and holds administrator access; the supplier is a guest, never an owner.
- Three views to demand: a commented monthly summary, a view per managed channel with the real spend, and direct access to the platforms to check.
- By supplier: the SEA agency shows spend and conversions by campaign, the SEO agency positions and non-brand traffic, the community manager reach and enquiries generated.
- In the contract: frequency, format, delivery deadline and reversibility.
A marketing supplier that alone controls the tools and the reports puts its client in a position of dependence: no way to check, to compare or to change supplier without losing the history. Good practice in 2026 is simple: the client owns the accounts, the supplier works in them, and the dashboards are built in a space the client keeps. This article lists what to ask for, supplier by supplier, and how to write it into the contract.
The access to obtain before anything else
| Tool | Right to hold | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics 4 | Administrator on the account and the property | The property must be created in an account in the company's name; a supplier who creates it in their own account can delete it when they leave |
| Google Tag Manager | Administrator of the container | The container holds the whole measurement plan; losing it means rebuilding everything |
| Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads | Owner of the ad account, with the supplier on partner access | The performance history and the quality score belong to the account, not to the agency |
| The Google Business Profile listing | Primary owner | A listing held by a supplier is a frequent source of dispute |
| Search Console | Verified owner | DNS verification in the company's name |
| The marketing platform or Looker Studio | Owner of the report, or a space in the client's name | A report created in the agency's Drive disappears with the agency |
If the supplier refuses any of these rights, the relationship starts badly. The procedure for recovering access and the clauses to plan for are detailed in choosing a data marketing agency.
The three views to demand, whatever the supplier
- The commented monthly summary: one page, the month's results (enquiries, sales, attributed revenue, cost per result), the comparison with the target and three lines of explanation. It is the document the leadership team reads.
- The view per managed channel with the real costs: media spend, fees, results. An SEA dashboard without the agency fees overstates the return on investment by 20 to 40%.
- Direct access to the platforms: so you can check at any time that a figure on the dashboard matches its source. A client who can't open Google Ads can't check what they are being shown.
What each type of supplier should show
| Supplier | View to ask for | Essential metrics | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| An SEA agency or freelancer | Campaigns and keywords | Spend, conversions, cost per conversion, impression share, share of brand / non-brand budget | Weekly (spend), monthly (analysis) |
| An SEO supplier | Visibility and organic traffic | Non-brand clicks, positions on the target queries, pages published or optimised, links earned, technical errors | Monthly |
| A community manager or social agency | Posts and audience | Posts published, reach, engagement, clicks to the site, enquiries from social, response time to messages | Monthly |
| A social ads agency | Campaigns | Spend, results by objective, cost per result, frequency, post-click conversion rate in GA4 | Weekly and monthly |
| A Google listing and local supplier | Listing | Calls, directions, site clicks, reviews received and responded to, posts | Monthly |
| An email or CRM agency | Campaigns and sequences | Sends, opens, clicks, unsubscribes, attributed revenue | Per campaign and monthly |
The metrics by channel are developed in which metrics to ask for in reporting and, for advertising, in the Google Ads KPIs.
The supplier's tool or the client's?
Many agencies supply a dashboard on their own platform. That is acceptable on three conditions: the raw data stays accessible to the client in the original platforms, an export is possible at any time, and the client can open the dashboard without going through the agency. The best arrangement remains a marketing platform in the client's name, in which the supplier has access. The client then keeps the history, can compare several suppliers on the same metrics and has nothing to rebuild when changing. The cost of such a platform (€39 to €250 a month) is often lower than what an agency charges for its reporting. The expected content of these deliverables is listed in the essential deliverables of a data marketing supplier.
What should be in the contract
- Ownership: a list of the accounts and reports belonging to the client, with the rights granted to the supplier.
- Frequency and deadline: the monthly summary available before the 5th of the following month; a weekly view for the paid channels.
- Format: a link to an online dashboard plus a one-page commented document.
- Full costs: media spend and fees appear separately in the views.
- Reversibility: at the end of the contract, transfer of the access and the documentation within 15 days, at no charge.
- A reading meeting: 30 minutes a month to discuss the summary and decide.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's Overview module brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Can the supplier refuse to give administrator access?
They can propose it, but nothing obliges them contractually if the contract doesn't say so, hence the importance of writing it down. For accounts created in your company's name with your data, ownership is yours; a persistent refusal justifies a formal notice and a report to the platform's support.
Is a dashboard supplied by the agency reliable?
It is if the figures are verifiable in the source platforms and the costs are complete. Check three figures a quarter directly in Google Ads, GA4 or Meta. A dashboard that omits the fees or shows only impressions and clicks is a sales tool, not a steering one.
Do you need a dashboard per supplier?
No. Good practice is a single marketing platform in the client's name, with a view per channel in which each supplier records its actions. That lets you compare the channels on the same metrics (cost per enquiry, return on investment) and stops each supplier choosing the figures that flatter them.
What should you ask of a freelancer with no reporting tool?
Access to your own platforms, a monthly one-page document with the results, the actions and the proposals, and use of a marketing platform you supply. A competent freelancer accepts working in the client's tool; it is even simpler for them.