We build Opti-Behavior, the WordPress plugin discussed here. Originally published on optiuser.com.
An analytics report template is useful when every row ends with an action: the problem, where it happens, how many visits it touches, the fix, who does it, the date and how you will check it. Copy the blank table below, fill one row per problem, five rows at most. Then read our own filled report for optiuser.com, October 2026.
Why most reports give numbers, not fixes
You open the monthly report: sessions are down, bounce rate is up, the top pages are the usual ones. Then nobody knows what to do on Monday morning. The report is correct, but nobody can act on it.
Three things are usually missing:
- Where: the page, the form field or the funnel step where visitors leave.
- How much: how many visits the problem touches, compared with the rest of the site.
- What next: one action per problem, an owner, a date, and a way to know if it worked.
Traffic charts answer "what happened". A report you can use also answers "where it breaks" and "what to change first".
The analytics report template (copy it)
One table per report, whatever tool you use. One row per problem, the one that touches the most visits first. Five rows are enough: more than that and nobody reads to the end. Copy this table into a spreadsheet or a document.
| Problem | Where | Visits touched | Why (what you saw) | Fix | Who | Date of the change | Check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What goes wrong, in one sentence | Page, form field or funnel step | Number over the period | Click map, recording, error, segment | One change, not three | One name | Day the change went live | The figure to compare, and when |
Above the table, keep only four figures with their change against the previous period of the same length: visits, page views, time per visit, bounce. Below it, one line: "what we fixed since the last report, and what it changed".
Two columns make the difference. Date of the change: without it, you cannot tell next month whether a figure moved because of your fix or because of the season. Check: write the exact figure you will compare before you make the change, so nobody picks a flattering one afterwards.
A real report: optiuser.com, October 2026
Here is the template filled with our own site. Figures read in Opti-Behavior Smart Insights on optiuser.com on 31 October 2026, period 2 to 31 October 2026, spam traffic excluded. Low traffic: these are small numbers, and we say so in the rows.
Headline segment figures: visits from phones converted at 4.9%, against 9.6% for all visitors. That gap is the first row.
| Problem | Where | Visits touched | Why (what you saw) | Fix | Who | Date of the change | Check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone visitors click our buttons much less | Site pages, mobile | 61 visits in the button comparison | Button click rate 49.2% on mobile vs 70.2% on desktop; conversion 4.9% mobile vs 9.6% all visitors | Main button visible without scrolling on mobile | Site team | To be written on the day it goes live | Mobile button click rate and mobile conversion, 30 days after, same length of period |
| Visitors stop at the URL field of the free heatmap tool | /heatmap-generator/, field "Your page address" | 30 visits, 26 field interactions | Plugin verdict: weak signal, look at recordings first | Watch recordings; then make typing optional with an example page | Site team | To be written on the day it goes live | Stops at the URL field and visits reaching a heatmap, 30 days after |
What this real report shows about the template:
- "Why" keeps you honest. On the form row, the plugin itself says the signal is weak. The fix starts with recordings, not with a redesign. Writing that in the row stops a team from changing a page on a hunch.
- Two rows are enough. On a small site, two problems with a clear check beat ten charts.
- No result yet. The "Check" column is filled, the result is not: we will add it after 30 days. A template that asks for a result before the change invites invented figures.
How to fill it by hand
You can do this with any analytics tool and a spreadsheet. Count 30 to 60 minutes the first time.
- Pick one goal per site. An order for a shop, a sent form for a lead site, a signup for a membership site.
- Write the path to that goal. For a shop: product page, cart, checkout, order received. Count the visitors who reach each step over the period.
- Find the biggest loss in visitors, not in percent. A 70% drop on a step that 20 people reach matters less than a 30% drop on a step that 2,000 people reach.
- Split by device. Compare phones and computers on the same step. Our biggest gap this month was there.
- Open the page at that step yourself, on a phone and on a computer. Is the main button visible without scrolling? Does an error appear? Is a form field confusing?
- Compare with the previous period of the same length. A drop that was already there is not a new problem.
- Write one row per problem, with an owner, a date and the figure to check.
The limit: step 5 is guesswork without behavior data (where people click, what they do before leaving), and the whole exercise has to be repeated every period.
How Opti-Behavior fills the template in WordPress
Opti-Behavior reads the data your own site collects: traffic, clicks, funnels, and in Pro forms, recordings and errors. Smart Insights turns it into problems, and the website analytics report lists them with what to do. You find it in Opti-Behavior > Reports.
Each problem card maps to one row of the template: the problem, where, the visits touched, why it matters, what to do, and a button that opens the heatmap, the funnel or the recordings behind it. You add the owner and the date.
A demo example of one card turned into a row: the cart page of the demo store was seen in 4,236 visits and nobody clicked "Go to checkout" (demo data, not a customer site). Problem: nobody clicks the button. Where: cart page. Visits touched: 4,236. Why: the button is not the most visible element, or sits below the fold on a phone. Fix: make it the only prominent button, above the fold. Check: clicks on the button and visits reaching checkout, same length of period.
Site report: what is Free, what is Pro
Free plugin (WordPress.org):
- Short site report for any period, printed or saved as PDF from your browser: a Summary with the traffic figures and the 3 costliest findings, then one section for each part of your site that has data (traffic, shop, clicks, funnels, busiest hours, A/B tests). Sections without data are left out.
- Scheduled e-mail report, daily, weekly or monthly: visits, page views, time per visit and bounce with their change, the main issues, top sources, devices and most viewed pages.
Opti-Behavior Pro:
- Full site report: a card for each of your most visited pages, and up to 10 page reports in annex.
- Agency options (Pro 1.10.1): your client's name on the report, and sections you can hide before you send it.
- Page X-Ray report for one page: health score, what the page is for and how many visitors reach its goal, "What to fix, most costly first", and an action plan in order.
Daily, weekly or monthly?
Pick the rhythm by how fast you can act, not by habit.
- Daily: a shop during a campaign or right after a site change, when a broken checkout costs orders every hour.
- Weekly: most sites. Enough visits to see a trend, short enough to fix before the month ends.
- Monthly: low-traffic sites and client reporting. With few visits, a week of data says little: our own October report is monthly for that reason.
Whatever the rhythm, compare with the previous period of the same length, and do not judge a fix on a few days of low traffic.
The same template for a client report
A client does not need ten charts. Send the four headline figures, the problem table, and one line on what was fixed since the last report.
Before you send it, read only the Summary as if you were the client: can they say what will be fixed this month, by whom and by when? If not, cut rows.
What to check after a fix
- Write the date of the change in the report.
- Wait for a period of the same length as the one before the change, with similar traffic.
- Compare the figure named in "Check": clicks on the button, visits reaching the next step, sent forms or orders.
- Look at a few recordings or the click heatmap of the page: the old behavior should be gone.
- If nothing changed, keep the row and try the next likely cause. If it improved, move the row to "fixed since the last report".
5 mistakes that make an analytics report useless
- Listing every metric. Ten charts hide the one problem that matters. Keep four headline figures and the problem table.
- Ranking by percentage. A 60% drop on a page seen by 15 people is less urgent than a 20% drop on your checkout. Rank by visits touched.
- Writing fixes without an owner. "Improve the mobile layout" never happens. "Move the main button above the fold, Anna, 12 November" does.
- Changing three things at once. If the figure moves, you will not know which change did it. One fix per row, one date per fix.
- Forgetting the season. A shop's figures in December do not compare with October. Compare with the period just before, of the same length, and note any campaign or holiday in the row.
A good test before you send the report: cover the charts and read only the table. If someone can start work on Monday from the table alone, the report does its job.
FAQ
What should an analytics report template include?
Four headline figures with their change (visits, page views, time per visit, bounce), then one row per problem: where, visits touched, why, fix, who, date of the change and how to check. End with what was fixed since the last report.
How many problems should one report list?
Three to five, the one touching the most visits first. The free Opti-Behavior short site report starts with the 3 costliest findings for the same reason.
Can I get the report as a PDF?
Yes. Reports open in your browser; use your browser's print and choose "save as PDF".
Is the site report free?
The short site report and the scheduled e-mail report are in the free plugin on WordPress.org. The full site report, the agency options and the Page X-Ray report are in Opti-Behavior Pro.
Turn your data into a list of fixes: read the full template and the filled report on optiuser.com.
Drafted with AI assistance, reviewed by the Opti-Behavior Team.
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