--- title: "What to Put in the Inbox Section of a Client Report (and the Numbers to Leave Out)" description: "The DM and comment work an agency does is mostly invisible to the client. These are the inbox numbers worth reporting each month, how to measure response time so it is fair, and the vanity figures that make a report longer without making it more convincing." author: "Kaitlyn Bricker" author_url: "https://www.inexra.com/about" date: "2026-01-26" updated: "2026-10-14" canonical: "https://www.inexra.com/resources/client-ready-dm-reporting-proving-responsiveness" --- # What to Put in the Inbox Section of a Client Report (and the Numbers to Leave Out) The inbox section of a client report should answer three questions: how many people reached out, how fast your team answered, and how many of those conversations turned into business. Everything else is supporting detail. If you only have room for one number, make it the third. Most agencies either leave the inbox out of reports entirely or include a single "messages handled" count. Both undersell the work. Answering DMs is often the part of a social retainer closest to revenue, and it's the part the client sees least. ## The four numbers to report every month **1. Conversations started.** Count conversations, not messages. One person sending six messages is one conversation, and counting messages makes the number swing for reasons that mean nothing. Count only what came in from the audience. If you include your own replies, every figure doubles and you're measuring your team, not the client's audience. **2. Median first response time.** How long from someone's first message to your first reply, using the median so one message left over a long weekend doesn't wreck the month. More on how to measure this fairly below. **3. Conversations that became leads or sales.** The ones that moved onto the pipeline, and how many closed. If the client agreed a monthly target, show the result against it. **4. Where they came from.** Which posts, reels or stories started the conversations that mattered. This turns the inbox section from "we were responsive" into "this content brought people in, and we converted them." The [guide to tracing a DM back to its post](https://www.inexra.com/resources/which-post-did-this-dm-come-from) covers how. ## Measure response time so it's fair to both sides Response time is the inbox number clients understand fastest and the one most often measured badly. **Use the median, not the average.** Twenty replies inside an hour and one message from Saturday answered on Monday gives an average of about three hours, which describes none of the actual replies. The median stays at under an hour, which is what the client's customers actually experienced. **Decide on business hours or clock hours, and say which.** If your agreement covers 9am to 6pm on weekdays, measure in those hours and label the number that way. A message at 11pm answered at 9:15am is a 15-minute response in business hours and a ten-hour one on the clock. Both are true. Pick one, agree it with the client, and don't switch. **Split it by priority.** A median of two hours is fine for thank-yous and slow for a booking enquiry. If you sort messages by priority, report the response time for high-priority messages separately. It's usually the most flattering number in the section, because it's where good teams focus, and it's the one the client cares about. If you haven't set response-time targets with clients yet, [this guide to DM response SLAs](https://www.inexra.com/resources/dm-response-time-slas-agencies) walks through setting ones you can actually hit. ## Response rate, and why 100% is the wrong goal Response rate (the share of conversations that got a reply) is worth tracking internally, but it's a poor headline for a client. A 100% response rate usually means someone is replying to spam and single emoji to protect the number. A better version: **response rate on conversations that needed a reply.** Questions, complaints, leads and partnership offers. If that's below 95% in a month, something slipped and the report should say what you're doing about it. ## Show one or two real conversations Numbers prove consistency. A real example proves judgment. Pick one conversation a month that shows the work at its best, a complaint turned around or an enquiry that became a booking, and include a short, anonymised summary: what they asked, how the team handled it, what happened. "A customer messaged about a delayed order on the Friday before a holiday weekend. We replied in 12 minutes, got the courier update from your team, and she posted a story thanking you on Monday." That's a paragraph a client forwards to their boss. ## The numbers to leave out **Total messages, without context.** "1,240 messages" sounds like a lot and tells the client nothing. If volume is up, say why: a campaign, a viral post, a seasonal rush. **Sentiment percentages on their own.** "78% positive" invites the question "compared to what?" Sentiment is useful when it changes. A jump in negative messages the week a product shipped late is worth a line. A flat percentage month after month is filler. **Your team's activity counts.** Replies sent, tags applied and saved replies used describe your workload. Clients pay for outcomes, and a section full of effort metrics reads like a timesheet. ## Where the inbox section goes Put it after the headline results and before the content performance details. The order that works best in our experience is: what the month earned (leads, sales, against any target), then the inbox numbers behind that, then which content drove it, then everything else. That order matches the question the client is really asking each month, which is whether this was worth paying for. If the inbox brought in business, that's your answer, and it belongs near the top. There's a full walkthrough in [what to show a client at the renewal call](https://www.inexra.com/resources/what-to-show-clients-at-the-renewal-call). ## FAQ ### What inbox metrics should agencies include in client reports? Conversations started, median first response time (ideally split by priority), conversations that became leads or sales, and which posts started those conversations. Add a short real example each month. ### How do you calculate DM response time for a client report? Measure from the person's first message to your first reply in each conversation, take the median rather than the average, and state whether it's in business hours or clock hours. Report high-priority messages separately. ### What is a good Instagram DM response rate for an agency? Aim for 95% or more on conversations that needed a reply (questions, complaints, leads and offers). Chasing 100% on every message, including spam and emoji, wastes time and doesn't mean better service. ### Should I include sentiment analysis in client reports? Only when it changes or explains something, like a rise in complaints after a late shipment. A steady sentiment percentage every month adds length without adding meaning.