Create client reports

Watchful lets you create professional, white-label reports that summarize the maintenance, activity, and performance of the websites you manage. These reports help you communicate the value of your work to clients by combining website activity logs, uptime monitoring, Google Analytics, and Lighthouse website quality scores in a single document.

Reports can be generated for individual websites or groups of sites, downloaded as PDF files, or automatically emailed to your clients on a recurring schedule. You can also personalize reports with your agency’s branding and deliver them from your own email domain.

Creating a report

To create a client report:

1. Log in to Watchful.
2. Click Reports in the left menu.
3. Use the report builder to configure your report, following the steps below.

1. Choose the websites to include

Under Choose a filter, select one of the following options:

• Sites — Generate a report for a single website.
• Tags — Generate a consolidated report for all websites associated with a particular tag.

After choosing a filter, select the desired website or tag from the dropdown menu.

Tags are especially useful for agencies managing multiple websites for a single client. By assigning the same tag to each of the client’s websites, you can create one report covering all of them.

For more information, see Add site tags in Watchful.

2. Choose a delivery method

Under Select a delivery mode, choose how the report will be delivered.

• Download — Generate a PDF report that you can download manually.
• Email — Schedule the report to be generated and emailed automatically.

Selecting Download lets you specify a date range. Selecting Email displays additional scheduling and email configuration options.

3. Select a date range or schedule

The available options depend on the selected delivery method.

Downloading a report

If you selected Download, use the From and To date fields to define the reporting period.

For example, you might select the first and last days of the previous month to prepare a monthly maintenance report.

Scheduling email reports

If you selected Email, choose how frequently Watchful should generate and send the report:

• Weekly — Send a report each week.
• Monthly — Send a report each month.
• Quarterly — Send a report every three months.

Configure the delivery day and time using the scheduling controls.

Once the report profile is saved, Watchful automatically generates and sends the report according to the selected schedule.

4. Select the report contents

Under Select report data, choose which information to include in the report.

Available sections include:

• Uptime — Summarizes website availability during the reporting period.
• Site activity logs — Documents maintenance and other recorded website activities.
• Google Analytics — Provides website traffic and visitor information.
• Lighthouse — Includes website quality scores from Lighthouse scans.

Select the checkbox beside each section you want to include.

You can also drag the selected sections to change the order in which they appear in the finished report.

Customizing activity logs

When Site activity logs is selected, Watchful includes recorded website activities for the chosen reporting period.

To control which activities appear:

1. Enable Customize the logs included in report.
2. Review the available activity types.
3. Select the activities you want clients to see.
4. Deselect activities that are not relevant to the report.

For example, you might include software updates, installed or removed extensions, administrative changes, and uptime events while excluding routine background activities.

You can also add custom notes to activity logs and reports to document work that might not otherwise appear in the automated activity records.

Comparing Google Analytics data

When Google Analytics is enabled, you can also select Compare Google Analytics to prior period.

This adds a comparison with the preceding equivalent reporting period, helping clients understand how their website traffic has changed over time.

For example, a monthly report can compare the selected month’s analytics data with the previous month.

Google Analytics must be connected and have data available for the selected website and reporting period.

Including Lighthouse website quality scores

Select Lighthouse to include website quality information in your client reports.

Lighthouse evaluates websites across four categories:

• Performance — How quickly the website loads and responds to visitors.
• Accessibility — Potential accessibility barriers affecting website users.
• Best Practices — Technical quality, security, and modern web development practices.
• SEO — Technical factors that influence how search engines discover and understand the website.

Including Lighthouse information allows clients to see how website quality changes over time, alongside the maintenance and monitoring work performed by your agency.

5. Customize the report design

Under Customize the design, personalize the appearance of your report.

The available options include:

• Report title — Enter a custom title for the report, such as “Monthly Website Maintenance Report.”
• Prepared by — Enter your agency or company name.
• Page format — Choose the desired paper size, such as A4 or Letter.
• Cover Page Image — Select or upload an image for the report’s cover.
• Company logo — Select or upload your company logo to appear throughout the report.

Watchful displays previously uploaded images and logos, allowing you to reuse your existing branding across multiple reports.

To add a new cover image or company logo, use the appropriate upload control. You can also select an existing image or replace it with a different one.

These options allow you to create white-label reports that reflect your agency’s identity rather than Watchful’s branding.

6. Personalize the email

This section appears when Email is selected as the delivery method.

Under Personalize the email, configure the message your clients will receive.

1. Enter one or more recipient email addresses in Send the report to these email addresses.
2. Enter the email subject.
3. Compose the message in the email body field.

You can send the same report to multiple recipients by adding additional email addresses.

For example, you might send a monthly report to the website owner, marketing manager, and other client stakeholders.

7. Choose the email sender

Under Send emails from, choose how Watchful should send your scheduled reports.

• Watchful — Send reports using Watchful’s email service.
• Use your own email account — Send reports using an SMTP account you have configured in Watchful.

Using your own email account allows reports to be delivered from an address associated with your agency, such as [email protected].

If you want to use your own email account, configure the SMTP settings as described below before enabling this option.

Sending reports from your own email domain

Watchful allows you to send scheduled client reports using your own SMTP server rather than Watchful’s default email service.

This is useful for agencies that want clients to receive reports directly from their business email addresses, maintaining consistent branding across the report and the accompanying email.

Configuring custom SMTP settings

To configure an SMTP account:

1. Click Settings in the left menu.
2. On the General tab, scroll to the Send email settings section.
3. Complete the SMTP configuration using the information supplied by your email provider.

The available fields are:

• Sender name — The name that recipients will see as the sender, such as your agency name.
• Sender email — The email address from which reports will be sent, such as [email protected].
• Username — The username required to authenticate with your SMTP server.
• Password — The corresponding SMTP password or application-specific password.
• Host — The hostname of your SMTP server.
• Port — The port used to connect to your SMTP server.
• Security protocol — Select either SSL or TLS, according to your email provider’s requirements.

Make sure the hostname, port, authentication credentials, and security protocol match your email provider’s SMTP configuration.

4. Click Save email settings.

Watchful displays an Email settings updated notification when your configuration has been saved.

The settings page also includes a Reset & Save email settings button for resetting the saved email configuration.

Using your SMTP account for client reports

After saving your SMTP configuration:

1. Click Reports in the left menu.
2. Create a new report or open an existing report profile.
3. Select Email as the delivery method.
4. Configure the recipients, email subject, and message.
5. Under Send emails from, select Use your own email account.
6. Click Save report profile.

Future scheduled deliveries for this report will use your configured SMTP account.

Your SMTP settings are configured centrally in Watchful, so the same account can be used with multiple report profiles.

Saving a report profile

Once you have configured your report, click Save report profile at the bottom of the report builder.

Watchful saves the report configuration and displays a confirmation message: The report profile has been saved.

The saved report appears immediately in the Report profiles table beneath the report builder.

A report profile stores your selected websites or tags, report sections, delivery method, schedule, branding, and applicable email settings.

You can create multiple report profiles for different clients, websites, or reporting schedules.

Downloading a PDF report

To download a report manually:

1. Click Reports in the left menu.
2. Open an existing report profile or configure a new report.
3. Confirm the reporting period and content.
4. Click Download PDF.

Watchful generates a PDF containing the selected information.

You can save the PDF, review its contents, or share it with your client.

Managing saved report profiles

Saved reports appear in the Report profiles table beneath the report builder.

The table displays the profile name, included report sections, delivery method, last delivery date, next scheduled delivery, and branding information.

For scheduled reports, you can use the Last sent on and Next send on columns to review their delivery status.

Editing an existing report

To edit a saved report:

1. Click Reports in the left menu.
2. Locate the report in the Report profiles table.
3. Click the report name to load its configuration into the report builder.
4. Modify the settings as needed.
5. Click Save report profile to save your changes.

Watchful displays a confirmation when the profile has been saved.

Deleting a report profile

To remove a saved report:

1. Click Reports in the left menu.
2. Locate the report in the Report profiles table.
3. Click the red Delete button beside the profile.
4. Confirm the deletion if prompted.

Deleting a scheduled report profile stops future deliveries associated with that profile.

Best practices for client reports

To make your reports more useful to clients:

• Use tags to create consolidated reports for clients with multiple websites.
• Schedule monthly reports to provide consistent updates without generating each report manually.
• Customize activity logs to highlight meaningful maintenance work.
• Include Lighthouse scores to demonstrate website quality and performance trends.
• Use Google Analytics comparisons to provide context about website traffic.
• Add your agency logo, report title, and cover image for a professional presentation.
• Configure custom SMTP to deliver reports from your agency’s email domain.