> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.snowdoughnut.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Annual report template
> A fill-in template for the annual review, built by rolling up the year's four quarterly reports. Covers full-year performance against plan, seasonality, channel evolution, and next year's priorities.
*Fill in each section below. Examples use Doughnut Labs, an invented company that sells Doughnut Technology. Replace the greyed* `E.g. `*lines with your own numbers.*
Built from the year's four quarterly reports, the same way each quarterly was built from its three monthlies: sum the raw numbers across all four quarters, then recalculate every ratio from those totals. Deliver this before next year's planning starts, not after, so it can actually inform the plan rather than just recap the year that's already over.
## Setup
| Field | Fill in |
| :----------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------ |
| Account / brand | *E.g. Doughnut Labs* |
| Year | *E.g. 2026* |
| Prepared by | *E.g. Priya Desai* |
| Quarters rolled up | *E.g. Q1 through Q4 2026* |
| [Data dictionary](/marketing-reporting-data-dictionary) link | |
## The year
| Field | Fill in |
| :------------------------------ | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Result | *E.g. Contribution margin \$1,240,000, 8% ahead of plan* |
| Against plan | *E.g. Ahead on margin and new customers, behind on repeat rate* |
| Three things that mattered most | *E.g. The bundle strategy, a shift in budget toward Meta, and a repeat-purchase email flow launched in Q3* |
## Full-year performance
| Metric | This year | Plan | Variance | Last year | Change |
| :------------------------- | :----------------- | :----------------- | :--------- | :--------------- | :---------- |
| *E.g. Contribution margin* | *E.g. \$1,240,000* | *E.g. \$1,150,000* | *E.g. +8%* | *E.g. \$968,000* | *E.g. +28%* |
| \[add metric] | | | | | |
## Quarterly shape
| Metric | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Full year |
| :------------------------- | :--------------- | :--------------- | :--------------- | :--------------- | :----------------- |
| *E.g. Contribution margin* | *E.g. \$289,000* | *E.g. \$312,000* | *E.g. \$298,000* | *E.g. \$341,000* | *E.g. \$1,240,000* |
| \[add metric] | | | | | |
## Seasonality
**Index each month against the annual average, 100 = average. This one table often justifies a budget reallocation worth more than everything else in the review.**
| Month | Revenue index | Spend index | Efficiency index |
| :-------------- | :------------ | :---------- | :--------------- |
| *E.g. January* | *E.g. 78* | *E.g. 82* | *E.g. 95* |
| *E.g. November* | *E.g. 168* | *E.g. 190* | *E.g. 88* |
| \[add month] | | | |
**Peak:** *E.g. November* · **Trough:** *E.g. January* · **When efficiency is best:** *E.g. February through April, when spend is lowest*
**What this means for next year's budget phasing:** *E.g. November efficiency is consistently the weakest month despite the highest revenue, since everyone bids up the same inventory. Consider phasing more prospecting spend into February through April instead of concentrating it around the holiday peak.*
Most budgets get split evenly by month or by last year's spend, which quietly assumes every month is equally efficient. Indexing revenue, spend, and efficiency separately usually reveals that the highest-revenue month isn't the most efficient one, since peak-demand periods also draw the most competing bids for the same inventory. That gap between "when revenue is highest" and "when efficiency is highest" is often the single most valuable finding in an annual review.
## Channel evolution
| Channel | Spend last year | Spend this year | Share change | Efficiency change |
| :------------- | :----------------- | :----------------- | :--------------- | :---------------- |
| *E.g. Meta* | *E.g. \$1,890,000* | *E.g. \$2,240,000* | *E.g. +3 points* | *E.g. Improved* |
| \[add channel] | | | | |
## What we learned
**Lessons, not achievements. Each needs evidence, or it's an opinion.**
| Learned | Evidence | Changes next year |
| :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| *E.g. Video creative sustains performance roughly three times longer than static before fatiguing* | *E.g. Consistent across eleven creative tests this year* | *E.g. Shift production budget toward video; reduce refresh frequency* |
| \[add lesson] | | |
## Testing program
| Field | Fill in |
| :------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Tests run / won / lost / inconclusive / rolled out | *E.g. 22 run, 9 won, 6 lost, 7 inconclusive, 9 rolled out* |
| Biggest winner | *E.g. Bundle offer test, Q2* |
| Most useful failure | *E.g. TikTok prospecting expansion, which showed our creative wasn't ready for that platform before spending more there* |
## Next year
| Field | Fill in |
| :------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Priorities | *E.g. Expand bundle strategy; invest in video creative production* |
| Targets | *E.g. Contribution margin \$1,500,000* |
| Budget | *E.g. \$2,900,000 total marketing spend* |
| Phasing | *E.g. Reduce November concentration; add spend in Feb to Apr* |
| Assumptions this plan depends on | *E.g. Bundle margin holds at current levels; no major platform cost inflation* |
| What would invalidate the plan | *E.g. A sustained rise in Meta CPMs beyond 20%, or bundle margin compression past 4 points* |
***
**Data through:** *E.g. 2026-12-31* · **Attribution:** *E.g. 7-day click, multi-touch* · **Definitions:** [Data dictionary](/marketing-reporting-data-dictionary)
## Related resources
* [Data quality and rollup concepts](/data-quality-and-rollup-concepts)
* [Quarterly report template](/quarterly-report-template)
* [Annual report archive](/annual-report-archive)
* [Data dictionary](/marketing-reporting-data-dictionary)