Tips For Creating Insightful HubSpot Reports & Dashboards

HubSpot provides you with the ability to see all of your data in one place, allowing you to get a complete picture of your business performance. It also enables you to seamlessly integrate your favorite apps, importing external data and unifying it within your dashboard. This article will help you collect, analyze, and interpret complex data sets to help your business grow and drive more revenue.

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Understanding Your Data

Your data tells a story about your business, but it's all about how you present it. When sharing data you need context. Why are you sharing this data? Where did it come from? Does it show a postive or negative trend? You also need to know why certain results have occurred. You want the information that you've gathered to be doing the work for you, providing actionable insights. Be sure that your data and story align. It's not enough to just craft a narrative that may fit your objective, but isn't supported by the data you're showing.

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Planning Your Dashboards

When planning the creation of your dashboards, you should ask yourself three questions:

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1. What problem does this dashboard need to solve?

A majority of teams have some understanding of their purpose and overall objectives, ensure your dashboard aligns with them. If you just force a dashboard that doesn’t have a clear purpose, you’re wasting time, resources and other people’s attention and time.

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2. What metrics need to show?

Choosing the right metrics to identify, measure and improve depends on many factors. Consider the type of product or service, the business model, and the industry. Then, choose the 5-10 most important metrics and use dashboards to show each one.

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3. Who are you solving the problem for?

Clients and stakeholders come in many shapes and sizes. Depending on their department and their role, they’ll likely want to see different metrics.

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Design & Layout

First, it's best to have your most important metrics displayed in the top left of the dashboard. Remember the basic principles of visual hierarchy, people naturally read from left to right and top to bottom. Therefore, the top left of the screen is where they will always look first. Additionally, focus on specifc topics and groups when creating your dashboard. Organize everything clearly so that the viewer knows just what they're looking at, is able to see the data as part of the bigger picture, and use it as they need it. One of the hardest things to do is identify and understand how one data point (or set of data points) correlates to another. Adding text blocks within your data can help get rid of this issue, making it much easier for your viewers to understand what the data is saying. Regarding the rest of your content, break up the text into short paragraphs and bulleted points so that it’s easy to skim. Be sure to keep the layout simple (yet effective) and uncluttered, with enough margin and white space.

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Fonts

For Web reports, using a sans serif font is best for easy on-screen reading. For printed reports, it helps to use a serif font for the main text and a sans serif font for headings, subheadings, and labels. Choose serif and sans serif fonts that are not just easy to read, but contrast well. Sparesly bolden or highlight key words and phrases here and there. Regarding colored-text, we advise you stay away from colors such as yellow or orange against light backgrounds. Again, keep things simple, yet effective.

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Easy Navigation

To guide viewers through your report with ease, use a combination of both text and graphics that give clear navigational signals. Use informative headings and subheadings, and make them pop out for easy skimming. You can do this by creating a strong contrast between the text and the headings, as well as leaving enough space around the headings. Keep your design consistent throughout your dashboard to further facilitate skimming. This includes the formatting of titles, headings, bulleted lists, labels, and other text. Be sure to also provide persistent navigation links for the main headings and keep them in the same position on each page.

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In-Tool Reports for Immediate Insights

Each HubSpot tool, including Ads, Social Media, Sequences, Workflows, and the Knowledge Base, features dedicated reporting dashboards or analysis tabs. These areas are specifically designed to offer insights on key metrics such as impressions, open rates, and conversions. By leveraging these dashboards, you can easily assess the effectiveness of your activities across various platforms. It'll allow you to better understand which assets contribute most significantly to traffic generation and conversion rates.

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Building Custom HubSpot Reports

Now it's time for the fun part. To start building your custom report you must first:

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1. Select Your Data Set

Requires choosing the objects you wish to analyze, such as contacts, companies, or deals.

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2. Define Your Properties

Specify the attributes of your selected objects to focus your analysis.

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3. Apply Filters

Narrow down your data with filters to refine your insights.

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4. Choose Visualization

Select how to best represent your data, whether through area graphs, pie charts, or tables, to convey your findings effectively.

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Upon completion, you can save your custom report for future access or export it for external review. Within the HubSpot CRM (and HubSpot's website) you have access to extensive resources that will guide you through the custom report building process, ensuring you can leverage this powerful feature to its full potential. Integrating these technical sections into your article will enhance its comprehensiveness, providing readers with a detailed understanding of how to utilize HubSpot's reporting tools effectively. This addition ensures your audience is well-equipped to leverage HubSpot's capabilities for insightful data analysis and informed decision-making.

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Conclusion

In summary, HubSpot provides powerful reporting and dashboard features that give you a clear view of how your business is doing, helping you make informed choices. By making the most of HubSpot's easy-to-use reports and the ability to create detailed custom reports, you can get the insights you need to push your business forward. Whether you're quickly checking performance with standard reports or digging deep with custom ones, HubSpot has you covered. Planning your dashboards carefully and analyzing your data effectively are key to leveraging these tools for success. With the right approach, HubSpot's analytics capabilities can help you drive growth, improve operations, and better engage with your customers. This guide aims to equip you with the knowledge to utilize these tools fully, ensuring your business thrives in today's competitive environment.

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Ready To Enhance Your Business Processes?

If you need help with setting up your HubSpot reports, or wish to start effectively using the HubSpot CRM, contact us today! Here at Demand Machine, our team specializes in helping businesses like yours thrive with HubSpot.