How do I build custom reports that show real impact?

Rachel had a problem common to many marketing leaders. "Our CEO would ask, 'What's the ROI of our marketing efforts?' and I struggled to show the full picture," she recalls. Standard reports weren't telling the story of marketing's true impact on revenue.

Beyond Basic Metrics

Today, Rachel confidently demonstrates marketing's contribution to the business. "We stopped reporting activities and started showing outcomes," she explains. Her custom reports in HubSpot now tell the complete story of how marketing efforts drive business growth.

The Reporting Revolution

The transformation began when Rachel's team mapped their customer journey. They discovered that traditional linear attribution wasn't capturing reality. "A customer might download an ebook, attend a webinar, engage with sales, go quiet, then respond to a retargeting campaign months later. We needed reports that could show this complexity."

Finding the Story in Your Numbers

One of Rachel's breakthrough moments came when analyzing a seemingly unsuccessful campaign. Traditional metrics showed low conversion rates, but their custom reports revealed that the campaign had influenced several major deals months later. "We would have missed this insight with standard reporting."

Building Reports That Matter

Rachel's team developed a framework for impactful reporting:

Start with the Question What decision needs to be made? What story needs to be told? The answer shapes everything that follows.

Connect the Dots Using custom properties and calculated fields, they track the entire customer journey, from first touch to closed revenue and beyond.

Show Progress and Potential Their reports don't just show what happened - they reveal opportunities and predict future outcomes.

Making Reports Actionable

"Our best report," Rachel shares, "combines marketing influence with sales velocity." It shows not just which campaigns generate leads, but which ones lead to faster, larger deals. "This helps us focus our resources where they have the biggest impact."

Your Reporting Journey

Start by asking: What decisions do your stakeholders need to make? What questions keep coming up in meetings? Let these guide your custom reporting strategy.

Remember: The goal isn't to track everything - it's to show what matters for your business growth.

Need help creating custom reports that demonstrate real impact? Your HubSpot representative can guide you through building reports that tell your success story.