You've got your dashboard set up in HubSpot, but when you look at it, all you see are a bunch of numbers. You can't draw any meaningful conclusions. You can't answer the most basic questions: Are we growing? Are our marketing efforts paying off? Is the sales team hitting its goals?
The problem isn't the data itself; it's how you're reporting on it. Here’s how to build HubSpot dashboards that tell a powerful, actionable story.
This is a simple mistake with big consequences. If you don't filter your reports correctly, you could be looking at a misleading picture of your business. For example, if your team members are also in the CRM as contacts, they could be skewing your website traffic and lead numbers.
The Fix: When creating or editing a report, always check the filters. Use filters to exclude internal team members, filter by specific campaigns, or focus on a particular time period.
HubSpot has a huge variety of reports, from funnel reports to attribution reports. If you choose the wrong one, you won’t get the answer you're looking for.
The Fix: Before building a report, write down the single question you want to answer. Are you trying to see how many contacts you've generated? Use a funnel report. Are you trying to see which marketing channel is driving the most leads? Use a sources report.
A single number on a report is meaningless without context. Seeing that you have 500 new leads in a month is good, but is it good compared to last month? Compared to your goal?
The Fix: HubSpot's reporting tool lets you add context. Always compare your reports to a previous period (e.g., "last month") or a specific goal. This turns a single number into a meaningful insight.
A vanity metric is a number that looks good but doesn't actually help you make a business decision. For example, "total website visits" is a vanity metric, but "new leads from our blog posts" is actionable.
The Fix: Focus your reporting on metrics that tie directly to your business goals. Prioritize conversion rates, sales pipeline value, and return on investment over things like page views and social media followers.
Stop guessing and start getting real insights. Our team builds custom HubSpot dashboards that give you a clear, actionable view of your business.
Request a free reporting consultation →