I was on a client call once when the CMO wanted a report that was so complex he couldn't effectively describe what he wanted, he couldn't draw a picture, and he couldn't succinctly tell me how he was going to use it. This blog post is going to tell you how and why you need these 6 marketing reports in place before creating any fancy reports with nuanced, segmented marketing data.  

When clients ask incredibly nuanced, very segmented questions about their data, but they can't answer very basic information about their data, I tell them to start with the basics and then expand their reports. This allows your reporting tool to have a solid foundation for analysis.

So, here's what I want you to think about first to find out if you're on the right path for answering complex questions about your data.

Think of website visitor data like a person walking down 5th Avenue in New York. Are they just walking down the street window shopping? Do they pop into a store? Do they talk to a salesperson inside the store? Did they buy something? Is this the first time they bought something, or are they repeat customers?

All of these questions will give you a basic understanding of your customer's interaction with your business. Don't make it too complicated - start with last month's data. When you truly understand these fundamental characteristics about your customer data, then you can start segmenting the data and writing more advanced reports. 

1. Search Results - aka Visitors Who Are Window Shopping

Do you have access - easy, fast access - to how many people looked for your product or a product like yours last month by searching the internet? You can't start to understand how your marketing is influencing your target audience if you can't identify this single, flat number.

This can feel like a big black box, and it's usually a question for your marketing data expert. They will find the answer in a website analytics tool such as Google Search Console (available as an integration with HubSpot's SEO tool).

2. Unique Website Visits - aka Visitors Who Come Through The Front Door

How many people came in the “front door” of your business online last month? This will be website visits, ad clicks, calls, chats, emails, physical visits, blog visits, etc.

It doesn't matter what "door" they came through, just that they entered the door. Remember, this is basic data that you are starting with and you can expand your analysis once all of the basic questions are answered.

If you are using HubSpot, you will be able to answer all of these questions if you have installed the tracking code on all of the pages on your website. If you are utilizing HubSpot's Paid Ads tool, HubSpot Forms, and host your blog on HubSpot, you can answer this question within HubSpot itself.

3. Website Conversions - aka Visitors Who Talked To Your Sales Team

Now that your visitor is on your website, how many of them reached out to a salesperson through some kind of form with contact information? This is frequently called website conversions, which describes website visitors that convert to leads simply by providing contact information. Again, this can be accomplished in many ways, but what's the aggregate total of all visitors that became leads.

4. Customer Purchases - aka Visitors That Purchased Something

How many of your leads actually purchased something last month?

It doesn't matter how big or small, or whether they are a repeat customer. Just a total number and amount of purchases, whether you sell products online or sell services using HubSpot's Deals tool.

5. New Customers - aka Visitors That Bought Something For The First Time

How many customers that made a purchase last month were actually new customers that have never purchased anything in the past? This is sometimes called "Net New Customers" and will give you an idea of your customer growth.

Create Advanced Custom Reports in HubSpot

Now that you have a complete understanding of how customers interact with your website, you can create customer reports in HubSpot to segment your data. 

Here's an example. Let's take your Customer Purchases data and break it down into smaller chunks. You start categorizing your basic data by other information, such as the type of products they are buying or what day of the week they purchase so you can coordinate marketing campaigns with the time of day that purchases are made.

There's an infinite number of ways to segment your data and HubSpot has a great blog article on Customer Segementation: How To Effectively Segment Users and Clients.