How To Create and Edit Reports

Custom Reports are only available for Custom plans

With Analytics 2.0 Custom Reports, you can measure most any data in your Apollo App (Metrics) by most any other data in your Apollo App (Dimensions), for any Timeframe, including or excluding any particular data that you want to analyze using Filters. You can then view the results in table form and visualize them into a wide assortment of pre-formatted graphs and charts in a single click. 

Related Basics:

• Analytics 2.0 Overview 
• How To Use the New Reports Page

How to Create and Edit a Report

1. Navigate to Analytics (Beta) in the left main menu

2. Click + New Report in reports folders organizer on the left side of the screen to start creating a brand new report

-OR- 

Click to view any individual report in your report folders on the left side and then Edit Report in the upper-right, or click the three-dot options menu that appears on rollover of any report title then "Edit" to edit any existing Report.

You can also click Clone in the rollover options menu if you want to make a copy of an existing report and edit it.

3. This brings you to the report builder screen. In the upper-left, replace "Untitled Report" with a name for your new report or update your name, if necessary, for the existing report you're editing.

Best practice is to give it a name that reflects its purpose: the timeframe it will depict (ex: monthly), the metrics it will measure (ex: emails delivered vs. interested), and/or the dimensions and filters you're measuring by (ex: by template).

Pro Tip: Keep in mind you'll be able to organize and share your report in a folder as well, which is a much better place to specify which teammates, teams, and/or dashboards your report is meant for.

4. Click the reports folder dropdown to select the folder you want your report to live in. "My Private Reports" is the only folder not accessible by the rest of your team (only you). Every other folder is public to all your Apollo Users. If you haven't created a folder for your report yet, don't worry - select "Unfiled Public Reports" for now and once your report is created, you can easily create a new folder on your Reports Page and drag and drop your report into it. 

5. Click the timeframe dropdown to set the date range of data you want to view. "Custom Range" allows you to specify any specific timeframe you like, and all the other options are "smart" ranges that will always reflect the same amount of time relative to every time you re-"run" your report-  for example, "last 30 days" will always fetch data for the 30 days preceding every time you click "Run".

 6. Select your Metrics: This is the data you want your report to measure. You can select as many metrics as you want to view in a single report (start with 1-3 related ones at most and work your way up as you get more comfortable making more complex reports).

All the individual metrics you can select are organized into convenient object-oriented folders on the right side. In other words, the "Contact" section, for example, contains all available Contact-related metrics, whereas every Email-related metric can be found by expanding the "Email" section.

Every metric you select will be highlighted in blue, and you can simply re-click the same metric to de-activate it. You'll also see the metrics populate as columns in the data table you're building (below the graph visualization) in the center of the page. The cells themselves will have a stand-in "?" that will update with real data once you finish constructing your report and click "Run." 

Pro Tip: if your Apollo App is integrated with Salesforce, you can take advantage of Opportunity metrics from your SFDC data to view stats like # Opportunities Won and Closed, Total and Average Amount Won, $ Pipeline Generated, # Opportunities changing to each Stage you track, Average (length of your) sales cycle, and many more that allow you to calculate real ROI on your sales teams' activities and outreach to your Contacts and Accounts in Apollo and Salesforce. 

6. Click the "Dimensions" tab on the far-right and select your Dimensions: These are the factors by which you want to measure your metrics. You can select 1-2 dimensions in a single report. 

All the individual dimensions you can select are organized into convenient object-oriented folders on the right side, just like metrics. In other words, the "User" section, for example, contains all available User-related dimensions, whereas every Email-related dimension can be found by expanding the "Email" section.

Every dimension you select will be highlighted in green, and you can simply re-click the same dimension to de-activate it. You'll also see the dimensions populate as the initial column in the data table you're building (below the graph visualization) in the center of the page. The cell below will have a stand-in "N/A" that will be replaced with real data once you finish constructing your report and click "Run." Once you run your report, the individual values of your dimension will become rows in your data table; if you're using two dimensions, one will populate your data table rows and the values of the other will define distinct groupings of your metrics columns. Scroll down to the "How To Switch Dimensions Pivot Axis" section at the bottom of this article to learn how to switch which of your selected dimensions is the main pivot axis, i.e. which defines your rows versus groups your metrics values. 

Pro Tip: You can use any Custom Contact and/or Account field you've created (and populated) in your Apollo App as a dimension. If you're integrated with Salesforce and have custom SFDC fields mapped to custom Apollo fields, you'll be able to measure your metrics against any Salesforce field from these sections. 

7. If necessary, select your filters: if you want to capture every value of the metric(s) and dimension(s) you selected for your chosen timeframe, there's no need to add any filters. However, if you want to refine your report by including or excluding any particular subsets of your selected dimension(s) or metric(s), there's two ways to add filters:

• Click the small "Filter" button that appears on the right when you roll over any dimension. This adds a filter with the filter type pre-selected (matching the dimension you rolled over) for your convenience, so you only need to select "Includes, Excludes, or Equals", if applicable, and then the specific values you want to filter in or out of your report: 

• click "Add Filter" towards the top of the page and select the filter type and values manually:

 

You can add as many filters as you want, and simply click the trashcan icon to the right of any filter you want to delete. 

Pro Tip: Often, your filters will correspond directly to one or both of your selected dimensions, but they can also be used to refine the reach of your metrics:

i.e. if you're viewing # emails sent (metric) by user (dimension), you might apply a "User" > "includes" filter to select specific users' stats to display - for instance, include your ADR team but not their manager. Regardless of that, if you want to limit the # emails sent in the report to only specific email templates, for instance those from your outreach to development firms, you can add a filter to include only those templates, and the #emails sent displayed in your report will represent sends of ONLY those templates during your selected timeframe:  

Pro Tip: you can free type into the "select filter..." and "select" (filter values) fields to limit the dropdown list to whatever you're searching for/typing in:

8. Click Run to populate your data table and visualize your report for the selected timeframe, metric(s), dimension(s), and filters: 

Note: the Run button is always visible when editing and/or viewing any report so you can refresh  it in real time anytime you make any changes to your report or simply want to update your data table/visualization with refreshed data for the selected timeframe.

Important: Anytime you click Run and see "Click the run button from the top to see the result" instead of visualized data in the center of your screen, it means there is NO DATA to visualize for the combination of metrics, dimensions, filters, and timeframe you currently have selected:

In other words, you've selected an incompatible set of report factors that don't represent any data, like trying to view stats on sent emails for a time period where you didn't actually send any emails. This can be fixed by double-checking the following to ensure you have constructed a logical report that will capture actual data:

• Check your timeframe to ensure you have it set to a period of time that will capture the metrics, dimensions, and filters you have selected because your team was performing those actions and/or generating those results during that time
• Check your dimension(s) to ensure they're logical cross-references for your selected metrics
• Check your filters to ensure they're directly related to your selected dimensions or metrics, and that the specific items included in your filters were active (in terms of your selected metrics) during the timeframe you've selected
• Be sure to click Run again once you've addressed any out-of-place element in this checklist

9. Select Visualization: for any report, you can choose to view your results as just a data table, or a column (vertical), bar (horizontal), line, area, or pie chart, or as a heat map.

If you add your report to any Dashboard(s), whatever visualization you choose here or when viewing your live report on the Reports page will be the style of that report's graph, or data table, when viewed on any Dashboard. You can also change your report visualization at any time when viewing live/saved individual Reports on your Reports Page.

10. Data Table & Visualization Sorting: Scroll down on any Report to view its data table. You'll see a small blue ^ (ascending) or ∨ (descending) on the column that your data is sorted by. This sorting determines the order of both your data table Rows and how your dimensions are ordered in your Report visualization.

Click the arrow itself to switch back and forth from ascending to descending order or click any other column to elect it as the column to sort by.

Pro Tip: if you're not seeing all your columns in the table be sure to scroll right on your screen, depending on how you created your report, you can have a LOT of extra columns hiding to the right. 

You can also drag and drop the columns in your data table to reorder the columns in your visualization. Be sure to click Run whenever you do so to see the affects of your reordering:

11. Set Row & Column Limits and (Optional) Row & Column Totals: look just above your data table on the right side to see and/or reset your default row limits and/or column limits, and/or show row/column totals:

• Row/Column Limits: Use these fields whenever you want to limit the size of your data table and graph by hiding excess rows (dimension values) and/or columns (metric values)
  • Row Limits default to 15 - you may want to increase or decrease this limit depending on if you want to view only the metrics of the top 5 or 10 performing dimension values (decrease) or a wider swath of say 50 dimension values (increase)
  • For example, you may run a report comparing email performance like % replied and/or % interested (metrics) by template (dimension). If you have 300 total templates in your App but want to focus on, say, the top 50 templates, you'd set a Row Limit of 50. That way, your data table and graph will only show stats for the top 50 templates in terms of performance.
• Row/Column Totals: Check these boxes whenever you want your data table to display the grand total of your selected metrics (Column Totals) and/or your selected dimensions (Row Totals)
  • For example, you may run a report comparing your #emails sent, #emails opened, and #emails replied (metrics) by month (dimension). If you're interested in knowing the grand total number of emails in each category (metric) across all months, you'd check the box to show column totals. That way, your data table will display your total #emails sent, opened, and replied for the entire timeframe, in addition to rows for each month in that timeframe. 

12. Click Save & Finish: after all that work, always be sure to confirm your report title and folder selection are exactly what you want them to be at the top of the page and Save your report! 

You can of course click Cancel instead if you don't want to save the report you've been working on. 

If you try to navigate away from the page without clicking Save & Finish or Cancel, you'll be presented with this warning so you have one more chance to click Cancel in the popup and then Save & Finish to save your report before you leave the page. 

...Putting it all together: a real, actionable report built from scratch in 45 secs:

Additional/Conditional Report-Editing Options

How To Clear All Metrics, Dimensions, or Filters

If you want to "start over" at any point when making or editing a report, click the small gear icon to the right of Run to expose a dropdown with options to Clear all dimensions, Clear all metrics, and Clear all filters. 

Keep in mind you can also remove dimensions and metrics one-by-one by re-clicking any of your selections (which de-selects them), and you can remove filters one-by-one by clicking the trashcan icon listed on the right side of each. 

How To Select A Different Type of User or Date (Only When Using User- and/or Date-Related Metrics)

Whenever you're measuring activities performed by users of your Apollo App, there's potentially a few different types of users you may want to view. For instance, you may want to run a report on # Contacts touched by either the users that reached out to those contacts directly or, instead, by the users that own those contacts, regardless of which user actually reached out to them.

Depending on the metrics you select, Apollo intelligently assumes the most likely/common/useful type of user to apply to your data. For instance, for contacts touched, we assume you're most likely to want to view the users that actually did the contacting.

However, when applicable, you can easily view which type of User we've auto-selected and/or change it manually for any applicable individual metric on any report.

When you roll over your individual metrics columns in your report data table at the bottom of the page, click the small gear icon that appears. You'll then see a dropdown that lists "User Field:" followed by the type of User currently in use. Roll over that field, and if there's any other types of users you can choose for that metric, they'll appear in another rollout menu. To switch to any of them, simply select it and remember to then re-click "Run" to update your data:

(That dropdown always also includes a shortcut to remove that metric from your report.)

Similarly, there's potentially a few different types of dates you may want to view in regards to certain metrics. For instance, you may want to run a report on # Contacts touched in a given timeframe in terms of either when that activity was performed or, instead, in terms of when the contact was created, regardless of when they were reached out to. 

Depending on the metrics you select, Apollo intelligently assumes the most likely/common/useful type of date to apply to your data. For instance, for contacts touched, we assume you're most likely to want to capture the dates the activities were actually performed.

However, when applicable, you can easily view which type of Date we've auto-selected and/or change it manually for any applicable individual metric on any report.

When you roll over your individual metrics columns in your report data table at the bottom of the page, click the small gear icon that appears. You'll then see a dropdown that lists "Date Field:" followed by the type of Date currently in use. Roll over that field, and if there's any other types of dates you can choose for that metric, they'll appear in another rollout menu. To switch to any of them, simply select it and remember to then re-click "Run" to update your data: 

(That dropdown always also includes a shortcut to remove that metric from your report.)

How To Set a Minimum Sample Size For % Based Data (Only When Using % Metrics)

If and only if any of your selected metrics are % based, you can set a minimum sample size for data to be included in your report. This is to avoid identifying "leaders" that have an especially poor or great % of success only because they've been used so few times - i.e. if an email has only been sent once, it's easy for it to have a 0% or 100% open rate, even though its subject line may actually be more or less effective than an email with a 70% open rate that has been sent 1,000 times.

• For example, you may run a report comparing % Calls Connected (metric) by User (dimension), but want to exclude any user who had less than 10 calls for your chosen timeframe
• Most commonly, for email percentage metrics by email subject, email template subject, or template (dimensions), you won't want to falsely identify your "best" email copy by percentage if that particular subject or template has only been sent 1 time, but you would if it has been sent, say, more than 10 times:

How To "Switch Dimensions Pivot Axis" (Only When Using 2 Dimensions in 1 Report)

Whenever you're using two dimensions for a single report, the values of one become your data table rows and the values of the other form groups of your selected metrics. For example, if you run a report on # Contacts called, emailed, and touched (metrics) by User as well as month (dimensions) during the Current Quarter (timeframe), either User or Month becomes the main dimension "pivot axis" and the other stacks on top of it visually (in your data table and visualized graph) as the secondary dimension.

In other words, when you're using two dimensions, you're viewing your selected metrics "by" the primary one, with columns, etc. broken down into each value of the secondary one. Sometimes you'll want to switch which is which in order to get the exact graph (visualization) you desire. 

When you roll over either of your dimension headers in your report data table at the bottom of the page, click the small gear icon that appears. That generates a dropdown where you can click to Switch dimension pivot axis (or remove the dimension altogether):

That will switch your primary and secondary dimensions in your data table and temporarily clear out its data - click Run to re-populate your data table and visualization for your newly updated pivot axis. 

This example shows the difference between viewing calls dialed, emails sent, and tasks completed (metrics) by User and Day of the Week versus Day of the Week and User (dimensions):

Related Resources

• Analytics 2.0 Overview 
• How To Use the New Reports Page
• How To Use the New Dashboards Page
• How To Create and Edit Dashboards