Mastering HubSpot Email Revenue Reports: Automated vs. Non-Automated Performance

Hello, ESHOPMAN readers! As specialists in connecting HubSpot with robust e-commerce experiences, we understand that simply sending emails isn't enough. To truly drive growth for your online store, you need to know which emails are actually converting into sales. That's why a recent discussion in the HubSpot Community caught our eye, addressing a common and critical challenge: accurately reporting revenue generated by automated versus non-automated emails.

The original poster, like many HubSpot users and store operators, was looking for clear insights into:

• Total revenue and number of deals from automated emails as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
• Total revenue and number of deals from non-automated emails as a KPI.
• A ranking of the top 10 best-performing automated emails by revenue generated.
• A ranking of the top 10 best-performing non-automated emails by revenue generated.

While these goals seem straightforward, HubSpot's powerful attribution models can sometimes make direct, one-to-one reporting a bit complex. Let's dive into the core problem and explore the brilliant, actionable solutions shared by the community, tailored for your ESHOPMAN-powered storefront.

The Attribution Head-Scratcher: Why Deals Get "Double-Counted"

The primary hurdle identified by the original poster was the issue of deals being "assigned" to multiple emails, leading to potentially inflated revenue figures. As a seasoned community member aptly explained, this often indicates you're looking at influenced or attribution-style data, rather than a clean one-email-one-deal relationship. Consider a scenario where a customer interacts with an automated welcome email series, then later clicks a manual promotional email before making a purchase. HubSpot's default attribution might credit both emails, which is valuable for understanding overall influence but complicates efforts to assign revenue to a single email type.

Another respondent further clarified that this "double-counting" is a direct result of how HubSpot's attribution models work. When a single deal is influenced by multiple marketing emails, building a custom report with both Deals and Marketing Emails can indeed associate the same deal with more than one email, leading to duplicated revenue figures in a simple sum.

Strategic Solutions for Accurate Email Revenue Reporting

Fortunately, the HubSpot Community provided several robust strategies to navigate these attribution complexities and achieve the desired reporting clarity. These approaches leverage various HubSpot features, from the custom report builder to advanced attribution models, ensuring you can precisely measure your email marketing ROI.

1. Leveraging the Custom Report Builder for KPIs

For those crucial KPI reports, the custom report builder is your go-to tool. While funnel reports are excellent for visualizing deal progression, they might not offer the granular distinction between automated and non-automated sends. Instead, focus on the custom report builder:

• Data Source: Start with "Marketing Email" or "Email Campaign" as your primary data source.
• Filtering by Email Type: The key here is to filter by "Email Type." HubSpot categorizes emails as 'Automated/Workflow' (emails sent via workflows) versus 'Regular/One-off' (manual marketing sends). This native distinction allows you to segment your data effectively.
• Revenue Metrics: Link your email data to closed-won deals. You can use metrics like "First Touch Revenue," "Last Touch Revenue," or "Influenced Revenue" (if applicable to your HubSpot Marketing Hub tier) to tie email interactions directly to sales. This helps avoid the multi-assignment issue by focusing on a specific attribution model.

A community expert suggested shifting your dimension to "Email name" when building reports for top performers, rather than trying to force deals into single-email buckets. This allows you to sort and limit by revenue at the email level.

// Example of a custom report builder setup (conceptual)
// Data Source: Marketing Email
// Filters:
//   Email Type IS EQUAL TO 'Automated' (for automated reports)
//   Email Type IS EQUAL TO 'Regular' (for non-automated reports)
// Properties to display:
//   Email Name
//   Total Revenue (from associated deals)
//   Number of Deals
// Sort: Total Revenue (Descending)
// Limit: Top 10

2. Understanding HubSpot's Attribution Reports

For a broader view of revenue influence, especially for high-level KPIs, HubSpot's native Revenue Attribution Reports are invaluable. If your automated and non-automated emails are part of distinct campaigns or are categorized in a way that allows filtering by email asset, you can get very close to your desired outcome here. These reports are designed to show how different marketing touches contribute to revenue across the customer journey.

3. Custom Properties and Workflows: The Clean Data Approach

One of the most powerful and frequently recommended solutions, particularly for achieving a clean one-email-one-deal attribution, involves creating custom properties and workflows. As one community member proposed, if you need a clear KPI where each deal counts once, you can create your own reporting field. For example:

• Create a Custom Deal Property: Name it something like "Primary Email Source Type" with dropdown options like "Automated Email" and "Non-Automated Email."
• Build Workflows: Set up workflows that automatically stamp this property on a deal or contact when a specific email interaction (e.g., first click on an automated email, last click on a manual email) occurs.

This method offers much more trustworthy reporting because you explicitly define the attribution logic. However, it comes with a crucial caveat: custom properties created today won't retroactively populate historical data. For past performance, you might need to rely on HubSpot's standard attribution reports with their inherent multi-touch nature, or undertake a one-time backfill process by exporting historical deal data and manually assigning the "Primary Email Source Type" before re-importing.

4. Addressing the "Top 10 Emails by Revenue" Challenge

Creating tables that display the top 10 best-performing emails by revenue requires a slight shift in perspective from deal-centric reporting. Instead of trying to force deals into single-email buckets, build your report at the email level:

• Data Source: Use "Marketing Email" or "Email Campaign."
• Dimension: Set "Email name" as your primary dimension.
• Metrics: Include "Total Revenue" (associated with that email) and "Number of Deals."
• Sort & Limit: Sort by "Total Revenue" in descending order and apply a limit of 10 to get your top performers.

This approach gives you a direct ranking of individual emails based on the revenue they influenced, without the complexities of multi-deal attribution at the individual email level.

HubSpot Hub Tiers and ESHOPMAN Integration

It's important to note that full multi-touch revenue attribution reporting, which provides the most granular insights into how different marketing assets contribute to revenue across the customer journey, is primarily available with Marketing Hub Enterprise. If you're on a lower tier (e.g., Marketing Hub Professional), you'll likely need to lean more heavily on the custom properties and workflows approach, as well as creative use of the custom report builder, as highlighted by community experts.

For ESHOPMAN users, these reporting capabilities are especially vital. As the best online store builder for small business integrated seamlessly with HubSpot, ESHOPMAN empowers you to connect your email marketing efforts directly to your storefront sales. Understanding which automated welcome series, abandoned cart reminders, or promotional blasts are driving the most revenue allows you to optimize your e-commerce strategy, refine your customer journeys, and ultimately boost your bottom line. By implementing these reporting strategies, you can gain a clearer picture of your RevOps performance and make data-driven decisions that propel your online store forward.

Conclusion

Accurately reporting on automated versus non-automated email revenue in HubSpot can seem daunting due to attribution complexities. However, by strategically utilizing the custom report builder, understanding attribution models, and implementing custom properties with workflows, you can gain the precise insights needed to optimize your email marketing performance. Whether you're tracking KPIs or identifying your top-performing emails, these methods will help you make smarter decisions for your ESHOPMAN-powered storefront. Start building these reports today and unlock the true ROI of your email marketing efforts!