HubSpot Reporting: How to Simplify Data and Turn It Into Action with Nakul Kadaba

If you’ve ever opened HubSpot’s reporting tools and thought, “Wow… this feels like drinking from a firehose,” you’re not alone. Many business owners, marketers, and even RevOps pros struggle to make sense of the dashboards and reports waiting inside HubSpot. Some even call reporting their Achilles’ heel instead of their superpower.

But here’s the good news: reporting doesn’t have to be confusing, overwhelming, or reserved for “data nerds.” Done right, it’s one of the most powerful levers you can pull to make better decisions, align your teams, and keep your business moving forward with clarity.

To help us unpack this, I sat down with HubSpot expert Nicole Kaba, who has built a career around helping businesses use data to actually see what’s working, what’s not, and where the gaps really are. And trust me, there were plenty of lightbulb moments.

Why Is Reporting So Critical for Businesses Using HubSpot?

At its core, reporting is simply organizing your data to answer key questions about your business. Think about it: What’s going well? What’s falling short? Where are we missing information altogether?

Nicole reminded us that reporting isn’t just about charts and numbers. It’s about uncovering gaps you didn’t know existed. Maybe your team isn’t collecting a piece of data that could be crucial to understanding customer behavior. Maybe your reports are pointing to a weakness in your sales handoff. Without visibility, those gaps remain hidden and growth opportunities slip away.

In other words, reporting helps you see reality instead of relying on assumptions or bias. And that reality check can be the difference between good decisions and great ones.

How Do You Start With HubSpot Reporting?

If you’re new to HubSpot, start simple. Before you even touch the custom report builder, get clear on your goals.

Nicole suggested three steps:

1. Identify your areas of force and friction. Where are things working smoothly in your flywheel, and where are they breaking down?

2. Tie those insights to your organizational goals. Whether you use SMART goals, OKRs, or even BHAGs, write them down. Clear goals determine what data matters most.

3. Understand HubSpot’s default properties. Contacts, companies, deals, and tickets all come with baked-in data you don’t have to reinvent. Familiarize yourself with these before creating anything custom.

Once you’ve mapped your goals to HubSpot’s data model, you can decide if you need custom objects, properties, or integrations to fill in the gaps. Only then should you dive into reports and dashboards.

What Are the Common Mistakes People Make With HubSpot Reporting?

Here’s the big one: thinking you have to build everything from scratch.

HubSpot comes loaded with canned reports you can save, filter, and add to dashboards. Most users ignore them and spend hours reinventing the wheel. Nicole’s advice? Spend more time reading and acting on reports, not building them from scratch.

Another mistake? Failing to connect your tech stack. If your sales team is living in HubSpot but your service team is logging activity somewhere else, you’ll never get the full picture. That creates gaps and broken communication across teams.

The fix is simple: use native integrations, iPaaS tools like Zapier, or even custom integrations to keep your systems connected and your data flowing in one direction.

What Advanced Reporting Features Are You Missing?

If you’re comfortable with the basics, HubSpot has some powerful advanced features waiting for you:

• Traffic Analytics shows where your leads are really coming from and which sources deliver the most ROI.

• Sales Analytics helps leaders forecast, review lost deals, and spot patterns in the sales motion.

• Customer Journey Analytics visualizes how customers move through your funnel and where they drop off.

• Multi-Touch Revenue Attribution connects the dots between marketing and sales activities and the revenue they generate.

These features give you the kind of insight that sparks action across the organization. They’re not just “nice-to-haves.” They’re the reports that shift conversations in leadership meetings and align behaviors across teams.

Why Do Custom Reports Matter So Much?

Custom reports are where your data becomes your story.

Nicole made a great point: every report should answer one specific question. That clarity keeps you from cluttering dashboards with numbers nobody reads. For example, instead of dumping 12 metrics into one chart, create a simple report showing how much revenue came from marketing-qualified leads. Suddenly, you’re answering a question that matters.

A few pro tips:

• Choose the right property types so your visualizations make sense.

• Keep charts simple so anyone can understand them.

• Structure your dashboards like a story. Each report should build on the next.

• Automate wherever possible. Use workflows, calculated properties, and Operations Hub tools to keep data clean and up to date.

When you simplify the visualization and frame it as a story, your reports stop being numbers on a screen and start becoming tools for decision-making.

What Mindsets Do You Need for Better Reporting?

The most powerful shift is this: reporting is about storytelling.

Your dashboards should tell a clear story about your business. Are you progressing toward your goals? Are customers dropping off in certain places? Are your team’s behaviors aligned with your company’s vision?

If your reports don’t answer those questions, strip them down. Delete the noise. Focus on clarity.

And never forget the growth mindset. Your reporting setup isn’t one-and-done. Goals change, teams evolve, and HubSpot releases new features constantly. Reporting should evolve with you.

Resources to Keep Learning

Want to go deeper? Nicole recommended a few great resources:

• HubSpot’s Reporting Certification – a comprehensive dive into the tools and strategies.

• HubSpot Knowledge Base – especially the default properties articles.

• Good Charts by HBR – a fantastic book on data visualization and making insights simple.

• HubSpot Community and Blog – where practitioners share real-world reporting examples.

One Big Takeaway

If you remember nothing else from this conversation, remember this: reporting is your friend.

When you keep it simple and organized, reporting helps you see reality, uncover gaps, and take action. It’s not about staring at pretty graphs. It’s about using data to tell the truth about your business and giving you the clarity to do something about it.

So here’s the challenge: don’t let HubSpot reporting be your Achilles’ heel. Let it become your superpower.