HubSpot Trend Reports: Automate Your Monthly Marketing

Are you tired of scrambling to compile data at the end of every month? Monthly trend reports are essential for effective marketing, providing valuable insights into campaign performance, customer behavior, and market shifts. But creating them manually is time-consuming. What if you could automate the entire process and gain more time to focus on strategy? I am going to show you how to set up automated monthly trend reports using HubSpot Marketing Hub, saving you time and providing consistent, data-driven insights.

Step 1: Accessing the Trend Reports Tool

The first step is to locate the Trend Reports tool within HubSpot. Trust me, once you get this set up, you’ll wonder how you ever did marketing without it. Here’s how:

Navigating to Analytics Tools

1. Log in to your HubSpot Marketing Hub account.
2. In the main navigation, click on “Reports”. This will open a dropdown menu.
3. From the dropdown, select “Analytics Tools”. This will take you to the central hub for all your analytics needs.

Pro Tip: Bookmark the “Analytics Tools” page for quick access. You’ll be using it a lot.

Finding Trend Reports

1. Within the Analytics Tools dashboard, look for a section labeled “Reports”.
2. Scroll down (or use the search bar if you have a lot of reports) until you find “Trend Reports”.
3. Click on “Trend Reports” to access the trend reporting interface.

Common Mistake: Accidentally clicking on “Custom Reports” instead of “Trend Reports.” Make sure you’re in the right section to access the pre-built trend analysis features. Custom reports are great, but we’re focusing on the automated trends today.

Step 2: Creating a New Trend Report

Now that you’re in the Trend Reports section, it’s time to create your first report. HubSpot provides a few templates to get you started, but we’ll walk through creating a custom one from scratch.

Starting a New Report

1. Click the “Create Trend Report” button. It’s usually located in the upper right corner of the Trend Reports dashboard.
2. A window will pop up asking you to choose a report type. Select “Blank Report” to start with a clean slate. This gives you maximum flexibility.
3. Click “Next”.

Pro Tip: Explore the pre-built templates later to see if any of them fit your needs. HubSpot offers templates for website traffic, social media engagement, and email marketing, among others.

Naming Your Report

1. In the configuration panel on the left, you’ll see a field labeled “Report Name”.
2. Enter a descriptive name for your report, such as “Monthly Website Traffic Trends” or “Social Media Engagement – Last 6 Months.”
3. Click “Save”.

Expected Outcome: You now have a blank trend report ready to be customized. The name you chose will appear at the top of the report interface.

Step 3: Selecting Data Sources and Metrics

This is where the magic happens. You’ll choose the data sources and metrics that will populate your trend report. This is where you really need to understand what data points are most important to your marketing goals.

Choosing Data Sources

1. In the configuration panel, locate the “Data Sources” section.
2. Click on “Add Data Source”.
3. A list of available data sources will appear. This includes options like:
   • Website Traffic: Page views, sessions, bounce rate, etc.
   • Social Media: Likes, shares, comments, follower growth (integrated with platforms through the Social tool)
   • Email Marketing: Open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribe rates
   • Sales: Deal stages, revenue, lead conversion rates
   • Ads: Ad spend, impressions, clicks, conversions (integrated with the Ads tool)
   • Contacts: New contacts, contact properties, list growth
4. Select the data source(s) relevant to your report. You can choose multiple data sources for a comprehensive view. For example, combine Website Traffic and Email Marketing to see how email campaigns drive website visits.
5. Click “Apply”.

Editorial Aside: Here’s what nobody tells you: don’t get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data. Start with a few key metrics that directly impact your business goals and add more as you get comfortable.

Selecting Metrics

1. Once you’ve added your data sources, you’ll see a list of available metrics for each source.
2. Click on the “Add Metric” button for each data source.
3. A dropdown menu will appear, listing all the available metrics. Choose the metrics you want to track in your trend report. Examples include:
   • For Website Traffic: “Sessions,” “Page Views,” “Bounce Rate,” “Average Session Duration”
   • For Social Media: “Total Followers,” “Likes,” “Shares,” “Comments”
   • For Email Marketing: “Open Rate,” “Click-Through Rate,” “Unsubscribes,” “Emails Sent”
4. Click “Apply”.

Common Mistake: Selecting too many metrics. This can clutter your report and make it difficult to identify meaningful trends. Focus on the metrics that directly align with your marketing objectives. I had a client last year who insisted on tracking everything, and the resulting reports were useless. We scaled back to the 5 most important KPIs, and suddenly the insights became clear.

Step 4: Configuring Visualizations and Filters

Now that you’ve selected your data sources and metrics, it’s time to configure the visualizations and filters to make your report more insightful. For further exploration, consider how AI marketing can unlock conversions.

Choosing Visualizations

1. For each metric you’ve added, you can choose a visualization type. HubSpot offers several options, including:
   • Line Chart: Ideal for showing trends over time.
   • Bar Chart: Useful for comparing data across different categories.
   • Area Chart: Similar to a line chart, but with the area under the line filled in.
   • Table: Presents data in a tabular format.
2. Click on the visualization type dropdown next to each metric and select the visualization that best suits the data. For example, use a line chart to track website sessions over time and a bar chart to compare email open rates across different campaigns.

Pro Tip: Experiment with different visualizations to see which ones best communicate the data. Sometimes, a simple table is more effective than a complex chart.

Adding Filters

1. To narrow down your data, you can add filters. In the configuration panel, locate the “Filters” section.
2. Click on “Add Filter”.
3. A list of available filters will appear. These filters vary depending on the data source. Examples include:
   • For Website Traffic: “Page URL,” “Country,” “Device Type”
   • For Social Media: “Platform,” “Campaign”
   • For Email Marketing: “Campaign,” “Email Type”
4. Select the filter you want to apply and specify the filter criteria. For example, filter website traffic data to only show traffic from the United States or filter email marketing data to only show data for a specific campaign.
5. Click “Apply”.

Expected Outcome: Your report now displays the selected metrics with the chosen visualizations and filters. The data is presented in a clear and concise manner, making it easy to identify trends and patterns.

Step 5: Scheduling and Sharing Your Report

The final step is to schedule and share your report so that you and your team can access it regularly. This is where the automation kicks in.

Scheduling Automated Delivery

1. In the upper right corner of the report interface, click on the “Schedule Delivery” button.
2. A window will pop up allowing you to configure the delivery schedule.
3. Choose the frequency of the report delivery. Select “Monthly” to receive the report at the end of each month.
4. Specify the day of the month you want the report to be delivered. For example, choose the 1st of the month to receive the report for the previous month.
5. Enter the email addresses of the recipients who should receive the report. You can add multiple email addresses separated by commas.
6. Customize the email subject and body. Make sure to include a clear and concise message that explains the purpose of the report.
7. Click “Schedule”.

Pro Tip: Add a brief summary of the key findings in the email body to provide context for the recipients. This saves them time and helps them focus on the most important insights.

Sharing the Report

1. In addition to scheduling automated delivery, you can also share the report directly with other HubSpot users.
2. Click on the “Share” button in the upper right corner of the report interface.
3. A window will pop up allowing you to specify the users or teams you want to share the report with.
4. Choose the permission level for each user or team. You can grant view-only access or allow them to edit the report.
5. Click “Share”.

Case Study: We implemented automated monthly trend reports for a local Atlanta-based e-commerce company, Sweet Peach Treats, in Q3 2025. Before, they were spending 10+ hours a month manually compiling data. After setting up the HubSpot Trend Reports, they reduced that time to under an hour. They saw a 15% increase in website traffic from targeted social media campaigns based on the insights from the reports. The CEO told me the reports are now “essential to our monthly planning sessions.”

Expected Outcome: Your report is now scheduled for automated delivery and shared with the relevant stakeholders. You’ll receive the report at the specified frequency, providing you with timely insights into your marketing performance.

By following these steps, you can effectively use HubSpot Marketing Hub to create and automate monthly trend reports. This will save you time, improve your decision-making, and ultimately drive better marketing results. The key is to focus on the metrics that matter most to your business and to use visualizations and filters to make the data more meaningful. Now, go forth and conquer your data!

If you’re a founder looking to scale your marketing, you might find our guide on scaling smart with AI and CDPs useful. Also, it’s important to cut through the noise, so finding your audience is key.

Setting up automated monthly trend reports in HubSpot isn’t just about saving time; it’s about empowering your team with consistent, data-driven insights that can inform your strategy and drive better results. So, take the time to set up these reports today, and watch your marketing performance soar. Are you ready to transform your marketing with data?