Reporting & Analytics: What Is a Marketing Dashboard and How Does It Work?

Martijn Steenbeek

Reporting & Analytics

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A marketing dashboard brings together all the metrics from your marketing activities in one central location. Instead of logging in separately to your email tool, ad platform, and analytics environment, you can see at a glance what’s working and where you need to make adjustments.

Many organizations still rely on separate reports scattered across multiple systems. This takes time, makes comparisons difficult, and leads to decisions being based more on gut feelings than on facts.

In this guide, you'll learn exactly what a marketing dashboard is, what components it should include, how to set one up yourself, and how it relates to business intelligence.

Table of contents

What exactly is a marketing dashboard?
Marketing Dashboard at Ternair
Why is a marketing dashboard essential for your organization?
Marketing Dashboard vs. Reporting: What's the Difference?
What elements should be included in a marketing dashboard?
How do you build a marketing dashboard step by step?
Common Pitfalls in Marketing Dashboards
Marketing dashboard or BI dashboard: What's the difference?
Trends and Developments in Marketing Dashboards and BI
Marketing Dashboard Metrics: The Most Important KPIs
Marketing Dashboard with Reporting & Analytics from Ternair

What exactly is a marketing dashboard?

A marketing dashboard is a visual overview that brings together the key results of your marketing activities, such as campaign data, email results, and conversions. Instead of manually collecting numbers from different systems, you can see everything in real time, all in one place.

The main difference between a dashboard and a report lies in when you view the data: a dashboard displays figures that are constantly updated, while a report provides a retrospective view of a completed period. You’ll learn more about this difference later in this article.

A marketing dashboard typically shows:

An overview of campaigns that have been sent and when they were sent
Email metrics, such as open and click-through rates
Conversion Data, which shows which efforts actually lead to results

That way, you'll not only know what happened, but also what you can do today to make adjustments.

Marketing Dashboard at Ternair

Why is a marketing dashboard essential for your organization?

Without a dashboard, you often find yourself playing catch-up: data is scattered and merge data from separate systems takes more time than it’s worth. Reports are compiled manually, and by the time you have a complete picture, the campaign is long over. That not only takes time, it also costs you results.

Understanding What Works and What Doesn't

Instead of gathering data from individual exports, you can see at a glance which campaigns are driving results and which are lagging behind. This makes it easier to shift your budget and focus to what’s actually working.

Making faster decisions based on facts

Do you see that a campaign is underperforming? With up-to-date data—rather than a snapshot from a month ago—you can make adjustments that same week, instead of only discovering the issue during the final evaluation.

Less debate, more decisiveness

This is also valuable for managers and executives: instead of every meeting starting with “Do these numbers add up?”, you work from a single source that provides the same picture for everyone. This speeds up decision-making and prevents wasting time reconciling numbers instead of discussing actions.

Marketing Dashboard vs. Reporting: What's the Difference?

These terms are often used interchangeably, but a dashboard and a report serve different purposes. A report is useful when you want to look back at a specific point in time and document your findings. A dashboard is more suitable when you want to continuously monitor what’s happening right now and be able to make quick adjustments.

	Reporting	Dashboard
Moment	Periodic review (weekly, monthly)	Continuous, real-time
Target	Review and Document	Steering and Course Correction
Form	Fixed document or export	Interactive Overview
Best effort	Evaluations, management reports	Daily monitoring of campaigns

In practice, they complement each other: the dashboard provides you with day-to-day guidance, while the report periodically documents the lessons learned from that guidance.

What elements should be included in a marketing dashboard?

Exactly what you include in a dashboard depends on your organization and your goals. Still, virtually every marketing dashboard includes the same three building blocks.

Campaign Overview and Mailing Dates

The foundation of every dashboard is an overview of which campaigns were sent and when. That sounds obvious, but in practice, this is often exactly where things go wrong: campaigns are scattered across different tools, so no one can see at a glance what has been sent.

A good campaign overview also reveals the pattern behind it: Are you sending out messages too often in quick succession, or not often enough? That’s the first step toward consciously managing your timing, rather than planning campaigns in isolation from one another.

Email Results and Subject Lines

Email remains the most important marketing channel for many organizations and, as a result, one of the most valuable components of a dashboard. Here, you can compare open and click-through rates across campaigns and see which subject lines and send times perform best.

The real value lies in the comparison: as soon as you compare dozens of campaigns side by side, you’ll see patterns that a single email would never reveal.

Customer and Conversion Data

The final building block links your marketing efforts to actual results: not just whether an email was opened, but whether that also led to a purchase, sign-up, or other desired action.

That’s what sets a dashboard apart from individual channel metrics. Without conversion data, you know that a campaign attracted attention, but you don’t know whether that attention actually generated value. Conversion data establishes the link between campaigns and revenue and forms the basis for a complete picture of your customer.

How do you build a marketing dashboard step by step?

You don't build a dashboard by simply placing a few charts side by side. A well-thought-out design ensures that the dashboard will actually be used, rather than gathering dust after a few weeks. This step-by-step guide will help you get started.

Step 1: Define Goals and KPIs

Don’t start with the data; start by asking what you want to achieve: better control over campaign results, faster course corrections, or, above all, a clear overview for management. Translate that goal into specific KPIs; otherwise, you’ll end up with a dashboard full of numbers that no one uses.

Step 2: Link Data Sources

Connect the systems where your data comes from: your email tool, advertising platforms, website analytics, and, if applicable, your CRM. The more of these integrations that happen automatically, the less time you’ll spend manually collecting and consolidating data.

Step 3: Design the KPI hierarchy and structure

Not every KPI is equally important. Build your dashboard from top to bottom: the most important results at the top, with details below. That way, someone can see the most important information right away in ten seconds, while those who want to dig deeper can find more details.

Step 4: Visualizing with the Right Tool

Choose visualizations that clarify the data rather than complicate it: line charts for trends over time, bar charts for comparing campaigns or channels. The tool you use for this depends on your situation—it could range from a standalone dashboard tool to a solution that’s already embedded in the platform you use to run your campaigns.

Step 5: Automate, Test, and Optimize

A dashboard that has to be updated manually will eventually stop being updated. Automate wherever possible, check regularly to make sure the data is still accurate, and ask users for feedback. A dashboard is never truly finished; it evolves along with your organization.

Common Pitfalls in Marketing Dashboards

Building a dashboard is one thing; actually making it work is another. These are the pitfalls that most often cause a dashboard to fall into disuse after a few weeks.

Too much data, no focus
Anything that can be measured quickly finds its way onto the dashboard. The result: a screen full of charts that no one can make sense of anymore. Consciously choose a limited number of KPIs that are directly linked to your goals, and leave the rest out.
A dashboard for everyone works for no one
A marketer wants to see different information than a manager, and a manager wants to see different information than senior management. A single dashboard that tries to cater to all these roles at once usually doesn’t meet anyone’s needs. So think about who will be using it and tailor the level of detail accordingly.
No fixed times for interpretation
Even the best-designed dashboard is useless if no one consistently reviews it. Without set times to discuss the numbers, it quickly becomes a tool that’s there but is no longer opened. Therefore, schedule a regular time—for example, weekly—to discuss what the numbers mean.
Unreliable or unlinked data sources
A dashboard is only as good as the reliability of your data sources. Missing connections or outdated figures undermine trust in the entire dashboard, and that trust is difficult to rebuild. Therefore, check regularly to make sure all sources are connected correctly and are up to date.

Marketing dashboard or BI dashboard: What's the difference?

As organizations collect more data, the question quickly arises as to whether a marketing dashboard is sufficient, or whether a BI dashboard is actually needed. The difference lies not so much in the technology, but in the level at which you make decisions.

Analytics vs. Reporting

Analytics is all about analyzing data and marketing results: what works, why it works, and what you can predict for future campaigns. Reporting is about the dashboards themselves, where those insights come together visually—whether in a ready-made dashboard or as a data mart in your own BI environment.

A marketing dashboard combines both at the channel level and primarily supports day-to-day marketing decisions; a BI dashboard often combines marketing data with other business data, such as sales or finance, to inform strategic decisions at the organizational level. Many organizations start with a marketing dashboard and later expand it into a broader BI environment.

Embedded Power BI as a bridge between the two

More and more marketing platforms are offering dashboards built on Power BI, embedded directly within the tool itself. This means you can get started right away without needing your own Power BI license, while still retaining the option to export that same data to your own BI environment later on. So you don’t have to choose in advance between a simple marketing dashboard and a full-fledged BI solution.

Who owns the dashboard?

In practice, this often means the marketing team handles day-to-day management, while the BI or data department takes over when it comes to customized analyses or broader business data. Clear agreements on this matter prevent separate, conflicting versions of “the truth” from emerging side by side.

Would you like to delve deeper into the BI aspect specifically? Be sure to read our explanation of what BI Analytics is and how it works.

Trends and Developments in Marketing Dashboards and BI

Dashboards are constantly evolving, too. These are the developments that are making the biggest difference right now.

AI makes dashboards predictive rather than descriptive

Whereas a dashboard traditionally shows what has happened, these help AI models more and more often to look ahead: predicting which campaign will perform well in the coming week, or automatically flagging anomalies before they become a problem.

First-party data is becoming the most important source

Due to stricter privacy laws and the phasing out of third-party cookies, the data you collect yourself is becoming increasingly valuable. Dashboards built on first party data provide a more reliable picture than dashboards that rely partly on external sources.

Real-time management replaces periodic reporting

The shift from monthly reports to continuously updated dashboards continues. Real-time insights make it possible to make adjustments at a time when they can still make a difference.

Data marts and BI environments evolve alongside the marketing dashboard

More and more platforms are offering the ability to do marketing to make data directly accessible to its own data mart or BI environment as soon as the need for deeper analysis arises. This way, an organization doesn't have to make a decision upfront: you start with a marketing dashboard and expand as needed.

Measuring Your Marketing Dashboard: The Most Important KPIs

You can only improve what you measure. A good marketing dashboard, therefore, isn’t complete without a clear picture of which KPIs actually matter. These KPIs provide the most insight into whether your marketing is contributing to results.

KPI	What it measures	How to Calculate It
Open and Click-Through Rates	How many recipients open and click on your email	Number of opens/clicks divided by the number of emails sent × 100
Conversion Rate	The percentage of visitors or recipients who take a desired action	Number of conversions divided by the number of visitors/recipients × 100
Cost per Campaign	The average cost of a campaign relative to its results	Total campaign costs divided by the number of conversions
Return on Investment (ROI)	What your marketing efforts yield relative to your investment	Revenue generated minus investment, divided by investment × 100
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)	The expected value of a customer over the entire customer relationship	Average purchase value × purchase frequency × customer lifetime value

By tracking these KPIs on a regular basis rather than measuring them only occasionally, you’ll not only see what’s happening, but also identify areas where adjustments can be made. Don’t use them just for reporting—use them, above all, to inform your decisions.

Marketing Dashboard with Reporting & Analytics from Ternair

Reporting & Analytics is Ternair’s Report Center, built on embedded Power BI, without the need for a separate license. It connects directly to the marketing automation and the customer data platform from Ternair, so that campaign data, customer profiles, and email results are all consolidated into a single overview.

Every environment has default access to the campaign calendar and email statistics. This way, you always have an up-to-date overview of sent campaigns and the results of all your emails, without having to set up anything extra.

Ready-to-use dashboards
Want to look beyond the standard dashboards? Ternair also offers ready-to-use dashboards as add-ons, such as the Email Conversion Dashboard, the NPS Monitor, RFM management models, and the 360 degree customer profile. An RFM model divides your customers into groups based on their purchasing behavior, such as loyal customers (fans) or, conversely, customers who haven't made a purchase in a while (dormant customers).

What makes Ternair special is that these groups aren’t confined to a separate report—they’re immediately available on the same platform you use to send your campaigns. So you don’t have to export or link anything; you can launch a marketing campaign right away.

Custom analysis
Does a standard dashboard not align with your specific KPIs or data structure? If so, Ternair also offers customized analysis: from data analysis and campaign analysis to conversion analysis and RFM analysis, all performed using your own data mart. If you’d prefer to build this in-house, we can also provide staff on secondment to your own BI department.

Wondering what this means for your organization? Check out Reporting & Analytics or request a no-obligation demo.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions About Ternair's Marketing Dashboard

Which dashboard is right for my organization?

That depends on who will be using it. A marketer often finds campaign and email results sufficient, while a management team derives more value from an overview linked to broader business goals.

Can I add my own KPIs?

Yes, most platforms allow for customization: you can add your own KPIs to a standard dashboard, or have a fully customized dashboard developed based on your own data.

Does a marketing dashboard work even without a Power BI license?

If the dashboard uses embedded Power BI, as is the case with Ternair's Reporting & Analytics, you don't need your own license. Anyone with access to the platform can use the dashboards right away.

What is the difference between a marketing dashboard and a BI dashboard?

A marketing dashboard focuses on the day-to-day management of campaigns and channels. A BI dashboard often combines marketing data with other business data, such as sales or finance, to provide broader strategic insights.