Report Builder

Enabling decision-making and allowing users the opportunity to investigate and solve all kinds of identified issues, reporting has stood out as a turnkey solution since time immemorial. The process of reporting begins by compiling and reviewing the information within a specific functional area where performance is monitored and measured. Once the gathered information has been reviewed, conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made. The reports might end up explaining why an issue has occurred and eventually will recommend a course of action to fight the same.

On this front, the Zeta Marketing Platform has its very own Report Builder, which is a flexible, ad hoc reporting tool that allows users to build their own Customer Marketing, Prospect Marketing, Programmatic, Customer Data Management, Website - Overlay, and Website- In Page reports in the Zeta Marketing Platform.

Choose from hundreds of metrics and dimensions, dynamic and fixed date ranges, exhaustive filters, and data visualizations to surface only the most important data.

Navigation

To get to the Report Builder, follow these steps within the ZMP:

1. From the menu on the left, navigate to Analytics > Report Builder.

2. This will open the reports list page. All your saved or automated reports will be displayed here. To build a new report click on the Build A Report button on the top-right.

Depending on your permissions and Zeta products configuration, the navigation menu may vary.

Building a New Report

Now that you’re in the Report Builder, you can begin building a report.

If this is your first time in the Report Builder, you’ll be able to click through an in-page guide that highlights the important aspects of the Report Builder.

If you no longer wish to view the Welcome Guide, check the Don’t show me this again message.

Narrative

This section shows a clear narrative for the report you’re building. As you select the report parameters like metrics, dimensions, filters, date range, and more (as detailed below) that you want to include in your report, the Report Narrative will automatically display the updated insights.

You can also directly add the metrics and dimensions within the Narrative section to make them reflect in the description.

Report Type

Below the Narrative, you can see the Report Type, where you will select the report type you want to build your report on. On the left side of the screen, you’ll notice that the Report Type Panel is open.

Select the appropriate report type from the available options:

• Customer Marketing

• Prospect Marketing

• Programmatic

• Customer Data Management

• Website - Overlay

• Website - In Page

• Events

• Audiences

To collapse the Report Options slider, click on the collapse icon located to the left of the Platform label.

Dimensions & Metrics

In order for a data table to show, you will need to select at least one dimension and one metric.

1. In the Report Type panel, click anywhere over the Dimensions or Metrics row to expand the menu.

2. Click on the Add Dimension or Add Metric button that appears.

3. Search or scroll through the list and make your selections by clicking anywhere on the row.

4. Apply the selections by clicking on Add Apply To Viewer.

The Metrics & Dimensions Dictionary is always available for your reference.

A count of all the metrics and dimensions you’ve selected will be show at the top. Click All if you’d like to select all options.

Filters

Once you have made a dimension and metric selection, you can begin to filter your data in Report Options.

The filters below are not currently supported for Programmatic reports:

• Does not contain

• Contains one of

• Starts with

• Ends with

• Lesser than or equal

• Greater than or equal

• Between

You can add more filter options or a new filter by selecting the + Add new filter button again or by clicking on the + button above the first filter.

By adding a new filter, you must select and/or as your operator.

OR operators are not supported in the Programmatic Report Type.

To remove a filter, click on Clear on the top right side of the filter box.

Please note that some metric filters only allow numeric values

Fixed & Dynamic Dates

In the top right corner of the Report Builder, select a dynamic or fixed date range.

All dynamic date ranges options include today’s (as in, the day you are building the report) data excluding yesterday’s, which includes only the day before today’s data.

Data Visualizations

Data Visualizations change the display of your data from table to graph formats.

In the top bar of the Report Builder, you will see the following options to change the view of your data:

• Line Chart 

• Bar Chart 

Table view is the default view. If the table is selected, users will need to make dimension and metric selections before being able to change the type of data visualization

Chart Options

There are three customization options you can make in the Bar and Line charts to refine what is shown. These options are Y-Axis 1, X-Axis, and Y-Axis 2.  

• Y-Axis 1: this is the left-most axis on the chart.  

  • By default, the first metric in the Builder is pre-selected in the Y-Axis 1 field.  

  • You can select up to 10 metrics in the Y-Axis 1 field 

    • The metrics you selected in the Builder are the only metrics that show up in either Y-Axis field dropdown.  

    • All 10 metrics need to be in the same category. You can find more information on the number categories below.  

  • If you only select 1 metric in the Y-Axis 1 field, you can select one additional metric of the same or different number category in the Y-Axis 2 field.  

• X-Axis: this is the bottom axis on the chart.  

  • By default, the first dimension in the Builder is pre-selected in the X-Axis field.  

  • You can select only 1 dimension in the X-Axis field.  

• Y-Axis 2: this is the right-most axis on the chart.  

  • By default, nothing is selected in the Y-Axis 2 field.  

  • You can select only 1 metric in the Y-Axis 2 field. 

    • You must have only 1 metric selected in the Y-Axis 1 field in order to make this additional selection in the Y-Axis 2 field.  

    • The metrics you selected in the builder are the only metrics that show up in either Y-Axis field dropdown.   

    • The metric you select in the Y-Axis 2 field does not need to be the same number category as the metric selected in the Y-Axis 1 field.   

Whenever changes are made in the Bar Chart Options, you need to click on Apply to see those changes in the chart. 

Bar Chart

Bar charts show vertical bars where each bar represents the dimension values, and the height of each bar represents the metric value. There can be up to two bars per dimension value.  

Line Chart

Line charts show horizontal lines where each line represents the metric values along with the date range at the bottom of the line chart. There can be up to ten lines in the line chart.   

• Date Slider: adjust the date slider at the bottom of the graph by clicking on and dragging the two endpoints to zoom into the desired area.

Number Categories

Number categories refer to the way numerical values are represented in Report Builder. Some number categories you’ll see in Report Builder are:  

• Averages (AOV, Average Opens, Average Clicks, etc.) 

• Counts (Impressions, Clicks, Bounced, etc.) 

• Percentages (Open Rate, Click Rate, Conversion Rate, etc.) 

• Monetary (Revenue, Spend, ROAS, etc.)  

This is an important distinction in data visualization as some number categories lose value when displayed on the same axis in bar and line charts. For example, a common use case would be to compare Sent (categorized as a count number) to Delivered Rate (categorized as a rate number) over a period of time so marketers can determine if fluctuations in send volume have an impact on their ability to deliver emails to the inbox (hint: it usually has a huge negative impact). If both Sent and Delivered Rates were on the same Y-Axis, the charts would be very hard to interpret (Example 1). Adding a second Y-Axis, allows us to view and interpret data quickly and easily (Example 2). 

Data Details

• Data in the hover over includes the percentage change that occurred from the previous data point.

  • If the text is green, that indicates that the change was an increase from the previous data point.

    

  • If the text is orange, that indicates that the change was a decrease from the previous data point.
    

    

In most cases, the data points are separated by day, but there are setups where you can see changes within an hour (by selecting Send Hour or Hour as a dimension in Customer Marketing or Programmatic reports, respectively) or within weeks or months (selecting longer date ranges).

Export the Report

There are two ways to share your report with key stakeholders; one is from the List View and the other way is to export while building the report.

Export while Building a Report

In the top right corner of the Report Builder, next to the Save Report button, select Export/Automate from the ellipses (three dots) menu.

List View

In the Reports queue within the Report Builder, click on the action menu against your report and click on Export/Automate.

As the Export & Automate panel appears on the right:

Select the way in which you want to receive your report: Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, Email, Google Buckets, or SFTP, and click on Next.

Email

1. If you wish to export your report via Email, add the recipient’s Email Address(s), Email Subject, and Comments (Optional) to be included within your report.

2. Select the file type for your report: CSV or XLS.

3. Click on Export.

Amazon S3

Make sure you’ve set up Amazon S3 connections for your ZMP account from within Settings > Connections.

1. If you wish to export your report via Amazon S3, select the Amazon S3 Connection from the dropdown and click on Next.

2. Select the file type for your report: CSV or XLS.

3. Click on Export.

Microsoft Azure Blob Storage

Make sure you’ve set up Microsoft Azure connections for your ZMP account from within Settings > Connections.

1. If you wish to export your report via Microsoft Azure, select Microsoft Azure Blob Storage from the dropdown and click on Next.

2. Select the desired Microsoft Azure Blob Storage Connection from the available list and click on Next.

3. Select the file type for your report: CSV or XLS.

4. Click on Save As & Export.

Google Buckets

1. If you wish to export your report via Google Buckets, select the Google Buckets Connection from the dropdown and click on Next.

2. Select the file type for your report: CSV or XLS.

3. Click on Export.

SFTP

Make sure you’ve set up SFTP connections for your ZMP account from within Settings > Connections.

1. If you wish to export your report via SFTP, select the SFTP Connection from the dropdown and click on Next.

2. Click on Add Subdirectory to choose the address the SFTP connection should link out to.

3. Select the file type for your report: CSV or XLS.

4. Click on Export.

Save the Report

To save your report for later viewing, use the Save Report feature.

1. In the top right corner of the Report Builder, click on the Save Report button.

2. Add a Name for your report

3. Add a Description for your report. This is optional.

Saving a report will save all of your report’s settings, graph selections, filters, dates, dimensions, and metrics.

Automate the Report

To schedule your report for continued delivery, use the Automate Export feature.

1. Within the Export & Automate panel, click on the Automate Export toggle.

2. Select the cadence at which you want to receive your report, and fill in the required respective details.

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Quarterly

Yearly

3. Click on Schedule Export.

Report List

You can manage all of your previously saved and automated reports in the Report List.

Viewing Report Details

1. Click anywhere on a report row to pop open the About section of the report.

Editing a Report

1. Within the action menu, select Edit to open the Report Builder screen.

2. Once you’ve made the necessary edits, click on Save to save the report with the name and description as is.

3. Click on Save As from the dropdown to change the report’s Name and Description in the popup that appears. Any changes made to the saved report's name or description will save a new report.

Deleting a Report

1. Within the action menu on the far right and select Delete.

2. In the popup, you can confirm your deletion by clicking on Yes, Delete or Cancel.

• Metrics and Dimensions Dictionary

• Check out our FAQs page to find all your answers at once.