Build default reports

HubSpot comes with dozens of default reports across every tool: email engagement, landing page performance, form submissions, traffic sources, social media reach. These reports cover the questions most marketing teams ask during their first six months.

Before you build a single custom report, explore what's already there. In my experience, about 70% of the reporting questions a marketing team has in their first year can be answered by default reports. The other 30% require custom reports, which the next article covers.

This article shows you where to find default reports, which ones matter most, and how to organise them on your dashboard.

Where default reports live

Default reports are scattered across HubSpot in two places:

Inside each tool. Every marketing tool has an "Analyze" tab with built-in reports. Go to Marketing > Email and click "Analyze" to see email performance reports. Go to Marketing > Landing Pages and click "Analyze" for page metrics. Same for Forms, Social, and Ads.

In the report library. When you create a dashboard, HubSpot's dashboard library offers pre-built report collections. You can also go to Reporting and Data > Reports and browse saved reports.

The reports that matter most for marketing

Not all default reports deserve dashboard space. Here are the ones I add to every client's marketing dashboard:

Email delivery and engagement. Found under Marketing > Email > Analyze. Shows sends, deliveries, opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes over time. Expand the date range to "Last 365 days" for trend visibility. If your open rate is declining, you have a subject line or list quality problem. If your click rate is declining, your content or CTAs need work.

Landing page performance. Found under Marketing > Landing Pages > Analyze (or Content > Landing Pages). Shows page views, form submissions, and conversion rate per page. Sort by conversion rate to find your best performers. A landing page with high traffic but low conversion needs attention: the offer, the form, or the page design isn't working.

Form submissions. Found under Marketing > Forms > Analyze. Shows submission volume over time, broken down by form. Useful for tracking lead generation trends and identifying which forms drive the most conversions.

Traffic sources. Found under Reporting and Data > Reports > Analytics > Traffic. Shows sessions by source: organic search, paid search, social, referral, direct, email, and other. This is your top-of-funnel health check. If organic is flat while paid is growing, you're buying traffic instead of earning it.

Expanding date ranges

Most default reports start with a 30-day view. That's too short for spotting trends. Always expand to "Last 365 days" or "All time" when reviewing performance for the first time. You need at least three months of data to see meaningful patterns.

Adding default reports to your dashboard

Once you find a default report you want on your dashboard, click "Save Report", check "Add this report to a dashboard", select your target dashboard, and click "Save and Add". The report appears on your dashboard and updates automatically.

You can also add reports directly from the dashboard. Click "Add Report" (top right of the dashboard), then browse the saved reports list or create a new one.

Traffic analytics: a deeper look

The traffic analytics tool (Reporting and Data > Reports > Analytics > Traffic) deserves special attention because it's an exploratory tool, not a static report. You can drill into any source category to see specifics.

Click "Organic Social" to see which platforms drive social traffic. Click "Referrals" to see which external websites link to you. Click "Organic Search" to see which keywords bring visitors (though Google encrypts most keyword data, so you'll see "Unknown Keywords SSL" for a large portion).

The Pages report (a separate tab within traffic analytics) shows individual page performance. Sort by "Page view to contact rate" to find your highest-converting pages. These are your best-performing assets: study them, replicate what works.

The reports you can skip

Not every default report needs attention. Skip reports for tools you're not using yet (e.g. Ads reports if you haven't connected ad accounts). Skip device-type reports unless you have a specific mobile optimisation question. Skip competitor reports unless you've configured competitor tracking.

Focus on the reports that answer: "Are we generating enough traffic? Are we converting that traffic into contacts? Are those contacts progressing toward becoming customers?"

Default reports are your first line of reporting. They require no setup beyond connecting your tools, and they cover the fundamental marketing metrics every team needs. Start here, add the most relevant ones to your dashboard, and only build custom reports when default reports can't answer your question.