Building Custom Reports & Dashboards
Start with the Question, Not the Data
Every useful report answers a specific question. "Which affiliates drove the most revenue last month?" "Which traffic sources have the highest conversion rate?" "Which country has the highest customer retention?" Define the question first, then select the dimensions and metrics that answer it.
Selecting Dimensions
- Time: Day, week, month, quarter (for trend analysis)
- Partner: Affiliate ID, tier, group (for partner-level analysis)
- Geography: Country, region (for market analysis)
- Campaign: Campaign ID, creative, landing page (for campaign optimization)
- Traffic source: Organic, paid, social, email (for channel analysis)
- Product: Offer, vertical, brand (for multi-brand operators)
Choosing Metrics
Select 3-5 metrics per report. More than that creates noise. For a partner performance report: conversions, revenue, conversion rate, EPC. For a fraud monitoring report: click volume, conversion rate, quality score, IP distribution. Match metrics to the question you are answering.
Scheduling and Automation
Manual report generation is a time sink. Schedule your standard reports to run automatically: daily dashboard emails, weekly partner performance reports, monthly program summaries. Reserve manual report building for ad-hoc questions and deep-dive analysis.
| Report | Frequency | Recipients | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program dashboard | Daily | Program manager | Health check, urgent issue detection |
| Partner performance | Weekly | Affiliate team | Partner evaluation, deal optimization |
| Revenue summary | Monthly | Management, finance | Business review, budget planning |
| Fraud monitoring | Daily | Compliance team | Fraud detection, quality monitoring |
Save your most-used report configurations as templates. When you need the same report with a different date range or affiliate filter, loading a template takes seconds instead of rebuilding from scratch.
Key Takeaways
- Start every report with a specific question -- then select dimensions and metrics to answer it
- Limit each report to 3-5 metrics to avoid information overload
- Schedule standard reports (daily dashboard, weekly performance, monthly summary) for consistency
- Save frequently used configurations as templates for quick reuse
Explore Further
Key terms and tools related to this lesson. Deepen your understanding and see how Track360 supports these concepts.
Publisher
A publisher is an individual or company that promotes an advertiser's products or services through an affiliate program in exchange for commissions on conversions they drive.
Sweeps Coins
Sweeps Coins are the redeemable virtual currency in sweepstakes casinos, obtained for free through promotions or no-purchase entry methods, and exchangeable for real prizes once playthrough requirements are met.
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
CPA is a commission model where an affiliate earns a fixed payment for each qualifying action, such as a deposit, registration, or purchase, that a referred user completes.
Hybrid Commission
Hybrid commission combines two payout models, most commonly CPA and RevShare, in a single affiliate deal so operators can reward both conversion volume and long-term customer value.