How to automate goal tracking in Hoopla for marketing teams

There’s no shortage of dashboards and scoreboards promising to keep your marketing team focused. But if you’ve tried tracking goals by hand—well, you know how fast that turns into a mess of spreadsheets and “just one more update” Slack threads. If you’re using Hoopla and want to automate goal tracking (instead of babysitting numbers), this guide’s for you.

We’ll walk through how to actually automate goal tracking in Hoopla, what to watch out for, and how to avoid the usual traps. Real talk: it’s not magic, but it is doable—and it can save you a ton of manual work.

Who Should Care About Automating Goal Tracking in Hoopla?

If you’re on a marketing team that’s serious about hitting targets—think leads, pipeline, campaign results, or content output—automation can save you hours a week. This is especially true if:

Your team uses multiple tools (CRMs, email platforms, spreadsheets) and wants a single source of truth.
You’re tired of updating dashboards by hand.
You care more about results than making things look pretty for the boss.

If you’re just tracking one or two metrics, or if your goals are constantly changing, you might not need full automation (yet). But if you’re sick of chasing updates and want to focus on the work, read on.

Step 1: Get Clear on What You Actually Need to Track

Before you start fiddling with settings, get specific:

Which marketing goals matter most? Examples: Monthly qualified leads, campaign conversions, webinar signups, blog posts published.
Where does the data live? Does it all sit in HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, Google Sheets, or somewhere else?
How often do you need updates? Real-time is nice, but daily or weekly is often enough.
Who needs to see these numbers? Whole team, just managers, or the CMO?

Pro tip: If you’re not sure, ask yourself what people actually talk about in your team meetings. If nobody brings up a metric, don’t bother tracking it.

Step 2: Map Out Your Data Sources

Hoopla connects to a decent list of CRMs and business tools, but it’s not universal. Common integrations include Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Sheets, and a few others.

Direct integrations: If your marketing data lives in Salesforce or HubSpot, you’re in luck—Hoopla has native connectors.
Google Sheets: For tools Hoopla doesn’t support directly, you can often use Google Sheets as a middleman. Export your data there, then connect Sheets to Hoopla.
Other sources: If your data is in obscure tools, you might need Zapier or custom scripts to move stuff into a format Hoopla can read.

Don’t waste time: If you have to spend more than an hour cobbling together a data feed, stop and rethink. Either find a simpler metric or ask if this goal really needs to be tracked in Hoopla.

Step 3: Set Up Integrations in Hoopla

Here’s how to actually connect your data:

Go to Hoopla’s ‘Integrations’ settings.
Pick your data source:
For Salesforce or HubSpot, log in and authorize the connection.
For Google Sheets, you’ll need to share the sheet and allow read access.
Map the fields: Tell Hoopla which column or field matches which goal (e.g., “Leads This Month” = leads_count in Salesforce or column B in Sheets).
Test the connection: Pull in a sample of data and check if it matches what you expect.

Heads up: Not all integrations are created equal. Salesforce and HubSpot are pretty solid. Google Sheets can get flaky if you change the sheet’s structure later—so set it up and leave it alone.

Step 4: Define Your Goals in Hoopla

Now you’re ready to set up the actual goals (sometimes called “metrics” or “leaderboards”):

Go to ‘Goals’ in Hoopla.
Create a new goal. Give it a name that makes sense (“Webinar Signups - June”).
Set the measurement: Choose the field or metric from your integration.
Pick the time period: Monthly, quarterly, or custom.
Assign owners: Assign the goal to individuals or teams.
Set targets: Enter the number you want to hit (e.g., 200 signups).

Don’t overcomplicate it: Start with a few main goals. You can always add more later, but too many metrics just lead to dashboard blindness.

Step 5: Automate Updates and Notifications

Automation isn’t just about pulling in numbers—it’s also about nudging the team when things matter.

Schedule automatic refreshes: Most integrations let you pull new data every 15 minutes, hourly, or daily. For marketing, daily is usually enough unless you’re running live campaigns.
Set up notifications: Hoopla can send alerts (email, Slack, or in-app) when you hit milestones or fall behind. Don’t go overboard—nobody likes 10 pings a day.
Gamify (optional): If your team’s into competition, set up leaderboards or “wins” for hitting targets. But be careful—gamification works for some teams, annoys others.

What to ignore: Don’t set up notifications for every little thing. Focus on the key wins and warnings (“we’re halfway to our goal” or “we’re behind pace”).

Step 6: Test and Tweak

Don’t assume it’ll work perfectly out of the box. Here’s what to check:

Do the numbers match your source? Pick a day and verify that the numbers in Hoopla match what’s in Salesforce, HubSpot, or your spreadsheet.
Are notifications firing as expected? Make sure you get alerts when you should—and don’t get them when you shouldn’t.
Is anyone confused? Ask your team if the dashboard makes sense or if they’re ignoring it.

If something’s broken: Most issues come from mismatched field mapping or data that changes shape (like someone renaming a column in Google Sheets). Lock down your sources and document what should never change.

Step 7: Keep It Simple (and Review Regularly)

Automated goal tracking works best when it’s dead simple:

Limit the number of goals. Three to five big ones is plenty.
Review monthly: Make sure the goals are still relevant and the data’s coming in clean.
Don’t let dashboards gather dust. If nobody’s looking at a metric, kill it.

Pro tip: Automate the bare minimum first. If people start asking for more, you can always build out later. Nothing kills adoption faster than a bloated, noisy dashboard.

What Actually Works (And What’s Overhyped)

Works

Native integrations. These save time and headaches.
Clear, simple goals. The more obvious, the better.
Automated nudges for big milestones. Keeps people engaged.

Overhyped (or Not Worth Your Time)

Overly complex gamification. Fun for a week, then ignored.
Tracking every possible metric. Leads to dashboard fatigue.
Real-time updates for marketing. Nice on paper, rarely needed.

Final Thoughts: Start Small, Iterate Fast

Automating goal tracking in Hoopla doesn’t have to be a weekend project (unless you want it to be). Pick your most important marketing goals, connect the easiest data sources, and get it working for a week or two. If it helps, build on it. If it doesn’t, scrap what doesn’t work.

Keep things simple. Let the team focus on hitting goals, not tracking them. And don’t be afraid to adjust or turn off what’s not useful. That’s how automation should work—quietly, in the background, making your life a little easier.