How to build and analyze custom reports in Totango

If you’ve ever looked at your company’s customer data and thought, “This report tells me nothing,” you’re not alone. Off-the-shelf dashboards rarely answer the questions you actually have. That’s where building custom reports in Totango comes in—assuming you know how to get past the basics and actually wrangle something useful out of it. This guide is for practical folks who want clear, actionable data without a lot of runaround or salesy nonsense. Let’s get into it.

Why bother with custom reports in Totango?

Totango ships with some pre-made dashboards, but they’re broad and, honestly, a little generic. If you want to:

  • Identify which customers are likely to churn
  • Track which CSMs are (actually) moving the needle
  • Spot adoption trends before they become problems

…then you need your own reports. Custom reports let you slice, dice, and combine data the way you want, not just the way Totango’s designers guessed you might.

One caveat: Totango reporting will only be as good as the data you feed it. Garbage in, garbage out. If your customer data is patchy or outdated, fix that first.

Step 1: Get your data house in order

Before you start building, check these basics:

  • Are your customer accounts up to date? If you have duplicates, old test accounts, or missing segments, clean them up.
  • Are your key metrics tracked? Make sure things like health scores, engagement events, and renewal dates are actually being logged.
  • Is your team consistent? If everyone logs activities or tags things differently, your reports will be a mess.

Pro tip: Run a quick export of your accounts and look for obvious weirdness—missing values, strange date formats, etc. Fix those first. It’ll save you hours later.

Step 2: Decide what you actually need to know

Before you even open the reporting tool, write down the questions you need to answer. Start with one or two. Examples:

  • “Which enterprise customers haven’t logged in this month?”
  • “Which CSMs have the most overdue tasks?”
  • “How many customers are in a red health status by product line?”

If you can’t put your question into a sentence, you’re probably not ready to build the report. Vague goals (“see engagement trends”) lead to vague, useless charts.

Step 3: Find the right starting point in Totango

Totango’s reporting is split across a few places. Here’s the lay of the land:

  • Segments: These are saved filters for accounts, users, or tasks. They’re the backbone of most custom reporting.
  • Reports: These are visualizations (tables, charts, etc.) you build from segments.
  • Dashboards: These are collections of reports.

You’ll usually start by building a segment, then turn it into a report.

Step 4: Build a segment to filter your data

Let’s say you want to see all enterprise customers with low health scores.

  1. Go to the “Segments” section.
  2. Choose the object you’re interested in—Accounts, Users, or Tasks.
  3. Click “Create Segment.”
  4. Set your filters:
    • For example: Account Type = Enterprise AND Health Score = Red
  5. Add more filters if needed—date ranges, CSM assignment, product, whatever matters.
  6. Give your segment a clear name, like “Enterprise - Red Health.”

What works: Segments are flexible and update automatically as your data changes.

What doesn’t: Complex, nested filters can bog down the interface and make things hard to troubleshoot. Start simple.

Ignore: The temptation to add every possible filter “just in case.” You’ll only confuse yourself.

Step 5: Create a custom report

Once your segment looks right, you can turn it into a report.

  1. From your segment, look for the “Create Report” or “Visualize Data” option.
  2. Pick your chart type. Totango supports tables, bar charts, pie charts, and a handful of others. (Tables are the most honest—charts can look impressive while hiding nuance.)
  3. Choose the fields you want to display—columns in tables, axes in charts.
  4. Adjust grouping and sorting to focus your report. For example, group by CSM to see workload by person, or by product line to spot trends.
  5. Save the report and give it a useful name.

Pro tip: If you’re building a chart, always sanity-check it against the raw table. Weird spikes or drops usually mean a filter isn’t working the way you think.

Step 6: Add your report to a dashboard

Dashboards are just containers for your saved reports. Here’s how to use them without making a mess:

  1. Navigate to “Dashboards.”
  2. Create a new dashboard or use an existing one.
  3. Add your custom report(s).
  4. Arrange and resize as needed.

Keep it tidy: A good dashboard answers a clear question in one glance. If you need to scroll three screens, you’ve gone too far.

Step 7: Actually analyze the data (and don’t get fooled)

Building the report is just half the battle. Here’s how to get real insights:

  • Look for outliers, not averages. Who’s way above or below the norm?
  • Check the trend over time. Is the number of red accounts growing or shrinking?
  • Drill down. If something jumps out—like a CSM with lots of overdue tasks—click in to see what’s really going on.
  • Compare segments. For example, are enterprise customers less engaged than SMBs, or does it just look that way because of one big account?

Watch out for: - Vanity metrics: Are you measuring what matters, or just what’s easy to count? - Data lag: Totango syncs with other systems, but it’s not always instant. Double-check that you’re looking at fresh info, especially during renewals or QBR prep. - Small sample sizes: Drawing conclusions from a handful of accounts will steer you wrong.

Step 8: Share, schedule, or export your report

Once you’ve built something useful:

  • Share it: Totango lets you share dashboards or reports with teammates. Decide if they should have view or edit access.
  • Schedule emails: You can set up regular email digests of a report, but be honest—most people ignore these unless they’re short and actionable.
  • Export to CSV: When in doubt, export your table to CSV and poke around in Excel or Google Sheets. Sometimes you just need more flexibility than Totango’s built-in tools.

What works, what doesn’t, and what to skip

Works well: - Building simple segments and reports for recurring questions (e.g., “Who’s at risk this quarter?”) - Visualizing trends over time, especially for health scores or product adoption

Not so great: - Highly complex, multi-layered reports can get slow and confusing - Totango’s charts are fine, but if you want slick presentations, you’ll end up exporting to another tool anyway

Skip: - Over-customizing dashboards for execs who only check them once a quarter - Trying to force Totango to be a full BI platform—it isn’t, and that’s OK

Pro tips for getting more from Totango custom reporting

  • Iterate, don’t over-plan. Build a rough segment, check the results, then refine.
  • Name your segments and reports clearly. “Q2 At-Risk Accounts” beats “Segment 5.”
  • Document your filters. Future you (or your teammates) will thank you.
  • Limit dashboard sprawl. One dashboard per use case is plenty.
  • Ask for feedback. If nobody’s using your report, find out why—maybe it’s not answering the right question.

Wrapping up: Keep it simple and keep improving

Custom reports in Totango can be a lifesaver, but only if you keep them focused and actionable. Start with the questions that actually matter to your team, build simple segments and reports, and don’t be afraid to tweak as you go. The goal isn’t a “perfect” dashboard—it’s one that helps you make better decisions, faster. Less is more. And if a report isn’t working, don’t be precious—kill it and try again.