So, you’re using Keap to run your marketing and you want answers—real answers, not just another dashboard full of vanity numbers. This guide is for small business owners, marketers, or anyone who’s stuck squinting at a pile of Keap stats and wondering what it all means (and if it even matters). I’ll walk you through setting up reports that actually help you make decisions, not just look busy.
Let’s get into it.
Step 1: Know What You’re Trying to Find Out
Before you open up Keap, take a minute to get clear on what you’re actually trying to learn. Don’t just run reports for the sake of it. Here’s what you should ask yourself:
- What am I measuring? (Leads? Sales? Email engagement?)
- What business decision will I make with this info?
- Who else needs to see this—does it need to be pretty, or just clear?
Pro tip: If you can’t imagine changing what you do based on a metric, skip it.
Step 2: Get to Know Keap’s Reporting Tools
Keap has a few ways to spit out marketing data. Here’s the real talk on each:
The Built-In Reports
- Contacts/Leads: Shows who’s new, where they came from, and basic engagement.
- Email Broadcasts: Open rates, click rates, bounces, unsubscribes.
- Sales Reports: Orders, revenue, products sold.
- Campaign/Automation Reports: How your automations are performing (if you’re using Keap’s campaign builder).
What works: These are easy to access, and you don’t need to set anything up. They’re fine for a quick health check.
What doesn’t: The customization is limited. You can’t always segment or drill down as much as you’d like.
Saved Searches and Custom Reports
- You can create and save custom views of your contacts, deals, or activities, then export them for deeper analysis.
- Combine filters (like tag, source, date added) to get more specific info.
What works: More flexible, lets you answer “show me everyone who…” questions.
What doesn’t: Still not a full-blown analytics tool. Visualization is basic, exports are manual.
Third-Party Integrations
- Tools like Google Data Studio, Zapier, or reporting add-ons can pull Keap data into fancier dashboards.
- Good if you need cross-platform stats or more visuals—just know it’s extra setup and often extra cost.
What works: You can get almost any view you want, if you’re willing to tinker.
What doesn’t: Complexity goes up fast. Not worth it for most small teams unless you outgrow Keap’s native reporting.
Step 3: Build a Simple, Useful Report
Let’s do a practical example: You want to see how your latest email campaign performed and what happened to the leads it generated.
1. Pull Your Email Broadcast Report
- Go to the Broadcasts section in Keap.
- Find your campaign and click to view the report.
- Look for:
- Open rate (a rough measure, since email clients block tracking pixels)
- Click rate (more reliable, but still not perfect)
- Unsubscribes and bounces
Ignore: “Delivered” counts can be misleading—focus on real engagement.
2. Track Lead Source and Funnel Progress
- Use Tags or Custom Fields to mark leads generated from the campaign.
- Go to Contacts, filter by your campaign tag, and run a report:
- How many new leads came in from this campaign?
- How many booked a call, requested info, or bought something?
- For sales, check if they moved through your pipeline stages.
Pro tip: Don’t just measure the blast. Track what happens after—are your leads actually turning into sales?
3. Export for Deeper Analysis (If You Need It)
- Use the export function to download your filtered list (CSV).
- Open in Excel or Google Sheets if you want to slice and dice further.
- Pivot tables are your friend if you need to break down by source, sales rep, product, etc.
Don’t overcomplicate: If you’re spending hours in spreadsheets, you’re probably tracking too much.
Step 4: Analyze—Don’t Just Stare at the Numbers
Now, what do you actually do with all this?
- Look for trends, not just one-off spikes. Was this campaign better or worse than your last three? Why?
- Compare across channels. Is email working better than SMS or Facebook ads? Are certain lead sources more profitable?
- Watch for drop-offs. If you’re getting lots of leads but few sales, where are people bailing out?
- Check for outliers. Did one email get way more unsubscribes? Did a certain ad bring in a flood of junk leads?
What’s not helpful: Obsessing over tiny changes in open rates or chasing random blips in the data.
Step 5: Share Reports That People Will Actually Read
Let’s be honest: Most people don’t want to see a 20-tab spreadsheet. Here’s how to make your reports actually useful to others:
- Lead with the “So What?” Start with what changed, what it means, and your next action.
- Use screenshots or graphs, but keep it simple. Keap’s built-in charts are fine—don’t spend hours making them pretty.
- Highlight only what matters. Three bullet points beat a wall of stats every time.
Skip: The urge to track everything. If it’s not actionable, leave it out.
What To Ignore (Seriously)
Keap will offer you a lot of numbers. Here’s what you can usually skip:
- “Total emails sent”—who cares if nobody’s opening them?
- Opens as a hard metric—too many email clients block tracking, so use as a rough guide only.
- Reports you don’t understand—if the numbers don’t help you make a decision, they’re just noise.
You’re better off with three numbers you trust than thirty you don’t.
Pro Tips From the Trenches
- Set a calendar reminder to pull reports weekly or monthly. Don’t make it a big production—consistency beats detail.
- Automate exports if possible, or use third-party tools if you really need to.
- Keep your tags and data clean. Garbage in, garbage out—if your contacts are mislabeled, your reports will be too.
- Ask “What would I do differently if this number changed?” If the answer is “nothing,” stop tracking it.
Wrapping Up
Marketing reports in Keap don’t have to be complicated. The key is to focus on the information that helps you make decisions and ignore the clutter. Start simple, iterate as you go, and don’t get distracted by numbers that don’t matter. Most importantly, use your reports to actually change what you do—not just to fill up your inbox.
Keep it simple, stay curious, and don’t let reporting become a full-time job.