If you’ve ever tried to figure out if your marketing campaigns are actually worth the money, you know how messy and vague the data can get. This guide is for marketers and growth folks who want to cut through the noise and track real campaign ROI—without getting lost in a forest of vanity metrics. We’re going to walk through setting up custom dashboards in Hook that give you the numbers you actually need, not just what looks good in a meeting.
What You Actually Need to Track (Skip the Fluff)
Let’s clear this up: ROI isn’t just “did my numbers go up?” It’s about knowing exactly how much you spent, what you earned, and whether you should keep pouring money into your campaigns—or pull the plug.
Here’s what matters:
- Campaign cost: What you actually spent, not what was “budgeted.”
- Revenue or conversions: The real business impact.
- Attribution: Which campaigns did what (not just “marketing did well”).
- Timeframe: Don’t fudge; be honest about when things happened.
What doesn’t matter:
- Impressions (unless you care about pure awareness)
- Clicks without context (they’re cheap and easy to fake)
- “Engagement” on its own
If you can’t tie a metric to revenue or a concrete goal, ignore it on your dashboard.
Step 1: Get Your Data in Order
Before you jump into Hook dashboards, do a little housekeeping. Garbage in, garbage out.
1.1. Define Your “Campaigns”
Don’t get too cute. Is it an email blast, a paid ad set, or a partnership? Give each campaign a clear, unique name. If you’re running overlapping campaigns, make sure you can tell them apart in your data.
1.2. Make Sure Tracking Works
- UTM parameters: Use them. Religiously. If you’re not tagging every link, you’ll lose the trail.
- Conversion tracking: Hook can pull in revenue or lead data, but only if you’ve wired it up. Double-check your integrations.
- Cost data: For paid campaigns, you’ll need to import or sync spend data (from Google Ads, Facebook, etc.) into Hook.
Pro tip: Do a test run. Click your own links, make a fake conversion, and see if it shows up where you expect.
Step 2: Set Up Your Custom Dashboard in Hook
Let’s get hands-on. Hook’s dashboards aren’t magic—they’re as useful as you make them.
2.1. Start a New Dashboard
- Go to your Hook workspace.
- Click “Dashboards” and hit “Create new.”
- Give it a dead-simple name: “Campaign ROI” or “Q2 Paid ROI.” No one cares about clever names.
2.2. Add Your Core Metrics
Start with the basics—don’t try to track everything at once.
- Total campaign cost: Pull from your ad platforms or manual inputs.
- Attributed revenue/conversions: Use Hook’s integrations to bring in sales or lead data.
- ROI calculation: Hook can do basic math—set up a widget to show (Revenue – Cost) / Cost.
Optional but useful:
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): Cost divided by number of conversions.
- Conversion rate: Conversions divided by campaign traffic.
2.3. Segment by Campaign
You want to see which campaigns are pulling their weight. In Hook:
- Use filters or breakdowns by UTM campaign, source, or medium.
- Set up widgets for each active campaign if you’re running multiple.
If you see all your data lumped together, you’re flying blind.
2.4. Timeframes Matter
Don’t just look at “all time” data—it hides a lot of sins.
- Set your dashboard to show last 7 days, 30 days, and custom ranges.
- Watch for lagging conversions (especially for B2B or long sales cycles).
Pro tip: If a campaign looks like a winner in the first week but tanks after, you want to know about it.
Step 3: Double-Check Attribution (This Is Where Most Dashboards Lie)
Attribution is where marketers get in trouble. If you’re not careful, you’ll give credit to the wrong campaign—or to every campaign at once.
3.1. Choose Your Attribution Model
- Last click: Easiest, but can be misleading (ignores earlier touchpoints).
- First click: Good for top-of-funnel campaigns.
- Linear or custom: More honest, but also more complicated.
Hook lets you pick your model. Don’t just use the default—think about your buying cycle.
3.2. Sanity-Check the Data
- Pull up a few real customer journeys. Does the dashboard tell the same story?
- Are you double-counting conversions? (Common if you run overlapping email and paid campaigns.)
If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Step 4: Add Context—But Don’t Get Lost in the Weeds
A dashboard is just a tool. A pretty chart can’t answer “so what?” for you.
4.1. Add Notes or Annotations
- Mark when you launched or paused campaigns.
- Note any big changes (new landing page, new creative).
This helps you (and your boss) remember what actually happened—not just what the numbers say.
4.2. Beware of Over-Complicating
Don’t add every possible metric. The more stuff on your dashboard, the less likely you are to act on it.
What to ignore:
- Social shares (unless that’s your main goal)
- Micro conversions (unless you’re optimizing the funnel)
Keep it to cost, conversions/revenue, and ROI.
Step 5: Review, Iterate, and Actually Use the Data
This is where most people fall down—they set up the dashboard, then never look at it (or, worse, never change anything based on what it says).
5.1. Set a Regular Review Cadence
- Weekly for active campaigns
- Monthly for long-running efforts
Block time on your calendar. Seriously—the dashboard won’t do you any good if it’s just background noise.
5.2. Make Decisions
- Kill underperforming campaigns. Don’t get sentimental.
- Double down on what’s working—even if it’s not the campaign you expected.
5.3. Keep Adjusting
- If you find yourself ignoring a metric, drop it.
- If you need a new view or split, add it.
- If your data’s off, fix the tracking—not the dashboard.
What Works (and What Doesn’t)
Works:
- Simple, honest dashboards with clear attribution
- Focusing on ROI, not just clicks or impressions
- Regular reviews and acting on what you see
Doesn’t work:
- Overloading your dashboard with feel-good metrics
- Trusting default settings without checking them
- Hoping a dashboard will “fix” unclear goals or messy tracking
Keep It Simple, Keep It Honest
You don’t need a dashboard that looks like a spaceship cockpit. Tracking campaign ROI in Hook is about seeing what matters, ignoring what doesn’t, and being honest about your results. Set up your dashboards, check them regularly, and be ready to cut what’s not working. That’s it. Start simple, and tweak as you go. The less time you spend fiddling with charts, the more time you’ll have to run campaigns that actually pay off.