If you’re responsible for growing a SaaS business and supporting a B2B go-to-market (GTM) team, you already know how much you’re drowning in dashboards. Everyone wants “insights,” but too often you get noise, not signal. This guide is for anyone who needs to set up clear, actionable SaaS metric tracking in Tableau—without wasting hours on things that don’t matter.
Let’s cut through the hype and get you set up with what actually works.
1. Know Which SaaS Metrics Actually Matter for GTM
Most B2B SaaS dashboards are graveyards of vanity metrics. To avoid that, focus on the handful of numbers that GTM teams actually use to make decisions. Here are the key ones:
- ARR & MRR (Annual/Monthly Recurring Revenue): The backbone. Tells you if you’re growing or just running in circles.
- Net New ARR & Expansion ARR: How much of your growth comes from new business versus existing customers.
- Churn & Net Revenue Retention (NRR): Are you keeping customers and growing the accounts you already have?
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) & CAC Payback: What does it cost to win a customer, and how quickly do you earn it back?
- Lead-to-Close Conversion Rate: Are your marketing and sales efforts actually working?
- Pipeline Coverage: How much qualified pipeline do you have vs. your targets?
Ignore: Social media likes, page views, and any metric you can’t tie directly to revenue or retention.
Pro tip: Start simple. Don’t try to track everything—track what you’ll actually use in weekly meetings.
2. Get Your Data House in Order
Tableau (here’s the official link) is powerful, but it can’t save you from bad, messy, or scattered data. Before you open Tableau, ask yourself:
- Where does your data live? CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot), billing (Stripe, Zuora), product analytics, spreadsheets?
- How often does the data update? Real-time is nice, but daily or weekly usually does the job for GTM.
- Who owns the data? You need a point person to answer “what does this column mean?” when something looks off.
Steps:
- Catalog your sources. Make a list of what you need and where it’s stored.
- Clean up naming and structure. If “customer_id” is called three different things, fix it now.
- Check for duplicates and missing data. Tableau can visualize a mess, but it won’t fix it.
- Export a sample to CSV. Open it up—does it make sense? If not, fix it at the source.
Don’t: Assume you’ll fix it “later.” If you start with garbage, you’ll end up with pretty charts that lie.
3. Connect Tableau to Your Data
Once your data is in decent shape, it’s time to hook it up to Tableau. The good news: Tableau connects to just about everything. The bad news: Every connector has its quirks.
Common Data Sources:
- Salesforce/HubSpot: Use Tableau’s built-in connectors. You’ll probably need admin access.
- Excel/CSV/Google Sheets: Easiest route for small teams or MVP dashboards.
- SQL databases: More reliable for growing companies, but you’ll need some database skills.
Steps:
- Open Tableau and add a new data source.
- Pick your connector. Follow the prompts—it’s usually just login and choose your tables.
- Preview the data. Make sure columns and sample data look right.
- Join and blend data if needed. You might need to link sales data to billing, for example.
Watch out for:
- Slow refreshes when connecting directly to cloud tools. Consider extracting the data to speed things up.
- Data permissions: Make sure you aren’t exposing sensitive info to people who shouldn’t see it.
4. Build Your First Useful Dashboard—Fast
Don’t try to build the Mona Lisa. Aim for a dashboard you can show your team this week. You can always improve it later.
Core Elements for GTM Teams:
- Top-level KPIs: ARR, MRR, churn, NRR, CAC—right at the top.
- Trends over time: Line graphs for recurring revenue and retention. Don’t overcomplicate.
- Funnel visualization: Where do leads drop off? Where are the bottlenecks?
- Pipeline health: Current coverage vs. targets for the quarter.
Steps:
- Drag and drop your metrics onto the dashboard.
- Use filters and date pickers sparingly. Too many choices = confusion.
- Add simple color-coding: Green for good, red for bad. Subtle, not rainbow vomit.
- Label everything clearly. “Net New ARR ($)” is better than “Metric 1.”
- Preview as a team member would see it. Don’t assume everyone knows what “NRR” means—add a short tooltip or footnote.
What to skip:
- Fancy animations or 3D charts. They look cool, but nobody cares.
- Overly dense tables. Summaries and trends are more useful than raw dumps.
Pro tip:
Ask a non-technical colleague to look at the dashboard before you roll it out. If they’re confused, it’s not ready.
5. Set Up Alerts and Scheduled Reports
Dashboards are great, but busy GTM teams won’t log in every day just to see if churn is creeping up. Set up automated alerts and scheduled emails so the right people get the right info at the right time.
How To:
- Use Tableau Subscriptions: Schedule dashboards to be emailed out (PDF or inline) to the team. Weekly is usually enough.
- Set up Data-Driven Alerts: For key metrics (like churn > 5%), Tableau can email you when thresholds are crossed.
- Customize recipients: Sales managers don’t need product usage stats, and vice versa.
- Keep it short: Don’t send a 30-slide dashboard—summarize the “what” and link to details.
Skip:
- Over-notifying. If everything’s “urgent,” nothing is.
- Setting up alerts for vanity metrics.
6. Share, Iterate, and Actually Use the Insights
A dashboard that nobody looks at is a waste. The goal is to get your team using data in their actual work.
What Works:
- Review dashboards in regular pipeline or QBR meetings. Make it part of the agenda.
- Ask “So what?” for each metric. If you can’t act on it, cut it.
- Solicit feedback. What’s missing? What’s useless? Improve iteratively.
What Doesn’t:
- Building dashboards in a vacuum, then dumping them on the team.
- Tracking so many metrics that nobody remembers what’s important.
Pro tip:
Keep a “dashboard changelog.” When someone asks for a new metric, jot down who asked and why. If it’s not used after a month, cut it.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
You don’t need a 50-tab mega-dashboard. Start with the metrics that actually drive decisions for your B2B GTM team. Get your data right, build something clear in Tableau, and focus on making it actionable—not just pretty. Over time, evolve as your questions change. The simpler the setup, the more likely your team is to use it—and the less likely you are to burn out trying to maintain it.
Now go build something your team will actually use.