Creating a new report

You can create a new Ortto report either from an existing template or from scratch.


Creating from a template

To create a new Ortto report from a template:

  1. On the Reports page, click New report.
  2. Select a template based on a particular use case or data source integration as the basis to build your report. You can also select previously Saved templates or choose from templates shared with you from another Ortto account under Shared with me.
    When you choose a template, click Use template to get started. If the template you selected uses data from a connected data source, you’ll need to choose the relevant accounts. Once selected, you can also rename the report if needed.
  3. The report will be pre-configured and shown as a preview of the last 30 days.

Creating from scratch with multiple activities

To create a new Ortto report from scratch (with multiple activities):

  1. On the Reports page, click New report > Start from scratch.
  2. Select a report type then click Next. This example will teach you about column charts.
  3. Name your report something memorable. The convention we typically follow is the activity followed by the precision of the report. For example if you were looking at how many times your emails were opened each week this report would be named "Opened emails by week".
  4. Select an activity to see data display on the column chart. In this example we will select Opened email.
  5. Next we want to change the precision to Weeks.
  6. Let’s add a second activity to compare. We will select Clicked email as our second activity.
  7. Under chart options you can display the activities as "stacked" to compare them in the same column. This is useful for when you have multiple activities.
Example report comparing opened and clicked email activities

Types of reports

Ortto provides two types of reports: snapshot and dynamic.

Snapshot

Every report created initially begins life as a snapshot.

This means that the report represents a snapshot of data in time and is not automatically updated with new information. Depending on your plan, snapshot reports are able to represent data from the last 30 or 90 days.

Snapshot reports allow you to analyze activities that occur between specific time period. They are best used for quick analysis when you don’t require information outside of this specific time period. Snapshot reports can look back up to 90 days depending on your plan.

  • When you create a report it’s a snapshot by default.
  • It’s a fixed period in time.
  • It won’t update beyond this fixed period.
Example snapshot report

To record data over time or add it to a dashboard you need to switch your report type to dynamic.

Dynamic

Dynamic reports are "live" reports which update with new information over time.

You can switch a snapshot report into a dynamic report. This is done either by switching the report to dynamic or when you pin the report to a dashboard. When the report is dynamic it means the report will continuously update with new information. As the report accumulates more and more information you can look back further and further. For example if a report with monthly precision has been dynamic for an entire year you could look back at specific months or all months over that year.

  • You can switch a report to dynamic.
  • Dynamic reports continuously collect new information so you can analyze longer periods.
  • When you pin a report to a dashboard it becomes dynamic.
Example dynamic report

NOTE: Dynamic reports using field metrics will update daily (unless you click the refresh button within that time period).


Creating a field-based report

Creating a field-based report enables you to see how many users have a certain value for a custom, system or data source field on a particular day, week or month so you can track relative group sizes over time.

Using field metrics is available in pie, metric, line, table, area, column, and geo chart report types.

NOTE:

  • Field metrics used in line, area and column type reports must have tracking enabled, otherwise the data cannot be visualized in the report.
  • In a pie or metric report type, where a field does not have tracking enabled you won’t be able to select a historical timeframe (like "Last week"), because the report can only show data for the current day.

As an example, you have a subscription-based product with plan tiers named BronzeSilver and Gold. Where you have a custom single-select field called Plan tier, you can use this field as a metric will show you how many people had a value during that particular time. Adding a clause to say where Plan tier is Gold, you can see how many contacts had the Plan tier value of gold in that period.

To view how many people there are with each different field value use Group by attribute or field and select the same field.

NOTE:

  • The report can only load data from the time activity tracking was turned on for the chosen field.
  • If a person has multiple field updates in the specified period (days/weeks/months), only the latest New value field attribute update to occur will be included in the report.
  • If data retention is turned on for the tracked activity, the report can access as much data as is available for the field.
  • Geo chart reports can only use location-based fields as metrics.

To create a field-based report:

  1. Click Add metric and select a field. Using our subscription plan example above, this could be Plan tier.
  2. To see different field values, select Group by attribute or field and select the same field activity you chose as the initial activity metric (e.g. Plan tier).
  3. Click Create to finish.

NOTE: If no Where clause is selected, the report will include people with a value for that field (the same as a has any value condition).

NOTE: If the report is made dynamic, field updates will be calculated once per day (unless you click Refresh within that period).


Uniqueness window

When you create a report with the Aggregate by option Unique total count, you are able determine the Uniqueness window. The uniqueness window enables you to choose the window in which the report captures unique contact activities (for the timeframe of your report).

For example, a report with a Timeframe of 30 days and:

  • Uniqueness window of 24 hours will capture unique contact activities for each day of the 30 days. So if your report metric is Clicked email and a contact clicks an email once per day in 30 days, the report will count 30 unique clicks.
    But,
  • Uniqueness window of 30 days will capture unique contact activities over the whole 30 days. So for a report on the Clicked email activity, where a contact clicks an email once per day in 30 days the report will count 1 unique click.

NOTE:

  • The default Uniqueness window is 24 hours.
    • If you select a uniqueness window other than the default for a dynamic report with more than 90 days of data, the report will be limited to showing a maximum of 90 days of data.
    • If you select a uniqueness window other than the default for a snapshot report, the report is able to show more than 90 days of data.
  • For dynamic reports, the uniqueness window works on a rolling timeframe. For example, if your Timeframe is 90 days and the Uniqueness window is 30 days, the report will capture the first 30 days of unique contact activities, then the next 30 days, then the last 30 days of the timeframe.
  • The maximum uniqueness window is 90 days for custom activities and 30 days for system and data source activities.

Uniqueness filter for table reports

When you create a table report with the Aggregate by option Unique total count, by default, the Apply uniqueness filter against each group checkbox is selected. This setting collects 1 activity event per person, per group (instead of 1 activity event per person across all groups).

For example, you have sent 5 different email campaigns to 1 person in 1 day. The recipient clicks each campaign, some more than once, resulting in 8 clicks across the 5 campaigns. 

When you build a report for the activity Clicked email, grouped by Campaign name, the report will display 1 Clicked email activity event for each of the 5 different campaigns.

Without Apply uniqueness filter against each group selected, the report would only capture 1 of the Clicked email activity events, because our system will count the first event matching the activity metric then stop counting.




Chart options

The following table details by report type the chart options available when you create a report from a template or from scratch.

Chart option

Report type

Description (This option…​)

Compare to previous period if available

Line graph, metric

Displays data from a previous period (if available) so you can compare the previous and current results.

Display values

Funnel, pie chart, line graph, area chart, column chart

Displays the data total count value instead of a percentage.

Display as donut

Pie chart

Shows the data in a donut shape instead of a solid circle.

Display empty values as unknown

Pie, line graph, area chart, column chart

Labels empty attribute values as "unknown".

Exclude members of suppression filter

All

Is automatically selected if you have a Report suppression filter enabled in your account Settings (under Customer data). If you do not have a report suppression filter enabled, this option will not be available to select.

Show cumulative data

Column chart, line graph, area chart

Displays the total amount of data that’s been gathered over a period of time.

Show trendline

Line graph, area chart, column chart

Shows a straight line identifying the overall trend direction for a metric.

Stacked values

Column chart

Displays data stacked in the same relevant column for the time period, instead of side-by-side.

Bi-weekly precision

Line graph, column chart

Displays data for 2 week-long time units.