Revenue attribution for assets is Deal-based only, but my client's revenue is tracked on Orders

[Testaccountgist]

I already submitted this in the Ideas Forum. But please let me know if you have a better alternative to my workaround.

My eCommerce client is looking to attribute revenue to their marketing assets and email campaigns, but Campaign revenue attribution and Email Performance revenue attribution all pulls from closed-won deals related to those assets.

That's irrelevant to this eCommerce brand's data model, which uses the Shopify integration that creates Carts and Order records.

I am having to set up a significant workaround that creates Deal records in a Deal pipeline for each Order so the Deal Amount attributes revenue when the Deal is set to closed-won. This is not ideal and I'm worrying about it doubling the numbers in high-level revenue reports. But it's the only way I can think of to attribute revenue to distinct marketing efforts for an eCommerce brand using HubSpot's eCommerce features.

[ARez]

You're absolutely right to raise this issue, as the current deal-based revenue attribution model does not align seamlessly with the data structure for eCommerce brands  using Shopify integrations. While your workaround of creating Deal records for each Order is clever and ensures revenue attribution to marketing efforts, it introduces risks such as inflated revenue reporting and added complexity in data management.

An alternative approach to consider is utilizing custom properties or calculated fields directly in the Order records. You could tag Orders with the associated marketing campaign or asset through automation or workflows, effectively linking revenue to campaigns without needing to replicate the data in Deals.

If this isn't feasible with the current tools, your suggestion in the Ideas Forum for HubSpot to adapt its revenue attribution framework to recognize Orders and Carts as revenue sources is spot-on. A native solution would not only reduce manual workarounds but also ensure accurate reporting across the board for eCommerce clients. In the meantime, careful auditing of high-level revenue reports and robust deduplication strategies can help mitigate the risks of your workaround

[Testaccountgist]

Hi @ARez, thanks for chiming in. Could you provide more details on your alternative solution? What do you see this process looking like? And if Campaigns only pull revenue from associated Deal records, how would tagging Orders link revenue to Campaigns?

[RSchweighart]

Hi @Testaccountgist, yeah that workaround sounds less than ideal.

Are you saying your client uses Shopify or does not use Shopify?

If yes, have you checked out the carts section in HubSpot and the Shopify integration?

When you navigate to this page in your client's portal, you can click on the Shopify section to learn a lot more details.

https://app.hubspot.com/contacts/your clients hubspot id/objects/0-142/views/all/list

Apologies if this suggestion is what you're saying won't work in your third paragraph.

All the Best,

Ryan Schweighart

Whole Hart Impact, LLC

whimpact.co

I help businesses with HubSpot and Zapier. 

[Testaccountgist]

Hey Ryan,

Yes the Shopify integration is fully set up and functioning. There is unfortunately very little reporting that can be built around marketing emails contributing to Carts and Orders being generated, which in effect generates revenue. There is a total disconnect between revenue attribution and marketing assets such as emails. From what I see the Carts and Orders object are useless for tying their revenue back to marketing efforts.

[RSchweighart]

Hi Ashlyn, yeah I don't see the ability to associate carts and orders as assets to a marketing campaign. Even then, this article indicates revenue is really only attributed when a deal reaches closed won, like you said.

Sorry I can't point you to a better solution than the route you're going. Maybe someone else will come along and know of a fix.

[Testaccountgist]

Thanks! Agreed, I can't think of any specific reporting instances where total revenue would be doubled and thereby inflated by the creation of Deals for each Order, can you?

[RSchweighart]

I do not think it would be doubled. Are you manually creating the deals or do you have it being done automatically? 

Here's a way to potentially use Zapier to create a deal upon purchase and associate line items.

Recently, HubSpot has improved its out of the box workflow actions. I think most of this could be done within HubSpot automatically, using workflows. Let me know if you'd need help setting this up.

[Testaccountgist]

I agree, as long as we are aware of the objects any revenue reports we add are pulling from I'm not thinking it should be an issue. I believe I can do this almost entirely internally as well. Thanks for being a sounding board on this @RSchweighart!