How to create YOY campaign comparison dashboard by business unit in HubSpot

The Hidden Cost of HubSpot’s Reporting Limitations

If you’re trying to compare this year’s marketing campaigns against last year’s performance—broken down by business unit—you’ve probably discovered HubSpot’s frustrating secret: it can’t do it.

Sure, HubSpot offers basic “current vs previous period” comparisons. But true year-over-year analysis? Historical campaign snapshots? Business unit segmentation that actually works? You’re out of luck.

Here’s what you’re probably dealing with:

• Manually exporting data every month to preserve historical performance
• Building complex workarounds in multiple spreadsheets
• Spending hours creating reports that should take minutes
• Missing crucial insights because the data isn’t connected

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Marketing teams waste 10+ hours per month wrestling with HubSpot’s reporting limitations.

There’s a Better Way (And It Lives in Your Spreadsheet)

What if you could automatically capture and compare campaign performance year-over-year—all within the spreadsheet you already use every day?

Coefficient is a spreadsheet add-on that connects HubSpot (and 50+ other business systems) directly to Google Sheets or Excel. Think of it as a bridge between your HubSpot data and the flexible analysis environment you actually need.

With Coefficient, you can:

• Preserve historical data automatically with scheduled snapshots
• Create dynamic dashboards that update in real-time
• Filter by business unit without HubSpot’s limitations
• Build once, use forever with auto-refreshing reports

What You’ll Build: A Self-Updating YOY Campaign Dashboard

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a dashboard that: 

✅ Automatically captures monthly campaign performance data

✅ Compares current campaigns to the same period last year 

✅ Filters dynamically by business unit  

✅ Updates itself hourly/daily without manual intervention 

✅ Alerts you when performance exceeds targets or drops below thresholds

Step-by-Step: Building Your YOY Campaign Dashboard

Step 1: Capture Your Campaign History (Set It and Forget It)

The foundation of YOY analysis is historical data. Since HubSpot doesn’t save this for you, we’ll use Coefficient’s snapshot feature to build your historical database automatically.

What you’ll do: Set up a monthly snapshot that captures your campaign metrics on the last day of each month. This runs automatically—no manual exports needed.

What to capture:

• Campaign name and ID
• Business unit designation
• Key metrics: impressions, CTR, conversions, revenue attributed
• Date stamps for tracking

Note: The video below is showcasing Salesforce, but it works just the same in HubSpot! 

Why this matters: Without historical snapshots, you’re flying blind. This single setup gives you a permanent record of campaign performance that HubSpot can’t provide.

Step 2: Create Smart Business Unit Filters

Your business units (DDH, CMSSP, O142) likely have different goals and budgets. Generic reports hide important variations in performance.

What you’ll do: Use Coefficient’s dynamic filtering to create business unit views that update automatically. Point filters to cells containing unit names—change the cell, change the entire report.

Pro tip: You can apply up to 25 filters with AND/OR logic, something impossible in HubSpot’s native reporting.

Step 3: Connect Your Live Campaign Data

Now let’s bring in your current campaign performance for real-time comparisons.

What you’ll do: Create a HubSpot import that refreshes hourly or daily (your choice). Pull the same fields as your historical snapshots for consistent comparisons.

The magic: Once connected, your spreadsheet becomes a live dashboard. No more manual exports or stale data.

Step 4: Build Your YOY Comparison Formulas

This is where the insights happen. We’ll create simple formulas that compare this year to last year automatically.

Basic YOY growth formula:

=((Current_Year_Value – Previous_Year_Value) / Previous_Year_Value) * 100

What you’ll see:

• Campaign A: +47% YOY growth in conversions
• Campaign B: -12% YOY decline in CTR
• Business Unit DDH: +23% overall performance improvement

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER: Formula examples with results]

Step 5: Design Your Dashboard Layout

A well-organized dashboard turns data into decisions. Here’s the structure that works:

• Tab 1: Live Dashboard – Your main view with YOY comparisons, charts, and key metrics 
• Tab 2: Current Year Data – Live feed from HubSpot 
• Tab 3: Historical Snapshots – Your preserved campaign history 
• Tab 4: Business Unit Summary – Roll-up metrics by unit

Step 6: Automate Alerts and Updates

Stop checking reports manually. Let the dashboard notify you when something needs attention.

Set up alerts for:

• YOY performance exceeding targets (celebrate wins!)
• Metrics falling below thresholds (catch problems early)
• New campaigns added to HubSpot (automatic inclusion)

Automation bonus: Use Formula Auto Fill Down to maintain calculations as new campaigns appear. Your dashboard stays current without any manual work.

The Bottom Line: Stop Fighting HubSpot’s Limitations

HubSpot is great for many things, but YOY campaign analysis by business unit isn’t one of them. Instead of wrestling with workarounds or accepting limited insights, use Coefficient to build the dashboard HubSpot should have given you.

In 30 minutes, you’ll have:

• Historical campaign data that never disappears
• Real-time YOY comparisons that update automatically
• Business unit filtering that actually works
• More time to act on insights instead of finding them

Ready to Build Your YOY Dashboard?

Stop letting HubSpot’s reporting limitations hold back your campaign analysis. With Coefficient, you can build this dashboard today and have it running forever.

Start Your Free Trial!