Email Studio Reports are CSV-and-table reports. Sufficient for weekly management summaries. Insufficient for "real-time dashboard with charts I can filter interactively" - which is what most clients actually want.
For that, SFMC offers Datorama (rebranded as Intelligence Reports for Marketing Cloud). Integrated dashboard with charts, pivot tables, and real-time data.
What Datorama does
Native dashboard layer on top of SFMC tracking data. No ETL, no export. Key features:
- Pivot Table: interactive filter/group/sort without SQL. Analysts explore data by click.
- Collections: organize widgets, charts, tables into custom dashboards.
- Tags: label sends with custom categories ("Q4_2026", "Holiday_Sale", "Transactional") for dashboard filtering.
- Report Scheduling: automated delivery to email, AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage.
Designed for ongoing reporting, not ad-hoc.
Pivot Table in practice
Core flexibility: pick metrics (open rate, click rate, unsubscribes), group by dimensions (date, campaign, BU, domain), filter by tags.
Row: Campaign
Column: Week
Values: Open Rate, Click Rate
Filters: Tag = "Holiday_2026", Business Unit = "Retail"
Result: table of every campaign in the Holiday 2026 tag, broken down by week, showing open and click rates. Analyst can reshape it on the fly.
Export the pivot to CSV or embed in a Collection.
Collections
Group charts and tables into named dashboards. Examples:
- Weekly Performance - open/click trend over last 12 weeks, top campaigns, deliverability summary
- Holiday Campaign Tracker - sends tagged Holiday, compared to last year
- Deliverability Health - bounce rate by domain, complaint rate trend, sender reputation signals
Each Collection is a custom dashboard. Users with access can load it whenever.
Tags for campaign organization
Tag every send with descriptive labels at send time or retroactively. Tags are free-form - use what fits the org:
- Time: Q1_2026, November_2026, Week_47
- Campaign: Holiday_Sale, Welcome_Series, Re_Engagement
- Type: Commercial, Transactional, Triggered
- Channel: Email, SMS_From_MobileStudio
Dashboards filter by tag. Instead of picking individual sends to compare, pick "Tag = Holiday_Sale" and see everything automatically.
Tags pay off in month 3+ when the account has volume. Essential for large send programs; overkill for small ones.
Report Scheduling in Datorama
Beyond Email Studio's email/SFTP delivery, Datorama supports:
- Email delivery (PDF or native chart rendering)
- AWS S3 bucket
- Google Cloud Storage
- Scheduled Collections (send the full dashboard, not just one report)
Weekly management report to the exec team, weekly data dump to warehouse - same underlying reports, different delivery.
Datorama vs Email Studio Reports
| Email Studio Reports | Datorama / Intelligence Reports | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | None | Configuration required |
| Flexibility | Fixed templates | Fully custom |
| Visualization | Tables | Charts, graphs, pivot tables |
| Real-time | No (delayed) | Near real-time |
| Cross-channel | Email only | Email, mobile, ads integrated |
| Scheduling | Email, SFTP | Email, cloud storage |
| Best for | Simple scheduled summaries | Ongoing dashboards, executive reporting |
Email Studio Reports = enough for small programs. Datorama = worth the setup for medium/large programs.
Licensing and availability
Datorama is an add-on license for most SFMC editions. Not included by default.
Before promising Datorama to a client:
- Confirm their contract includes it (or scope the license purchase)
- Understand the specific Datorama tier - some features (advanced cross-channel) require higher tier
When to invest in Datorama
Worth the setup when:
- Client sends 20+ campaigns per month
- Multiple stakeholders want different views of the same data
- Need cross-channel reporting (email + mobile + ads)
- Existing Email Studio Reports don't meet the visualization ask
- Executive team uses dashboards not CSV exports
Not worth it when:
- Small send volume
- Email Studio Reports cover current needs
- Client doesn't have Datorama license
- Team lacks bandwidth for initial configuration
Common mistake: setting up Datorama because "it's more sophisticated" and the client never uses it. Fit the tool to the ask.
Pattern: executive dashboard
For C-suite reporting, common Collection structure:
Executive Dashboard:
- Row 1: Last 30 days - total sends, engagement, revenue (if tracked)
- Row 2: Top 5 campaigns by engagement this period
- Row 3: Trend chart - open rate, click rate over last 12 months
- Row 4: Deliverability health - bounce rate, complaint rate
Schedule to execs weekly. Replaces CSV-in-email summaries.
Pattern: holiday campaign tracker
For seasonal campaigns:
Holiday 2026 Dashboard:
- Campaigns tagged "Holiday_2026"
- YoY comparison vs tag "Holiday_2025"
- Real-time updating during the live campaign period
Campaign stakeholders refresh during the sale. Retrospective happens on the same dashboard afterward.
Takeaway
Datorama is the dashboard layer on top of SFMC reporting - worth the setup effort for medium and large send programs, overkill for small ones. Tag sends consistently to make dashboards actually work. Collections are custom dashboards; Pivot Tables are interactive exploration. License usually separate from base SFMC - verify before scoping.
Implementing Intelligence Reports for SFMC dashboards? Our Salesforce team sets up Datorama Collections and tagging conventions on production engagements. Get in touch ->
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