The Marketing Operations Leader

The Marketing Operations Leader

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The Marketing Operations Leader
The Marketing Operations Leader
The 9 Reports Every Marketing Leader Wants to See

The 9 Reports Every Marketing Leader Wants to See

Also - why your tools and tech are probably holding you back

Darrell Alfonso's avatar
Darrell Alfonso
Mar 03, 2025
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The Marketing Operations Leader
The Marketing Operations Leader
The 9 Reports Every Marketing Leader Wants to See
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In this edition:

  1. The 9 Reports Every Marketing Leader Wants to See

  2. Why Your Tools and Tech Are Probably Holding You Back

  3. Poll: The Biggest Road Block to Marketing Ops Career Success

  4. Exclusive For Paid Subscribers: How Marketing Promotions Really Work (And What You Can Do About It)

  5. Join Us for Marketing Ops Town Hall This Month as We Talk About Breaking Through Plateaus in Your Career.


How to Align People, Process, and Technology to Transform Your Email Workflows

Struggling with inefficient email workflows? Join us on Thursday, March 6, at 2 PM ET for an exclusive encore webinar featuring Stephen Cave, Product Manager at World Vision Canada, and Rohan Bhatt, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Adobe.

Discover how World Vision Canada transformed its email marketing by aligning people, process, and technology—moving beyond batch-and-blast emails to personalized, scalable campaigns.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

  • Optimize workflows to improve efficiency and execution

  • Create personalized content journeys that drive engagement

  • Reduce production time from days or weeks to just hours

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain actionable insights—just in time for Adobe Summit 2025!

Register now to save your spot!

P.S. Attending Adobe Summit? Connect with the Stensul team for networking and best practice sharing!

Check out the agenda and register here.


The 9 Reports Every Marketing Leader Wants to See

Marketing leaders need accurate data and insights to make better decisions.

Here are the 9 top reports CMOs and marketing leaders want to see to effectively lead marketing—and how to turn insights into action.

1️⃣ Pipeline Funnel
This shows the conversion rates between lead lifecycle and sales stages. Drop offs in conversions from one stage to the next could indicate sales and marketing misalignment and/or inefficient processes.

2️⃣ Marketing Contribution to Revenue
This shows marketing contribution to revenue compared to other sources. A good starting point is 30-50% of revenue should come from marketing efforts, though this number can be much higher in scenarios such as product-led-growth (PLG).

3️⃣ Multi-Touch Attribution
This distributes credit for conversions/sales across multiple touchpoints. While MTA is not a silver bullet, it can reveal how less visible channels can drive an outsized impact in closing deals. And FYI, email might be one of those channels! Check out how to drive operational excellence with email marketing in this webinar.

4️⃣ Pipeline Velocity (Sales Cycle Speed)
This compares the speed of the sales cycle by channel. How fast do deals move through your pipeline? If paid search leads close in 25 days but organic leads take 60, you know which channel to prioritize for short-term revenue.

5️⃣ Marketing ROI by Channel
This shows ROI in terms of how much you make with each dollar spent. 3:1 means you make 3 dollars for every 1 dollar you spend. If partnerships show a 5:1 ROI while paid media is 3:1, you may want to shift budget.

6️⃣ Revenue Performance by Customer Segment
This shows revenue per customer segment, such as industry - though you can expand it to personas and products. If Enterprise generates $1.2M and SMB only $600K, you may want to shift messaging, pricing, or focus.

7️⃣ Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) vs. Lifetime Value (LTV)
Customer acquisition cost is how much you spend to acquire each customer, while lifetime value is how much a customer spends during the entirety of their business relationship with you. If your CAC is too high relative to LTV, your acquisition model isn’t sustainable.

8️⃣ ABM Engagement by Target Account
Account-based marketing is sales and marketing working together to engage and close a specific set of accounts. The heat map shows account engagement by channel. If Account C isn’t engaging, your ABM strategy needs a tweak.

9️⃣ Churn Segmentation by Industry
This shows the churn percentage by industry, though you can expand it to personas and products. If Retail churn is 20% but Finance is only 8%, you need different retention strategies.


Why Your Tools and Tech Are Probably Holding You Back

I like to start every complex project in a simple Word document.

I like to start data analysis in a basic spreadsheet.

When it comes to social media, I often write and post directly from the native platform.

There’s a lot of talk about “all the tools you need to succeed.”

Technology is great, but more tools don’t automatically mean better results.

✅ Don’t confuse more features with better quality.
✅ Don’t confuse “new” with better.
✅ Don’t confuse automation with effectiveness.

Too often, we overcomplicate things when simplicity drives speed, clarity, and impact.

Start with the basics. Nail the fundamentals. Then layer on the tech only where it truly adds value.

What’s something you keep simple that others tend to overcomplicate?

Incidentally, I’m a big fan of simplifying email workflows. Check out this webinar on how to do just that.


POLL: What’s the biggest road block to career growth in marketing ops?

Top commentary from social

Where’s the “yes” option? - Devin Leshin

Lack of proper training/knowledge sharing - Sarah Sedaghat

Getting stuck in campaign management type of roles can slow down and limit your growth. You know, those roles where people be like: "Don't touch the admin tab! - Rasul Musayev

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