Summary
This article covers how to track and manage customer goals using the Objective model. You’ll learn which key data points to capture, how to document ownership, and how to organize Fields to effectively monitor progress toward each Objective.
Who is this article for?
Planhat builders/admins who configure their tenant for their team (e.g. CS Ops).
This article is part of the Data Models Course.
Article Contents
Introduction
The Objective Model is used to track customer goals and outcomes. It helps align efforts and monitor progress over time. It not only tracks the status and details of the objective, but can also feed into the customer health score.
Key System Fields
The basic Objective Fields are:
Name - name of the Objective
Created Date - date the Objective was created
Updated Date - date the Objective was last updated
Health - this is used to assign a score of the Objective’s health
The technical-related Fields:
External ID - a text field that contains the Objective’s unique identifier, ensuring the Objective data syncs properly with your ERP, database, or wherever the data originates
Source ID - the unique identifier for Objectives synced with an external CRM (such as Salesforce or HubSpot) ensuring the Objectives sync properly with Planhat.
Key Custom Fields
Here are some of the main Custom Fields used:
Objective (list) - e.g. SEO Improvement, Conversion % Increase, Increase Leads, Traffic Increase %
Description of Objective (rich text) - to provide additional details
Goals and KPI (rich text) - to give insight into how we are measuring success
Performance Towards Goal (rich text) - to provide insight into what’s been done so far
Status (list) - e.g. Planned, In Progress, Complete, Delayed
Owner (team member) - the internal owner (Planhat User) of this particular Objective
External Owner (end users) - to identify who owns this Objective on the customer’s end
Priority (list) - e.g. High, Medium, Low
Start Date - the Objective's start date
End Date - the Objective's end date
Days to Complete - a Formula Field calculating End date minus Start Date
Who Signed off on Launch? (end user) - indicates which end user signed off on launching the Objective
Additional Fields to help give more insight into tracking Objectives:
For example, if we are focused on Increasing Leads and Conversion % Increase, we may want a Field such as
Metrics (Multipick list) - e.g. Click-through rate, Conversion Rate, Time to Conversion, Return on Investment, Cost Per Click, Cost Per Lead, etc.
And if we were focused on SEO Improvement, we may want fields such as:
SEO Data Source (Multi-pick list) - e.g. Direct, Organic, Referral, Social, Email, Display, Paid
SEO Data Performance (Rating) - to give a performance score
Field Groups
Now that you have an understanding of the Key Fields, you can set them up in Field Groups, which live in Profile > Profile Templates. This determines what shows in Previews and full-page profiles for Objectives.
Let’s look at how to group them in a logical way. We recommend a set up as below:
For more information on Field Groups, take a look at Help Center Article: Field Groups.
Create Form
To ensure your data stays clean, it’s important you make fields mandatory for creation. We recommend the following at a minimum to enable you to manage your Objectives in the best way.
For an in-depth breakdown on all things Profile related, take a look at our Help Center Article: An introduction to Profiles / Previews, the How-To Library in app, or check out the Dojo course related to Profiles.
Common Global Filters
You may want to create some standard views for your Objectives, to ensure everyone has the same definition.
Here are some of the most commonly used Global Filters:
By Objective type - e.g. Increase Conversions, Increase Leads, Increase Traffic, SEO Improvement
Complete - displays all completed Objectives
Delayed - displays all delayed Objectives
In Progress - displays all Objectives currently in progress
In the example below, we created a Data Table Page with the "Delayed" Global Filter to identify / get insight into all of the delayed Objectives.
