Data Categorization in HockeyStack

Data categorization in HockeyStack helps you organize funnel stages and touchpoints, allowing the platform to interpret your customer journey according to your needs. This impacts multiple features within HockeyStack, providing a clearer, more structured view of your data.

To access the data categorization settings, navigate to Settings → Data Categorization.

Funnel Stages

Funnel stages represent the steps a customer or company takes before reaching a final goal of winning a deal.

Person-Level Stages

Person-level stages track an individual’s journey within the funnel. Examples include:

• Lead

• MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)

• SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)

In a CRM, these stages are typically attached to a contact or lead object.

Company/Opportunity-Level Stages

Company-level stages focus on the business entity rather than an individual user. Examples include:

• SQO (Sales Qualified Opportunity)

• Deal Created

In a CRM, these are linked to a company or opportunity object.

Final Goal Stages

These stages indicate the outcome of a deal:

• Pipeline – the stage that you use to determine your pipeline value, e.g. Pipeline or SQO

• Closed Won – the stage that reflects deals that are won

• Closed Lost – the stage that reflects deals that are lost

For all the final goal stages you need to pick a deal amount field - either the default deal_amount, or whatever else you're using in your CRM to measure deals' value. To ensure accurate tracking and reporting, each stage in your funnel must be unique. You should not assign the same stage to multiple levels, such as using a Pipeline stage as a Person-level stage. This distinction helps maintain a structured and reliable data flow within HockeyStack.

Touchpoint Hierarchy

Touchpoints represent the various interactions a customer has throughout their journey. These interactions are categorized in a hierarchical structure, similar to a branching tree.

Parent Touchpoints

At the highest level, parent touchpoints serve as broad categories. Examples include:

• Channel

• Asset Type

These categories act as the foundation for further segmentation.

Here, you add all the categorizations of touchpoints that you want to use across HockeyStack automated reports.

Adding Child Touchpoints

You can create subcategories under parent touchpoints by selecting + Add Child. Each child represents a more detailed breakdown of the parent category.

For example, under the Channel parent, you can add Campaign Group or simply Campaigns as a child. It is a lower-level segmentation, with more granularity.

Nested Children

Child touchpoints can have additional subcategories, creating a nested hierarchy.

Example:

• Channel → Campaign Group → Campaign

The example screenshot follows this logic (This is just an example, naming can be different in your instance).

This hierarchy enables more granular analysis, allowing you to drill down from broad categories (e.g., Channel) to specific metrics (e.g., individual campaigns).

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By structuring your funnel stages and touchpoints effectively, you ensure that HockeyStack has a comprehensive view of your customer journey, providing you with the right insights, helping you make data-driven decisions with confidence.