Mastering Joined Reports in Salesforce: A Comprehensive How-To Guide

Your marketing director storms into the weekly meeting, frustrated and waving printouts. “These numbers don’t match,” she says, pointing to separate Salesforce reports showing campaign performance, lead conversion rates, and closed opportunities. The sales team argues their pipeline report shows different totals. Your customer success manager chimes in that neither view captures the full customer journey from acquisition through support.

Everyone’s right—and that’s the problem. Standard Salesforce reports only show one slice of your business at a time. Your team is piecing together insights from disconnected reports, manually connecting dots between marketing activities, sales outcomes, and customer support interactions.

This fragmented reporting creates real business costs. Marketing can’t accurately measure campaign ROI because they can’t see which leads are actually closed. Sales leaders miss opportunities to cross-sell because they can’t view open support cases alongside account information. And executives waste hours in meetings reconciling conflicting numbers instead of making decisions.

Joined reports solve this by bringing multiple data sources into a single, unified view. They’re one of Salesforce’s most powerful yet underutilized reporting features, letting you combine up to five different report types into one cohesive analysis.

What Are Joined Reports?

Joined reports are specialized Salesforce reports that combine data from multiple report types into a single view. Unlike standard reports that display information from a single object or simple parent-child relationships, joined reports use SQL outer join technology to display data from multiple unrelated objects side-by-side.

Think of standard reports as looking through a single window into your data. Joined reports give you multiple windows arranged next to each other, with the ability to line up related information across those windows.

The key difference between standard and joined reports:

• Standard reports show data from a single report type (like Accounts, Opportunities, or Cases)
• Joined reports display up to five different report types in separate blocks within the same report

Each block functions as its own mini-report with independent columns and filters, but they share common grouping fields that align related data across blocks.

When to Use a Joined Report

Joined reports shine in situations where you need to answer complex business questions that span multiple objects. Here are scenarios where joined reports deliver exceptional value:

• Account health analysis: View accounts alongside their open opportunities and support cases to identify at-risk relationships
• Campaign effectiveness: Compare campaign members, converted leads, and closed opportunities to measure true ROI
• Sales performance: Analyze rep performance across opportunities created, closed deals, and activity metrics
• Service operations: Compare case volumes, resolution times, and customer satisfaction across product lines
• Pipeline forecasting: Use historical win rates to predict likely close rates for current opportunities

The common thread? These scenarios all require connecting dots between different data types that standard reports can’t easily combine.

Steps to Create a Joined Report in Salesforce

Step 1: Open the Reports Tab

Start by navigating to the Reports tab in Salesforce. Click the “New Report” button to begin creating your report. This launches the report type selection screen.

Step 2: Select the Report Type

Choose your initial report type carefully—this becomes your “principal” report type and establishes the foundation for your joined report. Select a report type that contains one of your primary objects of interest.

For example, if you’re creating a report to analyze account health with both opportunities and cases, you might start with the Accounts report type.

Step 3: Convert to Joined Report Format

After selecting your initial report type, you’ll see the standard report builder. To convert this to a joined report:

1. Click the “Report Format” dropdown in the upper left corner (Lightning) or the “Format” button (Classic)
2. Select “Joined Report” from the options
3. Click “Apply” to convert the format

Your report now displays “Block 1” at the top, indicating you’ve successfully converted to a joined report format.

Step 4: Add Report Blocks

Now you can add additional blocks to your report. Each block represents a different report type and displays as a separate section in your final report.

1. Click the “Add Block” button (appears prominently in the report builder)
2. Select another report type from the dialog that appears
3. Choose whether to include default columns or start with an empty block
4. Click “Apply” to add the block

You can add up to five blocks total, but for performance and readability, two or three blocks often work best.

Step 5: Configure Filters and Group Data

Each block has independent filters, allowing you to refine what data appears in each section:

1. Click on a block to select it
2. Add filters using the Filters panel
3. Repeat for each block

Next, establish groupings that align data across blocks:

1. Click “Add Group” in the Grouping section
2. Select a common field (fields available in all blocks)
3. Add up to three grouping levels if needed

Grouping by common fields is crucial—it’s what makes joined reports truly valuable by organizing related data together across blocks.

Step 6: Add Columns and Summaries

Customize each block by adding relevant columns:

1. Select a block
2. Click “Columns” to open the fields panel
3. Drag fields into your report or click the plus icon next to field names
4. Repeat for each block

Add summary calculations to quantify your data:

1. Click on a numeric column
2. Select “Summarize” and choose a calculation (Sum, Average, etc.)
3. For advanced calculations, use the “Add Formula” option

Step 7: Visualize Data with Charts

Add a chart to visualize key insights:

1. Click the “Add Chart” button
2. Select a chart type (bar, line, pie, etc.)
3. Configure the chart to display your most important metrics
4. Click “Apply”

Remember that joined reports support only one chart, so choose wisely to highlight your most critical insight.

Best Practices for Using Joined Reports

Keep It Simple

The most effective joined reports focus on answering specific business questions rather than trying to be comprehensive dashboards:

• Limit your report to 2-3 blocks when possible
• Include only essential columns (10-15 per block maximum)
• Use clear, descriptive block names that explain what each section shows
• Apply specific filters to each block to focus on relevant data

Remember: A focused report that loads quickly and answers a specific question is far more valuable than a comprehensive report that’s slow and confusing.

Limitations and Considerations

Be aware of these technical constraints when designing joined reports:

• Each block returns a maximum of 2,000 records (10,000 total across five blocks)
• You can add only one chart to a joined report
• Joined reports always export as formatted reports (not raw data)
• Dashboard components based on joined report charts don’t support interactive filtering
• Report types must share common fields or relationships to work in joined reports

These limitations aren’t dealbreakers, but they should shape how you design your reports.

Utilize Visualizations for Better Insights

While joined reports allow only one chart, make it count:

• Choose chart types that highlight relationships between blocks (grouped bar charts often work well)
• Focus on visualizing your primary grouping field across blocks
• Use conditional highlighting to make important numbers stand out
• Consider creating multiple joined reports with different visualizations if one chart isn’t enough

Advanced Techniques for Maximizing Insights

Use of Formulas in Joined Reports

Joined reports support two powerful formula types:

1. Standard custom summary formulas: Calculate values within a single block
2. Cross-block custom summary formulas: Calculate values across multiple blocks

Cross-block formulas are particularly powerful. For example, you could:

• Calculate opportunity-to-case ratios by dividing opportunity count by case count
• Predict revenue by multiplying pipeline value by historical win rates
• Compare actual performance to targets by dividing achieved values by goal values

To create a cross-block formula:

1. Click “Add Formula” in the Columns panel
2. Select “Cross-Block” as the formula type
3. Build your formula using block references like [Block 1]RowCount or [Opportunities]AMOUNT:SUM
4. Apply the formula to see results

Advanced Filtering Options

Take filtering to the next level with these techniques:

• Filter logic: Use 1 AND (2 OR 3) syntax to create complex filter conditions
• Relative date filters: Create dynamic date ranges like “Current FQ” or “Next 90 Days”
• Cross filters: Filter one object based on related objects (e.g., “Accounts with Cases”)
• Field-to-field filters: Compare values between different fields

Strategic filtering not only focuses your report but dramatically improves performance.

Example Use Cases for Joined Reports

Let’s explore real-world applications that showcase joined reports’ power:

Account Health Dashboard

Create a joined report with three blocks:

• Block 1: Accounts (filtered to active accounts)
• Block 2: Opportunities (filtered to open opportunities)
• Block 3: Cases (filtered to open cases)

Group by Account Name to see each account’s open opportunities and support cases side-by-side. This prevents the awkward situation where sales pursues renewals with customers who have unresolved support issues.

Sales Performance Scorecard

Create a joined report with three blocks:

• Block 1: Opportunities (filtered to closed-won)
• Block 2: Opportunities (filtered to created this period)
• Block 3: Activities (filtered to completed)

Group by Owner Name to see each rep’s closed deals, new opportunities, and activity levels in one view. This provides a comprehensive performance picture beyond just closed revenue.

Marketing Campaign Effectiveness

Create a joined report with three blocks:

• Block 1: Campaigns
• Block 2: Campaign Members (filtered to converted leads)
• Block 3: Opportunities (filtered to closed-won with campaign influence)

Group by Campaign Name to see which campaigns generate not just leads, but actual closed business. This reveals true ROI beyond surface-level metrics like lead counts.

Conclusion: Elevate Your Reporting with Revenue Grid

Joined reports represent a powerful step toward unified data analysis in Salesforce, bringing together disparate objects into cohesive views that answer complex business questions. By following the steps and best practices outlined in this guide, you can create reports that deliver genuine insights rather than disconnected data points.

But what if you could take your Salesforce reporting and analytics even further? While joined reports connect data within Salesforce, many organizations need to integrate external data sources, automate insight delivery, and embed analytics into daily workflows.

Revenue Grid enhances your Salesforce experience by providing advanced analytics capabilities that go beyond native reporting. Our platform integrates seamlessly with Salesforce to provide:

• AI-powered revenue intelligence that identifies patterns and opportunities
• Automated data capture that ensures complete, accurate CRM data
• Embedded analytics that deliver insights where users already work
• Cross-system reporting that connects Salesforce with other business platforms

Ready to transform how your team uses Salesforce data? Book a demo with Revenue Grid today to see how our solutions can elevate your reporting and analytics capabilities beyond what native Salesforce tools can provide.