Build a one-page KPI dashboard
Numbers scattered across Shopify, Meta/Google, and Klaviyo never get read together, so you decide on gut. A one-page dashboard puts your north-star metrics side by side on a fixed cadence, turning data into weekly decisions. A free spreadsheet is enough.
AI can design the layout and formulas; you paste the real figures (or connect exports), because the data is yours.
Fastest path: one prompt, end to end
🤖 AI prompt — paste into ChatGPT / Claude
You are a DTC analytics builder.
My north-star metrics: [from the north-star-metrics note, e.g. contribution margin, blended MER, new-customer CAC, repeat rate, cash runway]
Tools I pull data from: [Shopify, Meta Ads, Google, Klaviyo, etc.]
Review cadence: [weekly / monthly]
Do this:
1. Design a ONE-PAGE dashboard layout: which metrics go where, each with current value, prior period, and target/healthy direction.
2. Give the exact formula for each metric and which tool/report each input comes from (e.g. blended MER = Shopify revenue / total ad spend).
3. Add a tiny "so what" column: the decision each metric should trigger if it moves.
4. Recommend the simplest build (Google Sheet with manual weekly inputs vs a connected tool) for my cadence.
Don't invent my values; this is the template and formulas, I fill the numbers.
Output: dashboard layout + per-metric formula + data source + decision column.
Or do it in 4 steps
- Put only your north-star metrics on it. 5-6 max (see north-star-metrics): contribution margin, blended MER/CAC, repeat rate, cash runway, revenue for context. A dashboard with 30 numbers is a report nobody reads; one page is a tool you act on.
- Show each metric with context, not just a value. Current vs prior period vs target, and a direction arrow. A number alone doesn't prompt action; a number that's down versus target does.
- Pull inputs from tools you already have. Shopify for revenue/orders/repeat, the ad platforms for spend, your ESP for flow revenue. Start with a manual weekly Google Sheet, upgrade to a connected tool only if the copy-paste becomes the bottleneck.
- Add a decision column and a fixed review time. Next to each metric, the action it triggers ("MER under 1.8 → pause worst campaign"). Then book a recurring 20-minute weekly review. A dashboard you don't open on a cadence is just decoration.
Worked example (labeled): a weekly Google Sheet with six rows, contribution margin %, blended MER, new-customer CAC, repeat rate, cash runway (months), revenue, each showing this week / last week / target / decision.
Fifteen minutes every Monday to update and read it beats a beautiful BI dashboard you log into twice a year. Build the simple version first.
Review on a fixed weekly cadence; if a row never drives a decision in a quarter, cut it.