North Star Metrics: Custom Dashboard KPIs

North Star Metrics: Customize Your Dashboard KPIs

Plan availability: Customizing your North Star Metrics requires the Pro tier or above. Starter workspaces still see North Star cards, but always the default set -- the Customize button is locked and drag-reordering is disabled.

North Star Metrics in MerchantFlow are the customizable key performance indicators displayed prominently at the top of your dashboard. Choose 3-4 primary metrics from 67 options across financial, marketing efficiency, and operational categories -- including 20 Online and Wholesale cards for stores that sell wholesale and 5 subscription cards for stores that sell subscriptions -- so your dashboard shows exactly what matters most to your e-commerce business. You can also configure up to 12 secondary metrics for additional context.

What Are North Star Metrics?

A North Star Metric is the single most important indicator that reflects the core value your business delivers. In MerchantFlow, North Star Metrics extend this concept by letting you select a focused set of KPIs that align with your current business goals. Instead of drowning in data, you see only the numbers that drive decisions.

North Star Metrics are a KPI card set, not a goal tracker -- there is no target, quota, or progress bar. Each card shows the current value and the percentage change versus the equivalent previous period.

The Default Set

Out of the box every workspace starts with these four primary metrics:

Total Brand Revenue · Net Profit · Blended MER · Average Order Value

The default secondary (Detailed View) set is Total Orders, Net Margin, Contribution Margin, COGS, ROAS, Cost Per Acquisition, Blended CAC, Ad Spend, Shipping & Fulfilment, Operational Expenses, Discounts Amount, and Returns.

You can also pick your starting metrics during onboarding, and change them any time afterwards.

How to Configure North Star Metrics

1. Click Customize next to the North Star Metrics heading on your dashboard
2. The Customize Metrics modal opens with two tabs
3. On Top Metrics, pick 3-4 metrics to pin as prominent cards. Reorder them with the up and down arrows under Pinned Order
4. On Detailed View, add up to 12 more metrics for the expandable strip below your top cards
5. Click Save

Reset to defaults restores the four default primary metrics and clears the Detailed View selection.

Once saved, you can also drag the cards themselves on the dashboard to reorder them without reopening the modal.

Your selected metrics appear as cards at the top of the dashboard, each showing the current value and a comparison delta versus the previous period.

Available Metrics by Category

Financial (18 options)

• Total Brand Revenue - Total sales in selected period
• Net Profit - Revenue minus all costs
• Contribution Margin - Gross profit minus shipping, fulfillment, payment fees, and ad spend
• Revenue Growth - Revenue change versus previous period
• Company Valuation - Estimated business valuation
• Net Margin - Net profit as a percentage of revenue
• Contribution Margin % - Contribution margin as a percentage of revenue
• COGS - Total cost of goods sold
• Gross Sales - Product subtotals before shipping, discounts, and refunds
• Net Sales - Sales after discounts and returns
• Orders Revenue - All-inclusive order totals, including tax and shipping
• Shipping Charged to Customers - The shipping and handling your customers paid on their orders, online and wholesale (formerly called Additional Revenue)
• Returning Customer Revenue - Online product sales from customers who had ordered from you before, with their share of customer revenue
• Ordered Product Sales - Revenue from product line items
• Discounts Amount - Total discounts applied
• Returns - Total returns value
• Taxes - Total tax collected on orders in the period
• Funding Repayment - Active funding repayment costs

Marketing Efficiency (10 options)

• Blended MER - Online revenue divided by total marketing spend
• Blended CAC - Cost to acquire one new online customer across all channels
• Ad Spend - Total advertising expenditure
• ROAS - Online revenue generated per dollar of ad spend
• POAS - Profit on ad spend; also surfaced per country on Margin by Region
• Cost Per Acquisition - Cost per converted online order
• Meta Ad Spend - Spend on Meta only
• Google Ad Spend - Spend on Google only
• TikTok Ad Spend - Spend on TikTok only
• Snapchat Ad Spend - Spend on Snapchat only

The four platform-specific ad spend metrics only appear in the picker when that platform is actually connected. If you disconnect a platform its card disappears from the dashboard, and reconnecting brings it straight back -- your selection is never overwritten.

Blended MER, Blended CAC, ROAS and Cost Per Acquisition measure online (D2C) orders only -- on the tiles and on their history charts alike. B2B and wholesale orders carry no acquisition ad spend, so including them would overstate how efficiently your paid media performed. POAS and Ad Spend are unaffected, and every Financial metric above still covers the whole business. See Sales Channels.

Metrics such as True CAC, LTGP, LTV:CAC Ratio, and CAC payback are not North Star options. They live on the dedicated Unit Economics page.

Operational (14 options)

• Daily Revenue - Average revenue per day across the selected period
• Average Order Value - Average revenue per order
• Conversion Rate - Percentage of sessions resulting in an online purchase
• Revenue / Session - Average revenue generated per website session
• Total Orders - Number of orders in period
• Impressions - Product visibility in search results
• Clicks - Clicks on product listings
• Shipping & Fulfilment - What shipping and fulfilment cost you across all orders. Reads Shipping & 3PL Fulfilment when a 3PL is connected
• Avg. Fulfilment Cost / Order - What shipping and fulfilment cost you per online order, on average
• Avg. Shipping Shortfall / Order - How much you subsidise shipping per online order, on average
• Shipping Recovery % - How much of your fulfilment cost customers paid back in shipping charges
• Transaction Fees - Payment processing fees
• Operational Expenses - Operating expenses plus amortised capital expenses
• Refunds Count - Number of refunded orders

Shipping per order

Avg. Fulfilment Cost / Order, Avg. Shipping Shortfall / Order and Shipping Recovery % answer one question: on average, how much am I subsidising shipping on each order?

• Avg. Shipping Shortfall / Order averages each order's Shipping Shortfall -- what shipping and fulfilment cost minus what the customer paid for shipping, never below zero. If a customer pays $10 shipping and fulfilment costs $17, that order's shortfall is $7. If they pay $18 and it costs $12, the shortfall is $0, not -$6.
• Avg. Fulfilment Cost / Order is the average shipping and fulfilment cost on the same orders.
• Shipping Recovery % is shipping charged divided by fulfilment cost. 100% means shipping paid for itself; above 100% means customers paid more than it cost.

All three use the same orders: online orders that are paid and not cancelled, in your store currency, with a fulfilment cost recorded. Wholesale orders and zero-value orders (free or warranty replacements) are left out. Orders still waiting for a carrier or 3PL cost are left out until the cost arrives, so they never drag an average down. These cards use recorded costs only -- the dashboard's fulfilment cost estimate is not applied.

If there is nothing to measure -- no eligible online orders in the period, or for Shipping Recovery % no fulfilment cost to recover -- the card shows -- with a note saying why, rather than $0 or 0%. Those days are also left out of the card's history chart.

Online and Wholesale (20 options)

These cards split your business by sales channel: Online is your direct-to-consumer orders, Wholesale is your B2B orders. They read the same report as the Sales channels card on the P&L page: revenue, orders, AOV, COGS, shipping and fulfilment, gross profit, and Online / Wholesale Profit and Margin always match that card. Online Daily Revenue, Online Gross Profit Margin and the Net Profit cards go further than the card does -- see below.

They only appear once your store has at least one wholesale order. Until then every Online card would repeat a whole-business card and every Wholesale card would read zero, so the picker does not offer them. If you already pinned them, they come back by themselves after your first wholesale order -- your selection is never overwritten.

How channel net profit shares out your overheads. Operating expenses, amortised capital expenses and variable costs do not belong to a channel, so each order carries a share of them in proportion to its revenue -- the same share that makes up net profit on the Orders page. Online and Wholesale Net Profit add up those shares. Interest and business-level tax treatment are not applied per channel, so Online Net Profit plus Wholesale Net Profit need not equal the whole-business Net Profit card.

Ad spend counts entirely against online orders: wholesale orders carry no acquisition spend, so no Wholesale card deducts it and there are no wholesale ad metrics.

Subscriptions (5 options)

These cards bring the headline figures of the Subscriptions page onto your dashboard, so recurring income is visible without opening that page. Each card shows exactly the figure that page shows for the same period.

Renewals stay in your totals. A renewal is a real order, so it is still counted in Total Brand Revenue, Total Orders and Net Profit. These cards show the recurring part on its own; they do not move it out of the totals.

The first order of each subscription counts as an acquisition, not a renewal, so it is not in these cards.

Who sees them: subscription cards are part of the Pro and Plus plans, like the Subscriptions page. They appear in the picker once your store has subscription renewals. If you pinned them and your store has none in the selected period, they read zero for that period.

How Metrics Are Calculated

Each metric is calculated in real-time from your synced data for the selected date range. Comparison deltas show the percentage change versus the equivalent previous period.

Delta color coding: green means the metric moved the right way, red means it moved the wrong way. Cost-style metrics invert the usual reading -- a rise in Ad Spend, COGS, Returns, or Refunds Count shows red, not green.

Hover the info icon on any card for its definition, formula, and data sources. Those tooltips adapt to your setup -- a WooCommerce store sees "WooCommerce orders" where a Shopify store sees "Shopify orders".

Cards That Cannot Be Calculated Yet

Impressions and Clicks are the two metrics that render greyed-out, with a dash instead of a value and a link icon in place of their usual icon. Both need a Google analytics source connected -- GA4, Search Console, or Merchant Center.

Other metrics stay live and simply report zero until their inputs arrive, explaining themselves in the card subtext instead: Conversion Rate and Revenue / Session read "Sync store to track ..." until store session sync populates their denominator, and the ad-efficiency metrics read "No ad spend data" until at least one ad platform is connected.

Elsewhere on the dashboard, small badges flag data quality -- Inferred (calculated from partial data, e.g. COGS coverage below 100%), Warning, Info, and Error. Hover any badge for details on what data is missing. Connecting additional integrations improves accuracy.

Best Practices for Choosing North Star Metrics

• Start with 3-4 primary metrics that align with your current business goals
• Include a mix of financial and operational metrics for a balanced view
• Review and adjust your North Star metrics quarterly as priorities shift
• Use secondary metrics in the KPI Metrics section for supporting context
• Match metrics to your role: Founders may focus on Net Profit and MER, while marketing managers may prefer ROAS and CAC
• Avoid vanity metrics: Prioritize metrics you can act on (Contribution Margin) over those that just feel good (Impressions)

Frequently Asked Questions

How many North Star Metrics should I choose?

Between three and four -- the picker will not let you save fewer than three or more than four primary metrics. A good combination includes one profitability metric (e.g., Net Profit), one efficiency metric (e.g., Blended MER or ROAS), and one growth metric (e.g., Revenue Growth). Use the Detailed View metrics (up to 12) for supporting context without cluttering the primary view.

Can different team members have different North Star Metrics?

North Star Metric selections are saved per workspace. All users in the same workspace see the same dashboard KPIs. If you manage multiple stores through agency workspaces, each workspace can have its own configuration.

What is the difference between ROAS and MER?

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) measures revenue generated per dollar spent on a specific ad platform. MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) measures revenue divided by total marketing spend across all channels. MER gives a holistic view of marketing efficiency, while ROAS is channel-specific.

Both take their revenue from online (D2C) orders only -- wholesale revenue is excluded from the numerator, because it carries no acquisition spend.

Why is a metric card greyed out with a dash?

Only Impressions and Clicks do this, and it means no Google analytics source is connected -- connect GA4, Search Console, or Merchant Center in Settings > Integrations. Conversion Rate, Revenue / Session, and the ad-efficiency metrics are never greyed out; they show zero with a subtext naming the missing input.

I am on Starter and the Customize button is locked. Why?

Editing your North Star selection is a Pro feature. Starter workspaces see the default four primary metrics and default Detailed View set, and cannot reorder or swap them. If you customized on a higher plan and then downgraded, your selection is not deleted -- it is simply ignored until you upgrade again.

MerchantFlow support can set a North Star layout for a Starter workspace. You see that layout read-only. If you upgrade to Pro it stays in place and becomes yours to edit.

What is the difference between Shipping & Fulfilment and Shipping Charged to Customers?

They look at shipping from opposite sides. Shipping & Fulfilment is what shipping cost you -- carrier and 3PL charges. Shipping Charged to Customers is what your customers paid you for shipping at checkout, which is part of your revenue. Pin both to see whether you are recovering your shipping costs; the Orders page shows the gap per order as Shipping Shortfall. For the per-order view, pin Avg. Shipping Shortfall / Order or Shipping Recovery % -- see Shipping per order.

How is Returning Customer Revenue worked out?

It adds up the product sales (order subtotals after discounts, before shipping and tax) on online orders from customers who had already ordered from you. It uses the same new vs returning split as the Unit Economics page, so the two always agree. Guest checkouts without an email, wholesale orders, and cancelled or unpaid orders are left out, and refunds are not deducted. The card also shows how many returning orders there were and what share of your customer revenue they made up.

Why don't I see the Online and Wholesale cards?

They appear once your store has at least one wholesale (B2B) order. Mark an order as B2B with Adjust order, add a manual B2B order, or turn on automatic wholesale detection. Before that, Online would simply repeat your whole business.

Are subscription renewals counted twice if I pin Renewal Revenue next to Total Brand Revenue?

No. Total Brand Revenue already includes your renewals; Renewal Revenue shows that part on its own. Read them as "of which recurring", not as two amounts to add together. The same goes for Renewal Contribution Profit and Net Profit.

Related Topics

• KPI Metrics - Detailed metric definitions and benchmarks
• Unit Economics - True CAC, LTGP, LTV:CAC, and break-even floor
• Margin by Region - Country-level net profit and POAS
• Performance Charts - Visualize metric trends over time
• Time Range Filters - Control the date range for all metrics
• Dashboard Overview - Full dashboard guide

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Last updated: October 5, 2026