Home Dashboard Tools & Exports Understanding metrics and KPI definitions

Understanding metrics and KPI definitions

Last updated on Jul 07, 2026

Understanding Metrics and KPI Definitions

Datadrew uses a wide range of metrics across its dashboards. This article provides definitions for every key metric so you can understand exactly what each number means and how it is calculated.

Shopify Sales Metrics

Metric Definition
Net Revenue Total revenue from orders after discounts and refunds, excluding taxes and shipping
Orders Total number of orders placed in the selected period
AOV (Average Order Value) Net Revenue divided by number of Orders
Units Sold Total quantity of individual product units sold
Customers Total unique customers who placed orders in the selected period
Average Selling Price Net Revenue divided by Units Sold — the average price per unit

Customer Retention Metrics

Metric Definition
Repeat Rate Percentage of customers who placed more than one order. Calculated as: (Repeat Customers / Total Customers) x 100
Repeat Customers Customers who have placed 2 or more orders
New Customers Customers placing their first-ever order in the selected period
Returning Customers Customers who had placed at least one order before and placed another in the selected period
Repurchase Rate For a specific product: the percentage of buyers who came back to make any additional purchase within the repurchase window

Lifetime Value (LTV) Metrics

Metric Definition
LTV (1m / 3m / 6m / 1y / 2y / 3y) Cumulative revenue per customer within the specified time window after their first order. For example, LTV 3m is the average total revenue generated per customer within 3 months of their first purchase.
Cohort Size Number of new customers acquired in a specific cohort period (month, week, quarter, or year)
Cumulative Revenue per Customer Total revenue from a cohort divided by the number of customers in that cohort — this is LTV
Weighted Average The LTV averaged across all cohorts, weighted by cohort size. Shown in the bottom row of the cohort heatmap.

RFM Metrics

Metric Definition
RFM Score A composite score combining Recency, Frequency, and Monetary scores (each scored 1-5)
Recency Score Based on days since last order. Score 5 = very recent, Score 1 = long ago
Frequency Score Based on total number of orders. Score 5 = many orders, Score 1 = few orders
Monetary Score Based on total spend. Score 5 = high spend, Score 1 = low spend
RFM Segment One of 10 customer segments (Champions, Loyal, Promising, New Customers, Need Attention, Should Not Lose, Sleepers, Lost, Warm Leads, Cold Leads) determined by the combination of R, F, and M scores

Ad Performance Metrics

Metric Definition
Ad Spend Total amount spent on advertising on a given platform (Meta Ads or Google Ads)
CPC (Cost Per Click) Ad Spend divided by number of Clicks — how much you pay per click
CPM (Cost Per Mille) Ad Spend divided by Impressions, multiplied by 1,000 — cost per 1,000 impressions
CTR (Click-Through Rate) Clicks divided by Impressions, multiplied by 100 — percentage of people who clicked after seeing the ad
Impressions Total number of times the ad was displayed
Clicks Total number of times the ad was clicked
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) Revenue divided by Ad Spend — expressed as a multiple (e.g., 5x means $5 revenue per $1 spent)
Blended Catalog ROAS Product revenue (from Shopify) divided by total ad spend across all connected platforms (Meta + Google). This is a Datadrew-calculated metric.
Blended Catalog Spend Combined ad spend from Meta Ads and Google Ads for a given product
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) Total ad spend for a cohort period divided by the number of new customers acquired in that period

Benchmark Metrics

Metric Definition
P25 (25th Percentile) The value below which 25% of comparable stores fall. If your metric is below P25, you are in the bottom quartile.
P50 (50th Percentile / Median) The middle value — half of comparable stores are above, half are below
P75 (75th Percentile) The value below which 75% of comparable stores fall. If your metric is above P75, you are in the top quartile.

Basket Analysis Metrics

Metric Definition
Order Percentage What percentage of all orders in the period contain this particular product combination
New Orders Orders from first-time customers that contain this combination
Repeat Orders Orders from returning customers that contain this combination

Purchase Frequency Metrics

Metric Definition
1-timer / 2-timer / etc. Customers who have placed exactly 1, 2, 3, etc. orders in their lifetime
X+ timer Customers who have placed the specified number of orders or more (e.g., 5+ timers = customers with 5 or more orders)

How Datadrew Calculates These Metrics

All metrics in Datadrew are calculated from your actual Shopify order and customer data, synced and transformed through our data pipeline. This means:

  • Real-time accuracy — Data is refreshed daily through automated syncs
  • Currency-aware — All monetary values are displayed in your store's currency
  • Multi-source blending — Ad metrics are blended across platforms for a unified view
  • Consistent definitions — The same metric means the same thing across all dashboards

Need help? Contact us at support@datadrew.io or use the in-app chat.

Related articles


Need help?

If you have questions or run into issues, reach out to us at support@datadrew.io or use the in-app chat. We're happy to help.