/General Questions
Question
Shopify shows me a million metrics – what should a beginner actually look at daily?
Posted by •11/3/2025
I just launched and Shopify + Meta + Google Analytics are throwing numbers at me nonstop.
I see:
- Sessions
- Conversion rate
- Add-to-cart rate
- Reach, impressions, CPM, CTR, CPC
- ROAS, cost per result, etc.
Honestly I'm just opening dashboards and staring at graphs.
For people who are past the beginner stage:
1. What are the **3–5 core metrics** a beginner should check DAILY?
2. What are the things you only look at weekly/monthly?
3. Which metrics are basically noise at the start?
I feel like I'm drowning in data and making no decisions because I don't know what actually matters.
I see:
- Sessions
- Conversion rate
- Add-to-cart rate
- Reach, impressions, CPM, CTR, CPC
- ROAS, cost per result, etc.
Honestly I'm just opening dashboards and staring at graphs.
For people who are past the beginner stage:
1. What are the **3–5 core metrics** a beginner should check DAILY?
2. What are the things you only look at weekly/monthly?
3. Which metrics are basically noise at the start?
I feel like I'm drowning in data and making no decisions because I don't know what actually matters.
2 Replies
•11/3/2025
This. I literally made a Google Sheet with 5 columns:
- Spend
- Clicks
- ATCs
- Orders
- Revenue
Filled it daily. Seeing those ratios change taught me more than any fancy dashboard.
- Spend
- Clicks
- ATCs
- Orders
- Revenue
Filled it daily. Seeing those ratios change taught me more than any fancy dashboard.
•11/3/2025
Here’s a simple “beginner dashboard” you can literally write on a sticky note.
**Daily (focus on the funnel):**
From your **ad platform**:
1. **CTR (link)** – are people interested enough to click?
2. **CPC** – how much are you paying per visitor?
From **Shopify**:
3. **Add-to-cart rate** – do visitors *want* the product? (aim for 5–10%+)
4. **Conversion rate** – can your store actually close? (aim for 1.5–3% once dialled in)
5. **Number of orders** – reality check that cuts through fancy graphs
If:
- CTR < 1% → creative / targeting problem
- CPC > $1.50–$2 (for most niches) → probably ad/targeting issue
- ATC < 3–4% → product/page/offer problem
- Conversion < 1% with decent ATC → checkout / trust / price problem
**Weekly:**
- ROAS by campaign/ad set
- Spend vs revenue
- Top countries / devices
- Refunds / chargebacks / complaints patterns
**Ignore at start:**
- Lifetime value
- Complex attribution models
- Cohort charts
- All the fancy GA4 reports
At your stage the core question is:
> "Can I profitably turn cold traffic into first-time buyers?"
You answer that by watching traffic → ATC → purchase, not by playing with 20 charts.
**Daily (focus on the funnel):**
From your **ad platform**:
1. **CTR (link)** – are people interested enough to click?
2. **CPC** – how much are you paying per visitor?
From **Shopify**:
3. **Add-to-cart rate** – do visitors *want* the product? (aim for 5–10%+)
4. **Conversion rate** – can your store actually close? (aim for 1.5–3% once dialled in)
5. **Number of orders** – reality check that cuts through fancy graphs
If:
- CTR < 1% → creative / targeting problem
- CPC > $1.50–$2 (for most niches) → probably ad/targeting issue
- ATC < 3–4% → product/page/offer problem
- Conversion < 1% with decent ATC → checkout / trust / price problem
**Weekly:**
- ROAS by campaign/ad set
- Spend vs revenue
- Top countries / devices
- Refunds / chargebacks / complaints patterns
**Ignore at start:**
- Lifetime value
- Complex attribution models
- Cohort charts
- All the fancy GA4 reports
At your stage the core question is:
> "Can I profitably turn cold traffic into first-time buyers?"
You answer that by watching traffic → ATC → purchase, not by playing with 20 charts.