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Customize your KPI cards and targets
The Your KPIs band on each Home dashboard shows up to eight KPI cards. Use Customize to choose the metrics, put them in order and set a target for each.
Problem and intended user
The ecommerce manager (the person who runs the store), the media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads) and the creative strategist (the person who plans and makes ad creatives) judge the business by different numbers. A fixed set of cards hides the ones they check first. Without a target, a number does not say if you are on track.
Current workflow
Most merchants keep key numbers in a spreadsheet. Each role pulls figures from Shopify admin reports, Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads or GA4 and types a monthly goal beside each one. When the date range changes, the merchant rescales the goal by hand.
Prerequisites
- Dashboard. Open Home and pick a dashboard. See Home dashboards.
- Data. Store cards need your store history. Ad cards need a connected ad account. Google Analytics cards need Google Analytics 4 data. Conversion rate is one of them, and it is not in the default set.
How Nexus works
Nexus computes each card from your connected data with fixed formulas, without AI. It compares the value with the previous period and with your target. Store overview, Ads overview and Creative overview each keep their own card list. The list belongs to you alone. A change does not touch the other two dashboards or your teammates. Nexus saves your cards on its servers, so they follow you to any browser.
Open the wizard
- Open Home and pick a dashboard.
- Find the Your KPIs band. Next to the Customize button, a line shows the date range, for example "Last 30 days, vs the previous 30 days".
- Click Customize.
The Customize KPI cards window opens. It has two steps: Choose metrics and Set targets. The Cancel, Back, Next and Save buttons sit in the title bar of the window.
Step 1: choose metrics
The window lists Your cards, in order. A counter reads "N of 8 selected". At eight, Nexus adds "Remove one to add another" and disables the unchecked boxes.
- To add a card, tick a metric below. Each metric has a one-line description.
- To remove a card, click the X on its row.
- To change the order, use the up and down arrows on a row. Cards appear on the dashboard in this order.
- To start over, click Reset to defaults. Nothing is saved until you click Save.
- Click Next. To close the window and drop your changes, click Cancel.
Metrics sit in two lists:
- Recommended for you lists the metrics that suit this dashboard.
- Show all metrics (N more) opens the rest, grouped as Store, Ads and Creative. N is how many are left. Click Hide other metrics to close the list.
Recommendations only decide what you see first. You can pick any metric on any dashboard. A saved card whose metric has lost its data source shows Not available yet beside its name in the list, and Not available yet. on the dashboard. Remove it with the X.
WARNING
You need at least one card. If you click Next with none selected, Nexus shows "Select at least one metric."
Step 2: set targets
The Set a target for each metric step lists your cards in the same order. Targets are optional.
- For each metric, tick the box that starts with Track a target for to set one. Clear the box to track none.
- Enter the number. A total, such as Revenue, takes a target per month. Nexus scales it to the dates you pick, and a month counts as 30 days. When your dates are not a 30-day span, the target line shows the scale, for example "7/30 of $2,000/mo". A rate, such as ROAS, is compared as you enter it.
- Click Save in the title bar. Click Back to return to step 1.
Each target starts at a Nexus default. The card labels it Default target until you change it. A card with no target still shows its value and its change, but not whether you are ahead or behind.
Nexus checks each target when you save. A target must be a number. Currency and ratio targets must be above zero. Some metrics have a minimum or maximum. The message beside the field says what to enter.
Reset to the defaults
Click Reset to defaults in step 1, then Next and Save. If your list matches the dashboard defaults and you changed no target, Nexus removes your custom layout. The dashboard then follows the defaults again.
Exact output
You get up to eight cards under Your KPIs, in your order, each with its own target line.
Read a card
A card shows the metric name, an information icon with its definition, the value and the change against the previous period. The arrow points up or down with the change. A green badge marks an improvement and an amber badge a decline. A grey badge means no change, or a metric with no good or bad direction, such as Ad Spend. The Target or Default target line shows the gap. For a total metric over dates that are not a 30-day span, the line also shows how Nexus scaled your monthly target. A rate keeps the number as you entered it.
Some cards carry a period label, such as All time, As of today or 7 days to a date. Through a date on an ad card means the ad data stops before the end of your range. A Partial label on nCAC means the number leaves out some spend.
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| An amber badge on a store card such as Revenue or Orders | Look for the cause in the store data | ecommerce manager |
| An amber badge on an ad card such as ROAS or nCAC | Review the campaign in Meta Ads Manager or Google Ads and change budget or targeting there | media buyer |
| An amber badge on a creative card such as Hook rate or Hit rate | Decide which creative to brief, test or retire | creative strategist |
| A card labelled Default target | Click Customize and enter your own target | ecommerce manager, media buyer or creative strategist, by dashboard |
| A card you never use | Click Customize and remove it with the X | ecommerce manager, media buyer or creative strategist, by dashboard |
Expected value and measurement
Your own cards and targets can help you see your key numbers first and read each against a goal. They do not change the numbers. Your actions do.
To check a target, open the dashboard that holds the card, such as Home > Ads overview. Read the value for your range against the Target line and the previous period. To check an ad figure against its source, open Performance > Ad performance for the same dates. If prices, promotions or ad changes ran in the same period, a gap to target does not show which one caused it.
Limitations and exceptions
- Default targets are Nexus defaults. They may not match your goals. Replace them.
- Definitions. The information icon on a card shows its definition. The Glossary lists each term.
When a card is empty
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| A card says your store history is not imported yet. | Nexus has no store history for your store yet. Store cards need it. |
| No store data for these dates yet. | Nexus has no orders for the range. |
| No Google Analytics data for these dates. | The card needs Google Analytics 4 data. |
| No ad data for these dates. | The card needs a connected ad account. |
| Ad metrics cover up to 90 days. Pick a shorter range. | Shorten the date range. |
| No ads launched in these dates. | No ad of yours launched in the range. |
| Not enough winners yet. | Nexus has too few winning ads to compute the number. |
| Not available yet. | A saved metric has no data source yet. Remove the card with the X in Customize. |
| Couldn’t load this. Reload the page to try again. | The card failed to load. Reload the page. |
When a save fails
If your browser blocks storage, a banner in the window says "This browser can’t save preferences. Your changes apply for this session only."
If a save fails, the cards go back to how they were. Nexus shows "Couldn’t save your KPI cards, so they’re back to how they were. Try again." beside the cards. Open Customize and save again.
Demo Mode
In Demo Mode, Nexus does not save your cards on its servers, so they do not follow you to another browser.