What to Include in a Profitability Dashboard
A profitability dashboard is distinct from a revenue or traffic dashboard. Its purpose is to answer one question: is the business making money, and which activities are contributing to that profit?
The metrics hierarchy for a useful profitability dashboard:
| Level | Metrics | Why They Matter |
|---|---|---|
| Top-line revenue | Gross revenue, net revenue (post-returns), orders | Business scale and trend |
| Gross profitability | Gross profit £, gross margin %, COGS | Product economics health |
| Advertising contribution | Ad spend, ROAS, contribution after ads | Marketing efficiency |
| Customer economics | CAC, LTV, LTV:CAC, repeat purchase rate | Long-term business sustainability |
| Order-level | AOV, profit per order, return rate | Per-transaction health |
| Net profitability | Net contribution after all costs, net margin % | Actual profit performance |
The Metrics You're Probably Missing
Most e-commerce dashboards include revenue, sessions, conversion rate, and ROAS. Very few include gross profit, profit per order, or LTV:CAC. These missing metrics are exactly where problems hide until they appear in a year-end P&L review.
Data Sources to Connect
A complete profitability dashboard requires data from multiple systems that often don't talk to each other natively:
E-commerce Platform (Orders and Revenue)
Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, or similar. This gives you: order count, revenue, AOV, product breakdown, return rates, and customer data. Most platforms have Looker Studio connectors or export APIs.
Google Ads (Ad Spend and Conversions)
Direct API connection provides: ad spend by campaign, impressions, clicks, conversions, and reported ROAS. Note that reported ROAS in Google Ads may include tracking gaps — see our article on tracking accuracy.
COGS and Cost Data (Margin Calculation)
This is the most difficult source to integrate because COGS data typically lives in an ERP, accounting system (Xero, QuickBooks), or spreadsheets. Options:
- Manual COGS input to a spreadsheet layer in your dashboard tool
- Periodic CSV export from accounting system
- GROW Platform's MarginStack — syncs COGS data directly with advertising data
CRM / Email Platform (LTV Data)
Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or your order management system for: repeat purchase rate, average orders per customer, customer cohort retention curves. This data enables LTV calculation and CAC assessment.
Start Simple
You don't need to connect all sources on day one. Start with revenue + ad spend + a manual margin estimate. This is better than nothing. Add COGS data accuracy as you improve the model over time.
Tool Options
| Tool | Best For | Limitations | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Looker Studio (Google) | Revenue + Google Ads data, basic dashboarding | No native COGS integration; manual updates needed for margin | Free |
| Shopify Analytics | Shopify-native revenue and product reporting | No ad spend integration; no margin from external COGS | Included in Shopify |
| Manual spreadsheet | Full control, any data source | Manual update burden; not real-time; error-prone at scale | Free |
| Supermetrics + Looker Studio | Multi-channel ad data aggregation | No margin data; subscription cost | £50–£200/mo |
| Northbeam / Triple Whale | Multi-touch attribution, blended ROAS | No COGS integration; expensive for mid-size brands | £300–£1,000+/mo |
| GROW Platform | Full profitability: margin + ad spend + ROAS in one view | Google Shopping focused (Google Ads only) | Subscription |
For most brands spending £5,000–£50,000/month on Google Shopping, GROW Platform provides the most complete picture because it natively combines COGS data (via MarginStack) with live Google Ads performance — giving a real-time profit view rather than a stitched-together approximation.
KPIs to Review Weekly
Weekly reviews should focus on operational metrics that require active management and can change quickly:
| KPI | What to Look For | Action Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| ROAS by campaign | Any campaign dropping below break-even ROAS | Review bids, exclude low-margin products |
| Ad spend vs budget | Pacing on track; no unexpected spikes | Investigate if 15%+ over/under pace |
| Customer acquisition cost | Week-on-week trend; seasonal adjustment | Alert if CAC rises 15%+ above 4-week average |
| Profit per order (estimated) | Directional movement — improving or declining? | Diagnose if declining for 2+ consecutive weeks |
| Return rate | Any product category showing unusual returns | Investigate if a category rises 5pp+ above baseline |
| Best and worst ROAS products | Products consistently under/over-performing | Adjust bids or product feed for outliers |
KPIs to Review Monthly
Monthly reviews should focus on strategic metrics that evolve more slowly but have long-term business implications:
| KPI | What to Assess | Monthly Target |
|---|---|---|
| LTV:CAC ratio | Is the ratio improving or deteriorating as you scale? | Maintain above 3:1 |
| Gross margin by category | Which categories are driving or dragging blended margin? | Identify low-margin categories for strategy review |
| New vs repeat customer split | Are repeat customers growing as a share of revenue? | Aim to grow repeat purchase % by 1–2pp per month |
| Net contribution after all costs | Is the business profitable after everything? | Positive and improving |
| Product mix by margin tier | Is high-margin product share growing? | Trend toward higher-margin mix |
| CAC payback period | How long to recover acquisition investment? | Target under 12 months |
Alert Thresholds
A good profitability dashboard includes automated alerts so you discover problems in real-time, not in next month's P&L review.
Immediate Alert Triggers
- Any campaign ROAS drops below break-even ROAS for the day — investigate same day
- Daily ad spend exceeds 150% of daily budget average — check for bidding anomaly
- Any product generating 20+ orders at negative estimated contribution — pause and investigate
Weekly Alert Triggers
- Blended CAC rises more than 20% above 4-week moving average
- ROAS drops more than 15% week-on-week without budget explanation
- Return rate for any category rises more than 5pp above monthly average
Monthly Alert Triggers
- LTV:CAC ratio drops below 2.5:1
- Net contribution margin falls below 8% of revenue
- New customer acquisition drops more than 20% from prior month (seasonality adjusted)
The Cost of Late Discovery
A CAC spike that goes unnoticed for 4 weeks costs 4× more than one caught in week 1. Automated alerts pay for themselves in the first incident they catch. Set them up before you need them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What metrics should be in a profitability dashboard?
At minimum: gross revenue, gross profit, ad spend, ROAS, contribution margin %, profit per order, customer acquisition cost, and LTV:CAC ratio. Weekly views should also include ad spend by channel and margin by product category.
What data sources do I need to connect?
Your e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce) for orders and revenue, Google Ads for ad spend and conversions, your accounting system or COGS data for margin, and ideally a CRM or email platform for LTV data.
What tool should I use to build a profitability dashboard?
Looker Studio (free) can connect Shopify and Google Ads data for a basic dashboard. For full profitability including COGS, you'll need either a custom integration or a platform like GROW that already has margin data embedded.
Which metrics should I review weekly vs monthly?
Weekly: ROAS by channel, ad spend vs budget, profit per order trends, CAC. Monthly: LTV:CAC ratio, gross margin by category, return rate trends, new vs repeat customer split, and overall P&L contribution.
What alert thresholds should I set in my profitability dashboard?
Alert on: CAC rising more than 15% above 30-day average; ROAS dropping below your break-even threshold; return rate rising more than 3pp above baseline; and ad spend exceeding your monthly budget by more than 10%.
Next Steps
A profitability dashboard is only as good as the data feeding it. The most impactful upgrade you can make is connecting real COGS data to your advertising performance reporting — transforming ROAS from a revenue ratio into a profit indicator.
Native Profitability Reporting in GROW
GROW Platform combines live Google Ads performance with your COGS data, showing real-time profit margin by product, campaign, and category — no dashboard build required. Create an account to get started →
