The questions prospective customers actually ask, answered without the marketing fluff. If you don’t find what you need here, email us at support@dashboardsmashboard.com.
The primary revenue metric in dashboardSMASHBOARD is net_sales — gross sales minus discounts and returns. You can also query gross_sales separately to see revenue before any deductions. When you see a "Revenue" card on a dashboard, it shows net_sales by default.
Refunds and returns are excluded from net_sales. The figure you see reflects what your store actually collected, not what was originally charged.
dashboardSMASHBOARD uses Shopify’s reported figures directly — no additional adjustments are applied on top. In Shopify’s data model, returns are recorded as negative transactions that reduce net_sales.
Partial refunds reduce the net figure proportionally. Timing matters: if a return is processed days after the original order, it affects the period in which Shopify records the refund — not the original order date. This is consistent with how Shopify itself reports the data.
dashboardSMASHBOARD connects to Shopify via read-only API access. Available metrics include:
sales source: net_sales, gross_sales, orders, net_items_soldsessions source: online_store_visitorsnet_sales and orders appear in the same queryThese are the metrics Shopify exposes through its reporting API. dashboardSMASHBOARD surfaces all of them and adds goal-tracking on top.
Data syncs automatically every 15 minutes. When we say “real-time,” we mean your dashboards reflect what’s happening in your store right now — not that data streams live to the millisecond. A sale that just went through will appear on your dashboard within approximately 15 minutes.
On first install, up to 12 months of historical data is pulled in so your dashboards have immediate context — no waiting for data to accumulate.
All date windows — Today, This Week, This Month, This Quarter, This Year — are calculated using your Shopify store’s timezone setting. If your store is set to EST, "This Month" starts at midnight EST on the 1st.
You can override the timezone per dashboard in your dashboard settings, which is useful if you operate stores across multiple regions or if your team is based in a different timezone than your store.
Not currently. There is no change history for who modified a card definition, goal target, or dashboard layout. If your team makes changes, those changes take effect immediately. There is no rollback or log of prior configurations.
If this is a hard requirement for your team, it’s worth weighing before you buy.
Cards don't query Google Analytics on every page view. dashboardSMASHBOARD keeps each card's most recent result and refreshes it when it gets old: at most every 15 minutes on Solo and Studio, and every 5 minutes on Agency and Scale. The refresh button shows cached data until that interval has passed, while changing a card's goal or switching properties refreshes the affected cards right away.
Google Analytics itself also has a processing delay: numbers for "today" can keep changing for up to 24–48 hours as Google finishes processing events. dashboardSMASHBOARD shows the numbers exactly as Google Analytics reports them, so you may see small differences if you compare against GA4 at a different moment.
Not raw event-level data. We request only aggregated report results. The numbers each card shows (totals, daily trend points, channel rankings) are kept temporarily as a short-lived cache, so dashboards load quickly and shared links and alerts can use the latest values. They are replaced on each refresh.
SmashGL is a goal-first query language built on top of Shopify’s data. You declare what success looks like (GOAL), bind to your Shopify data (SOURCE), and choose how to display it (SMASH) — all in one compact query.
For example:
GOAL grow revenue by +5% over last 30 days SOURCE shopify.sales.net_sales AS revenue, shopify.sales.orders SMASH metric WITH trend, alert TITLED "Grow Revenue 5% This Month"
If you’re comfortable with SQL or ShopifyQL, SmashGL should feel natural within a day. If you’re not technical at all, the preset cards cover the most common metrics without writing a single query — SmashGL is there when you want to go further. SmashGL is patent pending.
Seven visualization types are available:
For each card you can set: a name, a goal (percentage-based or absolute), a time window (rolling days, named calendar periods, or fixed date ranges), and a comparison period (previous period, previous year, or same day last week). Goal status drives card color automatically via Red/Amber/Green status.
Yes — this is one of dashboardSMASHBOARD’s most powerful features. Every card is backed by a SmashGL query, which gives you complete flexibility to pull any data Shopify exposes: revenue, orders, AOV, sessions, inventory, gross profit, items sold, and more.
Beyond displaying data, you can attach a goal to any card. Set a fixed target, track growth by percentage, or define a threshold (e.g. “keep refund rate below 3%”). The card then shows live progress toward that goal — complete with a progress bar, gap to go, forecast, and probability of hitting the target by end of period.
For example, you could build a card that:
The Code tab on any card opens the SmashGL editor — write or edit the query directly, preview results, and iterate. The Simple tab handles the most common configurations without writing any code. SmashGL is patent pending.
Your price is automatically matched to your Shopify account plan when you subscribe — you never have to pick a tier. The pricing tiers are:
Every tier includes everything: unlimited dashboards, unlimited goals, all visualization types, full SmashQL query language, Query Lab, all Shopify metrics, four pre-built starter dashboards, all future updates, and email support. No seat limits, no query limits, no data caps. A license covers one Shopify store.
If you upgrade or downgrade your Shopify plan, dashboardSMASHBOARD detects the change and sends you an email. You’ll see an in-app prompt to update your subscription to the new price. Your access continues uninterrupted until you choose to update — nothing is cancelled automatically.
Yes. Every plan includes a 14-day free trial with full access to every feature. Billing begins only after the 14 days end if you choose to continue. Cancel before then by uninstalling from your Shopify admin and no charge applies.
Billing is handled entirely through Shopify’s billing system. You won’t enter any payment details directly into dashboardSMASHBOARD — the charge is authorized through your Shopify account and appears on your regular Shopify invoice. This also means your subscription is tied to your Shopify store; if you uninstall the app, your subscription is cancelled automatically.
Plans are Solo, Studio, Agency and Scale. They differ only in how many GA4 properties you can connect (1, 5, 20 and 60), how often data refreshes, and white labeling on Agency and Scale. Every plan includes every card type, visualization, goal, sharing and alert feature. Current prices are on the pricing page.
Every new account gets a 14-day free trial of the Solo plan. No credit card is required, nothing is charged when the trial ends, and it doesn't convert to a paid plan on its own. The trial is for Solo only. Annual billing costs ten months of monthly billing, about 17% less, paid once up front.
We bill you directly through Stripe, in US dollars, to your credit or debit card. No Shopify or other marketplace billing is involved. Renewals are automatic, monthly or annually depending on the interval you chose, and your invoices are in Stripe's customer portal (click Manage plan or Manage billing in the app). Payments are non-refundable except where required by law, and we don't refund the unused part of a billing period when you cancel.
Yes. Upgrades take effect immediately, and Stripe prorates the difference on your next invoice. Downgrades take effect immediately too, and the unused value of your old plan is credited to your next invoice rather than refunded. To cancel, choose Cancel my plan on the pricing page: you keep full access until the end of the period you've paid for, and your dashboards and goals stay saved so you can resubscribe at any time. If a renewal payment fails, you keep access for a 3-day grace period after the billing period ends.
Install directly from the Shopify App Store and authorize via your Shopify account — no separate account creation required. Once installed, dashboardSMASHBOARD automatically pulls up to 12 months of historical data and creates four starter dashboards (Daily Pulse, Growth Tracker, Operations Health, and Year-Over-Year).
Most merchants are looking at live goal-tracking data within a few minutes of installing. There is no lengthy configuration wizard.
No. The preset cards and starter dashboards cover the most common metrics out-of-the-box — revenue, orders, AOV, sessions, inventory health — without writing a single query. If you can use a spreadsheet, you can use dashboardSMASHBOARD.
SmashGL unlocks more advanced customization and is available when you want it. It’s optional, not a prerequisite.
dashboardSMASHBOARD works with any active Shopify store on any Shopify plan.
To install and access the app, you need a Shopify staff account with the “Manage and install apps and channels” permission enabled in your Shopify admin.
Currency and locale handling follows whatever Shopify reports. Revenue figures are displayed in the currency Shopify provides for your store. If you run a multi-currency store, the values in dashboardSMASHBOARD reflect Shopify’s reported figures, which typically use your store’s primary presentment currency. No additional currency conversion is applied.
dashboardSMASHBOARD works with Shopify and Google Analytics today. Each platform has its own page with setup, pricing and documentation, and we're adding more. The home page shows what's available now and what's coming next.
There's nothing to install. dashboardSMASHBOARD for Google Analytics is a web app: you sign in with Google at app.dashboardsmashboard.com, choose a GA4 property, and your dashboards are ready in a couple of minutes. You need a Google account with access to at least one GA4 property. Viewer access is enough, because we only read data. Your Google account is your dashboardSMASHBOARD account, so there's no separate password.
It depends on your plan: 1 on Solo, 5 on Studio, 20 on Agency and 60 on Scale. Your dashboards show one property at a time, and you can switch between properties you've connected from the property name in the top bar. Properties beyond your plan's limit show as Upgrade to add.
Google reviews every app that asks for access to Analytics data. Until that review is complete, Google may show a "Google hasn't verified this app" screen when you sign in. This is expected and doesn't mean anything is wrong: click Advanced, then Go to dashboardSMASHBOARD (unsafe) to continue. Once Google's verification is complete, this screen no longer appears.
Access is controlled entirely through Shopify’s staff permission system. Any team member with “Manage and install apps and channels” access in your Shopify admin can access dashboardSMASHBOARD. There is no separate SSO, no granular role system within the app itself, and no per-user permissions — access is all-or-nothing at the Shopify staff level.
If your Shopify admin controls who can manage apps, that’s your access control layer for dashboardSMASHBOARD.
Yes. The Notifications system (bell icon in the dashboard header) lets you set up rules that send alerts to Email, Slack, or Teams when a card’s status changes. You can trigger on specific band transitions — goal reached, at risk, missed, or any status change — or set up a scheduled digest that delivers a summary of your dashboard on a recurring timetable (daily, weekly, or monthly).
To use notifications:
Channels are account-wide and reusable across any dashboard. Rules are scoped per dashboard. Notification messages include the metric value, status band, vs-prior change, and a link to the read-only live dashboard — no Shopify login required for recipients.
Yes. Click the Download icon (↓) in the dashboard header to export all card data as local files. Choose CSV or Excel (XLSX) — each card exports as a separate file named after the card title.
What you get per card:
The export uses data already loaded in the dashboard. If a card’s data is stale, click Refresh before exporting. Cards showing an error are silently skipped — the rest export normally.
Each Shopify store requires its own dashboardSMASHBOARD license. Dashboards and data are scoped per store and are not shared between stores.
Cross-store consolidated reporting depends on what ShopifyQL itself supports. If ShopifyQL provides multi-store query capabilities, dashboardSMASHBOARD can leverage them — but today, each store is managed and viewed independently.
Yes. Alert rules notify you by Email, Slack or Microsoft Teams when a card's goal status changes. Scheduled digests (daily, weekly or monthly summaries) aren't delivering yet.
Yes. Use Dashboard, then Export, to download a dashboard as CSV, Excel, PNG or PDF.
Four dashboards are created automatically on install:
All four are fully customizable — add, remove, or reconfigure cards at any time.
Yes. Alerts work at two levels:
Visual alerts (on-dashboard): Any card with a goal shows a Red/Amber/Green pulsing border keyed to your goal status. Enable this by adding the ALERT flag to a card’s SmashGL query, or toggling Alert in the Simple tab. The status bands are:
Notifications (Email, Slack, Teams): The Notifications system lets you push alerts off-dashboard to your team. Set up a rule to fire when a card enters a specific status band — goal reached, at risk, or missed — and deliver it to any combination of saved email addresses, Slack channels, or Microsoft Teams channels. A cooldown setting prevents repeat alerts within a configurable window (hourly, daily, weekly, etc.).
You can also set up scheduled digests that deliver a summary of a card or your entire dashboard on a recurring timetable — daily, weekly, or monthly — regardless of goal status. Useful for Monday morning revenue summaries or end-of-month OKR reports sent directly to a Slack channel or inbox.
To configure notifications, click the bell icon ( 🔔 ) in the dashboard header. Set up channels first (email addresses or webhook URLs), then create rules that reference those channels.
Scheduled reports: Yes. Use the Notifications system to set up scheduled digests — daily, weekly, or monthly — delivered to Email, Slack, or Teams. Each message includes the metric value, status, vs-prior change, and a link to the live read-only dashboard. Configure these from the bell icon in any dashboard header.
Data export: Yes. Click the Download icon (↓) in the dashboard header to export all cards as CSV or Excel files — one file per card, named after the card title. See “Can I export dashboard data” in the Team & Access section above for full details on what each card type exports.
Card data is exportable to CSV or Excel using the Download icon in the dashboard header. Dashboard configurations (the card definitions, goals, and layout) are not currently exportable as a portable file.
Dashboards can also be printed to PDF directly from your browser if you need a visual snapshot to archive or share.
There is no dedicated mobile app. dashboardSMASHBOARD runs as an embedded Shopify app in your browser and is designed to work on mobile. The experience is optimized for desktop — complex multi-card dashboards and the Query Lab are best used on a larger screen.
Four ready-made dashboards for your GA4 property, with six cards each: Acquisition (are people finding us?), Engagement (are they doing anything meaningful?), Monetization (are visitors converting to revenue?) and Retention (are customers coming back?). Nearly every card already has a goal, a relative growth goal such as "grow 10% versus the previous period", so you can see whether you're on track from the first load. You can edit, remove, add and rearrange cards, and create as many extra dashboards as you like.
No. For Google Analytics you build cards by choosing a preset (for example Total Sessions, Bounce Rate or Revenue by Channel) and then adjusting its goal, visualization and time window. There's nothing to code.
No — not now, not ever. dashboardSMASHBOARD requests only read permissions from Shopify:
No write scopes are requested. Shopify enforces this at the API level — any write request from the app is rejected outright by Shopify’s infrastructure, regardless of what the app code does. The app cannot create, edit, delete, or modify orders, products, customers, prices, inventory, or any other store data.
dashboardSMASHBOARD never asks for or stores your Shopify password. All authentication flows through Shopify’s own OAuth 2.0 system — the same mechanism used by every major Shopify app.
When you install, Shopify issues an access token scoped to the specific read permissions the app requested. That token is encrypted before it is stored. Access to dashboardSMASHBOARD is controlled entirely by Shopify’s staff permission system — only Shopify staff accounts with “Manage and install apps and channels” access can use it. You can revoke access instantly by uninstalling the app from your Shopify admin, which immediately invalidates the token.
The app is hosted on Render.com infrastructure in the United States with managed PostgreSQL, automated backups, and TLS-terminated HTTPS on every connection.
What we store:
What we do not store:
Data is fetched from Shopify’s API at query time; only the aggregate result is cached. We never mirror a copy of your order history or customer database.
In transit: All connections between your browser, our servers, and Shopify’s API use TLS 1.2 or higher. HTTPS is enforced everywhere — there is no unencrypted path.
At rest: The database runs on Render’s managed PostgreSQL service with encryption at rest enabled. Shopify access tokens are additionally encrypted within the database before storage.
Session security: Authentication cookies are configured as HttpOnly (not accessible to JavaScript), Secure (HTTPS only), and SameSite=Lax (CSRF protection).
Every code change runs through a multi-layer automated security pipeline before deployment:
npm audit checks every third-party package against the public CVE database. High-severity findings block deployment.This is not aspirational — these checks are part of CI and block merges that fail them.
Every webhook sent by Shopify to dashboardSMASHBOARD is HMAC-SHA256 verified against the app’s Shopify API secret before any payload is processed. Webhooks with an invalid or missing signature are rejected immediately and logged.
This ensures no third party can inject fake events (fake orders, fake uninstalls, fake billing updates) into the system.
No. We do not sell, rent, or trade your data. Ever.
Your data is used only to operate the service — to render your dashboards and run your goals and queries. We use aggregate, anonymized usage patterns internally to improve the product. No raw platform data, metric values, or account information is shared with or sold to any third party, and we never share it with advertisers or data brokers.
Shopify sends us a shop/redact request 48 hours after you uninstall, and we delete your store's data as soon as it arrives. If we never receive it, the store is deleted automatically 90 days after you uninstall. Database backups are purged on a 90-day rolling schedule.
GDPR and PIPEDA data subject access and erasure requests are honored within 30 days. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Yes. Specifically:
No. dashboardSMASHBOARD asks for read-only access (the analytics.readonly permission) plus your basic Google profile (name, email, picture). It cannot create, change or delete anything in your Analytics account, properties or data streams, and it never reads properties you haven't selected.
No. Our use and transfer of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. We use your Google Analytics data only to provide the features you see in the app, we don't use it for advertising or build profiles from it for third parties, and we don't allow people to read it unless you ask us for support and agree, or it's needed for security or legal reasons.
You can revoke access at any time in your Google Account under Security, "Your connections to third-party apps and services" (myaccount.google.com/permissions). If access stays revoked for 30 days we permanently delete your account and its data; signing in with Google again within those 30 days cancels the deletion. Revoking does not cancel a subscription, so cancel it first if you want to stop being billed. To delete your account and its data, cancel any active subscription first, then email privacy@dashboardsmashboard.com from the address on your account, and revoke access in your Google Account too so the stored tokens can't be used again.
Email support@dashboardSMASHBOARD.com. You can also use the chat button at the bottom right of any page. We’re a small team — email gets you to an actual human, not a ticket queue.
For general questions and non-urgent help, the support center and the documentation (Shopify, Google Analytics) cover most common scenarios.