> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sourcemedium.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Metric Definitions
> Definitions for SourceMedium metrics used across dashboards and the semantic layer
This reference documents the key metrics available in SourceMedium dashboards and the semantic layer. Metrics are organized by category.
**Complete Metric Reference**: For a comprehensive, always-current list of all 180+ metrics, query the [`dim_semantic_metric_catalog`](/data-activation/data-tables/sm_metadata/dim_semantic_metric_catalog) table in your warehouse. This page provides a curated overview of the most commonly used metrics.
Metrics marked as "Alias" are legacy names maintained for backward compatibility. Use the preferred metric name for new queries.
## Revenue Metrics
| Metric | Description | Type |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------ |
| **Average Order Value (AOV) - Net** | Average net revenue per order | Ratio |
| **Average Order Value (AOV) - Gross** | Average gross revenue per order | Ratio |
| **Average Order Value (AOV) - Total** | Average total revenue per order, including net shipping, net taxes, and net shipping taxes | Ratio |
| **Order Net Revenue** | Net revenue after discounts and refunds | Simple |
| **Order Gross Revenue** | Gross revenue before discounts and refunds | Simple |
| **Order Total Revenue** | Net revenue plus net shipping, net taxes, and net shipping taxes | Simple |
| **New Customer Net Revenue** | Net revenue from first-time customers | Simple |
| **Repeat Customer Net Revenue** | Net revenue from repeat customers | Simple |
| **Gross Profit** | Revenue minus cost of goods sold | Simple |
| **Gross Margin %** | Gross profit as percentage of net revenue | Ratio |
| **Total Discounts** | Total discount amount applied to orders | Simple |
| **Total Refunds** | Total refund amount processed | Simple |
### Revenue and AOV checks
When a revenue or AOV number looks off, confirm the exact metric before comparing reports. For the full cross-tool checklist, see [Why would external reports not match the SourceMedium dashboard?](/help-center/faq/data-faqs/why-would-external-reports-not-match-the-sourcemedium-dashboard).
| Question | Check |
| --------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Is this gross, net, or total revenue? | Gross revenue is before discounts and refunds. Net revenue is after discounts and refunds. Total revenue includes net revenue plus net shipping, net taxes, and net shipping taxes. |
| Is AOV based on the same revenue field? | Net AOV, gross AOV, and total AOV use different revenue numerators. |
| Does overall AOV differ from new and repeat AOV? | Overall AOV is the segment's combined revenue divided by its combined order count. It is not the simple average of new-customer AOV and repeat-customer AOV. |
| Do new and repeat totals add to the expected total? | Check whether the report is counting customers, orders, or revenue. A customer can have different lifecycle status depending on the metric and grain being queried. |
| Are discounts and refunds included? | Use [Revenue Fields](/help-center/core-concepts/data-definitions/revenue-fields) to confirm the sign convention and field definition. |
For reconciliation, compare the numerator and denominator directly. For example, validate AOV by checking revenue and order count for the same date range, filters, and customer segment.
### Common formulas
| Metric family | Formula pattern |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| AOV | Revenue divided by order count for the same segment and filters. |
| New customer AOV | New-customer revenue divided by new-customer order count. |
| Repeat customer AOV | Repeat-customer revenue divided by repeat-customer order count. |
| MER | Order net revenue divided by total ad spend. |
| ROAS | SourceMedium ROAS uses order net revenue divided by total ad spend; platform ROAS uses platform-reported revenue divided by total ad spend. |
| CAC | Total ad spend (or your report's configured acquisition spend) divided by new-customer order count. |
For account-specific metric definitions, query [`dim_semantic_metric_catalog`](/data-activation/data-tables/sm_metadata/dim_semantic_metric_catalog). Some dashboard labels are aliases or configured variants of these formula families.
## Customer Metrics
| Metric | Description | Type |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------ |
| **New Customers** | Count of newly acquired customers in the period | Simple |
| **Total Customers** | Total count of all customers | Simple |
| **New Customer Order Count** | Number of first-time customer orders | Simple |
| **Repeat Customer Order Count** | Number of repeat customer orders | Simple |
| **Active Subscribers** | Count of customers with active subscriptions | Simple |
| **Churned Subscribers** | Count of customers with churned subscriptions | Simple |
| **Email Subscribers** | Count of customers opted into email marketing | Simple |
| **SMS Subscribers** | Count of customers opted into SMS marketing | Simple |
| **Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)** | Average cost to acquire a new customer | Ratio |
| **Subscriber Churn Rate** | Percentage of subscribers who have churned | Ratio |
## Marketing Metrics
| Metric | Description | Type |
| --------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
| **Total Ad Spend** | Total advertising spend across all platforms | Simple |
| **Total Ad Clicks** | Total clicks across all ad platforms | Simple |
| **Total Ad Impressions** | Total impressions across all ad platforms | Simple |
| **Marketing Efficiency Ratio (MER)** | Net revenue divided by total ad spend (blended ROAS) | Ratio |
| **Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)** | SourceMedium ROAS is order net revenue per dollar of ad spend; platform ROAS uses platform-reported revenue | Ratio |
| **Cost Per Click (CPC)** | Average cost per ad click | Ratio |
| **Cost Per Order (CPO)** | Average advertising cost per order | Ratio |
| **Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)** | Cost per thousand impressions | Derived |
| **Click-Through Rate (CTR)** | Percentage of impressions that result in clicks | Ratio |
| **Platform Reported Conversions** | Conversions as reported by ad platforms | Simple |
| **Platform Return on Ad Spend** | Return on ad spend as reported by platforms | Ratio |
## Conversion Metrics
| Metric | Description | Type |
| ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ----- |
| **Site Conversion Rate** | Overall conversion rate (orders / website sessions) | Ratio |
| **Simple Conversion Rate** | Orders / sessions using executive summary data | Ratio |
| **Add to Cart Rate** | Percentage of page views that result in add to cart | Ratio |
| **Checkout Initiation Rate** | Percentage of add to carts that proceed to checkout | Ratio |
| **Checkout Completion Rate** | Percentage of checkouts that complete purchase | Ratio |
| **Discount Rate %** | Discounts as percentage of gross revenue | Ratio |
| **Refund Rate %** | Refunds as percentage of gross revenue | Ratio |
| **Email Opt-in Rate** | Percentage of customers opted into email marketing | Ratio |
| **SMS Opt-in Rate** | Percentage of customers opted into SMS marketing | Ratio |
## Cumulative / Period Metrics
| Metric | Description | Type |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ---------- |
| **MTD Net Revenue** | Month-to-date net revenue | Cumulative |
| **MTD Order Count** | Month-to-date order count | Cumulative |
| **MTD New Customers** | Month-to-date new customer acquisitions | Cumulative |
| **MTD Ad Spend** | Month-to-date advertising spend | Cumulative |
| **QTD Net Revenue** | Quarter-to-date net revenue | Cumulative |
| **YTD Net Revenue** | Year-to-date net revenue | Cumulative |
| **Trailing 30 Day Revenue** | Revenue for the last 30 days | Cumulative |
| **Trailing 90 Day Revenue** | Revenue for the last 90 days | Cumulative |
## Product Metrics
| Metric | Description | Type |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | ------ |
| **Total Products** | Total count of unique products in catalog | Simple |
| **Total SKUs** | Total count of product variants/SKUs | Simple |
| **Product Page Views** | Count of product page views | Simple |
| **Product Cost (COGS)** | Total cost of goods sold | Simple |
| **SKUs per Product** | Average number of variants per product | Ratio |
## Legacy Aliases
These metric names are maintained for backward compatibility. **Always use the preferred name for new implementations.**
### Core Aliases
| Alias | Preferred Metric | Description |
| ------ | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| `aov` | `average_order_value_net` | Average Order Value |
| `mer` | `marketing_efficiency_ratio` | Marketing Efficiency Ratio |
| `cac` | `customer_acquisition_cost` | Customer Acquisition Cost |
| `cpc` | `cost_per_click` | Cost Per Click |
| `cpm` | `cost_per_thousand_impressions` | Cost Per Mille |
| `roas` | `return_on_ad_spend` | Return on Ad Spend |
| `ctr` | `click_through_rate` | Click-Through Rate |
| `cpo` | `cost_per_order` | Cost Per Order |
| `cvr` | `conversion_rate` | Conversion Rate |
| `cpa` | `customer_acquisition_cost` | Cost Per Acquisition (same as CAC) |
### AOV Variants
| Alias | Preferred Metric |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| `aov_gross` | `average_order_value_gross` |
| `aov_net_revenue` | `average_order_value_net` |
| `aov_gross_revenue` | `average_order_value_gross` |
| `aov_total_revenue` | `average_order_value_total` |
| `aov_new_customers` | `average_order_value_new_customer_net` |
| `aov_new_customer_net_revenue` | `average_order_value_new_customer_net` |
| `aov_new_customer_gross_revenue` | `average_order_value_new_customer_gross` |
| `aov_new_customer_total_revenue` | `average_order_value_new_customer_total` |
| `aov_repeat_customer_net_revenue` | `average_order_value_repeat_customer_net` |
| `aov_repeat_customer_gross_revenue` | `average_order_value_repeat_customer_gross` |
| `aov_repeat_customer_total_revenue` | `average_order_value_repeat_customer_total` |
### Marketing Variants
| Alias | Preferred Metric |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| `mer_new_customers` | `marketing_efficiency_ratio_new_customers` |
| `cvr_new_customers` | `conversion_rate_new_customers` |
| `platform_roas` | `platform_return_on_ad_spend` |
| `platform_mer` | `platform_marketing_efficiency_ratio` |
| `platform_cpc` | `platform_cost_per_conversion` |
| `platform_rpc` | `platform_revenue_per_conversion` |
| `platform_rpm` | `platform_revenue_per_thousand_impressions` |
| `cpo_platform` | `cost_per_platform_conversion` |
| `cpa_marketing` | `cost_per_platform_conversion` |
Query `dim_semantic_metric_catalog` with `WHERE is_abbreviation = true` to see all available aliases in your warehouse.
## Metric Types
* **Simple**: Direct aggregation of a measure (e.g., SUM of revenue)
* **Ratio**: Division of two metrics (e.g., revenue / orders = AOV)
* **Derived**: Calculation involving other metrics with custom expressions
* **Cumulative**: Running total over a time period (e.g., MTD revenue)
## Discovering More Metrics
The semantic layer includes 180+ metrics across all categories. To explore the complete list:
```sql theme={null}
-- List all metrics by category
SELECT
metric_category,
metric_name,
metric_label,
metric_type
FROM `your_project.sm_metadata.dim_semantic_metric_catalog`
ORDER BY metric_category, metric_name
```
```sql theme={null}
-- Find metrics matching a keyword
SELECT
metric_name,
metric_description,
calculation
FROM `your_project.sm_metadata.dim_semantic_metric_catalog`
WHERE LOWER(metric_name) LIKE '%revenue%'
OR LOWER(metric_description) LIKE '%revenue%'
```
See the [dim\_semantic\_metric\_catalog documentation](/data-activation/data-tables/sm_metadata/dim_semantic_metric_catalog) for more query examples and detailed schema information.