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How to create metrics

Metrics in TheyDo are built once in the Metrics library, then reused wherever you need them. You create a base metric that defines what is measured and where the data comes from, then create metric cards from it: filtered views for a region, a time range, or an interval that you place on journeys. This article covers creating a base metric, connecting its data, adding dimensions, and turning it into cards.

Note: You need metric edit permission to create metrics. If you are connecting a third-party integration (Qualtrics, Medallia, Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, or Amazon S3), make sure it is configured in your workspace settings first.

Why metrics start in the Library

Every metric lives in the Metrics library, and that is deliberate. The most common way a workspace gets messy is teams each creating their own version of the same KPI, so "NPS" exists five times with five slightly different definitions and nobody can compare anything.

Building in the Library first avoids that. One base metric holds the definition, the connection, and the owner. Everything else, including every regional cut, every time range, and every chart on a journey, is a view of that same base metric rather than a copy of it. Change the definition once and it changes everywhere.

So before you create a metric, search the Library for it. If it already exists, create a metric card from it instead of a new metric.

Create a base metric

A base metric is the record that defines the measurement itself. It is what you see as a top-level row in the Metrics library.

  1. Go to Metrics in the main navigation.
  2. Click + Metric in the top right.
  3. Give the metric a clear, unambiguous name. Include what it measures, not just its acronym, if there is any chance of confusion.
  4. Set Type: NPS, CSAT, CES, or Other for a custom numeric metric.
  5. Set Source: manual or CSV, or a connected integration.
  6. Set Owner: the person responsible for keeping the metric current.
  7. Optionally set a Target: a numeric goal and the direction that counts as good.
  8. If you chose Other as the type, define the unit (%, currency, seconds, or a count) and the aggregation method (average or sum).
  9. Complete any connection fields required by your chosen integration.

Note: Working inside a journey and need a metric that does not exist yet? Click Create metric source there and TheyDo takes you to the Metrics library to set it up, so the metric still starts in the one place it belongs. Tip: Set type, source, and connection carefully before any data arrives. Once data points exist, these fields lock.

Choose where the data comes from

Manual metrics. You or the metric owner enter values by hand. Each data point is a number tied to a date, and a date can hold only one data point.

  1. Open the base metric.
  2. Go to the Details tab.
  3. Add each data point with its value and date.

Integration metrics. Data syncs automatically from a connected source: Qualtrics, Medallia, Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, or Amazon S3. Select the integration as the source when you create the metric and complete the connection fields. From then on the metric updates without anyone exporting anything.

CSV. For larger sets of data, or several metrics at once, import from a file. See How to import metrics from a CSV file for the full import flow, including column mapping and the review step that catches errors before anything lands.

Add dimensions

Dimensions are the categorical attributes in your data, such as region, channel, brand, or product line. They are what let one base metric serve many segments: instead of creating "CSAT France" and "CSAT Germany" as separate metrics, you add Region as a dimension and filter it per card.

You can designate up to five columns in your data as dimensions. Dimensions are available for metrics connected to a data warehouse (BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks), Amazon S3, Qualtrics, Medallia, and CSV import.

Note: Dimensions have to be configured when you first create the base metric. Adding dimensions to a metric that does not already have them requires resetting the metric, so decide on your dimensions up front. See What are metric dimensions? for the full picture.

Create metric cards

A metric card is a saved configuration of a base metric: a chosen dimension value, time range, interval, and chart setting. Cards are what you place on journeys, and they are how the same metric serves different audiences without being duplicated.

  1. Go to the Metrics library.
  2. Find the base metric you want to build from.
  3. Click the arrow next to it to expand its cards.
  4. Click Create metric card.
  5. Configure the card: dimension value, time range, interval, and chart settings.
  6. Give it a name that says what it shows, for example "CSAT, France, monthly".

The card appears nested under its base metric in the library, ready to place on any journey. You can also create cards from a journey's Metrics tab. See How to link metrics to other building blocks.

Tip: When you open a card and adjust its time frame or interval, Save for everyone updates the shared default for that card, and Discard reverts to the previous default. Use this to keep a card consistent for the whole team rather than leaving each person to reconfigure it.

Place a metric card on a journey

Drag a metric card from the Metrics library onto the journey canvas, into a metrics lane cell, or into the root metrics row above the phases. Dragging a base metric instead of a card creates a default card automatically, which is a quick way to get started but worth naming properly afterwards.

See How to link metrics to other building blocks for the full set of options.

Tips

  • Search before you create. A near-duplicate metric is harder to clean up than it is to avoid.
  • One base metric, many cards. If two things share a definition and differ only by filter, they are one metric with two cards.
  • Always describe custom (Other) metrics: what it measures, the formula, and what is included or excluded. Whoever inherits it will need this.
  • Check the Journeys tab on a metric to see everywhere it is currently placed before you change or archive it.
  • Give every metric an owner. An unowned metric goes stale quietly.

Further reading