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KPIs

Edit or delete a KPI

Change a KPI's name or rule from a draft impact check, what a running impact check locks, and what happens to KPIs you no longer use.

In Needlr: Impact check page (a draft), What counts as success
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A KPI is the needle every verdict reads. Once an impact check runs on it, its rule is locked. You change a KPI from a draft, while nothing running uses it.

You can change a KPI's name and its rule. You do it from an impact check that hasn't started yet, a draft. KPIs can't be deleted.

Think of the rules of a game

You can change the rules of football between games. You can't change them in the middle of one: the score would mean nothing. A KPI is the rule that decides the score of an impact check.

When you can change it

Good for
  • The impact check is a draft: saved, not started yet.
  • You're an Owner or an Editor (roles).
  • Needlr counts the KPI itself.
  • No running impact check uses the KPI.
Use something else when
  • The impact check is running or finished. There's no Edit KPI on its page.
  • Google Analytics counts the KPI. Pick another event instead (GA4 events).
  • Another impact check that uses the KPI is running. Needlr refuses the change.

How to edit it

  1. 1Open your project. On the Impact checks tab, find your impact check under Drafts and open it. (In a new impact check, Save as draft under Start measuring makes one.)
  2. 2Open What counts as success and press Edit KPI.
  3. 3Change the Name if you like. Your team sees it everywhere.
  4. 4Choose what counts: a visitor reaches a page, clicks something, submits a form, or your site sends an event.
  5. 5Fill in the sentence. The options are explained below.
  6. 6Read the green line. It says the new rule in plain words.
  7. 7Press Save KPI.
  8. 8The change reaches your site with the next publish to Tag Manager. Starting the impact check publishes it. Or press Publish now on the bar that says a change isn't live yet. Publishing asks for your authenticator code.
Edit KPI
from a draft
Save KPI
Publish
with your code
Counting
the new rule
A changed KPI counts the new way once it's published.

The options in the editor

  • Page address: is exactly, starts with, or contains, then the address, like /thank-you.
  • Button text or CSS selector: the words on the button, or its address in the page code. Button text uses is exactly, starts with, or contains too.
  • A button picked on your site counts only on the page you picked it on. The line under the sentence says so. Press Count them on every page to count it everywhere.
  • Form on page or Form id: any form sent on a page, or one form by its id.
  • Event name: an event your site sends, like purchase.

The editor has no way to pick a button on your site. To count a different button, make a new KPI with Pick it on my site in a new impact check (pick a button).

What happens to impact checks that use it

  • Every impact check that uses the KPI uses the new rule. The editor says so at the top.
  • What was already counted stays. The KPI's history keeps the old counts, and new counts follow the new rule.
  • A running impact check locks it. If one is running on the KPI, Needlr refuses to save and says a running impact check uses it. Stop that impact check first (how), or make a new KPI.
Watch outPlan a before vs after with this KPI later? The weeks before your change were counted with the old rule. If the rule changed a lot, use a new KPI instead (before vs after).

Deleting a KPI

There's no button to delete a KPI. KPIs belong to the project, not to one impact check. When you delete an impact check, its KPI stays, with its history.

A KPI you don't need just waits in the list in step 2. Don't pick it. Needlr keeps counting it, which helps if you ever want to measure a past release with it.

Common mistakes

  • Editing a KPI other drafts use. The change applies to all of them. If only one impact check needs the new rule, make a new KPI.
  • Trying to fix a running impact check's KPI. You can't. Stop it, and run it again with the right KPI.
  • Renaming the button on your site instead. The KPI stops counting. Needlr warns you (KPI health), but it's easier to edit the KPI from a draft or make a new one.

What the video says

A KPI is the needle every verdict reads. Once an impact check runs on it, its rule is locked. You change a KPI from a draft, while nothing running uses it.

Open the draft impact check. Under What counts as success, press Edit KPI. The editor shows the name and the rule as a plain sentence you can change.

Tighten starts with into is exactly, or count clicks on every page instead of just one. The green line reads the new rule back, so there are no surprises.

Save KPI, and the change applies to every impact check using this KPI. It reaches your site with your next publish to Tag Manager, confirmed with your authenticator code.

If any running impact check uses the KPI, Needlr refuses the change. Stop that impact check, or build a new KPI, so a running verdict never measures two different things.

There is no delete button for KPIs. They belong to the project, so deleting an impact check keeps its KPI and history. Treat KPIs as long-term assets: edit rarely, and on purpose.

Read next
Create a KPI
Tell Needlr what to count: a button click, a page, a form, an event from your site, or a Google Analytics event.
A KPI's details
Point at a KPI in step 2 to see what it counts, how often it happened lately, where, which impact checks use it, and to see it on your site.
KPI health and alerts
Needlr checks every hour that each KPI still counts. If one stops, you're told, and the impact checks using it wait.
Rename, start, stop or delete a check
What each button on an impact check does, and which ones can't be undone.