Business type — DTC or SaaS orientation in Admaxxer

What is "business type"?

"Business type" is the answer to the first question Admaxxer asks during onboarding. After you create an account, the very first screen presents two tiles: DTC or SaaS. Pick the one that matches your headline business model and Admaxxer:

• Saves your answer as the workspace's business type (one of two values: DTC or SaaS).
• Auto-suggests the right KPI presets for the workspace (you can change them later from any dashboard's edit mode).
• Filters the commerce-platform picker on the integrations page so SaaS workspaces see Stripe / Paddle / Lemon Squeezy / Polar first, and DTC workspaces see Shopify / WooCommerce.
• Branches the dashboard, Marketing Acquisition ribbon, empty-state tiles, and Get Connected hero copy — explained in the next section.

The splitter is a one-time onboarding step but the value persists on the workspace forever. You can change it at any time from the Workspace settings (see "How do I change my business type" below).

How does it affect my dashboard?

Four surfaces branch on your business type. The table below lists what each one renders for each orientation. Every surface re-reads your setting on switch, so changing your business type updates all four within one render cycle — no reload required.

The data ingest underneath is identical for both orientations — pixel events, Stripe webhooks, Shopify webhooks, ad-platform syncs all land in the same tables regardless. Only the presentation layer branches. That means switching your business type is safe — you'll never lose data and you can switch back without consequence.

How does Admaxxer pick between your business type and a per-site KPI?

Admaxxer has TWO ways to express orientation, and it picks between them with a clear priority order:

1. Per-site override wins. If you set an explicit headline KPI on the active pixel site, Admaxxer uses it. The mapping is: MRR or Signups → SaaS, Revenue or Goal → DTC (Signups is a SaaS KPI: free product / waitlist, paid signups via Stripe Checkout).
2. Workspace business type next. If no per-site override is set, Admaxxer falls back to your workspace's business type (the Phase 0 onboarding answer). Direct 1:1 mapping: DTC → DTC metrics, SaaS → SaaS metrics.
3. Default to DTC. Older workspaces created before the onboarding splitter shipped, or workspaces where neither is set, land on DTC. This keeps the most popular orientation as the safe default.

The "per-site wins" rule exists because a single workspace can host multiple pixel sites with different KPIs — for example, an agency-style operator might track one MRR product and one one-time-purchase product from the same Admaxxer workspace. The workspace-level business type sets the default for new sites and the dashboard's primary KPI strip; the per-site headline-KPI override lets you label individual sites differently when you need to.

Every surface that branches on orientation — the dashboard KPI ribbon, the Marketing Acquisition sticky ribbon, the empty-state preview tiles, and the Get Connected hero — reads the same single source of truth, so they always agree.

How do I change my business type after onboarding?

Two paths depending on whether you want the change to apply at the workspace level (all sites) or just one specific pixel site:

Workspace-level change (all sites)

Open Settings › Workspace and pick a new value from the Business type dropdown. The change saves immediately and all four surfaces (dashboard ribbon, MA ribbon, empty-state tiles, Get Connected hero) reflect the new orientation on next render — no reload required. You can switch back at any time without consequence; underlying data is unaffected because the ingest is identical for both orientations.

Per-site override (one specific site)

Open /dashboard/sites/:id/settings and pick a value from the Default KPI dropdown. Per-site KPI takes precedence over workspace business type, so this is the right path when you have one workspace hosting multiple pixel sites with different KPI shapes (e.g., one MRR product and one one-time-purchase product).

How to switch business type — step by step

1. Open Settings from the user menu in the top-right corner of any Admaxxer page.
2. Pick the Workspace tab.
3. Find the Business type dropdown (under the workspace name and slug).
4. Select your new orientation: DTC (product sales) or SaaS (subscription revenue or signup-based monetization).
5. The change saves automatically. The dashboard, Marketing Acquisition page, and Get Connected hero will reflect the new orientation immediately — refresh once if you want to be sure.
6. For a per-site override (one specific pixel site only), go to /dashboard/sites/:id/settings and pick a value from the Default KPI dropdown. Per-site override wins over workspace business type.

Related Admaxxer documentation

• Install Admaxxer on a custom SaaS website — the end-to-end install for SaaS workspaces: pixel + Signup goal + identify + Stripe customer.subscription.* events.
• Dashboard analytics card reference — maps every card on /dashboard/analytics to its analytics pipeline and explains semantics + empty-state causes.
• Dashboard customization — edit mode, saved views (personal vs shared), keyboard shortcuts. Switch KPI presets per saved view.
• Marketing Acquisition deep-dive — the unified Sources & Attribution table where the sticky ribbon lives.
• Stripe revenue connector — for SaaS workspaces wiring the subscription-lifecycle goals.
• Metric Glossary — canonical definitions (formulas + sources) for every KPI Admaxxer surfaces, including MRR, ARR, Trial → Paid, MER, CAC efficiency.
• Admaxxer for SaaS (marketing landing) — the SaaS-specific marketing surface with MRR by channel, trial-to-paid by source, CAC payback by cohort.

FAQ

What if I sell BOTH products and subscriptions?

Pick the one that's your headline business. If MRR is what your investors track and what defines your growth, choose SaaS. If you sell mostly one-time products with a few subscriptions on the side, choose DTC. The site-level KPI override at /dashboard/sites/:id/settings lets you mark individual pixel sites differently — so you can have your headline business as SaaS at the workspace level and mark a specific landing-page site as DTC if it sells one-time products.

What if I'm an agency?

Use the workspace switcher (top-left of any Admaxxer page) to create separate workspaces per client or per brand. Each workspace picks its own business type independently, so you can run a SaaS client and a DTC client side-by-side with no orientation collisions. Agency = multi-workspace, not a distinct orientation — the workspace switcher already gives you the right mental model.

What if I run lead generation or B2B sales (no MRR, no one-time products)?

Pick SaaS as your business type. We folded the original separate "Leads" orientation into SaaS in 2026-05-22 because the data path is identical — Stripe subscription events, custom goals (demo-booked, qualified-lead, newsletter-signup), and pixel sessions all flow into the same revenue rollup. Custom goals are the right primitive for any signup-style conversion. Subscribe to the changelog at /changelog for a future dedicated lead-source-quality breakout.

Does business type affect my data ingest?

No. Pixel events, Stripe webhooks, Shopify webhooks, and ad-platform syncs are all collected the same way regardless of your business type. Only the dashboard presentation branches. Switching your business type is safe — you'll never lose data and you can switch back at any time without consequence.

Will the SaaS tiles show real data on day 1?

For Stripe customers, yes. Stripe customer.subscription.* webhooks feed the subscription rollup directly — no extra phase or migration required. MRR / ARR / Active subscriptions / Trial → Paid all populate as soon as the Stripe restricted-key paste-token is connected and at least one subscription event lands. Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, and Dodo follow the same pattern.

Do I need to install the pixel before I see SaaS tiles?

No. Empty-state preview tiles + ribbon labels swap based on your business type even before the pixel is installed — so a brand-new SaaS workspace sees MRR / ARR / Active subs / Trial → Paid labels in the empty-state preview even before any data lands. Live data arrives when pixel + Stripe (or pixel + Paddle / Lemon Squeezy / Polar / Dodo) are connected and start producing subscription-lifecycle events. The empty state is a preview, not a placeholder — it reflects the same orientation as the live dashboard.

Where do I set my business type, and how does the per-site KPI relate?

Your business type is a workspace setting with two values — DTC or SaaS — under Settings › Workspace. You can also set a headline KPI per pixel site under that site's settings; when set, the per-site KPI wins over the workspace business type for that site, and anything left unset falls back to DTC. One workspace default, optional per-site overrides, DTC as the safe fallback.

Ready to ship?

If you're a SaaS founder, the most important next step after picking SaaS as your business type is wiring the Stripe restricted-key paste-token so the Trial Started / Trial Converted / Subscription Cancelled / Trial Ending Soon goals start firing. Walk through /documentation/install/saas for the 5-step install. If you're a DTC merchant, head to /documentation/install/shopify for the Shopify install path. If you're running lead generation or B2B sales, pick SaaS too and use custom goals to track form fills and demo bookings.

Pick your business type now · Admaxxer for SaaS (marketing) · Browse all install paths · Custom goals