When you log into WordPress, the Dashboard is the first thing you see. Tracksies HQ adds two widgets to that page — Tracksies Store Intel and Customer Notes — so the most important signals about your store and your customers are right there before you’ve clicked anything.
Think of it like the instrument panel in your car. You don’t need to pop the bonnet to know how fast you’re going or whether you need fuel. Dashboard widgets give you that same at-a-glance awareness for your store.
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Why This Matters
Your WordPress Dashboard normally shows WordPress news and a quick draft box — not exactly helpful when you’re running a store. These widgets put your most important numbers and notes front and centre so you can spot what needs attention the moment you log in:
- Orders sitting in the queue waiting to be packed
- How your customer lifetime value is tracking
- Unread notes customers have left for your store
- How your customer tag distribution is shaping up
Without these widgets, you’d need to click through to several different pages to get the same picture. This saves you time every single morning.
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Before You Start
There’s nothing to configure here — the widgets appear automatically based on what’s active:
- Tracksies Store Intel appears when the WooCommerce module is enabled in Tracksies and WooCommerce is active on your site.
- Customer Notes appears when the Interactions feature (
hq.interactions) is enabled and your user role has permission to view customer interactions.
If you don’t have WooCommerce running, there’s no store data to show, so the Store Intel widget stays out of the way. If the Interactions feature is off, the Customer Notes widget doesn’t appear either.
(Trustie has its own Intel widget if you’re using Trustie Pro — it lives in Trustie Pro’s plugin and shows review activity. This page only covers HQ’s widgets.)
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Where to Find Them
Both widgets live on your WordPress Dashboard — the page you land on when you first log in. To get there at any time, click Dashboard > Home in the left sidebar of your WordPress admin.
The widgets show up alongside the default WordPress widgets. You can rearrange them by grabbing the title bar of any widget and dragging it where you want it. Want Store Intel at the very top? Drag it there.
If you can’t see the widgets and you’re sure the right plugins are active, click Screen Options in the top right corner of the Dashboard page, then tick the checkbox next to Tracksies Store Intel (and Customer Notes if you have Interactions enabled). Click Screen Options again to close the panel.
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Tracksies Store Intel
This widget shows you the numbers that matter most for day-to-day store operations. It’s split into three sections.
Stats Grid
Four key numbers displayed at a glance:
- Avg LTV — the average lifetime value across all your customers. This tells you, on average, how much a customer relationship is worth to your business over time. It’s one of the most important metrics for understanding whether your marketing and retention efforts are paying off.
- Awaiting Packing — orders currently in “Processing” status, ready to be packed. This is your “what needs doing right now” number. If this is climbing, it’s time to get packing.
- Awaiting Shipping — orders in “Packed” status, waiting for the courier. These are packed and ready to go — they need a shipping label and a ride.
- Shipped This Week — how many orders were completed in the last 7 days. A quick pulse check on fulfilment velocity. If this number is low compared to your usual volume, something might be slowing down the pipeline.
Tag Breakdown
This section appears when customer tags are enabled in your Tracksies settings. It shows how many customers hold each tag, grouped by channel (Commitment, Tenure, Value, Price Sensitivity, Engagement). Each tag displays its label, customer count, and the custom colour you’ve assigned to it.
This gives you a feel for how your customer base is distributed across the tag channels. If your top-tier commitment tag has very few members but your lowest tier is packed, that might tell you something about your retention strategy.
If you haven’t set up tags yet or the tags feature is turned off, this section won’t appear. Head to Customer Tags to get started.
Action Links
At the bottom of the widget, you’ll find two quick links:
- View Customers — takes you to the Tracksies > Customers page where you can dive into individual customer profiles
- View Orders — takes you to the WooCommerce > Orders page to jump straight into order management
About the Data
The widget uses a 5-minute cache to keep your Dashboard loading quickly. When an order status changes, a new customer is created, or tags are updated, the cache is automatically cleared so the numbers refresh on your next visit.
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Customer Notes
This widget surfaces unread customer notes — the messages your customers have left through My Account or that you’ve logged to a customer’s profile with customer-visibility enabled. It’s the companion to the Store Intel widget: stats on one side, conversations on the other.
Unread Count
The top of the widget tells you how many unread customer notes are waiting, pluralised sensibly (“3 unread customer notes” / “1 unread customer note”). If there are no unread notes, the widget reads “No unread customer notes.” and stops there.
Recent Unread Notes
Below the count, the widget lists up to 5 recent unread notes. For each one you see:
- The customer’s name (or email, if no name is on file)
- A preview of the note content (first ~80 characters)
- How long ago it was left (e.g., “3 days ago”)
Clicking the customer’s name takes you straight to their profile, where you can read the full note in the interaction timeline and reply or take action.
Auto-read: the notes that appear in this widget are automatically marked as read for your user account the moment they display. So the widget always shows you what’s new since you last looked, without requiring a manual “mark read” action.
Action Link
A View All Customer Notes button at the bottom opens the filtered Interactions view pre-set to customer-added notes that are still unread.
Permissions
The widget is only rendered for users with the tracksies_view_interactions capability. That’s typically administrators, shop managers, and the custom Tracksies Manager role. Staff without that capability won’t see the widget even if the Interactions feature is on.
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Common Questions
Can I hide a widget?
Yes. Click Screen Options in the top right corner of the Dashboard page and untick the widget you want to hide. It’s still there — it’s tucked away until you want it back.
Can I rearrange the widgets?
Yes. Grab any widget by its title bar and drag it to the position you prefer. WordPress remembers your layout, so it’ll stay where you put it next time you log in.
Can non-admin users see the widgets?
Store Intel shows for users with the manage_woocommerce capability. Customer Notes shows for users with the tracksies_view_interactions capability. In practice, that means administrators, shop managers, and the Tracksies Manager role. Customers and subscribers won’t see them.
Why does the tag breakdown show nothing?
The tag breakdown only appears when the tags feature is enabled and at least one tag has been configured and awarded to a customer. If you haven’t set up tags yet, head to Customer Tags to get started.
Why does Customer Notes say “no unread notes” when a customer just messaged me?
The auto-read behaviour marks notes as read once they appear in your widget. If you opened your Dashboard earlier today and saw the note, it’s already marked read for your user account. Head to the Customer Notes doc or the Interactions view to see the full history.
The numbers seem wrong?
Store Intel data updates when orders sync to customer profiles. If you’ve recently made changes — like updating order statuses or processing refunds — give it a few minutes for the 5-minute cache to refresh. The underlying sync needs to catch up, and then the widget will show the updated numbers on your next page load.
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Troubleshooting
Widget not appearing on the Dashboard
Open Screen Options in the top right corner of the Dashboard page and check that the widget is ticked. If it’s not listed at all, confirm that Tracksies HQ is activated under Plugins > Installed Plugins in the left sidebar, and that the WooCommerce module is enabled in Tracksies > Settings > Features.
All Store Intel numbers show 0
The initial sync may not have completed yet — especially if you’ve recently activated Tracksies. Head to Tracksies > Customers in the left sidebar and check whether customer profiles are populating. Once profiles start appearing, the widget numbers will follow.
Widget appears but looks broken or unstyled
Clear your browser cache and try a hard refresh. On most browsers, that’s Ctrl+Shift+R (or Cmd+Shift+R on Mac). Cached CSS from a previous version can sometimes cause display issues after an update.
Customer Notes widget not showing
Check two things: (1) the Interactions feature (hq.interactions) is enabled in Tracksies > Settings > Features, and (2) your WordPress user has the tracksies_view_interactions capability. Administrators and shop managers get this by default; other roles may need to be granted it explicitly. If both are fine, check Screen Options on the Dashboard to make sure the widget hasn’t been unticked.
Numbers aren’t updating after I make changes
Store Intel uses a 5-minute cache. After making changes (updating orders, changing statuses), the cache clears automatically — but the widget won’t show updated numbers until you refresh the Dashboard page. If numbers still look stale after a refresh, the underlying data sync may still be processing. Give it a few minutes and check again.