eCommerce Metrics You Should Be Tracking.

To run a successful eCommerce business, you need to track key metrics that will help you measure your progress and performance.

By monitoring these metrics, you’ll be able to identify areas that need improvement and make changes that will improve your eCommerce business.

But what metrics for eCommerce should you be tracking in the first place? Is one metric more important than others?

We’ll answer that and more in this blog post.

CHAPTER one

eCommerce Metrics and KPIs

Before we dive into which metrics you should track from your eCommerce website, let’s first take a step back and define what metrics and KPIs are.

What Are Metrics?

Metrics are simply a way of measuring something.

Metrics are important for eCommerce businesses because they can help to track progress and performance. For example, a metric could be the number of sales made in a month.

Some important metrics for eCommerce businesses include the number of visitors to the website, the number of sales made, the average order value, and the conversion rate. By tracking these metrics, businesses can identify trends and patterns that can be used to improve the overall performance of the business.

Tracking metrics can also help businesses to benchmark their performance against other businesses in the industry.

What are KPIs?

An eCommerce KPI (key performance indicator) is a metric that helps you understand whether you’re achieving your business goals. Without KPIs, it would be difficult to gauge whether your marketing campaigns are successful or if your product is resonating with your target audience.

For example, let’s say you want to increase website sales by 10%. Your KPI could be the percentage of visitors to your website who make a purchase. By tracking this metric, you can see whether your goal is being met and make changes accordingly.

All eCommerce KPIs are metrics, but not all metrics are KPIs.

When choosing a KPI, it is important to select one that is measurable, quantifiable, and actionable.

• A measurable KPI is one that can be tracked and monitored over time. This could include metrics such as website traffic or sales conversion rates
• A quantifiable KPI is one that can be expressed in numerical terms. This could include the number of new customers acquired or the percentage of target market reach
• An actionable KPI is one that can be used to drive business decisions. This could include the rate of customer satisfaction or the number of repeat purchases.

By selecting a KPI with these attributes, businesses can ensure that they are choosing a metric that will provide valuable insights into their performance.

There is no “one size fits all” approach, so take some time to consider what eCommerce metrics will best help you reach your goals.

Vanity Metrics

A vanity metric is a quantitative measure that provides little to no meaningful insights but gives the false impression of progress or success. In other words, vanity metrics are those that make you feel good but don’t actually help you achieve your business goals.

For example, Let’s say you’re trying to grow your e-commerce business. You might be focused on increasing the number of website visitors, the number of social media followers, or the number of email subscribers. These are all vanity metrics because they don’t directly correlate with revenue.

While it’s important to track and improve upon these numbers, it’s even more important to focus on metrics that actually matter to your bottom line such as conversion rate, average order value, or customer lifetime value.

So next time you’re looking at your analytics dashboard, take a step back and ask yourself if the numbers you’re seeing are really helping you move closer to your goals. If not, then it might be time to start focusing on different vanity metrics.

CHAPTER two

The Difference Between Metrics and KPIs

As any business owner knows, setting and achieving goals is essential to success. However, it can be difficult to track progress towards a goal, especially as a company grows and becomes more complex.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics are both tools that businesses use to track their progress. However, there are some important differences between the two.

KPIs are designed to measure progress toward a specific goal, such as increasing sales by 10 percent.

By contrast, metrics are used to measure the overall health of a company. They can provide insights into areas such as customer satisfaction, employee retention, and financial stability.

Businesses often use both KPIs and metrics to get a complete picture of their performance. For metrics and KPIs to be helpful, they need to be measurable. If a metric or KPI can’t be measured, then it’s not helping you track your progress.

CHAPTER three

Why Are Metrics and KPIs Important for eCommerce Businesses?

Now that we know metrics and KPIs, let’s talk about why they’re essential for eCommerce businesses.

• Metrics and KPIs provide a base for analyzing performance. They help determine whether you’re on track to achieve your business goals. You can identify areas that need improvement by tracking the right metrics and making changes accordingly.
• Metrics and KPIs can be used as goals in and of themselves. For example, if your goal is to increase sales by 10% this year, your eCommerce metric could be the number of sales made or the eCommerce revenue generated.
• Metrics can help understand your business customer base. By tracking how customers interact with your website, you can learn a lot about their preferences and habits. This information can then be used to tailor the content of your site to better match their needs.
• Metrics can help you create more targeted marketing campaigns and track your return on investment (ROI). By seeing how much revenue is generated as a result of your business’s marketing efforts, you can make adjustments to ensure that your marketing campaigns are as effective as possible.

Online stores, retailers, and other businesses use eCommerce metrics to gain helpful insights into their business performance.

These insights allow them to recalibrate their strategy and fix their process to improve the business.

CHAPTER four

How To Use Analytics For Your eCommerce Business

In today’s digital age, data is everything. Businesses that can harness the power of data to make informed decisions are the ones that succeed.

If you’re running an eCommerce business, then you need to be using analytics to make sure that you’re making the most of your opportunities. Too many businesses lack a clear understanding of their data, and as a result, they miss out on valuable insights that could help them to improve their performance.

What Are eCommerce Analytics?

eCommerce analytics is the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data about an online business.

eCommerce analytics can provide businesses with valuable insights into shopping trends, customer behavior and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. By understanding what customers want and how they shop, businesses can make more informed decisions about product offerings, pricing and promotions.

eCommerce analytics can also help businesses to identify areas where their website or shopping experience could be improved. By understanding what is happening at every stage of the customer journey, businesses can optimize their eCommerce site to encourage more sales and happier customers.

Why Are eCommerce Analytics Important?

eCommerce analytics are essential for understanding how customers interact with your online store. By tracking data such as page views, add-to-carts, and conversion rates, you can uncover trends and optimize your store to boost sales.

Additionally, eCommerce analytics can help you better understand your customers by tracking their demographics, behaviors, and interests. This information can be used to segment your customer base and create targeted marketing campaigns.

Finally, eCommerce analytics can be used to analyze data from online sales transactions in order to make better business decisions. This data can include things like the number of items sold, the average order value, shipping costs, and return rates.

By tracking this information over time, eCommerce businesses can identify trends and patterns that can help them improve their bottom line.

CHAPTER five

What eCommerce Metrics To Track?

So, you now know what ecommerce metrics are and how important they are to your business.

You want to dive deeper but don’t know where to start. Don’t worry.

When assessing the performance of your eCommerce business, it is important to consider a variety of metrics.

• Traffic and site usage metrics can provide insights into how customers are interacting with the site, while marketing metrics can reveal the effectiveness of promotional campaigns
• Financial metrics, such as sales and revenue, are also critical for understanding the bottom-line impact of e-commerce operations
• Performance metrics, such as customer satisfaction or employee productivity, can also be informative
• Complex metrics like the multi-dimensional scorecards can provide a comprehensive overview of performance by integrating data from multiple sources.

Remember that some of these metrics may not be applicable to your business. Choose and measure the metrics that you think will help your business in the short and long term.

We’ll explain each of them in more detail below.

eCommerce Website Traffic And Site Usage Metrics

Website traffic metrics are measures of the amount of activity on a website.

The most common metric is page views, which counts the number of times a page is loaded by a visitor. Other common metrics include ad views or ad impressions, which measure how many times an advertisement is displayed, and visits, which counts the number of times a site is accessed.

Unique visitors is another common metric, which measures the number of distinct individuals who visit a site over a certain period of time.

Website traffic metrics are typically used to assess the success of a website in terms of its ability to generate interest and attract visitors. They can also be used to identify areas where a website may be struggling, such as in terms of its web design or content.

Site usage metrics provide website owners and administrators with valuable insights about the traffic sources and how their site is being used. By analyzing site usage data, they can identify patterns and trends that can help them to improve the user experience.

For example, spatial usage analysis can reveal which areas of the site are most popular with visitors and where they tend to spend the most time. This information can be used to optimize the layout of the site and ensure that the most important content is more visible.

Temporal site usage analysis can identify when users visit the site and how long they stay. Such information can be useful to correlate with the timing of promotions or website changes to determine their efficacy.

When it comes to website traffic, there are a lot of different metrics that you can track. However, some metrics are more important than others. Here are three of the most important website traffic and site usage metrics:

Sessions

A website session is defined as the period of time a user spends on a website between their first click and their last. It’s a metric that can be used to measure the effectiveness of a website in engaging users and keeping them glued to their screens.

A website’s bounce rate, which is the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page, is also affected by the length of sessions. The longer a user stays on a site, the more likely they are to explore it fully, or make a purchase.

There are several ways to improve website sessions, such as by installing engaging visual elements, offering smooth navigation, and providing compelling content.

By increasing the length of time users spend on your site, you can lower your bounce rate and improve your chances of converting visitors into customers.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to a website who leave the site after viewing only one page.

The bounce rate is one of the most significant eCommerce key metrics because it can indicate a navigation problem on your website.

A high bounce rate might mean that your website’s design is not attractive or user-friendly and that you might need to redesign your website.

The sales funnel stage is also an important factor to consider when evaluating your bounce rate. If people are bouncing at the top of the funnel, it may be a sign that your site isn’t relevant to their needs. However, if they’re bouncing at the bottom of the funnel, it may be a sign that there’s a problem with your checkout process. By understanding where people are bouncing on your site, you can make changes to improve your eCommerce conversion funnel and lower your bounce rate.

Google Analytics is the best way to track your website’s bounce rate.

Google Analytics will show how many people visit your website and how long they stay on each page.

By looking at this data, you can see which pages have high bounce rates and take steps to improve them.

So, if you want to ensure your website is user-friendly and attractive, keep an eye on your bounce rate.

It’s important to note that with the next generation of Google Analytics (GA4), metrics are focused more on events and actions than past versions. The new measurement for tracking will be the percentage of sessions that were not engaged rather than bounce rate.

Christi Carnahan, Digital Strategist

Click Through Rate

Click through rate (CTR) is one of the critical eCommerce metrics you should track.

Click through rates measure the number of clicks your website or ad receives divided by the number of times it is shown.

For example, if your website or ad is shown 1000 times and receives 10 clicks, your CTR would be 1%.

CTR is important because it allows you to see how effectively your website or ad generates interest and clicks from potential customers. A high CTR indicates that people are interested in what you’re offering.

In contrast, a low CTR may suggest that your website or ad needs improvement.

Improving your CTR can significantly impact your business, so it’s worth taking the time to track and improve this metric.

Formula: CTR = (# of Clicks / # of Views/Impressions) x 100

eCommerce Marketing Metrics

An important aspect of digital marketing is understanding and measuring marketing metrics: the performance of marketing campaigns and marketing strategy both for B2C and B2B eCommerce brands.

In the past, marketing metrics were largely based on guesswork and intuition. However, with the advent of CRM systems like HubSpot, and marketing automation tools, sophisticated customer-focused methods have been developed for gathering important marketing information that will improve eCommerce conversion rates.

Marketing metrics can be used to track various aspects of a marketing campaign, such as customer acquisition, net promoter score (NPS), subscription rates, conversion rates, engagement levels, and ROI.

There are many different types of marketing metrics, but some common ones include location analysis, customer profile analysis, and shopping basket analysis.

• Location analysis looks at where customers are located and how this affects their purchase behavior
• Customer profile analysis examines the demographics and psychographics of customers to identify trends and patterns
• Shopping basket analysis tracks the items that customers add to their shopping carts, in order to understand what kind of products they are interested in.

By understanding which KPIs to track and how these metrics interact, eCommerce store owners can make data-driven decisions about their marketing efforts. In today’s competitive marketplace, this is more important than ever before.

eCommerce Financial Metrics

There are a number of different financial metrics related to finance that businesses use to track their performance. Financial metrics are important tools that businesses use to measure their success. The most common financial metrics are revenue, expenses, and ROI (return on investment).

• Revenue is the total amount of money that a business brings in from sales
• Expenses are the costs associated with running the business, such as rent, inventory, and payroll
• ROI is a measure of how much profit a business makes relative to its investment.

While revenue and ROI are certainly important eCommerce metrics, they are by no means the only metrics worth tracking. There are several other important eCommerce financial metrics—such as sales conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, or average order value—that eCommerce businesses should track.

By tracking financial metrics and focusing on conversion rate optimization, businesses can gain a better understanding of their overall financial health and make informed decisions about how to allocate their resources.

Sales Conversion Rate

The sales conversion rate (CVR) is the number of people who bought something on your website out of everyone who visited your website.

So get your website traffic data ready to go to determine how well your eCommerce store is doing!

There are a few reasons why the sales conversion rate is essential:

• To know if site visitors are making a purchase or visiting the site. If you have a low CVR, it could mean that something is wrong with your website, and that’s why people aren’t converting into customers.
• Is your website doing you a service and getting you sales? A low CVR could indicate that something needs to be fixed on your website for it to be more effective in generating sales.
• On the other hand, a high CVR could mean that your website is compelling and brings in a decent amount of sales.

In general, the higher your sales conversion rate, the better. However, there is no magic number that all eCommerce websites should aim for.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your eCommerce sales, it is important to track your CVR over time and look for trends. If you see a sudden drop in your CVR, that could indicate that something on your website needs to be fixed.

Formula: CVR = # of purchases made / # of visitors

Customer Lifetime Value

The customer lifetime value (CTV) is the total amount of money a customer will spend on your website throughout their lifetime.

• There are a few reasons why CTV is important:
• It helps you know how much each customer is worth to your business. This information can be used to make decisions about marketing and product development.
• Knowing your customers’ CTV, you can calculate how much you can afford to spend on acquiring new customers. For example, suppose you know that the average customer pays $100 on your site over their lifetime. In that case, you can spend up to $100 on acquiring a new customer and still break even.

LTV can also help you predict future revenue.

If you know the LTV of your customers, you can estimate how much income you’ll generate in the future based on the number of current customers.

LTV is an essential metric for eCommerce businesses because it helps them understand how much each customer is worth and predict future revenue.

Formula: CTV = Average Value of a Purchase x # of Times the Customer Will Buy Each Year x Average Length of the Customer Relationship (in Years)

Average Order Value

Average Order Value (AOV) is a key eCommerce metric that measures the average amount spent per order.

This metric is critical to track because it can give you insight into the health of your business and help you set realistic goals for revenue growth.

There are a few different ways to calculate AOV. The most common is simply to take your total revenue for a given period and divide it by the number of orders placed during that period.

For example, if your eCommerce store generated $100,000 in sales over a month and you had 10,000 orders during that same timeframe, your AOV would be $10.

While AOV is a reasonably straightforward metric, it can be advantageous in several ways.

Your AOV can give you an idea of how much each sale is worth to your company. This is vital information to have when setting goals for revenue growth.

While AOV is a reasonably simple metric, it can provide valuable insights into the health of your eCmmerce business.

By tracking your AOV over time, you can identify customer spending trends and set realistic revenue growth goals.

Formula: AOV = Total Revenue / Total Number of Orders

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate

This is the percentage of people who add items to their cart but don’t make a purchase. There are a number of reasons why people may abandon their cart, such as high refund and return rates, unexpected shipping costs, or difficulty in checkout.

Tracking this metric is essential because it can give you insights into why people are not completing purchases on your site.

There could be many reasons why this is happening, such as:

• High shipping costs
• Complicated checkout process
• Lack of payment options

By understanding why people are abandoning their carts, you can make changes to your site that will encourage more people to complete their purchases.

Refunds and returns are one of the biggest reasons people abandon their carts. Whether it’s because they’ve changed their mind about the purchase, or they’re not happy with the quality of the product, refunds and returns can discourage people from completing a purchase.

One way to combat this is by offering a small refund or return policy. This shows customers that you’re confident in your product and that you’re willing to stand behind it. Additionally, you can offer loyalty programs that give customers a discount on future purchases. This helps to build customer trust and loyalty, and encourages them to complete their purchase.

To calculate your shopping cart abandonment rate, simply divide the number of abandoned carts by the total number of transactions.

For example, if you had 100 abandoned carts and 1,000 complete transactions, your shopping cart abandonment rate would be 10%.

While a high shopping cart abandonment rate can be frustrating, it’s important to remember that it’s not always bad.

Sometimes people add items to their cart but decide they don’t want them after all.

In these cases, the customer has saved themselves from making a purchase they would have regretted (and possibly returned) later.

Formula: Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate = (# of Completed Purchases / # of Shopping Carts Created) x 100

CHAPTER six

How eCommerce Metrics Dashboard Can Help You Track Metrics and KPIs

An eCommerce metrics dashboard is a collection of metrics that helps eCommerce businesses track and analyze their performance.

The dashboard typically includes a variety of KPIs that can give insights into areas such as website traffic, conversion rate, and customer satisfaction. By tracking these metrics, businesses can identify areas of improvement and make changes that can boost their bottom line.

eCommerce metrics dashboards allow businesses to compare their performance against industry benchmarks, giving them a better idea of where they stand in the marketplace.

With so much valuable data at their fingertips, eCommerce metrics dashboards have become an essential tool for any business looking to stay ahead of the competition.

CHAPTER seven

Use the Right Metrics To Succeed with an eCommerce Business

While there are many different eCommerce metrics you can track, the ones we’ve outlined here are some of the most important for growing your business.

Remember that what matters to one company may not matter as much to another. Hence, it’s essential to tailor your metrics and KPIs accordingly.

But if you want to make sure you’re on the right track, these are great starting points.

Don’t forget to follow our blog for more tips like this!

CHAPTER eight

All About eCommerce

Here are some best practices and further info on eCommerce metrics, web development and web design in general. If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

eCommerce FAQ

Questions about how to optimize your eCommerce metrics? We try to answer them here.

What are the key KPIs for eCommerce?

Any successful eCommerce business needs to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) in order to identify areas of opportunity and maintain a competitive edge.

While there are many different KPIs that can be tracked, some of the most important include conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value (CLTV), customer retention rate, average order value (AOV), and net profit.

By tracking these KPIs, eCommerce businesses can gain valuable insights into their customers’ behavior and make informed decisions about where to focus their efforts to improve their eCommerce success.

By setting benchmarks for each KPI, businesses can track their progress over time and ensure that they are consistently achieving their desired results.

By focusing on key KPIs, eCommerce businesses can ensure that they are making the most of their opportunities and maximizing their profits.

How are eCommerce metrics calculated?

eCommerce metrics can seem complicated, but at their heart, they’re really just a way of measuring how well your online store is performing. There are a number of different metrics that you can track, but some of the most important include conversion rate, average order value, customer retention rate, and customer lifetime value.

• To calculate your conversion rate, simply take the number of visitors to your site and divide it by the number of people who make a purchase
• The average order value is calculated by taking the total value of all orders placed on your site and dividing it by the number of orders
• The customer retention rate measures the percentage of customers who make repeat purchases. The customer retention rate can be calculated by taking the number of returning customers and dividing it by the total number of customers.
• The customer lifetime value is a measure of how much revenue you can expect to generate from each customer over the course of their relationship with your business.

By tracking these metrics, you can get a clear picture of how well your eCommerce business is doing and where you need to make improvements.

What are the eCommerce metrics Shopify owners need to track?

If you’re running a Shopify store, it’s important to track a variety of metrics in order to gauge your website’s performance, conversion rates, and customer experience. Here are some of the most important eCommerce metrics to track:

• Website performance metrics will give you an overview of how your website is performing. Track things like page load times, uptime, and bounce rates
• Conversion metrics will tell you how well your website is converting visitors into customers. Track things like conversion rate, average order value, cart abandonment rate, and customer retention rate.
• Customer experience metrics will tell you how satisfied your customers are with their experience on your website. Track things like customer satisfaction score, net promoter score, and customer churn rate
• Revenue metrics will tell you how much revenue your website is generating. Track things like total sales, gross margin, cost per acquisition (CPA), and customer lifetime value.

Shopify is a great platform for eCommerce businesses, but it’s important to make sure you’re tracking the right metrics in order to ensure success. Our Shopify audit can help you identify which metrics are most important for your business and make sure you’re tracking them effectively. We’ll also provide recommendations on how to improve your tracking methods and ensure you’re getting accurate data.

What are the essential Google Analytics metrics for eCommerce brands?

There are a number of essential metrics that eCommerce brands should track in Google Analytics.

• New visitor conversion rate is a key metric, as it tells you how well your brand is converting first-time visitors into customers
• Cost per acquisition is also important, as it helps you to track the cost of acquiring new customers
• Conversion rate is another key metric, as it tells you the percentage of visitors who are completing a desired action on your website (such as making a purchase)
• On-site search is also important, as it allows you to see what terms visitors are using to search for products on your website
• Pages per session and average session duration tell you how engaged visitors are with your website
• Customer lifetime value is an essential metric for eCommerce brands, as it tells you how much revenue each customer brings in over the course of their relationship with your brand.

By tracking these essential metrics, eCommerce brands can gain valuable insights into their performance and make necessary adjustments to improve customer retention and customer loyalty.

Which is better, WooCommerce or Shopify?

When comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify, there is no clear winner. Each platform has pros and cons, and it comes down to what matters most to you and what you are trying to do with your store. Whether you have a B2B eCommerce site, SaaS, or a beauty brand, you’ll need to dig in deep to understand each eCommerce platform and what it offers. Our article comparing Shopify to WooCommerce is a good place to start.

Can you redesign my website, including the checkout page?

Yes, website redesign is one of our primary specialties. No matter which eCommerce site you’re on, we can redesign your entire site, including the about us page, checkout page, product pages, category pages, and blog.

CHAPTER nine

Further Reading On Website Design and Development

Looking for web development and design inspiration? These articles should help.

• eCommerce Web Design Tips You Need to Boost Sales
• Proven Ways to Boost Your Mobile eCommerce Conversion Rate
• Tips to Make Your eCommerce Business Successful
• Design Essentials for eCommerce Conversion
• Our Approach To WordPress Web Design
• Choosing the Right Product Metrics Using UX Research Process
• Our Top Retail Website Examples
• Understanding Web Design vs Web Development
• Our Top Beauty Website Examples
• Our Shopify Speed Guide Checklist
• Guide to Optimizing Shopify Image sizes
• Our Service Page Layout Examples
• Our Approach to Small Business Website Design
• Best SaaS Websites of 2022
• New Website SEO Foundations
• Our Approach to Startup Website Design and Development
• How To Switch To New Design Agency
• WordPress Performance Optimization Best Practices
• 100 eCommerce Website Design Tips
• How to Use Dynamic Website Content
• All About SaaS Website Design
• How We Approach Drupal Website Design and Development