E-commerce Metrics You Need to Track

01/09/2019 | Share:

As an e-commerce business, you’ve got the advantage over brick and mortar stores by being able to take a more data-driven approach to business. E-commerce stores can access metrics that help you measure your performance in a variety of ways – so make sure you’re getting the most out of what e-commerce offers! In this blog post, we cover the crucial e-commerce metrics you need to track, to keep well informed on your online store’s progress.

Sales Conversion Rates

A sales conversion rate is simply the percentage of visitors to your site who actually make a purchase. This is likely your most important metric, as it’s effectively an indicator of how well your website is contributing to sales. If this figure is not what you’d expect, then you need to look at ways to improve your conversion rates, be that through improving your copy, improving image quality, looking into promotion and offers or even performing some SEO.

There may be other useful micro conversions you want to measure, that help lead a visitor to make a purchase. Examples would be signing up to an email list or newsletter, downloading a brochure even installing an app. It can be any action that gets them closer to becoming a customer.

Cart Abandonment Rate

Another key metric to track is your cart abandonment rate. This is the number of visitors who add something to their cart but do not complete a purchase. These customers are the closest to making a sale, so it’s important to focus on lowering this rate as much as you can.

You can do this by making sure your checkout process is simple, with no hidden fees and accepts multiple payment methods. By working on remarketing and/or cart abandonment emails, you can encourage this specific audience to make a purchase after they’ve left your site, for example by offering free shipping in a follow-up email.

Bear in mind, that the average cart abandonment rate is around 70%, which is quite a depressing and challenging figure to overcome!

Traffic Sources

You need to be able to know where your website traffic is coming from. It provides you with insights on where and how you’re garnering interest in your site.

If you only offer to ship within the UK and you’re gaining considerable traffic from elsewhere, you may want to consider looking into Ogden’s fulfilment options. If most of your traffic is coming through social, you can use that information to decide whether you want to increase your efforts or diversify.

Average Acquisition Cost

This e-commerce metric measures the cost of acquiring a new customer. Tracking total sales is one thing, but this metric helps with calculating profits. You could make £1 million in a single day but if it costs you more than that to acquire them, you’ll have made a loss that day. You need to take into account every expense you’re making to ensure you get a return on investment (ROI).

Average order value (AOV)

Your average order value is another crucial metric for any e-commerce store, with ties in well with average acquisition cost. With the right analytics setup, you can track sales conversions and their value in different currencies. By taking your total revenue and dividing it by the total number of orders you can calculate the average value of your orders for any given time period. With this figure, you can take steps to try and increase it, and use your analytics data to measure its progress.

Email Marketing Metrics

Aside from on-site metrics, another useful metric to look at is related to your email marketing efforts. You want to check that your emails are being opened and that they’re being clicked on to drive repeat customers to your site.

A low open rate means that people aren’t interested in hearing from you, or they’re not exciting enough. The worst-case scenario is that they’re going into junk or spam. Consider making subject lines and preview text more interesting, concise and less spammy.

Low click rates mean your emails might not be delivering on what they promise or what you’re offering is not interesting enough. Ensure there’s a genuine and exciting reason to take action through your emails.