Main metrics that you need to track e-commerce project

Key metrics are very important for identifying weaknesses in your online business and finding areas in which you can increase your profits. This is the first step in order to identify those actions that bring the most benefit to your project and avoid wasting resources for carrying out activities with bad returns in the context of business revenues. But what indicators should be observed?

We at PayOnline , which organizes payments on the Internet, have prepared an article for you that discusses important e-commerce indicators. Thanks to their careful tracking, you will be able to get more information and thereby make the right informed decisions about your online project.

1. The conversion rate for the purchase

A vital (for your project) parameter to track the performance of your online business. This indicator is formed when a visitor to your site takes the action to which you encourage him. In this case, such an action is the purchase of a particular product in your online store.
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Conversion Rate in% = Purchases / Visitors * 100

In fact, we determine the percentage of visitors to your online store who end up buying something, and this parameter just shows whether you have those products that people want to buy.

Another graceful technique that allows you to better understand the behavior and needs of visitors is the distribution of potential buyers into specific categories (for example, according to demographic data, channels for incoming traffic, time of purchase, etc.) and identifying those groups that give the best conversion rate.

2. Repurchase rate

The conversion rate alone does not allow you to see the full picture. You can have a lot of "one-time" buyers who will never return to the site. Conversely, you can observe a group of loyal customers who regularly return to your online store for new purchases.

Analyzing the re-purchase rate will help you determine if you need to invest additional funds in marketing activities such as acquiring new or retaining existing customers. If you notice that the number of buyers remains stable, and the number of orders increases, it is likely that you have a group of loyal customers. At the same time, you can invest in attracting new customers.

According to RJMetrics , the best online stores get more than 50% of their income from “returning” customers. In order to calculate your re-purchase rate, take the number of new customers for a certain period (say, January 2016) and divide it by the number of users who went back to your website and placed a second order within 90 days.

3. The average cost of the contents of the basket

In addition to data on the number of people making purchases from you, and the frequency of ordering, you also need to know how much they spend on your website.

The average cost of shopping in a cart is the total cost of the goods that people buy during one session. When you again resort to the distribution of customers into separate categories in your analysis, you may find that one advertising campaign boosts sales and another recession.

Average Basket Content Value = Total Revenue / Number of Orders

However, despite the fact that you want to get as high as possible the average cost of the contents of the basket, you still need to compare your total income with the costs that were used to achieve this level of income, and then you will get a profit.

This will help you identify your most profitable campaigns and provide information on where to invest your investments in such a way that they bring maximum profit.

4. Indicator of pending orders

This parameter is opposite to the conversion rate and represents the percentage of people who do not complete the checkout process.

The process of placing an order consists of several actions that must be carried out before clicking on the "Buy" button. And here it is very important to analyze the process of placing an order in order to understand which of the steps people leave your online store. This will help you identify the factors that should be optimized.

5. The cost of acquiring customers

Ideally, the less you spend on acquiring new customers, the better! Knowing exactly the amount that went to attract customers, you can understand whether you are on the right course to build a profitable business.

Customer acquisition cost = Marketing and Sales Costs / Number of Customers

Knowing the cost of acquiring customers, you can make more informed decisions when planning your marketing activities when you have on hand a measure of the average income per client.

6. Average income per client

Actually, the name of this indicator speaks for itself - it shows how much income you get from your customers.

Average income per client = Income / Number of clients

When you know your income, you need to explore ways to increase the conversion rate and the average cost of purchases in the cart, and also to identify those things that should be optimized to reduce the percentage of pending orders.

Learn more about increasing conversions here: 6 ways to improve your conversion rate .

7. Cost of keywords and search terms

The search engine is the best friend of your future customer when searching for products; 30.5% of all traffic comes from organic search on Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines. If you decide to invest in attracting more traffic to the search engines, then you should determine the value of your main keywords and search terms.

Ideally, you should focus on the least expensive keywords that generate the most revenue, while closing down unprofitable campaigns that use expensive keywords. In addition, you can pay attention to improving the organic ranking of your most expensive keywords.

8. Indicator of purchases from the list of recommended products

A simple way to increase the average cost of shopping in a basket is to establish a recommendation system that will encourage additional purchases.

A simple solution to this issue is integration of the recommendation engine into your selling website using a third-party provider (for example, Nosto ).

However, do not forget to closely monitor the number of purchases from the list of recommended products and the income that you receive from this.

9. The ratio of the number of clicks on the link received by e-mail, to the number of its hits

Yes, email is still working! According to the Custora survey, email marketing in online business attracts more than 7% of customers and is the second most effective channel (immediately following the search).

To evaluate the effectiveness of your email marketing, you need to track the ratio of the number of people clicking on your selling website from the advertising list to the total number of customers you are seeking to attract through this channel.

Also, keep in mind that the bounce rate from your subscription is an indicator of how relevant your newsletter is.

Collecting and analyzing your indicators should become a habit - only then can you get a good idea of ​​how your website works and identify areas for improvement.

Bonus: lifehacks for e-commerce

Keep a blog

Basically, every e-commerce site should have a blog. Blogging is not necessarily a direct way to generate traffic (although this is, of course, also possible), but it is a great way to increase the trust and credibility of your company. A blog should be targeted at your reader. Stamping endless streams of poor quality SEO content is not at all what your company needs. High-quality, thematic materials - the first step to the trust of users and business growth.

Publish custom content

Custom content plays a big role in the product promotion system on the site and is used by many large retailers. For example, Amazon products have hundreds of reviews, thousands of reviews, recommendations, etc. For small retailers, one of the most important assets is the customer base. So why not try sending an email to new customers asking them to review? If you give an incentive to the user (for example, a discount for the next order), you will get a good response speed and a lot of new reviews.

Do your own video reviews

Videos are perceived much easier than the usual textual description, and you can use them to show how the product looks in reality, how it manifests itself in action.

Do not forget about social media

All the life hacks described above are aimed at creating content that deserves to be seen. Engage in the promotion of your site on social networks, and soon you will receive a group of customers who will appreciate your brand and tell your friends and subscribers about it. If you sell physical goods, photos of which can be published on Instagram, do it.

Do not force users to register on the site

Do not force users to register on the site or log in to the system account on the social network. According to experts of the Nielsen Norman Group, forced registration is one of the main killers of conversion. Indicate on the main page that site visitors have the opportunity to create an account, but this is not mandatory. Remind them that they do not have to create an account in order to make a purchase on your site (even if you highlight some of the benefits of creating an account).

Design a loyalty program

The loyalty program forces customers to return to your store again and again, because they feel gratitude for choosing your company. Give the buyer an incentive to spend more money by offering a decent reward.

Post prepared by PayOnline , which organizes payments on the Internet. Using materials Paymill . We invite you to follow our blog - we promise a lot of interesting posts!