There are hundreds of different metrics website owners can uses to track a website’s performance – Unique visitors, Facebook shares, keyword searches, referring sites, entry pages, time on page, and many many more. You don’t need expensive charting software or an advanced degree in statistics to understand what they mean but with the overwhelming amount of data available it’s tough to know what stats are important to keep track of and how it figures into the big picture of your ecommerce business’s success. For both new and experianced e-commerce buisness owners, there are 5 key metrics that are essential to help you get a clear picture of where you are at and help us see where you are heading.
- Conversion Rate: The corner stone of measuring your online business, conversion is the number of visitors converted into buyers. It is important to note that conversion isn’t limited to just your website traffic. Evaluating the conversion rates for your various advertising sources, email campaigns, and promotions to understand what was most effective in driving sales so you can plan accordingly.
- Value Per Visit: An often overlooked statistic, this data point helps you understand the value of each and every visitor to your website. Calculate value per visit by dividing the revenue of your site by the number of visitors over a given period of time. Value per visit is very helpful in guiding decisions around advertising and in calculating the return on your marketing investment.
- Average Order Size: Once you know what the value of each visitor is you’ll want to know about the value of an average sale. Divide the revenue by the number of transactions and you’ll discover how much each customer delivers to the bottom line. Finding ways to increase your average order size can help grow your buisness. It can be as simple as offering free shipping at a certain dollar amount or volume discounts to your customers.
- Cart Abandonment Rate: Now you know your average order value. You how many people came to your site. But do you know how many almost purchased? How many people make it to checkout only to bounce without making a purchase? Cart abandonment is some of the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to driving sales. And there are even automated tools, like those offered by Shopify, that can automatically help you recapture those customers
- Gross Margin: Revenue is your bottom line or the amount of money your store has taken in over a period of time. After the bills are paid, how much is left in your coffers? Keeping an eye on your gross margin, or the difference between your revenue and the cost of goods sold, is important as you look to reinvest profits for growth in the new year.
If you can keep an eye on the metrics that matter you will get insights into what is working and discover opportunities for improvement. For more information on how Battalion Commerce can help you make the most of these metrics, check out our eCOM|eVAL service, which includes a complete review of these metrics and other essential functions of your business in an in-depth report that includes actionable steps and suggestions.
