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15+ Most Important Ecommerce Metrics to Measure

arpith49
strategy

Data-driven insights are the key to unlocking sustainable growth and profitability. As online sales continue to soar, meticulously tracking and optimizing the right ecommerce metrics has become a mission-critical endeavor. From conversion rates to customer lifetime value, these performance indicators hold the power to illuminate your path to success.


Establishing a Strategic Foundation

Before delving into the specific metrics, it's crucial to establish a solid strategic foundation. Determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) that wield the most significant influence over your ecommerce business's overarching objectives. While metrics assess the progress of every activity, KPIs demonstrate your effectiveness in achieving specific goals.


To identify the most essential metrics, ask yourself these guiding questions:


1. Impact on the Bottom Line: How much would a change in a particular metric affect your ecommerce site's profitability?


2. Strategic Alignment: Will focusing on this metric help you achieve your strategic goals?


3. Interconnectivity: Are these metrics likely to positively influence other related metrics?


conv rate funnel

Remember, each organization has its unique set of ecommerce KPIs to monitor and evaluate regularly to enhance their product offerings, customer experience, and overall performance.


The Ecommerce Metrics Funnel

To streamline your analysis, we've categorized the essential ecommerce metrics into three distinct stages of the sales funnel:


  1. Awareness & Consideration Metrics

  2. Ecommerce Conversion Metrics

  3. Customer Retention & Advocacy Metrics


Let's explore each stage in detail.


1. Awareness & Consideration Metrics

Before conversions can occur, you must attract potential customers to the top of the funnel. These metrics measure the effectiveness of your brand awareness and consideration efforts.


Total Sessions

sessions

At the foundation lies the total sessions metric, which represents the number of new potential customers interacting with your ecommerce site. Tracking total sessions is crucial for evaluating both short- and long-term success.


Sessions by Source

source

Not all traffic sources are created equal. Breaking down sessions by source allows you to identify your highest-performing channels, enabling you to strategically scale organic and paid traffic acquisition efforts.


New vs. Returning Visitors

new vs return

The majority of conversions rarely occur on the first visit. Monitoring new versus returning visitors provides insights into the effectiveness of your retargeting and email marketing campaigns in bringing customers back to your ecommerce store.


Social Media Engagement

sme

If social media is a primary traffic source, tracking engagement metrics across platforms can reveal the types of content that resonate with your audience. Metrics like subscribers, likes, comments, and shares offer valuable insights.


Top Organic Keywords

organic keywords

While many ecommerce businesses focus on paid traffic, ranking for organic keywords can generate significant returns on investment (ROI). Monitoring organic traffic from keywords with a rank tracker is essential for evaluating search engine optimization (SEO) performance.


Email Opt-Ins

email opt in

Email marketing often delivers one of the highest ROIs for both first-time and repeat purchases. Tracking email opt-ins, either through your email provider's analytics or conversion goals in Google Analytics, is crucial for measuring the success of this channel.


2. Ecommerce Conversion Metrics

Once you've built brand awareness and driven traffic to your site, the next step is to optimize your ecommerce conversion funnel. Even small improvements can significantly impact profitability and scalability.


Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is one of the most important metrics to track in your conversion funnel. While average conversion rates vary based on factors like product price and industry, a good benchmark to aim for is at least 1.75%.


Sales by Referrer

referrer

Just as knowing your traffic sources is essential, tracking sales by referrer provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of each channel in driving conversions and revenue.


Average Order Value (AOV)

aov

Average order value (AOV) estimates the amount the average customer will spend online. Monitoring AOV is crucial because it helps determine how much you can profitably invest in customer acquisition. Strategies like creating order minimums, bundling products, upselling, and offering loyalty programs can increase AOV over time.


Cart Abandonment Rate

car

Cart abandonment rate measures the percentage of users who add products to their cart but leave without completing their purchase. While a portion of abandonment is natural, identifying and resolving checkout issues can significantly improve conversion rates.


Cost per Acquisition (CPA)

cpa

Knowing your cost per acquisition (CPA) is crucial for scaling ad budgets effectively. Analyzing CPA at the campaign, landing page, and individual product level can reveal your most profitable acquisition channels and tactics.


Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

roas

Similar to overall ROI, ROAS tracks the revenue generated for each dollar invested in advertising. A common benchmark is a 4x or 400% ROAS, meaning every dollar spent on ads generates $4 in revenue.


3. Customer Retention & Advocacy Metrics

Retaining existing customers is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones, making customer retention and advocacy metrics essential for ecommerce success.


Refund & Return Rate

rr

Monitoring the refund and return rate for individual products is crucial for evaluating financial health. While returns may be common in certain industries, evaluating this metric can identify potential issues and guide product optimization efforts.


Repeat Customer Rate

repeat

The repeat customer rate measures the percentage of customers who make more than one purchase within a specified period, typically 365 days. Increasing this rate is vital as ad costs rise, making it essential to maximize the value of existing customers.


Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customer lifetime value (CLV) estimates the total revenue a customer will generate over their lifetime with your ecommerce business. Knowing CLV is key to planning ad budgets, understanding profitability timelines, and striking the right balance between customer retention and acquisition.


Summary: Ecommerce Metrics to Track

Running a successful ecommerce business requires wearing many hats – from branding and marketing to managing suppliers and customer support. By tracking the metrics that drive profitability, you can identify which strategies are performing well and which areas need more attention.


Leverage customizable marketing dashboards and KPI reports to create tailored reports for your ecommerce business, allowing you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your strategies for sustainable growth.


Remember, taking a data-driven approach is a valuable endeavor for any ecommerce business. If you're ready to master these metrics, consider utilizing prebuilt ecommerce dashboard templates to streamline your analytics and accelerate your journey to success.


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