Informed and timely decision making is the foundation for success in an increasingly competitive world. Making it critical for businesses to have access to accurate, real-time data through metrics. These metrics and KPI’s properly implemented and analyzed provide insight into eCommerce performance and success.
For this, it is essential to have clearly defined strategies and business objectives that set the company’s vision. And that have the necessary characteristics that allow their measurement and scope. For this, it is necessary to define metrics and KPI’s that define in a quantifiable way the goals and achievements of each area of an eCommerce.
As mentioned in a SalesForce publication:
“Promoting the best results depends on a strategic commitment: that of managing eCommerce sales based on data, focusing performance analysis on the most relevant indicators (KPIs).”
Turning KPIs into a source of valuable information, which enables informed decision making, strategy definition, detection of failures in the sales cycle, among other key eCommerce insights.
In this article, we will show you how to implement e-commerce KPIs to achieve your goals.
eCommerce Metrics Analysis
One of the great advantages of eCommerce is the possibility of automatically obtaining the necessary metrics for performance analysis. But if this information is not generated and analyzed based on business objectives, it translates into isolated data that generate a storage cost.
The implementation of analytics on these metrics allows the collection and interpretation of this data as a whole, to generate reports that allow the measurement of the business in real time.
Quantifying the various activities that occur throughout a customer’s sales journey, allows:
- Identify patterns and trends. Important information to personalize services, design marketing campaigns and define promotions.
- Measure the efficiency of the strategies implemented, to know if they work or need to be modified.
- Identify opportunities for improvement, according to user behavior, you can determine which part of the sales funnel needs to be revised.
- Panoramic view of the company’s performance and growth.
Know the best practices to implement an e-commerce business.
How to interpret metrics and translate them into strategies?
It is important to have SMART business objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) that give a clear meaning to each of the metrics. These objectives will define the context in which the metrics should be considered.
Additionally, having historical information on these metrics will provide a point of comparison, and the possibility of detecting trends or patterns, which will give a clearer vision of the results obtained. Results that will serve as a basis for detecting opportunities for improvement or for the definition of new, more effective strategies. For example:
- By tracking the Conversion Rate, the pages with lower performance are identified, and based on this, strategies or improvements can be generated to boost them.
- By determining the Cart Abandonment Rate, you can identify at what point the cart is abandoned, and know at what point in the shopping process the abandonment occurs. Based on this, you can generate strategies to improve the process.
How to implement KPIs for eCommerce – Case Studies
Analytics in eCommerce is an invaluable tool that when interpreted correctly helps to understand user behavior and generate sales strategies. Enabling business leaders to make informed decisions that help their companies succeed.
To get a clearer picture of how the analysis and use of metrics and KPIs can help improve e-commerce performance, it is important to study success stories that clearly reflect how they have impacted performance.
1.- Amazon – Checkout Process Optimization
- Context: Amazon, renowned for its customer-centric approach, identified that shopping cart abandonment was a key area for improvement.
- Action: They conducted a detailed analysis of their cart abandonment rate and performed multiple A/B tests to optimize the checkout process.
- Result: This led to a significant reduction in cart abandonment, resulting in a noticeable increase in sales. Additionally, the introduction of the “1-Click Purchase” option further enhanced the shopping experience and increased conversion rates.
2.- ASOS – Leveraging Predictive Analytics for Personalization
- Context: ASOS, a major online fashion retailer, aimed to improve personalization and relevance in customer interactions.
- Action: They implemented predictive analytics tools to segment customers and personalize product recommendations and marketing communications.
- Result: This personalization led to an increase in customer retention rates and average order value. The ability to anticipate customer preferences and adjust inventory and promotions accordingly resulted in greater efficiency and customer satisfaction.
3.- Zappos – Focusing on Customer Satisfaction
- Context: Zappos, a leader in online sales of footwear and clothing, placed a strong emphasis on customer satisfaction as a key KPI.
- Action: They focused on measuring and improving the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which reflects customers’ likelihood of recommending Zappos to others. They implemented improvements based on customer feedback, such as more flexible return policies and exceptional customer service.
- Result: As a result, Zappos experienced an increase in customer loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations, driving significant organic growth and strengthening their market reputation.
4.- eBay – Data-Driven Inventory Management
- Context: eBay, a global online marketplace, faced challenges in managing a diverse and vast inventory efficiently.
- Action: They utilized advanced data analytics to track and analyze sales trends, customer preferences, and seasonal demand variations. This approach helped in optimizing inventory levels and diversifying product offerings.
- Result: The data-driven inventory management led to a decrease in overstock and understock situations, improved customer satisfaction due to better product availability, and increased overall sales due to a more tailored product range.
A key to the good performance of an e-commerce business is monitoring and support, here its importance.
Metrics Customization
There is a great variety and diversity of metrics that can be obtained from an eCommerce, but not all of them are relevant for each type of store. This makes it necessary to select metrics according to the context and objective of the business. To obtain the data that will really help determine the fulfillment or progress of the objectives.
Additionally, by focusing decision making on KPI’s that are aligned with business priorities, unnecessary and noisy information is avoided. This has a direct impact on the efficiency and agility required for decision making and strategy definition processes.
Elements to consider when customizing metrics
- Define the eCommerce value proposition, which will be the differentiating element from the competition. With this you will be able to determine metrics that show the value.
- Define the short, medium and long term business objectives. In this way you will have clarity in the metrics and KPIs needed to measure business results.
- Establish the target audience, in order to establish the metrics to identify their behavior, and generate strategies to attract and retain customers.
- Choose the right platform for the eCommerce needs, to ensure that the metrics and KPIs obtained are reliable and accurate.
- Define the context in which the metrics will be analyzed, to ensure that they provide real value to the objective.
- Establish the frequency of metrics review. Ensuring that they generate value in a timely manner.
Periodic Revision
The eCommerce sector is constantly growing and evolving. In fact, a study published by eMarketer indicates that the sector’s sales are expected to exceed $6 trillion by 2024. This implies an increase in the levels of competitiveness in the industry, and highlights the need to be constantly reviewing the performance of commerce. This is to adjust strategies and ensure the adaptability of eCommerce to the changing context.
The regular review of metrics allows to determine if they are still relevant, i.e., if they are aligned with current business objectives. This generates the necessary knowledge to act efficiently and effectively.
To ensure the timely review of metrics, the following should be defined:
- Review frequency. Considering that each metric or KPI can handle different frequencies according to the objective, area or type.
- Tools to speed up the review and visualize clearly and completely the metrics or KPI’s.
- Determine the percentage of fulfillment of the objectives, to measure the performance of the strategies.
Learn more about the new trends in eCommerce and Web 3.0 changes and challenges.
How to implement KPI’s for eCommerce – Conclusion
Metrics analysis is a powerful tool that can help businesses improve their performance. By understanding how to interpret metrics and translate them into strategies, business leaders can make informed decisions that help their companies achieve success.
In an era of technology, where innovations are constantly changing user behavior and competition is growing. It is important to gain the knowledge that data provides within an eCommerce. This will allow to generate new and better strategies able to adapt in an agile and efficient way to market trends.
At Nulogic we are specialists in the implementation of agile ecommerce platform solutions, with access to reports and analytics that allow the monitoring of metrics to support informed decision making.