Looking to increase your user engagement? Keeping track of the right eCommerce metrics is paramount if you want to keep your customers engaged. Yet, it’s easy to get lost in countless metrics, KPIs, and formulas. That’s why we’ve gathered the top eCommerce metrics that will help you improve your product offering, service, and engagement with customers.
Before you start measuring KPIs…
Experts from Zyro suggest that it’s crucial to develop a viable strategy for measuring key performance indicators. This includes identifying and prioritizing your short term and long term goals. Also, you’ll get to indicate the main objectives as of what you’re aiming to achieve and set an eCommerce metrics dashboard.
With that in mind, here’s our list of the 10 core eCommerce metrics for increasing user engagement.
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1. Average page views per visit
Pageviews is one of the core metrics that refers to the number of times a particular page has been viewed by visitors.
Measuring pageviews will help you understand how often people visit your website and how they engage with different pages. Additionally, pageviews can indicate when visitors are traveling through your website, failing to find needed information.
How to calculate average pageviews per visit?
Average page views per visit = Total Number of Page views ÷ Total Number of Visits
2. Conversion rate
The conversion rate implies the percentage of users who completed the desired action that you want them to perform. These actions vary based on your objectives and can range from subscribing to your email list to completing a purchase after visiting your website or viewing a particular product page.
Conversion rates are particularly important if you’re running multiple eCommerce digital marketing campaigns. Measuring conversion rate allows you to identify which advertising channels perform and engage users better than others.
How to calculate the conversion rate?
All of the following formulas are valid and can be used to calculate the conversion rate. The choice of a formula depends on your definition of a conversion event and how you measure website traffic.
Conversion rate = (Total Number of Conversions ÷ Total Number of Sessions) × 100
Conversion rate = (Total Number of Conversions ÷ Total Number of Unique Visitors) × 100
Conversion rate = (Total Number of Conversions ÷ Total Number of Leads) × 100
3. Retention rate
The customer retention rate refers to the percentage of customer rate returning to your website after completing a purchase.
By keeping track of the retention rate, you’ll get a better idea about the longevity of your ecommerce websites. Also, it will help you figure out why customers return to make another purchase.
How to calculate the retention rate?
Retention rate = (Number of Active Customers ÷ Total Number of Customers at Start of Time Period) × 100
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4. Customer Lifetime Value
Customer lifetime value (CLV or CLTV) refers to the prediction of the total revenue attributed to the future relationship with a customer. To put it simply, it’s the amount of money a customer is expected to spend on your products during their lifetime.
CLTV is a key metric because it basically shows you how much your clients are worth to you on average. Use CLTV to distinct customers that are economically more valuable to you.
How to calculate CLTV?
To calculate customer lifetime value, you first need to identify lifetime value (LTV).
LTV = Average Value of Sale × Number of Transactions × Retention Time Period
Now, when you know your LTV, you can calculate CLTV.
CLTV = LTV × Profit Margin
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5. Gross margin
Gross margin is a core eCommerce metric that implies the total sales revenue you retain after incurring the production costs. In other words, gross margin is the actual profit you earn per each sale.
Understanding how much you earn per sale is paramount to increase user engagement and ensure your ecommerce business is scaling properly.
How to calculate gross margin?
Gross margin = (Revenue – Cost of all Goods Sold) ÷ Revenue
6. Average Order Value
Average order value (AOV) refers to the monetary value of an average customer order on your website. While average abandonment order value (AAOV) is the average value of an order that a client had abandoned during either checkout or in a cart.
Keeping track of both AOV and AAOV is crucial to increase user engagement. You want to know which elements stimulate customers to complete a purchase and to, oppositely, abandon their orders.
How to calculate AOV?
AOV = Revenue ÷ Number of Orders
7. Cost per acquisition
Cost per acquisition (CPA) is another key eCommerce metric that refers to the amount of money you have to spend to gain a new customer. Cost per acquisition includes the following factors:
- Email campaigns costs
- Advertising costs
- Discount offers (and anything else it took to make a sale)
Keeping track of CPA gives you a perspective of how much costs and efforts you spend to engage and acquire new customers
How to calculate CPA?
CPA = Total Advertising Spendings ÷ Total Attributed Conversions
8. Cart abandonment rate
The shopping cart abandonment rate refers to the percentage of customers who add items to their shopping carts, then abandon carts without completing a purchase. This is a crucial eCommerce metric because it gives you an insight into how many customers are intending to buy products but never complete their purchase.
When it comes to the cart abandonment rate, the value of items added to the cart, the number of items, and the total shipping time are all important. By comparing this rate to other metrics, you can figure out a viable strategy to increase user engagement and decrease the cart abandonment rate.
How to calculate the cart abandonment rate?
Cart abandonment rate = 1 – (Number of Shoppers Completing Transactions ÷ Number of Shoppers Adding Items to Cart) × 100
9. Checkout abandonment rate
The checkout abandonment rate refers to the percentage of customers who first initiate checkout and then abandon the purchase.
Even though the checkout abandonment rate is similar to the cart abandonment rate, they should not be confused. When customers abandon items during checkout, they’re one step further than abandoning their carts.
This metric is useful as it gives you specific data about incomplete transactions after customers are interested in purchasing your products. Analyze the checkout abandonment rate to develop strategies for better user experience.
How to calculate the checkout abandonment rate?
Checkout abandonment rate = 1 – (Number of Orders Completed ÷ Number of Checkouts Initiated) × 100
10. Revenue on advertising spent
Revenue on advertising spent (ROAS) is the final metric closing our list. ROAS refers to the total revenue generated by a specific marketing channel.
Keeping track of ROAS will help you identify how much advertising it takes to engage users to complete a purchase. Also, you can use the results of measurement to identify the most effective advertising channels and make further improvements accordingly.
How to calculate ROAS?
ROAS = (Amount Gained From Advertising ÷ Amount Spent on Advertising) × 100
Final thoughts
How often should you measure eCommerce metrics? Some metrics should be checked weekly or bi-weekly. Others require a longer data window and should be measured monthly or quarterly. So, the best answer is that eCommerce metrics should be tracked consistently. The persistent growth of online stores comes as a result of regular performance analysis over time.
