KPI (Key Performance Indicators) can be defined as a measurement that is used to measure the performance of any business activity. KPIs are like milestones on the road to online retail success. Monitoring them will help ecommerce entrepreneurs identify progress toward sales. In this case, we are focusing on KPI’s that measure the effectiveness of a webStore in bringing in sales.
1. Conversion Rate
For every eCommerce stores, conversion rate is everything. Without conversion, there will be no sales. Simply put, this is the percentage at which your webStore visitors convert into your store customers.
If your conversion rate is high, chances are you are good at convincing your visitors to buy your products or services from your webStore. If your conversion rate is low, then your webStore visitors are not ready to buy from you or perhaps your traffic isn’t targeted enough – your site visitors are not your target market. To know whether your conversion rate is considered high or low, you will have to ask yourself:
What is the average conversion rate in my industry?
Use this average conversion rate in your industry to measure the conversion rate in your webStore. Store conversion rate can vary based on a very wide number of factors:
- Is your conversion rate low because your customers choose to buy products from your physical store rather than on your webStore?
- Is my conversion rate low because my products are priced very high compared to the market value?
2. Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate
This KPI refers to the percentage of shoppers who started off but did not complete their orders. They add items into their cart but never actually go through checkout. However, an abandoned shopping cart does not automatically translate to a ‘lost sale’ since some shoppers who have abandoned shopping carts have plans to return to your webStore to make a purchase. All you have to is provide them further incentives like free shipping or discount codes.
But understand this first – why are shoppers leaving without paying?
- The overall cost of product is too expensive or shoppers found a better price elsewhere.
There is abundant amount of competition around you and many customers compare prices and may be able to find the product cheaper elsewhere. It’s worthwhile to offer competitive pricing but it is just as important to offer customers other reasons why they should buy just from you. Be discovered, delight them, and stand out from the crowd.
One way to stay in the minds of potential customers at times other than just the purchase moment is to offer search engines content that interests the customer, i.e. offering expertise via articles and advice. A growing number of consumers extensively research and compare prices and financing offers before making major purchases online.
- Shoppers are presented with unexpected costs.
Shoppers who are being presented with unexpected costs (shipping fee, processing fee, packaging fee etc) are very likely to leave without completing their purchase. They find an item that they want to buy and click Add to Cart. Once, they decided to checkout they’re presented with additional fees and charges that weren’t clearly listed on the original product page. They won’t feel like making the purchase anymore – hence, they leave.
However, some customers may expect that shipping might cost extra. You can provide them with a way to view the shipping charges. A simple shipping calculator (one of webShaper features) on the page is a great way to do this. When a customer does their own discovery, it dramatically reduces their surprise at how much they’ll have to pay.
- Cost of shipping and when will the product ship
The difference between going to a brick-and-mortar store and shopping online is simple. It’s the cost of shipping and handling. One of the best ways you can reduce cart abandonment is to cut back on shipping costs for your customers. Shipping can add a huge expense to a purchase – one that the customer might not have accounted for. So, the price tag on your product might have seemed like a good bargain at first but once shipping is factored in, it’s no longer within their budget.
A discount on shipping or offering straight out free shipping is one of the best ways to get customers to complete the sale and to come back again to make another purchase in the future. Plus, customers are more likely to purchase more at a time when shipping is no longer an issue.
- Complicated checkout process and requirements
If your checkout procedure has too many steps – it’s too complicated. Perhaps one of the biggest barriers to a completed transaction is the account creation requirement. If the customer — mere clicks away from giving you her money — has to create an account, there’s a good chance she’s going to leave her shopping cart hanging there. You can offer a guest checkout option to reduce the trouble.
Nobody likes being forced to do something that they don’t like. So, don’t force your customer to register. Registration can be offered as an option, but so should checking out as a guest.
3. Return Rate
Return rate can be used to analyse new customers orders and returning customers orders. It is always less expensive to retain a customer than to get a new one. For eCommerce stores with lower values items, repeat visits may be a sign of brand loyalty.
The more repeat customers you have, the better chance you have at establishing a long-lasting relationship with your customer. If you have very few repeat purchase, you may conclude that your store doesn’t offer enough value to bring people back for second purchase. So, how to encourage repeat purchase from your existing customers?
4. Average Order Value
Average order value is literally the average amount of money your user spends during one transaction. The metric is simple: each time you make a sale, on average you will get that person to spend X dollars. The average order value is calculated as:
revenue / total number of orders
The value generated gives insight on the shopping behaviour of customers. It allows business owners to categorise visitors based on their order manner shown in the past. With these data, marketing campaigns can be targeted directly at those customers who seem to have potential to buy certain products or tend to spend a certain amount of money.
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