You can't manage what you don't measure. - Peter Drucker
The top eCommerce businesses are often successful because they regularly keep a check on their KPIs, study them, and make necessary changes as required.
Prioritizing which KPIs to improve can be tricky as no KPI can move the needle by itself. Instead, when analyzed correctly, it can lead to profitable insights.
That being said, tracking too many KPIs can be challenging.
This guide consists of the top 25 eCommerce KPIs, which will open your eyes to how well your store is doing in the current times and what you can do to fix the underperforming things.
- What Are KPIs For eCommerce?
- eCommerce Product Marketing KPIs
- eCommerce Sales Funnel KPIs
- eCommerce Customer Conversion KPIs
- eCommerce Customer Service KPIs
- eCommerce Revenue KPIs
- eCommerce Social Media KPIs
- Set Your Store's Next Benchmark Using eCommerce KPIs That Matter
You can directly jump to a section of your choice or keep scrolling.
Click here to download detailed infographic on top 25 eCommerce KPIs.
What Are KPIs For eCommerce?
eCommerce Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable values used to evaluate factors that are crucial for the successful running of an online store. Tracking the right eCommerce KPIs at the right time can give you meaningful insights into the needed improvements to increase the store's performance.
eCommerce KPIs confirm how effectively your business goals and milestones are advancing and being achieved by the team.
KPIs & Metrics: What's The Difference?
Metrics measure different aspects of your store's activity at a specific point in time.
KPIs are indicators that have the greatest impact on the well-being of your online store.
eCommerce Product Marketing KPIs
Track your campaign performance and know if your marketing efforts are heading in the correct direction and paying off using these eCommerce product marketing KPIs.
Image Source: Pingdom
eCommerce KPIs #1: Bounce Rates
What is it: Bounce rate quantifies the percentage of your website visitors who view a single page and leave without further interaction with the rest of the website.
Why to track it: Bounce rate helps you track down numerous factors that lead interested customers to leave your product page the moment they open it.
How to calculate
Bounce rate = Total number of one-page visits / Total number of entries to a website
eCommerce KPIs #2: Traffic Source
What is it: Traffic source gives you a complete breakdown of where your website visitors are coming from and how they found your online store.
Why to track it: Understanding traffic sources will help you measure your website’s health and potential for growth by letting you know the most valuable source of customers, be it organic search, referrals, social media, paid ads, etc. Focus and improve upon your traffic source as every traffic has a potential for converting into actual sales.
How to calculate
Traffic sources KPI can be measured in two distinct ways
- Increasing traffic from one source
- Performance in terms of conversion rate
eCommerce KPIs #3: Pages Per Session
What is it: Pages per session give a little more insights than bounce rate. If your potential customers are going through more product pages on your website, that means they are spending time and exploring more products in your store.
Why to track it: Pages per session gives you insight into how effective your site content is at keeping visitors engaged on your site. The number of pages viewed in a session can be increased using compelling articles, internal linking, and intuitive design.
How to calculate
Pages per session = Number of pageviews / Total number of sessions
eCommerce Sales Funnel KPIs
Harness your sales pipeline’s efficiency by tracking these real-time sales funnel KPIs and find ways to increase lead volume generation over time continuously.
Image Source: HubSpot
eCommerce KPIs #4: Shopping Cart Abandonment
What is it: Shopping cart abandonment rate tells you how many people visit your online store, add items to their cart, and end up bouncing before checking out and completing the purchasing process.
Why to track it: In case your shopping cart abandonment rate is high, it indicates that there is something wrong within the actual check-out process that makes the potential customers turn back. As an eCommerce store owner, you need to fix these issues to ensure that maximum visitors complete their purchase and do not drop out from between.
How to calculate
Shopping cart abandonment rate (%) = 1 - (Total number of completed purchases / Total number of shopping carts created) x 100
eCommerce KPIs #5: Customer Lifetime Value
What is it: Customer lifetime value is the total amount of money a customer spends with your brand over the entire period of their customer lifetime.
Why to track it: One of the main reasons for measuring customer lifetime value is customer retention. Selling to repeat customers brings significantly more profits for your business and highlights the impact of customer loyalty. Regular customers tend to purchase more, helping you grow and promote your business.
How to calculate
Customer lifetime value = Average order value x Purchase frequency x Estimated customer lifespan
eCommerce KPIs #6: Cannibalization Rate
What is it: Cannibalization refers to a new product eating the sales and profits of a current product from the same eCommerce store
Why to track it: If your store is considering introducing a new product, the cannibalization rate is a key factor to consider. The cannibalization rate should be estimated beforehand, and you need to decide the maximum allowable limit for new products to cannibalize the old ones so as to avoid incurring a loss.
How to calculate
Cannibalization rate = Sales loss of existing product / Sales of the new product
eCommerce KPIs #7: Return On Ads Spent (ROAS)
What is it: ROAS is the go-to metric for determining how effective your online advertising campaigns are. It gives you insights into whether or not a specific marketing effort is working and make informed decisions on how to best use your ad budget.
Why to track it: ROAS keeps informed of which ad campaigns are performing well and which are not. A low ROAS indicates that you either need to adjust your targeting, tweak your messaging, or scrap the campaign altogether.
How to calculate
ROAS = Revenue generated from ads / Expenses to run ads
eCommerce KPIs #8: Annual Repurchase Rate
What is it: Annual repurchase rate indicates the share of customers who purchase for more than one time from your eCommerce store over one year.
Why to track it: The fact that people buy from your store repeatedly means that you have found the right audience base. A high annual repurchase rate means people are loyal to your brand and probably are even spreading word-of-mouth about your brand. The KPI helps to identify those products that your customers repeatedly purchase so you can further work upon and improve product quality for higher profitability on each paid acquisition.
How to calculate
Annual repurchase rate = Number of customers who made at least two purchases within a year / Total number of customers who made one or more purchases within the same year
eCommerce Customer Conversion KPIs
Track your conversions using customer conversion KPIs to keep people coming back to your eCommerce store.
Image Source: BigCommerce
eCommerce KPIs #9: Website Conversion Rate
What is it: Website conversion rates show the number of active visitors who take action upon visiting your site. Such action includes creating an account, making a purchase, or inquiring about the product(s).
Why to track it: Most eCommerce KPIs have some essential takeaway from website conversion rates. An increasing conversion rate indicates that your marketing and sales strategies are working effectively. From conversion rates over a period of time, you can pinpoint the reasons that are working in your favor to boost sales.
How to calculate
Website conversion rate (%) = (Total number of website visitors / Total number of conversions) x 100
eCommerce KPIs #10: Conversion By Device Type (Mobile, PC)
What is it: Conversion by device type digs deeper as to through which device your customers make purchases from your eCommerce store. It also indicates from where your customers are more likely to buy from mobile, desktop, or iPad/tablet, allowing you to optimize your store for that platform.
Why to track it: This KPI clues you in to your customers' behavior and tells you how effective your user experience is on each of these platforms. A poor device conversion rate indicates that your user experience is not up to par on that device and should be improved to maximize revenue.
How to calculate
Conversion rate by device type = Conversation through a particular device / Total number of conversions
eCommerce KPIs #11: Lead-to-Customer Conversion Rate
What is it: Lead to customer conversion rate shows the proportion of qualified leads that actually convert into your customers and draws sales for your eCommerce store.
Why to track it: Lead to customer conversion rate can be used to compare the effectiveness of various marketing channels and measure the efficiency of different sales representatives or the customer support team as a whole.
How to calculate
Lead-to-customer conversion = Number of qualified leads that result in sales / Total number of qualified leads
eCommerce Customer Service KPIs
The best way to make your eCommerce store thrive is by using customer service KPIs to understand your customer’s expectations and serve them in the best possible way.
Image Source: Nicereply
eCommerce KPIs #12: SERVQUAL
What is it: SERVQUAL is a multi-dimensional eCommerce KPI that measures the "service + quality" of your digital storefront. It pays heed to measure the subjective elements of customer service quality.
The first half of this KPI focuses on your customer's perception and feedback of the provided service (how it is), and the other half targets their expectations of how it should have been.
Why to track it: The resulting difference obtained from this comparison indicates how and in which direction your customer's expectations deviate from the basic service you offer.
How to calculate
You ask your customers to rate your service and compare it to their expectations.
A SERVQUAL questionnaire is prepared, and customers are asked to fill it up. The questions cover the five elements of excellent service quality.
- Reliability
- Assurance
- Tangibles
- Empathy
- Responsiveness
eCommerce KPIs #13: Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
What is it: CSAT measures your customers' satisfaction level with the service they receive. Your support team's CSAT score is calculated as the percentage of positive customer responses.
Why to track it: CSAT is the single best metric to measure the quality and performance of your customer support team. By following up on negative CSAT responses, you can get insights into what went wrong and where your services are not meeting customer's expectations.
How to calculate
CSAT (%) = (Number positive responses / Total number responses) x 100
eCommerce KPIs #14: Net Promoter Score (NPS)
What is it: NPS measures the total number of satisfied customers and their average degree of satisfaction.
Why to track it: NPS score is highly quantifiable and standardized that accounts for almost 20 to 60% growth in most industries. As delighted customers tend to refer, the greater the number of satisfied customers, the higher your growth will be.
How to calculate
NPS = Promoters (%) – Detractors (%)
Promoters are those who rate you from 9-10 and Detractors are those who rate you from 0-6.
Image Source: Medallia.com
eCommerce KPIs #15: First Response Time (FRT)
What is it: FRT is a measure of time-lapse between a customer raising a support ticket and when your customer support agent first responds to it. Average FRT is the average time it takes for your customer support team to respond to a customer.
Why to track it: FRT is a great way to understand how long your customers have to wait to receive a reply after raising a support ticket on average.
How to calculate
Average first response time = Sum of first response times / Number of tickets
eCommerce KPIs #16: Customer Retention Rate (CRR)
What is it: You might attract a lot of visitors to your eCommerce website and convert them into your paying customers, but can you hold and retain them over a longer period? Customer retention rate shows what percentage of customers have stayed with you over a given period.
Why to track it: The prosperity of your eCommerce store largely relies on retaining your customers. Sometimes repeat customers bring new customers along with them. Customer retention rate also determines what drives customers back to your store.
How to calculate
Customer Retention Rate (%)= ((Number of customers at the end of the period– Total Number of new customers acquired during the period) / Number of customers at the start of period) x 100
eCommerce KPIs #17: Average Resolution Time
What is it: Average resolution time determines the average time it takes for you to resolve a customer's complaint, starting from when the customer first reaches out to your support center.
Why to track it: Apart from tracking the efficiency and performance of your support team, it indicates the problems that hinder your support team from solving customer complaints faster.
How to calculate
Average resolution time = Total time of all resolved conversations / Total number of resolved requests
eCommerce Revenue KPIs
Monitor the financial health of your eCommerce store and prove your viability to shareholders using these revenue KPIs.
Image Source: Commonthreadco.com
eCommerce KPIs #18: Average Order Value
What is it: Average order value lets you know how much a customer spends on average when they check out from your eCommerce store.
Why to track it: Average order value provides meaningful insights into the customer’s buying pattern. An increased AOV expresses that your store is gaining a high revenue for the same amount spent on acquiring new customers.
How to calculate
Average order value (%) = (Total revenue / Total number of orders) x 100
eCommerce KPIs #19: Customer Acquisition Cost
What is it: Customer acquisition cost gives an insight into how much do you spend on acquiring a brand new customer. It's measured by analyzing sales costs and later adding marketing costs.
Why to track it: Customer acquisition cost is definitely a metric you need to keep an eye on and manage well, as eCommerce generally has marginal profits. Understanding this KPI can help you keep new customer acquisition costs as low as possible to increase your profits.
How to calculate
Customer acquisition cost = Marketing expense for a period / Number of customers acquired in the period
eCommerce KPIs #20: Gross Profit Margin (GPM)
What is it: Gross profit margin expresses the percentage of revenue that is actual profit after adjusting all operations costs such as salaries, overhead, and marketing costs.
Why to track it: It's helpful to look deeper than just the overall GPM of your company. Analyze the GPM of each product to see which ones bring the most profit. Looking at how profitable a particular product is will help you determine whether to increase its price, reduce its production costs, or discontinue the product altogether.
How to calculate
Gross Profit Margin (%) = [(Total Revenue - Total Operations Costs) / Total Revenue] x 100
eCommerce KPIs #21: Product Return Rate
What is it: Product return rate, a vital and straightforward KPI for an eCommerce store, exactly does what it sounds like. That is, it measures how often customers of your eCommerce store return a particular product.
Why to track it: Product return rate gives insights into customer satisfaction as well as determines the reason for return. Use the customer’s feedback for segmentation by reason for return. Based on the segments created, you can identify your customers' exact reasons for product returns and plan out strategies to resolve them.
How to calculate
Product return rate = Units of a product returned during the period / Total units of the product sold during a period
eCommerce Social Media KPIs
Social media marketing KPs is what your eCommerce store needs when it comes to measuring your social media and campaign efforts.
eCommerce KPIs #22: Engagements Rate
What is it: Engagements measure the amount of interactions received on your content on social media. Engagements include the number of clicks, likes, shares, comments, profile visits and active followers count.
Why to track it: As long as your audience is engaging with your social content, no matter how small the audience is, it will grow organically and eventually generate leads through social media.
How to calculate
Engagement rate (%) = (Total number of interactions received on your content / Total number of followers) x 100
Note: The method to calculate engagement rate differs for different social platforms.
eCommerce KPIs #23: Reach
What is it: Reach indicates the number of unique views on your post and lets you know if your audience is finding your content to be helpful since the time it has been published.
Why to track it:
Reach helps to determine if you have been posting the correct type of content on social media that resonates with your audience.
How to calculate
Reach of your social content is tracked by various platforms, but not all platforms will display this metric.
eCommerce KPIs #24: Click-through Rate
What is it: Click through rate shows the percentage of people impacted and drawn by your social media posts to click on the CTAs or link in bio.
Why to track it: If people who view your social media post click on the CTA, that means they are engaging and also looking to learn more, possibly also convert via your website.
How to calculate
Click-through rate (%) = (Clicks / Impressions) x 100
eCommerce KPIs #25: Hashtags & Mentions
What is it: Mentions refer to how often people mention your brand or eCommerce store on their social media posts. Forming brand relates hashtags are another way to discuss, engage and connect with your brand on social media.
Why to track it: An indication that your brand is successful in its social media efforts is when people talk about your brand on social media. Ensure that you are regularly searching for your brand-related mentions on social media to get an idea of the impact that your brand has created on its audience.
How to calculate
Several social media tools help you keep track of hashtags and mentions count on social media. Not just that, you can figure out the popular hashtags in your niche and use them in your social content to increase its reach.
Get to know about What Is A Social Media Audit & Which Metrics To Regularly Track
Set Your Store's Next Benchmark Using eCommerce KPIs That Matter
The underlying theme of all these eCommerce KPIs is
- Make sure that you run a profitable eCommerce entity
- Keep improving and increasing that profit by identifying the KPIs that contribute the most
The fact lies in understanding that these six eCommerce KPIs categories affect each other and work best in tandem. As an eCommerce owner, you should assess the health of all these KPIs holistically time and again to figure out where the biggest levers for your business lies.
Statusbrew provides deep insights by tracking 80+ social media metrics using Social Media Reporting.
Build Custom Reports with metrics that matter the most to your brand. Analyze public sentiments and know how your brand is perceived on social media using Statusbrew’s >Social Listening feature.
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