12 Vital Ecommerce KPIs Online Shop Owners Should Monitor

How do you make sure your superpowers are fully maximized? Before jumping into any process of improving your website, you need to STOP, gather all the data you can and look at what it’s telling you. Knowing and understanding the real facts that have a negative impact on sales will help you to come up with the most efficient fixes.

You should regularly monitor a series of e-commerce KPIs, which will let you know if the business is heading in the right direction or not.

Take a look at the following infographic to find out the most important KPI’s:

The Importance of Conversion Rate Optimization in 2018

POSTED BY LOUISE HUGHES — 19TH MAY '18

After spending so much time on getting your website right, you’re probably noticing a steady stream of traffic each day. The problem is, none of your visitors are purchasing anything or doing the things you want them to do, but they keep churning in, so what’s going wrong?

Conversion rate can be summed up as the amount of visitors landing on your website that complete a particular action. E.g. purchase an item, click a button, sign up to a newsletter, etc. Depending on your type of business, your conversion rate will be different. If you own an eCommerce company, your end goal will be to convert website visitors to purchasing something from your store.

There’s no doubt that conversion rate optimization is a tricky concept to get your head around, which is why we’ve put together a list of interesting facts, statistics, and tips to help increase your website’s conversion rates.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion rates are used within companies and marketing teams to determine the effectiveness of their websites and eCommerce stores. Conversion rates are key in predicting growth but aren’t always easy to achieve.

• Globally, 3.63% of conversion rates to add-to-basket or to cart are performed on a desktop computer
• Only 1.25% are using a smartphone when converting
• In the UK, 5.15% are using a desktop computer, whereas 2.52% are using their mobile phone, around 50% difference
• 20.2% of mobile phone users confirmed they had security concerns when purchasing online using a smartphone
• 19.3% said they found navigating an online store from their mobile phone too difficult
• 4.29% average order conversion rate was obtained through email, proving to be the highest converting channel
• Only 1.81% convert via social media, however, more than 80% of users are browsing social media sites on their smartphone
• Content marketing is the most popular marketing technique in 2018, with 20% of marketers choosing this as their most effective marketing activity
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data are the second most effective marketing techniques with 14% of marketers

eCommerce

Unfortunately conversion doesn’t just happen, depending on your target market, you need to optimise for it. For eCommerce businesses, your main focus will be converting visitors on your website to sales. Other conversion rates could include items added to cart, items added to wish lists, email subscribers, and social media sharing.

• eCommerce businesses can expect an average shopper conversion of around 2.95% worldwide
• The most popular product sold on the internet, based on conversion rate, is electronics with a conversion rate of around 23%
• Just over 50% of internet users search for product or service related videos before visiting or purchasing from an online store
• eCommerce shoppers who view video content are nearly 2 times more likely to purchase than those who haven’t viewed a video
• 64.6% of internet users will click on Google ads when they are searching for an item to buy online
• 34% of online retail purchases occur on mobile and smart devices

Lead Generation

Customer journeys are no longer as simple as they used to be, with the boom of mobile phones, tablets, and smart devices. Where it used to be a case that companies could cast a generic net over their target audience, marketing strategies have adapted and taken on a more nurturing form.

• 93% of B2B companies rely on content marketing to generate more leads compared to other marketing methods
• 96% of website visitors aren’t ready to buy, but can be converted with a solid strategy
• In the B2B market, 68% of companies take the opportunity to use landing pages in order to generate leads
• For the B2B companies, those who generate blog posts more than 11 times per month can obtain 4 times the amount of leads as those blogging only 4 times per month

Conversion Rate Tips

• Create a sense of urgency: Did you know that creating a sense of urgency around your call to action (CTA) buttons can result in higher conversions? A case study showed a 3.5% conversion rate increased to 10% after the introduction of a countdown timer.
• Live chat: Customers in 2018 are impatient; we want information and we want it now. Studies have shown that adding a live chat feature to a company website can increase sign ups by 31%.
• Relevant headline: When visiting your websites, customers are going to notice your site’s headline before anything else, so what you write must be engaging and relevant. A company called Movexa added a single word to their headline, improving conversion rates by 89.97%.
• Trust and awards: Whether your company is receiving great reviews from trust pilot, has a food health and safety certificate, or has won an award, it’s important to show this off. A case study showed after adding a ‘guarantee’ badge to their website, they experienced a 32% increase in conversions.
• Free returns: As a consumer, we put our trust in sellers and suppliers to provide us with the right goods and services. However, sometimes we aren’t satisfied with what we’ve received and want to return it. What better way to get your customer to convert than to offer free returns? 82% of study respondents said they would purchase an item if it offered a free returns policy.
• Videos: Video has become the king of content, attracting a wider range of consumers to purchase from providers who offer video tutorials, brand stories, and more. A case study showed that the introduction of a video on their website’s landing page increased their leads by 16.4%.

References:

https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics

https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/ecommerce-analytics/ecommerce-conversion-rates/

https://marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/median-conversion-rates-25-industries

https://blog.marketo.com/2018/07/5-email-marketing-strategies-try-2018.html

https://www.statista.com/statistics/439576/online-shopper-conversion-rate-worldwide/

https://conversionxl.com/blog

https://vwo.com/blog/5-ways-convert-visitors-into-customers-2018/

https://animoto.com/blog/business/get-results-small-business-survey/

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/07/17/google-advertising

The Anatomy of a Perfect Checkout Page

Mohita Nagpal

So you’ve spent time, money and effort creating your online shop. Your landing page is engaging, your product descriptions are tempting and your product photos are spot on. You have a steady stream of traffic coming to your site – but are your sales figures matching up?

If not, it might be time to optimize your checkout process.

Your checkout process is that last hurdle before visitors into customers, so it’s crucial to get it right. According to the Baymard Institute, 68.83% of online shopping carts are abandoned. That’s a huge missed opportunity that could potentially be recovered.

So what makes the perfect checkout page?

Perfection varies according to your product and audience. Imagine buying a high-end designer item versus buying office stationery. You’ll want to dwell over one purchase while pay using a one-click button for the other. No two eCommerce websites are alike, and so no two checkout processes should be either.

The only way to find your own version of ‘perfection’ is to continuously test to see what works. It’s imperative to explore the possibilities in a planned way – with A/B testing.

You simply create an alternative version of  your checkout page and compare it against the original to see which produces the best results. The benefit of testing is that you get data that tells you which version works better before committing to any major changes. A/B tests can be as simple as changing a few words to altering the entire layout.

Here are some ideas to get started:

Test for Checkout Page Usability

• Is the information ordered logically?
• Are instructions on forms clear?
• Are there any distractions?
• Is the text big enough?

Test for Psychological Triggers on Checkout Page

• Are there visual cues of security?
• Is the progress bar obvious enough?
• Are the images large enough?
• Does the colour scheme work?

VWO’s repository of over 150 case studies is a good starting point for those who want to see what others are testing. But every retailer is different – so look at your own findings and data to see what you should try.

Fine-tuning the checkout process takes time and experimentation. Get it right and you’ll end up with happy customers who will be coming back for more. Get it wrong and your tests will only point you in the right direction.

We’ve put together this handy infographic that pinpoints the key elements to a successful checkout page which can help when planning your testing process. Don’t rely on luck and guesses – test, plan and strategically experiment with your process to ensure your sales match up with your web traffic.

Click to get the full image