To celebrate the launch of our new Dashboard and Analytics, we’re bringing you a list of important ecommerce metrics to track for ecommerce managers. Get familiar with these metrics and useful analytics tactics so you will never be stumped by a report again!

Core metrics to track

Here is an overall look at the key types of metrics you want to be looking at in Nosto’s Dashboard and Analytics feature. 

Visits 

Is your traffic up or is it down? Can this be attributed to seasonal or situational reasons? Do you need to be more tactical in your campaigns or running more programs to acquire more traffic?

Conversion rate 

The ‘king’ of ecommerce metrics… when the conversion rate goes down, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re making less $$. It may mean you have more unengaged traffic. The more traffic you convert, the higher this number will be. Try using Nosto Recommendations & Pop-ups to boost conversion rate!

Total sales 

The selection you choose on the datepicker of Dashboard and Analytics will automatically show the equivalent ‘previous period’ in brackets beneath the total sales figure. It will display either a red or green percent figure indicating whether your sales are up or down from that selected time period. With this you can measure revenue growth, a key indicator of success for any business.

Sales metrics 

Bottom line—are you making enough £/€/$? The below metrics are all related to your commercial performance. 

Average order value (AOV) 

AOV is the total sales divided by number of orders. In other words, it is the average amount of money your customers spend in one transaction. If you’re seeing the trend here turn red, it might be time to consider investing in flexible payment options like Klarna or AfterPay, or if you already do, displaying them more prominently for first-time visitors.

Average visit value (AVV) 

The total sales divided by the total visits to your website. This number shows the average amount that each visitor to your site is ‘worth.’ Those in the know, know that AVV is the hot metric to watch, and if your AVV is steadily improving, you can attribute that to a stellar customer experience across the board. Go you! 

Sales through Nosto 

The amount of sales attributed to Nosto during a selected time period in the Dashboard and Analytics feature. You can learn more about conversion attribution with Nosto here. The more campaigns you set up through Nosto, the higher this figure will be!

Potential sales metrics 

Potential sales describes what the sales would have been minus any abandoned carts. When looking at this metric, our advice is that rather than dwelling on what might have been, focus on the opportunity presented by your cart abandoners. Hello, retargeting!

Carts, items in carts, shopping cart value 

These numbers refer to all of the open customer carts that currently exist on your website. The shopping cart value is the combined value of all those carts, and it’s probably a very very big number! 

Added to cart rate 

This is the amount of customers who added a product to their cart divided by your total traffic. If you see this metric dipping, it might mean that users are experiencing limited product discovery. In this case, it is time to make sure your category page experience and cross-sell recommendations are fully optimized!

Average number of items in a cart 

This one is the total number of items currently sitting in all open carts divided by the total number of current shoppers, giving the average amount of products sitting in a shopper’s cart.

Average cart value 

The total value of all open shopping carts divided by the total number of carts.

Carts abandoned and abandoned cart rate 

The number and corresponding percentage of carts that are ‘abandoned,’ i.e., have no corresponding order. This is calculated by taking the total number of orders and dividing by the total number of open carts. There’s so much that can be done to improve your abandoned cart rate, from sending abandoned cart emails to page exit pop-ups to strategic retargeting campaigns.

Engagement metrics

Engagement metrics can show you how your customers engage with your website. An increase in or positive engagement means customers are showing interest in your content and your products. But you shouldn’t rest there—turning those clicks into conversions is the only surefire way to grow your ecommerce business.

Total page views 

The total number of unique page views that happened on your site during a selected time period.

Total product views 

The total number of unique views of products that happened on your site during the selected time period.

Average page views 

The number of unique page views divided by amount of traffic during the selected time period.

Average product views 

The number of unique product views divided by amount of traffic during the selected time period.

Percent of visitors with an identified with email address 

This is the percentage of customers who visited your site during a selected time period who are identifiable by their email address. A smaller sub-section of these will be opted into your email marketing. To increase this percentage, give customers something in return for signing up to your newsletter, like a 10% discount off of their first order! 

Conclusion

We hope this list of important ecommerce metrics (and what they each mean) to track can help to give you deeper insights so you can be empowered to make smarter business decisions.