Essential metrics to track

There are several metrics you need to track in order to measure the full spectrum of your online store’s performance. Below are the seven metrics we recommend reporting on regularly. 

Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of your website visitors that actually purchase something. Optimizing your conversion rate will enable you to turn a larger number of visitors into paying customers. While conversion rates vary from niche to niche, ecommerce stores usually have a conversion rate around 3%. Unsurprisingly, you should try to get the number as high as possible. Note that the more traffic you send to your store, the more likely it is that not all of it will be qualified shoppers, meaning your conversion rate will erode over time.

Email capture percent

Who’s interested in keeping up with your brand? The healthier your email list is, the more people you have to actively engage with via email as a channel. According to email tool Beehiiv, email marketing garners a customer acquisition rate that’s 40% higher than social media channels like Twitter or Facebook. 

Bounce rates

When someone does manage to find your website, you want to keep them there for as long as possible — ideally long enough to learn about your products and make a purchasing decision. However, many of your website visitors will leave or "bounce" after viewing a single page. The rate at which this happens is your website's bounce rate, and you should strive to keep your bounce rate as low as possible.

According to CXL, the average ecommerce bounce rate is 45.68%. 

Add-to-cart conversion rate percentage  

To calculate your add-to-cart conversion rate, divide the number of shoppers who add an item to their cart by the total number of website visitors in a specified time frame. According to Oberlo, the average add-to-cart conversion rate for consumer goods in 2024 is 6.31%. Proactive conversational campaigns are a perfect way to increase this conversion rate as you can segment and target specific customers with messaging designed to ensure they add-to-cart.

Average order value (AOV) 

AOV measures how much customers purchase, on average, with each transaction. By improving your store's AOV, you can generate more profit for each customer you attract and transaction you process, improving your store's profitability.

To calculate AOV, divide your total revenue over a given period by your total number of orders over the same period. You should track your store’s AOV on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

💡 Tip: In his CX & Retention newsletter, Eli Weiss recommends using a post-purchase upsell strategy to increase your customers’ AOV. He mentions bone broth brand Kettle & Fire’s success with this type of campaign: a 140% increase in checkout conversion and a 41% increase in average customer revenue. 

Percentage of returning customers 

According to Gorgias data, repeat customers generate 300% more revenue than first-time customers. Creating an amazing customer experience, coupled with a fantastic product offering, will help you get there. 

Return rate

There are tons of reasons why customers return items. But you need to stop a high – or increasing – return rate in its tracks before you start losing money. That’s why it’s essential to keep an eye on the return rate and get ahead of it from day one.  

Educational campaigns are a great way to do this. These campaigns give customers useful product information and tutorials before they even make a purchase. 

For example, TUSHY teaches shoppers how to install a bidet when they visit the product page. This serves two purposes: it provides information about what’s required to actually install the product, and shows how easy it really is! 

By teaching shoppers how to use products before they buy them, you eliminate concerns upfront that might inspire them to make a return. And, you provide a better customer experience. 

“The connection between CX and marketing is often the farthest apart in any ecommerce company, and that’s such a disservice to both sides — we are both working towards the same goals, and have so much to learn and share. 
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“We’re trying to push that boundary and change that culture. And, we think these onsite campaigns are getting us there.” 
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—Grace Choi, Customer Experience Manager at TUSHY