The Most Important Metrics and KPIs for E-commerce

In this post, we explore the importance of setting measurable goals for your e-commerce business and highlight key KPIs like conversion rate, customer lifetime value, and return rates. Learn how to choose the right metrics to track, download a free template to help monitor your progress, and see how Peasy.nu can automate the process with daily reports straight to your phone.

Mar 3, 2024

Set Measurable Goals
Whether you've just started your e-commerce business or you have an established company, you should continuously develop the business to reach your goals. Setting clear, measurable goals and milestones is very useful in helping you stay focused on what’s most important at the moment. In this article, we explain some of the most common key performance indicators (KPIs) used by e-commerce businesses and how you can work with them to improve your online store. We also provide a free template that you can use to track your data.

What are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

Every business has many things that can be measured, such as profitability, sales, number of employees, and inventory levels. Anything in the business that can be measured and expressed in numbers is called a metric.

To avoid being overwhelmed by numbers, you need to select the ones most relevant to your current phase. If you’ve just started out, you might be most interested in visitor numbers and order count, but if you’ve been running for a while, profitability and conversion rates may be more important.

The most important metrics are called key performance indicators (KPIs). Not all e-commerce businesses will have the same KPIs, as the most important KPIs can differ depending on the business.

Which KPIs Should I Use?

As inspiration for choosing your own KPIs, it can be helpful to look at what other e-commerce businesses consider important. Below is a list of common KPIs for e-commerce businesses.

  • Revenue (Sales) – How much you sell over a period (day, week, month, or year)

  • Order count – The number of orders you receive over a period

  • Return rate – The percentage of your orders that are returned

  • Visitors (Sessions) – How many visits your website receives

  • Conversion rate (CR) – The percentage of visitors that place an order

  • Average Order Size (AOS)/Average Order Value (AOV) – The average size of an order in your store

  • Abandonment rate (AR)/Abandoned Cart Rate (ACR) – The percentage of visitors who add products to their cart but do not complete the order

  • Customer satisfaction (Net Promoter Score/NPS, Customer Satisfaction Score/CSAT) – How satisfied your customers are with shopping at your store

  • Percentage of returning customers – The percentage of your customers who place another order within 12 months

  • Email open rate – The percentage of recipients who open your marketing emails

  • Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV/LTV) – The estimated total value of a customer over time

  • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) – How much it costs to acquire a customer

  • Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) – Your total cost of the products you sell

  • Gross Margin (GM) – The percentage of your sales left after deducting the cost of goods sold. Compare with net margin, which shows the percentage of sales left after deducting all company expenses.

To draw conclusions from your KPIs, you need to track them regularly over time. For several KPIs, the actual value is less important than the trend—are things moving in the right direction? Are there sudden, unexpected changes? By regularly calculating your KPIs, you can react faster and with more confidence that you’re making the right decisions, and quickly see if your actions lead to the desired results.

How to Track KPIs Manually or Automatically

Practically, there are two ways to keep track of your numbers. Either you manually compile all the data into a spreadsheet in Excel or Google Docs and create reports from that, or you use a service to gather all your data for you. You probably already have several systems compiling some data for you, such as Google Analytics, your e-commerce platform, and your accounting system. However, to get a complete picture, you often need to gather data from multiple sources.

Tracking KPIs with a Spreadsheet, Including a Free Template

To make it easier for you to get started with tracking data, you can use our template. This template helps you keep track of some common KPIs for your e-commerce. Just update it with relevant numbers for website traffic and sales, and you can continuously monitor whether your e-commerce is moving in the right direction. You can customize it for weekly or daily tracking if you want to update more frequently.

Download the Excel statistics template here, or the Google Sheets statistics template.

Automatically Track KPIs with Peasy.nu

Peasy.nu was created to help both large and small e-commerce businesses easily gather and track their KPIs over time. You get all the numbers delivered to your phone every day, without having to dig through various systems to compile your own report. Peasy.nu connects to your systems, automatically gathers all your data, and sends it to you daily. You’ll always be on top of things, without having to chase or search for data yourself.

Right now, all new users get one month free—feel free to try it and see if it helps you get better control of your e-commerce!

How do you work with KPIs for your e-commerce? Do you have any questions or thoughts? Feel free to contact me at pal@peasy.nu if you want to talk KPIs!