As an eCommerce D2C brand, one of your aims will be to attract new customers. To do this, you’ll want to get data about your customers so that you can make good decisions about how to market to them in the future.
The first step is finding the right key performance indicators (or KPIs) for your business.
At the D2CTech conference, Ankur Sharma, CPO and cofounder of Instamojo held a masterclass where he discussed the most important KPIs businesses at different stages should prioritize. Here’s a highlight from this session:
In this article, we’ll look at the most important eCommerce KPI’s that brands at different stages of business growth should be tracking based on the masterclass.
Contents
What are eCommerce KPIs?
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to measure and track the success of an online business. eCommerce KPIs typically focus on the online store or website.
These are the main reasons why KPIs are important for your business and should be tracked on a regular basis:
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Know how well your business is doing
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Do a solid profit-loss evaluation and know if business goals are being met
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Understand which marketing activities drive higher ROI
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Evaluate what is working for your business and what is not
Measuring KPIs will give your business a reality check from time to time and will help you take the right action for your business.
Which KPIs should you prioritize for your business?
Choosing KPIs can be daunting and overwhelming. When you do a quick Google search, you’ll find huge lists of metrics to track for your eCommerce business. The truth is that each business is unique. So the KPIs they should be tracking will also be unique.
“If you track too many metrics, you run into the risk of not tracking anything properly. That’s why you should have a few handy metrics for your eCommerce business which can be considered the ‘Bible KPIs’. It’s important to choose KPIs wisely. Too many KPIs can lead to an overdose of data and is hard to grasp.” – Ankur Sharma, CPO and cofounder of Instamojo
Choose KPIs that matter according to these factors:
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Business goals
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Growth stage of your business
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Your niche
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The complexity of the KPIs
Top D2C eCommerce KPIs for each business stage
Here is a detailed breakdown of KPIs to measure and analyze based on different business stages. You’ll also get some expert tips on how to improve business performance based on these KPIs.
KPIs for early business stages
Early stage businesses have just gotten off the ground and are figuring out how to gather more market share. You will also be testing of your products are well-accepted and how they fit the market. These businesses are characterized by less than 1 lakh sales per month (approximately).
The KPIs that matter the most for early-stage businesses are social media followers and website traffic.
Social media followers
When starting out, businesses must focus on building an active and engaging social media profile. Tracking social media followers on the platforms that matter to your business indicates how many people (in your target market) know about your new business. Social media is a great way to keep potential customers engaged.
Related read: Instagarm content ideas for your business
Tips:
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Use hashtags to reach the right audience
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Host giveaways or other contests
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Influencer marketing: Collaborate with the right influencers
Tools to use:
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Instagram analytics: The Instagram app has many in-built features that shows details about your audience like demographics and location.
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Social media analytics tools liek Buffer and Sprout Social
Website traffic
Initially, it’s very important to track how many people are landing on your website. This is the first key metric for the success of an online business. With traffic comes conversions, which means more leads, sales, and revenue.
Tip to improve website traffic:
Use an offline method of promoting your business like using a QR code on your business
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Tools to use
Google Analytics is a free tool to track your eCommerce website metrics. Once you have it set up, you can easily monitor and compare your website traffic over time.
KPIs for mid-size businesses
After a few years (or months), businesses get more revenue per month (typically 1-10 lakh per month) and are in the mid-stage.
The top eCommerce KPIs to track at this stage are repeat purchases and conversion rates.
Repeat purchases
Repeat purchases is how often customers come back and buy from your website. Also known as customer retention, this KPI shows the level of trust your customers have in your brand. This is a key to the long-term growth of your business because acquiring new customers is much more expensive than bringing in repeat sales.
Tools to use:
A Customer Management tool (CRM) will allow you to get an overview of the number of times a customer hs made a purchase from your store. Some popular CRM tools include Salesforce and Hubspot.
If you have an online store on Instamojo, you get CRM features on your dashboard and easily track repeat purchases.
Tip to get more repeat purchases:
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Offer special discounts
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Incentivize repeat purchases with loyalty programs
Conversion rates
One website traffic starts coming in, mid-stage businesses should focus more on increasing conversion rates. This is basically the number of people who make a purchase after browsing your store. The industry standard for website conversion rates is 1-3%.
Tips to improve conversion rate:
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Add a chat widget to your eCommerce website to answer customer queries
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Offer checkout discounts
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Take steps to recover abandoned carts
KPIs for large-size businesses
Large-size businesses are characterized by revenue of 10 lakh+ sales per month. At this stage, the previous KPIs continue to matter.
The top KPIs large-size businesses should consider are the technical performance of, Customer acquisition cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
Customer Acquisition Cost
As the business grows, you spend more on marketing, branding, hiring employees and other aspects. So, it’s crucial to know how much it costs to acquire new customers to ensure profitability. Customer acquisition cost (CAC) includes all marketing and sales expenses such as advertising, promotional materials, sales commissions, and any other expenses that are directly related to acquiring new customers.
Tools to use:
A tool like Lifetimely can help you easily calculate the expenses and profit of your online business. You can also use Facebook or Google ad reports to understand Returns on ad spends (ROAS).
Tips to improve CAC:
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Optimize ads by cutting down low LTV campaigns
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Prioritize remarketing to improve lifetime value
Technical performance of website
The technical performance of a website refers to how efficiently it functions, including its speed, page load times, uptime, and security. It is crucial for good user experience, search engine optimization, and website usability.
Tips to improve:
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Use SEO to improve website performance and ranking
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Keep the website crisp, light-weight, and mobile-first
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Periodically check site load times
Tools to use:
Google Lighthouse is an open-source tool that helps developers audit websites fand improve its performance and quality.
You can also use a tool liek SEMrush to get an in-depth view of on-page SEO and plan SEO-focused content.
Drive long-term growth by tracking the right eCommerce KPIs
Tracking the right eCommerce Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is essential for driving long-term growth. By monitoring the right metrics, businesses can make data-driven decisions that lead to better performance, increased revenue, and sustained success.
Instamojo offers a one-stop destination where businesses can access a range of D2C eCommerce solutions, including an online store, payment gateway, and landing page builder. Get started for free today!
