With technology evolving rapidly and shopping trends changing daily, e-commerce is in a constant state of adaptation that can leave brands in the dark. To keep up, e-commerce companies must anticipate changes in the market using reliable data. In short, they need effective eCommerce analytics.
Ecommerce analytics simply refers to any tool or strategy designed to analyze large amounts of data in order to produce actionable insights. Due to its existence in an almost entirely virtual space commerce inspector, electronic commerce generates complex and comprehensive data sets, especially those related to customer behavior. More data was created in 2017 than was created in the previous 5,000 years combined. That’s a lot of data to measure and analyze. However, finding the right ecommerce analytics tools for the task can offer your brand an immeasurable advantage over the competition.
With this in mind, the most important question becomes this: What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) you need to stay ahead, and what ecommerce analytics tools can be used to measure them?
Grow your customer base with SEO, SEM, and email campaign insights.
Did you know that nearly 40% of online shoppers start their shopping experience by searching the Internet? The consequence is that any company that does not focus on search engine optimization (SEO) will be giving up a large piece of the consumer pie. Effective SEO optimization starts with researching search volumes, competitor rankings, and searcher intent. It also means understanding your search engine results page (SERP) positions, creating Meta tags that are superior to your competition, developing accurate sitemaps, and building effective, consumer-friendly URLs. There is a wide range of SEO analytical tools that can help you achieve these goals, but we recommend looking for those that include keyword planning,
SEO optimization shouldn’t be your only approach to new customer acquisition. Paid search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns can put you ahead of the competition and help you win more buyers. To be successful in this arena, you’ll need analytical tools that measure search volume, cost-per-click (CPC), average position, click-through rate (CTR), and again, bounce and conversion rates.
In addition to SEO and SEM, email marketing campaigns can help you reach new leads and increase traffic to your ecommerce website. To track email performance and develop informed campaign strategies, look for ecommerce analytics tools that measure the number and origin of your email subscribers, total sales made from email campaigns, conversion rates, open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates.
Reaching new customers is important, but keeping them is crucial.
Acquiring new customers may bring some success to your business, but customer retention is the very backbone of your brand’s sustained success. According to experts, 80% of future revenue will come from 20% of your existing customers. That’s why it’s important to focus on managing customer loyalty, repeat business, and overall customer satisfaction.
To understand and cultivate customer relationships, and really tap into that valuable 20%, consider tracking KPIs such as overall lifetime value, return visitors, purchasing behavior, social sharing, subscription renewals, etc. subscriptions and upgrades. Beyond click tracking, conversion tracking, and social media, we recommend using a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) solution. CRM platforms will provide all of the above, with the added benefit of sophisticated audience segmentation, customer targeting, and AI-powered analytics that aid in marketing decisions. With these capabilities,
Optimize your website with data-driven insights.
Effective website design, user experience optimization, and simplified checkout flows help you connect shoppers with products and increase conversion rates, but how do you know what’s working and what’s not? ? Ecommerce analytics can provide you with data-driven insights into how shoppers are interacting with your site, both good and bad. This information takes the guesswork and subjectivity out of website optimization and reveals opportunities for improvement and innovation.
Key areas of focus include a user-friendly checkout flow, optimal product presentation and recommendations, and overall ease of use. To truly maximize the effectiveness of these areas, we recommend tools that enable conversion rate optimization (CRO) testing, A/B and multi-variable landing page testing, heat mapping, click tracking, visitor registration, etc.
Don’t be afraid to talk directly to your customers.
In many ways, nothing can replace the oldest type of customer data: direct feedback. You can collect all the data you want and use it effectively, but if you don’t listen to what your customers are saying, you’ll have a hard time giving them what they’re looking for, and they may go elsewhere to find it. Engage directly with your users at all touch points with helpful feedback tools like online Voice of Customer surveys, live chats, review programs, and social media trackers.
Collect customer data regardless of how or where they shop.
As the lines between purchasing channels blur, brands are turning to cloud-based unified commerce to deliver end-to-end, seamless customer experiences across all touch points: mobile, social, web, and store. Ecommerce analytics must also evolve to be able to track shoppers wherever they are, whether they’re shopping for a product on Instagram, discovering a brand on their phone, or picking up a gift card at a pop-up store. We recommend that you adopt tools that integrate with your unified commerce platform and can keep up with the changing pace of the customer experience.
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