How To Grow Your Store With Ecommerce Sales Tracking

When it comes to ecommerce businesses, transaction data is essential, from new customers arriving right up to the checkout. Looking at the analytics reports step-by-step, we’ll take a closer look at the data behind ecommerce sales tracking and how to read it.

First, we’ll see what tracking means and how it can help you, studying the different variables.

What Ecommerce Sales Tracking Provides

By using Google Analytics, ecommerce sales tracking essentially calculates the progress of your online store. If you use a platform such as WooCommerce, tracking simply breaks down the metrics of your ecommerce store, laying it all out in easy-to-read sales data.

With KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), you’re given a dataset of your performance.

How Ecommerce Tracking Helps You

The primary purpose of tracking is to follow the customer journey. Charting the complete checkout process, you can iron out any obstacles along the way.

You can also pinpoint which items are selling better.

With this data, you can increase your profit potential exponentially. Picking up on any trends, you can also get ahead of the market, instantly meeting customer demand.

The Metrics Measured and Reported by Ecommerce Tracking

With that in mind, we’ll take a closer look at the ecommerce analytics metrics themselves, but first, there’s some core KPIs to consider.

They’re the following:

• Total Revenue Growth — Analyzes a set point seeing how much the company’s grown.
• Client Revenue — Meaning the revenue you’ll see from each client.
• Retention Rates — Look at how long you retain customers over a set period.
• Satisfaction — Is managed through feedback, considering factors like reputation.
• Profits — Break down the bottom line, accounting for the margins.

Keeping Track Of Ecommerce Metrics

Now, let’s dive even further. There are many different metrics to consider when looking at business performance.

Here are some of the most common ecommerce analytics metrics.

For Ecommerce Sales

These focus on store sales and include several different factors to keep in mind:

• Conversion Rate — It’s the total number of sales completed against website visitors.
• Average Order Value — Otherwise known as AOV, follows the overall monetary value of all orders made.
• Cart Abandonment — Involves customers adding to their cart then not completing the order for any reason.
• Customer Lifetime Value — Looks at how much revenue each customer will bring over a sustained period instead of immediate sales.

For User Experience and Satisfaction

These ecommerce analytics metrics look at essential considerations like website speed and performance and customer satisfaction and support.

They include but are not limited to:

• Bounce Rate — The rate at which people leave your website after landing, which may indicate any immediate issues with its appearance and delays.
• Engagement — Means analyzing how long pages are holding people’s attention, where people are clicking, and if they’re returning and sharing items elsewhere.
• Speed and Devices — Are important technicalities, as you want an idea of what devices your customers are using and that nobody waits.
• Ticket Resolution — This will mean looking at how fast you respond to customer queries, ensuring that any questions and problems are dealt with promptly.

For Marketing and Reach

Getting your brand and product out there is essential. Looking at ecommerce analytics metrics will give marketers an idea of the reach of any marketing campaigns they may be running.

• Traffic Source and Volume — Looks at the number of people arriving and from where, including referrals and organic searches, providing targets such as increasing SEO.
• Email Marketing — Provides insight into how interested customers are in your product, particularly when they willingly submit their email with little encouragement.
• Social Media — Gives you an overview of how your products are being received beyond the website, seeing how often pages and items get shared, along with feedback.
• Content Engagement — This can include your blog and articles people may be reading, building a loyal following of returning customers.

Using The Sales Performance Monitor For Enhanced Ecommerce

After going through these ecommerce analytics metrics, you should know that keeping track of them in real-time isn’t always readily accessible.

One option for keeping up-to-date with your sales in real-time is with Nexcess’ Sales Performance Monitor. Integrated with all Nexcess’ WooCommerce hosting plans, it captures issues as and when they arise with its enhanced ecommerce analytics metrics tracking.

Alerting when there’s a problem, its tracking boosts revenue on both a daily and weekly basis.

Let’s see how you can set it up.

How To Set Up Ecommerce Sales Tracking

Accessing game-changing data doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s how you can get a complete view of your ecommerce analytics metrics to make data-driven decisions:

1. Download and install a suitable plugin.
2. Follow the instructions, activating the addon.
3. Enable the tracking in Google Analytics and through the platform itself.
4. Allow for notifications as the plugin monitors your performance and alerts you to any changes.

If you're on Nexcess, enable the Sales Performance Monitoring feature in the Portal and you're good to go.

The setup is quick and easy. Once you do, it’ll enable ecommerce analytics metrics tracking in real-time.

Final Thoughts: Using Ecommerce Sales Tracking To Boost Your Online Store

Ensuring you optimize your product performance is essential when creating an ecommerce website. That’s why having access to ecommerce analytics metrics can make or break your online store.

To get a head start increasing your ecommerce conversion rate, try fully managed WooCommerce with Nexcess. Check out our many plans and get started today.