In one way or another, everything in the realm of business is revolving around sales. They dictate the course of action and define the strategy of getting it all come together. However, sales don’t happen just because. They need an environment. This is especially apparent when it comes to online sales. You just can’t do it if you don’t have everything in the right place. Hopefully, there is a way to make it so.
According to the sales experts from The App Solutions, the best way to increase online sales is through a combination of different metrics and constant adjustment of the strategy.
This peculiarity makes online sales something like rainbows – you need to make the rain beforehand.
How? Well, that is what sales metrics are for.
Useful Metrics to Increase Online Sales
1 Website Traffic Metrics
The starting point of all this is of course Website Metrics. These stats are composing the backbone for your further sales analytics.
Basically, they provide the background for the big picture.
Overall, here are the metrics you should pay attention to:
- Total Number of Visits;
- By Sources – where did they came from:
- Direct – those you types URL;
- Organic – those you found your website through search query;
- Referrals – those who came from your affiliates;
- Social media – those who came from social media sources (can be organic and referral);
- Types of visitors:
- New – those who are the first time on the website;
- Returning – those who came back;
- New / Returning Visitors Ratio – comparison of two distinct parts of visitors;
- Interactions per visit – action-based insights;
- Session Time – how much time was spent on site
- Overall;
- On a particular page;
- Bounce Rate – how many visitors are abandoning your website and to what extent;
2 What Is Conversion Rates
Conversions are the key stage for generating a steady stream of online sales. In essence, it is a transition point between simply generating traffic and actually doing some sweet sales. In a way, conversions are like spice. They must flow.
Growing conversions mean you are on the right track.
Here’s what you need to watch closely:
- Total number of conversions;
- Click Through Rate – for the purposes of adjusting marketing campaign;
- New / Return Visitor Conversion;
- Lead To Close Ratio – how many visitors turned good for business.
3 Online Sales Metrics
Now we’re getting to the meaty stuff. While every metrics contributes to the sales process in one way or another, it is important to differentiate the purpose of every element and what says every figure in the grand scheme of things.
Online sales metrics are trickier to analyze because of their ambiguousness. The thing is – the figures can deceive. The reasons vary – poorly motivated customers, bot traffic, bad timing. Either way, solid metrics is not always a guarantee that everything unicorns and rainbows – keep that in mind.
Here are the metrics directly related to the online sales that you need to keep an eye on:
- Total number by time period;
- Sales by type of the product
- Lead Source – where the lead came from;
- Revenue per sale;
4 Customer Acquisition Cost
After all said and done, you need to understand the cost of the customer in terms of the campaign. This is what Customer Acquisition Cost metrics are for. Here’s why it matters – sales rarely occur on their own, especially online sales. Usually, they are the results of an organized campaign with a heavy leaning on the marketing.
The spending ratio divided by the number of actual sales constitutes the ratio and allows you to understand how much you have to spend to perform one successful sale.
Here’s what you need to take into consideration:
- Marketing costs;
- Administrative spending;
- Salaries;
- Market research costs;
What does it give? The biggest takeaway from this metric is understanding of the effectiveness of the campaign.
5 Customer Lifetime Value
In strict terms, “Lifetime Value” means the quality of the customer for the company in the long run, i.e. his usefulness for the business.
Numbers-wise it is total profit expected from the customer now and in the projected future. In order to nail it down – you need to factor in averages of purchases and margins plus customer acquisition costs.
Overall, you get the figure that explains whether a particular customer was worth trying and subsequently worth moving forward with him.
This metrics can be handled by such services as Kissmetrics.
In Conclusion
These are the key metrics to keep your eye on. While each of them can be further detailed into subcategories – these are the essential elements that define the quality of your campaign.
This, in turn, can help you to identify the problems and turn the tide in your favor.
