What Are The Basic Ecommerce Metrics I Need To Focus On First?

By: Desirae Odjick

Welcome to Ask Shopify, a series where ecommerce experts tackle real questions and challenges from store owners who are trying to launch, build, and scale their stores. We’re here to help with every aspect of your store, from marketing to HR to accounting.

Who’s we? We’re the ecommerce experts both inside and outside of Shopify. Between our team, who spend all day immersed in the world of ecommerce (and who sometimes run stores themselves!) our squad of Shopify Experts, and our amazing customers, we have access to world-class expertise—and now you do too. So let’s dig in and get to your questions, because they’re good ones.

Question

It feels like there are a zillion numbers I can look at to measure my store, from social media to Google Analytics to email and more. I’m a bit overwhelmed and can’t figure out where to start. Do I need to track everything if I’m just getting started? What are the metrics that will actually help me grow my business?

Answer

It’s easy to fall into a love-hate relationship with metrics when you’re trying to grow your ecommerce store.

You love that there’s a number for everything, and you can clearly see your progress on just about any variable—but you hate that you could spend a full week just pouring over data trying to make sense of it all.

Luckily, digital data about your business is something that can scale with you. There’s no need to dive into the deep end when you’re just getting started, and those custom Google Analytics reports will be there for you when you’re ready.

As a new ecommerce store owner, there are a few numbers you’ll want to make sure you keep an eye on to grow your business, says Shannon Gallagher, Product Manager for Merchant Analytics. She narrowed it down to five key metrics that provide actionable, concrete information to help you grow your store.

“Your key metrics are the ones that help you understand every step a customer takes on their way to a sale,” said Shannon.

Traffic

“First and foremost, you want to understand your traffic,” says Shannon. “It’s important to monitor the number of visitors that you're getting to your shop.”

The high-level overview of how many visitors you’re driving to your store in total is undeniably important, but there are key metrics hidden within your total traffic that can be even more useful for spotting opportunities for growth.

“It’s about understanding your visitors. Where are they coming from, and how many are there? That might be in terms marketing channels, which tells you how they found your store, but it’s also where in the world they’re living. Those two pieces of information can help you plan and target your advertising.”

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