The Importance of
Ecommerce Analytics

Many potential customers begin their shopping experience by performing an online search. As a result, any business that is not focusing on search engine optimisation (SEO) is missing out on a huge chunk of the consumer base. Effective SEO optimisation begins with research into search volumes, competitor rankings, and searcher intent. It also includes understanding your search engine results page (SERP) rankings, creating superior meta tags to your competitors, developing accurate site maps, and constructing effective, consumer-friendly URLs. Many SEO analytic tools can help you accomplish these goals, but we recommend looking for those that include keyword planning, ranking trackers, and the ability to track bounce rates and conversions.

SEO optimisation should not be your only focus for new customer acquisition. Paid search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns can edge you ahead of the competition and help you win more shoppers. To succeed in this area, you will need analytic tools that measure search volume, cost per click (CPC), average ranking 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 prospects and boost traffic to your ecommerce website. To track email performance and develop informed campaign strategies, look for retail analytics tools that measure the number and source of your email subscribers, total sales made from email campaigns, conversion rates, open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates.

New customer acquisition may give your business legs, but customer retention is truly the backbone of your brand’s sustained success.

84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. Customer loyalty is driven by excellent experiences. So, if you want to drive repeat business, you must deliver great customer service. Once you succeed at this, you’ll see the results in your data — and your bottom line.

To understand and cultivate customer relationships, consider tracking KPIs such as overall lifetime value, returning visitors, purchasing behaviour, social shares, subscription renewals, and upgrades. Beyond click tracking, conversion tracking, and social media tracking tools, we recommend using a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) solution.

CRM platforms will provide all of the tracking mentioned above, with the added benefit of sophisticated audience segmentation, customer targeting, and AI-driven analytics that aid in marketing decisions.

Salesforce Customer 360 is the world’s #1 CRM solution. As an integrated platform, Customer 360 gives all your teams - including marketing, sales, commerce, and service - a single, shared view of every customer, helping you to deliver the personalised experiences today’s customers expect.

Armed with these insights, you will know how to reach the right people with the right deals at the right time, using the most appropriate channel.

Effective website design, UX optimisation, and streamlined checkout flows help you connect shoppers to products and boost 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 interact with your site — both the good and the bad. These insights take the guesswork and subjectivity out of website optimisation, and uncover opportunities for improvement and innovation.

Key focus areas include:

• A user-friendly checkout flow.
• Optimal product presentation and recommendations.
• Overall usability.

To truly maximise the effectiveness of these areas, we recommend tools that enable conversion rate optimisation (CRO) testing,  A/B and multivariate landing page testing, heat mapping, click tracking, visitor recording, and more.