Often the data points capturing the most attention are sales, margins, opportunity win ratio, and inventory.
A deeper dive into a few other digital stats will help a business in its online position and performance.
CAC vs. CLV
Customer Acquisition Cost is a must, especially in comparison to the Customer Lifetime Value. Set those side by side on your reporting dashboard to closely monitor your investment in obtaining a new customer along with the long-term ROI.
Visits and CR
Website traffic is appealing, yet only meaningful if you experience a steady rise in the Conversion Rate. The effectiveness of your brand’s online experience is reflected in conversions, which is directly impacted by messaging, usability, visual appeal, and triggers, all which must be compelling and actionable.
Engagement by Market or Audience Segment
Instead of broadly analyzing interest levels and pace of interaction, drill into specific markets or audience segments to better understand where your brand is resonating the most. Utilize machine learning tools, such as Tableau, to segment data and gain insights on behaviors, interactions, preferences, impulse actions, and forecasts.
Bounce Rate and Time on Site
People have their mind set on what they are looking for – information, ideas, a purchase, a deal, entertainment, an opportunity etc. They have formulated an expectation for the online experience that will meet their need or interest. If the first encounter with your site isn’t aligned to those expectations, the user exits. It’s imperative to monitor Bounce Rate and Time on Site to understand whether your brand’s online presentation makes the right impression.
Customer Satisfaction and Retention
Brands sink a lot of time, resources, and money into a myriad of programs, website features & functionality, and marketing campaigns, yet rarely pursue a simple answer from existing customers on their satisfaction. Are they happy with your brand? What can you do to improve the brand experience? That kind of feedback is gold.
Customer retention is closely tied to satisfaction rates, therefore creating a strategy that involves both is prudent. A valuable starting point is the Net Promoter Score. Once that feedback initiative is established, test other surveys and email inquiries that garner deeper awareness of customer sentiments.
Cart Abandonment Rate
They want it… they want it… they leave it. Why? Are they waiting for you to send an email with a discount code? Are they comparison shopping? Are they rethinking the purchase? While the answers may not be fully evident, you should track the Cart Abandonment Rate for fluctuations and clear trends. Additionally, regularly test cart design & messaging to identify a desired lift in completed transactions.
Project & Productivity Metrics
Ongoing process improvement is critical for an organization to continually advance. Expand your view of “performance” beyond standard numbers by evaluating projects for work completed, in-progress, overdue, and not started. Pay attention to productivity strengths and weaknesses in order to shore up areas that can undermine overall team confidence and efficiency.
Competitive Positioning
While you’re unable to analyze the competition’s performance metrics, build a matrix to evaluate product lines, pricing, market reach, delivery range, depth of operations, quality of customer service, ease of interactions, and degree of innovation. Assess their channel mix to your own, and dig into their keyword concentration. Competitor knowledge gives you leverage and opportunity, which are critical in your effort to increase market share.
A few others to monitor for Performance:
- Email Address Subscribers – # of Conversions
- ROAS – Return on Ad Spend
- Just-in-time Inventory Levels
- Fans & Followers – Engagement Scores including Social Media Mentions
- Google – Quality Score and Ranking (the holy grail!)
These are just a handful of KPIs and strategies that help drive digital growth. Be open to exploring business intelligence (BI) and analytics in creative ways to strengthen your online efforts and outcomes.