For every online retailer, KPIs are the most objective evaluation of various aspects of work. Bounce rate reflects some problems with the main page of the selling platform and prompts to optimize your Magento site’s speed. Cart abandonment rate highlights the drawbacks either with the checkout or with pricing. Conversion rate largely depends on the overall marketing efforts on customer engagement and retention. Average order value points at the need to improve the up and cross-selling strategy.
In the meantime, the causes and effects of certain scores are interconnected. In this article, we’ll discuss these 4 indicators, the reasons behind poor rates, and recommendations for improving them.
1. Bounce rate
Let’s start from the basics. This is the percentage of users who close a website after visiting only one page. It goes without saying that if people leave your site at the very beginning of their customer journey, there are some problems worth tackling.
Amongst reasons for a high bounce rate can be the following:
- The performance of your online store is unsatisfactory. The longer the page loads, the higher are chances that users close it.
- The UX/UI is poor. If the design and navigation, in particular, aren’t intuitive and mobile-friendly, the likelihood of choosing another store increases.
- The main page is not attractive in terms of content. For instance, banners aren’t eye-catching, or a person sees a video of bad resolution that repels them.
Correspondingly, these steps can be taken to ameliorate the situation:
- Vet your online store’s loading speed and optimize it for better performance. Pay special attention to media files, databases, and caching strategies. We’d recommend doing this first.
- Rethink the design of the store in line with the mobile-first principle. Five years ago, the share of m-commerce surpassed the traditional desktop sales in eCommerce. Since then, it’s become vital to provide a superb customer experience via smartphones.
- Revise the content on the main page. Give up using auto-playing video because you can’t control its quality across all devices in different internet conditions.
2. Cart Abandonment Rate
Every online merchant encounters this ineradicable issue of uncompleted orders. Cart abandonment rate is a striking 70% on average. Let’s see the causes of such prospects’ behavior:
- A shopper was distracted. A push notification with a message from a friend or an important email can easily switch the attention to new information.
- An intricate checkout process. When people are forced to register and fill out too many lines, they start to assess the real need for the goods they’ve added.
- Unsuitable terms and conditions. These can be the delivery time, additional fees, payment methods, or returning policy that can make one change their mind.
- Security concerns. Some people can decide that it’s not so safe to use their credit card in this store.
- Issues with a transaction. Sometimes lags on the website/banking deprive visitors of ordering.
You can’t reduce the cart abandonment rate dramatically, but you should check whether there are some bugs listed above. Then you can take action:
- Send emails with commodities that people left in carts. Such newsletters are better to generate as soon as possible after a user closes your site.
- Launch remarketing campaigns. The items from your online store will appear across the web to remind prospects of their interest in your brand.
- Simplify the checkout page. Ideally, shorten it down to a one-step checkout with a minimal number of fields. Besides this, provide customers with the autofill function.
3. Conversion Rate
Any meaningful action on the website can be called a conversion: subscription to email send-outs, registration, and, of course, a purchase. Reaching high conversion (more than average of around 2,5% for retail) might be the hardest-to-achieve challenge across industries. Anyway, it’s worth trying!
But first, let’s outline what diminish CR:
- A slow website with low Core Web Vitals scores. Delays and lags during shopping are extremely annoying.
- Non-intuitive UX/UI. Negligence in this aspect can hugely deteriorate the quality of the user experience.
- Shortage of social proof. Without feedback from other buyers, people are not so confident about their choice.
- Poor-quality content. Without excellent photos and videos as well as detailed product descriptions, it’s tougher to win devoted clients.
On the way to better conversions, your team should make substantial amendments in the online store:
- Resolve speed issues. Various optimization practices and transforming a website into a progressive web app (PWA) are the best measures.
- Draw attention to CTAs. Craft more effective (visible and catchy) calls-to-action. Run A/B tests to find out which options work best for your audience.
- Add product reviews. Equip each product page with a corresponding section where customers can share their thoughts about purchases. Make these blocks easy to navigate.
- Invest time and money in qualitative content. Complete the photo gallery with detailed photos and videos where the product is showcased in motion/action.
4. Average Order Value
Last but not least. This indicator illustrates the sum that a customer spends on one order on average. This metric helps to define your buyer personas. If you want this digit to grow, you should apply some actionable tactics:
- Add the up and cross-selling sections. Every product page must contain at least the “You may also like,” “Complete the look,” or “Goes well with” block (the more, the better).
- Give discounts in newsletters. This works more efficiently if the selection of goods on sale isn’t random but targeted on every particular addressee.
- Offer membership in a loyalty program. This step encourages customers to buy more frequently.
Final Word
Key performance indicators literally show off the “health index” of your eCommerce business. These parameters highlight issues to address and tell if the changes were effective. There are many more KPIs that need your attention, but we think these four are crucial. Handling them leads to sustainable positive improvements both for the online store’s profitability and customer experience.