That fact that you are looking into how to measure your ecommerce success is great- you obviously understand the importance of metrics and measuring the outcome of your current business to business ecommerce strategy. But are you measuring what matters? It is common for companies to measure the final outcome- such as conversation rates, number of transactions, average order value, etc. But there is so much more that matters! You have the ability to not only see, measure, and evaluate the end-result- you can actually get detailed information about HOW the customers got to that point which is equally, if not more important. And what about those customers who did not make it to the purchase point- cart abandonment is a huge problem and a business to business ecommerce metrics not to be ignored.
Here are six business to business ecommerce metrics you need to add to your list ASAP (if they are not already on it)
- Customer Retention- this is a huge metric for B2B’s that do business online. In most B2B’s return customers is their main driver; so ecommerce for B2B’s is more about enhancing current relationships and adding value than it is about gaining new customer. That being said you may find that you are getting new accounts because other B2B companies have not yet adopted ecommerce into their strategy and they are losing customers because of it who have gone out and found you as their new provider.
- Product performance- keeping track of your top selling products and your worst selling is important for your overall ecommerce strategy and help you understand what is driving revenue, what needs more marketing, where to invest your time, etc.
- Conversion Rate- if you have hundreds of visits in a day it does not matter if those visitors do not convert into sales. So keep track of this and if you have a low conversation rate you need to take a closer look at why this might be.
- Number of orders processed through site- This will help you determine if your ecommerce is growing, failing, and will help you recognize patterns. Do this visually on a graph to easily spot the trends and react accordingly.
- Cart abandonment- this is HUGE for measuring site performance. The higher your cart abandonment rate, the bigger your problem. Look at customer activity and see at what point they abandon their carts. Do you have too many screens during checkout? Are they leaving because you require them to sign up for something? Are they confused by your checkout process?
- Percentage of total revenue- how much of your total revenue is coming from your business to business ecommerce efforts? Tracking this metric will allow you to get a feel for the overall success of your ecommerce strategy, adoption rate, and support your business case for putting time, effort, and money into the site in the first place.
About e2b teknologies:
e2b teknologies operates three business units – e2b anytime apps , e2b enterprise, and e2b calibration. e2b enterprise develops custom cloud-based business applications and resells leading ERP accounting software, CRM, HRMS, and other enterprise business software applications from Sage Software, Epicor, Intacct, SugarCRM, and other publishers. e2b anytime is the publisher of , Anytime Commerce B2B ecommerce platform, Anytime Collect, Anytime Assets, Anytime 500, and related Anytime brand products. e2b calibration is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited calibration and repair laboratory providing a full scope of services (traceable to NIST) for most popular calibration, test, and measurement instruments.
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by Jeanne Lee