Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are important parts of any business plan. They’re especially important for eCommerce businesses, where data collected from your website is the primary method of discovering customers’ habits, needs and demographics. While it’s easy to collect reams of data from Google Analytics, you should choose a handful of KPIs that align with your business goals.

Here we suggest a few KPIs you may wish to focus on in your business.

For most small business owners, hiring one person with the technical know-how to take on the task of analyzing this data is simply not practical. We can help. Zobrist’s eCommerce solutions provide the level of expertise you need for a fraction of the cost of a new hire.

Traffic

The first KPI for any eCommerce enterprise to measure is traffic. Examine your numbers in detail — what days do you get the most traffic? Do most of your clicks come from search or do you get referrals from other websites? If so, which sites? What time of day gets the most traffic? Once you drill down into the numbers, you’ll discover a lot of revealing data that can help you make smarter, faster business and marketing decisions.

For instance, should you launch special offers to entice people on slower traffic days? When should you maximize your social media activity to capture a greater audience? Learning from your traffic data (and acting on it quickly) will help you make sure your revenue continues to increase.

Conversions

Of course, good traffic without conversions means nothing. Tracking the percentage of site visits that end in sales or sign-ups — and, perhaps even more importantly, those that don’t — gives you useful information about how to improve your business. We can provide personalized user experiences, rigorous a/b testing and intelligent search results to optimize your sales.

Inventory

It may come as a surprise to new business owners, but managing stock levels can be a truly tricky part of running an online business, particularly if you manage your warehouse remotely. You need integrated tools to help you manage your inventory with ease and experience less loss of revenue due to out-of-stock conditions.

Social Media

Peer recommendation can be a huge boost to your business – even negative reviews have an impact. Integrated reviews, Facebook and Twitter shares can mean the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity. Zobrist’s social media awareness services mean that users feel safer in their purchases, knowing that others have bought and enjoyed the same products.

Reach

ECommerce businesses aren’t confined by the same limitations as brick-and-mortar businesses, and as such can often break into new markets in different countries and even in different languages more nimbly. IBM Websphere Commerce allows you to reach up to 40 different languages and currencies in 50 different stores on a single license, allowing your business to succeed in new markets, get ahead of your competition and drastically improve your sales.

So what are you waiting for? Get measuring today with our Smart Merchandiser tools.