Online Store Analytics: Key Metrics and Services

This article will provide information on analytics services, their functionalities, and the advantages they offer.

A successful online store operation is impossible without analytics services. Analytical data tell you about your customers, their actions on the website and the results of your advertising campaigns. Drawing conclusions from the information obtained, it is possible to change the promotion strategy and increase online store sales.

This article will tell you about analytics services, their capabilities and the benefits they bring.

Key analytics indicators for the online store

Analytics tools measure many metrics, and it's not always clear which ones are worthy of attention. Here are a few main areas of analytics that are important for owners of online stores to learn.

1. Traffic. The site owner needs to know the volume of traffic and its nature. Analytics will show the sources of traffic and the accessories from which users come to the online store. For example, if many customers come to you from smartphones, you need to make the mobile version of the site fast and convenient.

2. Audience. Analyze information about your customers - their age, gender, social status, location, etc. You will better understand your target audience and make promoting your store more efficient.

3. Behavior. Study the actions of site visitors, how they navigate through pages, what they click on, etc. You can set up dynamic remarketing by collecting information on specific activities, such as adding an item to a cart.

4. Promotion results. After launching an advertising campaign, it is essential to adjust its settings for better results. Analytics will show how successful your ads are, whether they are profitable and if you should use this promotion channel in general.

5. Trade results. Information about the most popular products, brands and categories will help you understand the direction your business should take. Evaluate the frequency of transactions and the size of the average check to predict income and plan your activities.

Online store analytics services

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is the primary analytical tool for an online storeowner. With it, you can get a complete picture of traffic, audience and what is happening on the site. Often online stores make do with just Google Analytics because it has everything they need. The service is free and, combined with its capabilities; it is a no-cost option.

All information in Google Analytics provides detailed reports generated for any period or as of the current moment. For example, it can indicate which traffic channel is more productive or how users interact with content. You can use the collected information to build charts, graphs, tables, etc.

By adding UTM tags to the link of your ad campaigns, you can analyze their effectiveness through Google Analytics. With cohort analysis, you will understand the long-term effect of the promotion. Google Analytics will divide your attracted users into groups, and you will track their activity on the site. To do this, it is essential to properly set up the whole tracking that allows the service to gather information about customer actions.

Facebook Pixel

Facebook Pixel is not an analytics service but a valuable tool for collecting data about a store's customers and what they do. The site owner must install the Facebook Pixel script on his website and set up the events it will track. For example, a customer clicks on a product page or adds a product to the cart. The script will collect information and send it to Facebook. The storeowner will then be able to run targeted ads on Facebook or ads on Instagram.

The data collected with Pixel will allow you to use dynamic remarketing and show ads to a warm audience that has already visited your online store. Cartum has made integration with Facebook Pixel easy for its customers. We have set up default tracking of the most important events on the site. To install the script, our customers need to create a Pixel on Facebook and copy the resulting ID into the admin panel of their online store.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is an analytics service informing you about your site's position in the google search engine. The service is free, and you need a simple registration to use it by confirming the right to the domain. With Search Console, you will know

• the amount of organic traffic you receive;

• key queries that rank the site and its pages;

• which sites link to your pages;

• number of indexed pages;

• Whether your site has problems with indexing.

Google Search Console is especially valuable if you do SEO promotion and, for example, run an online store blog. The service builds traffic reports for different periods, devices, queries, pages, and countries. A report in the form of graphs will show the number of clicks and impressions, average position in the results, and Click-Through-Rate for a particular page. Google Search Console also assesses the loading speed of indexed pages and mobile-friendliness. The analysis will inform you of problems with the site and the improvements you need to make to improve it.

CRM

CRM systems are programs to automate sales and customer service. We do not name one particular system because there are many worthy offers on the market and which CRM to choose - you decide. CRM generate analytical reports on the results of sales. From the accounts, you can learn

• number and amount of items sold;

• number of sales per interval;

• statistics on the most popular categories of goods;

• Site traffic and much more.

In addition to product and order reports, the CRM allows you to analyze clients' and managers' work. For example, conduct RFM analysis and segment customers into groups by their level of loyalty. The system takes information for the database directly from the online store.

Conclusion

The successful operation of your online store is impossible without analytical tools. Only reports will show you the actual state of your business and help you adjust to improve your results. If you want to know everything about your website, leave an order to create an online store at Cartum. We have implemented integrations with the key analytics services, which will help you to succeed.