E-commerce Metrics Encyclopedia

Your comprehensive guide to understanding and tracking e-commerce performance metrics

Average Session Duration

Engagement

Average time spent by users during a session.

Basic Information

Description

The average length of time users spend on the website during a session, reflecting engagement and content consumption.

Business Importance

A longer session duration indicates strong user interest and effective content delivery, contributing to better retention and conversions.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Time-based.

Average Order Value (AOV)

Revenue

Average revenue per order placed.

Basic Information

Description

The average amount spent per order, reflecting customer spending behavior and revenue generation efficiency.

Business Importance

A critical indicator for revenue growth and customer value maximization.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Financial.

Sessions

Traffic

Total visits to your website, including multiple visits by the same user.

Basic Information

Description

The total number of visits to the website or app within a given period. A session starts when a user interacts with the site and ends after 30 minutes of inactivity.

Business Importance

Evaluates user interest, campaign effectiveness, and overall website traffic. Helps businesses understand engagement trends and peak traffic periods.

Metric Type

Quantitative. Results.

Pages per Session

Engagement

Average number of pages viewed during a session.

Basic Information

Description

The average number of pages a user visits during a single session, indicating the depth of user engagement and interest in content.

Business Importance

Higher pages per session indicate deeper engagement and better navigation flow, leading to increased conversion potential.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Order Cancellation Rate

Orders

Percentage of placed orders that are canceled.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of placed orders that were canceled by customers, indicating potential dissatisfaction or logistic issues.

Business Importance

Helps identify issues related to order fulfillment, product quality, and buyer confidence.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Cart Page Views

Cart

Total visits to the cart page.

Basic Information

Description

The number of unique users who visited the shopping cart page, providing insights into purchase readiness and cart abandonment.

Business Importance

Helps measure how many users move from browsing to serious purchase consideration.

Metric Type

Quantitative. Results.

Gross Merchandise Value (GMV)

Revenue

Total revenue generated before returns or discounts.

Basic Information

Description

The total value of all goods sold through the platform, representing overall sales volume before deductions.

Business Importance

A key metric to assess overall sales performance and platform scale.

Metric Type

Quantitative. Results.

Average Number of Products in the Cart

Cart

Mean number of products in the cart per session.

Basic Information

Description

The average number of unique products added to the cart per session, reflecting customer purchasing patterns and preferences.

Business Importance

Indicates how well customers engage with multiple products in a single order, informing cross-selling strategies.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Quantitative.

Average Item Selling Price (AISP)

Revenue

Average price per item sold.

Basic Information

Description

The average selling price per item across all orders, reflecting pricing strategy effectiveness and customer spending habits.

Business Importance

Helps businesses analyze pricing strategy and revenue generation per product unit.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Financial.

Orders

Checkout

Total number of completed purchases.

Basic Information

Description

The total number of completed purchases, indicating successful conversions.

Business Importance

Measures business performance, revenue generation, and conversion success.

Metric Type

Quantitative. Results.

Conversion Rate (CR)

Checkout

Percentage of sessions resulting in a completed purchase.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of sessions that resulted in a completed order, reflecting how effectively the site converts visitors into buyers.

Business Importance

A crucial metric for assessing the effectiveness of the website in driving purchases and overall sales performance.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Customer Retention Rate

Retention

Percentage of customers retained over a specific time frame.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of customers who continue to make purchases over a given period, indicating customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Business Importance

A critical metric for assessing customer loyalty, revenue stability, and business growth.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Return Rate

Orders

Percentage of sold products returned by customers.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of orders that were returned by customers, indicating potential dissatisfaction with products or fulfillment issues.

Business Importance

Helps identify issues with product quality, fulfillment, and customer expectations.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Add to Cart Rate

Cart

Percentage of sessions in which a product is added to the cart.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of sessions where users have added items to the shopping cart, reflecting purchase intent and engagement.

Business Importance

Indicates how well the site encourages users to add items to the cart, impacting potential sales.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Bounce Rate

Engagement

Percentage of visitors who leave without interacting further after landing on a page.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of sessions where users viewed only one page and left without further interaction.

Business Importance

Indicates content relevance and website usability. A high bounce rate may signal issues with page content, load time, or user expectations.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Add to Carts

Cart

Number of times users add products to their cart.

Basic Information

Description

The total number of times users have added products to their shopping carts, indicating purchase intent.

Business Importance

Reflects purchase intent and is a key indicator of conversion funnel performance. An increase suggests effective product appeal and usability.

Metric Type

Quantitative. Results.

Average % of Discount

Revenue

Average percentage of discount applied across orders.

Basic Information

Description

The average percentage of discount applied across all transactions, reflecting pricing strategies and promotional effectiveness.

Business Importance

Measures discounting impact on revenue and profitability, helping in pricing optimization.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR)

Retention

Percentage of customers who make a second purchase.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of customers who make more than one purchase, indicating loyalty and satisfaction.

Business Importance

Essential for measuring customer retention and loyalty.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Conversion from Product Card View to Add to Cart

Cart

Percentage of users who add an item to the cart after viewing its product card.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of product card views that result in an "Add to Cart" action, indicating how effectively product cards influence purchase decisions.

Business Importance

Measures the effectiveness of product presentation in driving purchase intent.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Sessions per User

Engagement

Average number of visits each user makes to your site.

Basic Information

Description

The average number of sessions per unique user, reflecting the frequency of visits and user retention.

Business Importance

Indicates user engagement and retention levels. Higher values suggest repeat visits and strong user interest.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Checkout Rate

Checkout

Percentage of cart page views that progress to checkout.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of sessions that proceed to the checkout process after adding items to the cart, measuring checkout engagement.

Business Importance

Evaluates how effectively users move from cart to checkout, helping identify friction points.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Revenue

Average cost to acquire a new customer.

Basic Information

Description

The average cost to acquire a new customer, reflecting marketing efficiency and spend effectiveness.

Business Importance

Essential for evaluating marketing ROI and optimizing acquisition efforts.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Financial.

Order Return Rate

Orders

Percentage of delivered orders returned by customers.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of fulfilled orders that were returned by customers, reflecting issues with product expectations, quality, or fit.

Business Importance

Provides insights into product quality, shipping expectations, and post-purchase satisfaction.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Checkouts

Checkout

Number of users who initiate the checkout process.

Basic Information

Description

The number of times users started the checkout process, showing intent to purchase.

Business Importance

Indicates user intent to complete a purchase, highlighting potential drop-off points in the funnel.

Metric Type

Quantitative. Results.

Product Views

Engagement

Total number of times products are viewed on the site.

Basic Information

Description

The total number of times users have viewed product detail pages (PDP), reflecting interest in specific products.

Business Importance

Indicates product popularity, engagement, and the effectiveness of marketing efforts in driving product exploration.

Metric Type

Quantitative. Results.

Product Views per Session

Engagement

Average number of product views in a single session.

Basic Information

Description

The average number of product detail page views per user session, indicating how engaged users are in exploring products.

Business Importance

Helps assess how well users are exploring products within a single session, which is crucial for merchandising strategy and user engagement.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Units Sold

Sales

Total number of items sold across all orders.

Basic Information

Description

The total number of individual product units sold within a specific period.

Business Importance

Measures sales volume and operational efficiency.

Metric Type

Quantitative. Results.

Revenue per Visitor (RPV)

Revenue

Average revenue earned from each unique visitor.

Basic Information

Description

The average revenue generated per unique visitor, measuring the effectiveness of the website in monetizing traffic.

Business Importance

Measures website performance and helps optimize traffic acquisition strategies.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Financial.

Basket Size

Cart

Average number of items in a purchase.

Basic Information

Description

The average number of items per order, reflecting customer purchasing behavior and product bundling effectiveness.

Business Importance

Important for understanding order composition and cross-sell/upsell effectiveness.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Quantitative.

Average Cart Value

Cart

Average monetary value of items in the cart during a session.

Basic Information

Description

The average monetary value of items in the cart, indicating potential revenue per checkout session.

Business Importance

Helps businesses understand purchasing behavior and optimize pricing or promotions to maximize order value.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Financial.

Product Conversion Rate

Sales

Percentage of product views that result in a purchase.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of product views that resulted in purchases.

Business Importance

Indicates product appeal and purchase intent.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Scroll Depth

Engagement

The percentage of a page that users scroll through on average.

Basic Information

Description

Measures how far down a page users scroll, indicating content engagement and layout effectiveness.

Business Importance

Helps assess content effectiveness and layout structure, identifying whether users engage with full-page content or abandon early.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Churn Rate

Retention

Percentage of customers who stop engaging with the business over a defined period.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of customers who stop purchasing within a given period, indicating retention challenges.

Business Importance

Critical for measuring business sustainability and retention effectiveness.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Cart Abandonment Rate

Checkout

Percentage of carts abandoned without completing a purchase.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of shopping carts that are abandoned without completing a purchase, reflecting friction points in the checkout process.

Business Importance

A high abandonment rate indicates issues in the checkout flow that need optimization to improve conversions.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Click-through Rate (CTR)

Engagement

Percentage of users who clicked on a specific link or CTA out of the total who saw it.

Basic Information

Description

The percentage of users who click on a specific link (e.g., ads, emails, product listings) compared to the number of users who viewed the link.

Business Importance

Indicates the effectiveness of marketing efforts, content relevance, and call-to-action (CTA) design. A higher CTR suggests user interest and engagement.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Ratios.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Revenue

Total projected revenue generated by a customer over their lifetime.

Basic Information

Description

The projected total revenue a customer will generate over their lifetime with the business.

Business Importance

Helps measure the long-term value of a customer, guiding acquisition and retention strategies.

Metric Type

Diagnostic. Financial.