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Selling on the Internet: Metrics to Guide You

If you are running an e-commerce business, do you wonder how you are doing relative to other businesses on the Web? Do you ask how your conversion rates are compared to others? Or how your marketing costs stack with the rest? If you are selling on the Web, I highly recommend checking out e-tailing.com’s report “The Merchant Speaks,” which is the result of The E-tailing Group’s annual survey of e-commerce executives conducted during the first quarter of 2005.

Below are some interesting findings from the study:

What is your conversion rates?
When asked what is their conversion rates, majority of survey respondents (42%) say that their conversion rate (defined as the number of orders/number of visitors) is about 1-3.9%.

• Under 1% conversion rate = 9% of survey respondents
• 1-1.9% = 21%
• 2-2.9 = 21%
• 3-3.9 = 15%
• 4-4.9 = 7%
• 5-7.9% = 11%
• 8-9.9% = 3%
• 10-14.9% = 3%
• 15-20% = 2%
• Don’t know = 8%

What is your shopping cart abandonment rates?
Shopping cart abandonment is said to be an “increasing problem” with 33% of respondents reporting abandonment rates of over 50%

• Between 0-10% abandonment rate = 10% of survey respondents
• 11-20% = 9%
• 21-30% = 15%
• 31-40% = 13%
• 41-50% = 20%
• 51-60% = 14%
• 61-70% = 10%
• 71-80% = 3%
• >80% = 6%

What is your marketing cost per order?

• <$1 marketing cost per order = 19% of respondents
• Between $1-$5 = 39%
• >$5 = 42%

The study also looks at personalization, email strategies, and customer segmentation of the e-commerce respondents.