eCommerce KPIs to Track in 2025: Best Metrics & Practices  

Key highlights 

• Tracking the right eCommerce KPIs is essential to measure eCommerce success and make informed business decisions. 
• Select key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your online store’s goals and stage of growth. 
• Tools like Google Analytics and data dashboards help monitor important metrics like conversion rate, customer acquisition cost (CAC) and average order value (AOV). 
• Learning from other eCommerce businesses can improve your marketing strategy and boost customer retention. 
• Bluehost eCommerce Premium solution provides the tools, security and support needed to grow and scale your eCommerce website. 

Introduction  

Running an online store without tracking the right numbers is like driving cross-country without a GPS; there’s movement, but no clear direction. 

You could be spending thousands on ads without any improvement in your conversion rate. Or perhaps your website traffic is increasing, but sales just aren’t keeping up. These gaps often come down to one thing: not focusing on the right eCommerce KPIs. 

Tracking the right KPIs for eCommerce helps you understand what’s working, what’s not and where to focus your efforts.  

In this blog, we’ll explore the top KPIs that successful brands rely on, along with best practices to help you make smarter, data-driven decisions. From revenue tracking to customer retention.  

We’ll break down the essential eCommerce metrics and KPIs every online store should be watching. 

What is eCommerce KPIs? 

eCommerce Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable metrics that help businesses evaluate and improve their online store’s performance. These indicators offer valuable insights into sales trends, marketing efforts, customer behavior and overall efficiency.  

By tracking metrics like conversion rate, average order value (AOV) and customer acquisition cost (CAC), businesses can understand customer buying patterns and marketing effectiveness better.  

Furthermore, you can monitor bounce rate, cart abandonment and return rates to identify gaps in the user experience.  

By regularly reviewing these KPIs, eCommerce businesses can make informed decisions, optimize strategies and drive consistent growth in a competitive digital marketplace.

Also read: eCommerce Website Development: How to Build & Launch in 2025 

Why are eCommerce KPIs important? 

In 2025, data-driven decision-making is no longer just a best practice; it has become essential. Tracking eCommerce KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) provides a measurable way to understand how your online business is performing and where strategic improvements are needed.  

Here’s why these eCommerce metrics matter: 

1. KPIs help you optimize strategy based on real data 

According to McKinsey, organizations that leverage data effectively are more likely to acquire and retain customers and improve profitability. McKinsey also highlights seven key traits that will shape data-driven enterprises by 2025. 

Key performance indicators (KPIs) empower you to test and refine your strategies in real time. If customer acquisition is your goal but CPC rises and conversions stall, metrics like conversion rate and CAC reveal friction points. 

For example, an online course platform sets a goal of 50 new sign-ups per day. While traffic is steady, they notice a high bounce rate on their landing page. This signals that visitors aren’t finding the page engaging or relevant. To fix this, the team experiments with clearer headlines, stronger CTAs and faster load times all aimed at improving their lead conversion rate. 

2. KPIs align teams and improve collaboration 

According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that align teams around measurable KPIs experience up to 30% higher productivity. 

When departments like marketing, sales and customer support work toward shared goals such as monthly revenue, shopping cart abandonment rate or email engagement, it drives unified focus and prevents siloed decision-making. 

Tip: Use tools like Google Looker Studio or Shopify Analytics to visualize progress and foster cross-functional alignment. 

Also read: How To Make a Business Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide 

3. KPIs promote accountability and transparent performance 

High-performing teams often track their KPIs regularly to stay accountable and continuously improve performance. 

For example, if your goal is to reach 30,000 monthly website visitors but you’re averaging only 18,000, KPIs help identify weak areas whether it’s SEO, ad performance or content effectiveness, so you can take action before results decline. 

Setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) and aligning them with clear KPIs fosters ownership and transparency across teams. 

4. KPIs reflect the overall health of your eCommerce business 

eCommerce key performance indicators serve as a pulse check for your eCommerce store. Instead of reacting to revenue drops or customer complaints, you can proactively spot issues by tracking metrics like: 

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) 
• Average Order Value (AOV) 
• Return Rate 
• Inventory Turnover Ratio 

For example, online shopping carts are often abandoned before purchase. Monitoring the cart abandonment rate can reveal issues with user experience or checkout processes that may be affecting sales. 

Without these valuable insights, many eCommerce businesses end up reacting to problems after the damage is done, instead of preventing them through data-driven strategies.

Top 10 KPIs for eCommerce

Let’s further explore these trusted KPIs that online store owners should track. 

1. Website traffic 
2. Traffic source 
3. Bounce rate 
4. Conversion rate (CR) 
5. Cart abandonment rate (CAR) 
6. Customer satisfaction (CSAT) 
7. Average order value (AOV) 
8. Refund rate (RR) 
9. Cost per acquisition (CPA) 
10. Return on ad spend (ROAS) 

1. Website traffic 

Website traffic is simply the number of visitors to your website. However, it can take the form of total unique visitors, meaning each person gets counted once within a given time, even if they visit your website daily or you can go based on total views. 

Here are some methods to track this widely popular eCommerce KPI: 

Google Analytics is the most reliable method of calculating site traffic. It’s completely free to integrate with your eCommerce site. Plus, you can customize Google Analytics for tailor-made visuals and reporting that fits your business goals like a glove. 

If your online store runs on WordPress, use a plugin like MonsterInsights. 

In a pinch, try website traffic estimation tools like Ahrefs and Similarweb. These tools estimate traffic by looking up the keywords a website ranks for and calculating the number of clicks each gets. Hence, they’re not as accurate as the other methods. 

2. Traffic source 

To boost your low-traffic pages and optimize your marketing strategy effectively, know where your website visitors are coming from. Then, adjust your digital marketing efforts to prioritize the sources that send the most people to your website. 

Tools that calculate website traffic also track traffic sources. Below is a list of common sources: 

• Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 
• Email marketing you send to loyal customers and potential buyers. 
• Organic search, meaning people who used a search engine to find your website. This is largely powered by your search engine optimization (SEO) fundamentals. 
• Direct, meaning people who came directly to your website without using any channel, perhaps they bookmarked it or used their browser’s address bar. 
• Referral, which comes from other websites sharing links to your website. 
• Paid search, gained from purchasing ads through platforms like Google Ads. 

Also read: 5 Strategies to Improve Low-traffic Pages 

3. Bounce rate 

A bounce is counted when someone lands on your website, views that page and leaves without checking anything else. It’s expressed as a percentage of the total number of visitors to your website within a given period. 

According to Hotjar, a reasonable bounce rate for an online retail business fall between 20% to 45%. Anything above this is a cause for concern. 

Common issues that can cause a high bounce rate include:  

• Pages that load slowly 
• Pages that lack mobile optimization 
• Misleading product descriptions or landing page info 
• Low-quality content 

To improve your bounce rate, take steps to solve the above hurdles 

Here’s how you calculate your bounce rate: 

Bounce rate formula: 
Bounce Rate = (Single-Page Sessions ÷ Total Sessions) × 100 

For example: 
If 200 out of 1,000 visitors leave after viewing one page, 
Bounce Rate = (200 ÷ 1,000) × 100 = 20%. 

4. Conversion rate (CR) 

A conversion is counted when a user takes an action you’ve set as desirable. It could be purchasing a product, signing up for your newsletter or downloading your e-book.  

Your conversion rate is calculated by dividing your total conversions by the total number of visitors to your website, as shown below: 

Conversion rate (CR) formula: 
Conversion Rate = (Conversions ÷ Total Visitors) × 100 

For example: 
If 50 people purchase from 2,000 visitors, 
Conversion Rate = (50 ÷ 2,000) × 100 = 2.5%. 

5. Cart abandonment rate (CAR) 

The shopping cart abandonment rate is an eCommerce KPI that measures how many of your website users are adding items to their carts but not checking out (completing the purchase).  

Your cart abandonment rate can be lowered by reducing friction in the checkout process. That entails some or all the following steps: 

• Offering guest checkout so customers don’t have to sign up to purchase. 
• When building your checkout page, prioritize a speedy order process. 
• Show customers their total savings.  
• Avoid introducing additional charges on the final page. 
• Offer customers free shipping. 
• Simplify your website’s navigation. 
• Make it effortless to switch between the cart and the rest of the store. 
• Provide clear refund and return policies. 

The formula for calculating CAR is: 

Cart abandonment rate (CAR) formula: 
CAR = [(Carts Created − Completed Purchases) ÷ Carts Created] × 100 

For example: 
If 300 carts were created but only 120 purchases were completed, 
CAR = [(300 − 120) ÷ 300] × 100 = 60%. 

6. Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score 

The customer satisfaction score is a KPI used to measure how happy your customers are with your products and services.  

Customer satisfaction scores are collected primarily through surveys with questions like “How satisfied were you with our checkout process?” Users answer with a score between zero and five or zero and 10. 

CSAT can be expressed as the percentage of happy customers compared to neutral and negative ones, with 100% being the highest and most desirable. It can also be expressed as the average of all responses you get. 

To use an average value to quantify the customer experience you offer, try the formula below: 

Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score formula: 
CSAT = (Number of Satisfied Customers ÷ Total Survey Responses) × 100 

For example: 
If 180 out of 200 customers rate their experience as satisfactory, 
CSAT = (180 ÷ 200) × 100 = 90%. 

7. Average order value (AOV) 

Your average order value KPI gives you an estimate of how much money the average customer spends on your website. When you know the average amount, you can expect to earn from a new customer, you can optimize your pricing and marketing efforts. 

Increasing your average order value doesn’t need to cost more in ads. You can take steps to leverage upselling and cross-selling. 

Calculate this useful eCommerce metric as shown below. 

Average order value (AOV) formula: 
AOV = Total Revenue ÷ Number of Orders 

For example: 
If your store makes $5,000 from 250 orders, 
AOV = 5,000 ÷ 250 = $20. 

8. Refund rate (RR) 

Refund rate measures how many people refund your products, compared to how many people don’t. It can be a big indicator of underwhelming customer satisfaction. 

RR is an important metric for quality assurance and should prompt you to improve the quality of your products and the robustness of your customer support. 

Additionally, a change in refund rate can indicate fraud from customers who receive products but claim they didn’t. Another type of fraud is intending to use a product once and then return it, feigning dissatisfaction. 

Calculate your refund rate like so: 

Refund rate (RR) formula: 
Refund Rate = (Number of Refunded Orders ÷ Total Orders) × 100 

For example: 
If 25 out of 500 orders are refunded, 
Refund Rate = (25 ÷ 500) × 100 = 5%. 

To keep your refund rate as low as possible, investigate each refund incident until you have an actionable root cause for it. 

9. Cost per acquisition (CPA) 

Cost per acquisition, also known as customer acquisition cost (CAC), measures the amount of money spent on acquiring a single customer, on average. A successful acquisition is counted when a user takes a desired action, like purchasing. 

It’s an important metric for the marketing team to determine the overall profitability of their advertising campaigns.  

Ideally, keep your cost per acquisition as low as possible. To achieve this: 

• Polish your ad copy to compel more viewers to act. 
• Optimize your landing pages to enhance user experience and drive more customers deeper into your sales funnel. 
• Work on customer retention. Provide incentives to enhance customer loyalty, like discounts on repeat purchases. 
• Regularly conduct market research to understand your audience better. 

Here’s how this impactful eCommerce KPI is calculated: 

Cost per acquisition (CPA) formula: 
CPA = Total Marketing Cost ÷ Number of Conversions 

For example: 
If you spend $1,000 on ads and get 50 sales, 
CPA = 1,000 ÷ 50 = $20. 

10. Return on ad spend (ROAS) 

Return on ad spend (ROAS) measures how much revenue you earn per dollar spent on advertising. This metric is calculated for a given period of time regarding a single ad or an entire campaign. 

As a benchmark, your ROAS should stay above 100%; the higher, the better, but there is some leeway depending on the objective of a campaign.  

Brand awareness campaigns, for instance, will have a lower return on ad spend since they don’t center on driving sales. In contrast, your return on ad spend should be high if you’re running a time-sensitive sale ad. 

To calculate your return on ad, spend, use this formula: 

Return on Ad spend (ROAS) formula: 
ROAS = Revenue from Ads ÷ Cost of Ads 

For example: 
If you earn $4,000 from a $1,000 ad spend, 
ROAS = 4,000 ÷ 1,000 = 4 (or 400%). 

How to track eCommerce KPIs?

Tracking eCommerce KPIs starts with setting up the right analytics tools. A platform like Google Analytics is a great place to begin; it automatically gathers data on website traffic, user behavior and more once it’s connected to your eCommerce site. 

But tracking isn’t just about collecting data; it’s about making sense of it. Here’s how to approach it effectively: 

1. Analyze your stage of growth 

Each level of your eCommerce website’s growth comes with unique demands. The attention you give to specific KPIs will shift as your eCommerce business strategy evolves.  

For instance, to build your business at first, you’ll do well to acquire a high number of customers at a low cost. Therefore, KPIs like cost per acquisition (CPA) will be critical.  

Although you’ll want to remain profitable, your core focus shouldn’t be on profit. So KPIs like average order value (AOV) shouldn’t be as high on your priority list as CPA, website traffic and bounce rate. 

2. Choose the right KPIs 

Focus on key performance indicators that align with your goals and growth stage. Ask yourself: 

• Does this KPI align with my online store’s goals? 
• Is there enough data to produce accurate insights? 
• Can I act on the results? 
• Are the results timely and relevant? 

This ensures you’re tracking eCommerce key performance indicators that matter, not just ones that look good in reports. 

3. Use data visualization tools 

It’s one thing to have data, but the real value comes from turning that data into valuable insights. Choose tools that turn complex datasets into easy-to-read dashboards or graphs. This makes it easier to spot trends in customer behavior, purchase rate or even shopping cart abandonment rate patterns that might otherwise be hidden in spreadsheets. 

4. Benchmark against others 

Learning from other successful eCommerce businesses can give you a fresh perspective. Look at their use of important eCommerce metrics and KPIs, their marketing strategy and how they prioritize improvements. You’ll find case studies, blogs or even insights from networking groups that can help refine your own approach to eCommerce performance. 

5. Review data regularly with your team 

Regular check-ins with your team keep everyone aligned. Use your insights to spot roadblocks, improve your customer service quality and celebrate milestones when key performance indicators (KPIs) show success. This keeps your team motivated and your online store moving forward with purpose. 

How does WordPress eCommerce Premium solution improve your eCommerce KPIs?  

At Bluehost, our WordPress eCommerce Premium solution is built for online businesses ready to grow, scale and thrive. Backed by the flexibility of WordPress and the robust capabilities of WooCommerce, this all-in-one solution simplifies eCommerce store management. It lets you focus on what matters most, driving sales and delivering value to your customers. 

Trusted by over 5 million WordPress users, we’ve helped businesses of all sizes achieve eCommerce success and we’re ready to support your journey too. 

Here’s what you get with our eCommerce Premium Solution: 

• Multichannel inventory management: Easily sync and manage your inventory across platforms like Amazon, Etsy and eBay. Say goodbye to overselling and manual updates our system keeps everything aligned so you can operate efficiently and confidently. 
• Advanced SEO tools: With Yoast WooCommerce SEO included, you can optimize your product pages for better visibility in search engines. More organic website traffic means more opportunities to convert new customers and boost your conversion rate. 
• One-Click checkout: Speed matters. Our streamlined checkout process removes friction and helps reduce shopping cart abandonment rate. A better experience leads to higher customer satisfaction and repeat sales. 
• Integrated marketing tools: Plan and run marketing campaigns, automate email follow-ups and manage promotions all from a single dashboard. These tools are built to support both customer acquisition and customer retention. 
• Enhanced security measures: Your eCommerce website is protected with free SSL, daily backups and domain privacy, ensuring your data and your customers’ information stay safe. Security is built-in, not an afterthought. 

And with 24/7 expert customer support team always there to help you. Whether you’re launching your first online store or expanding an established eCommerce business. Our eCommerce Premium plan is designed to scale with you, supporting your goals from setup to sustained growth. 

Final thoughts

At Bluehost, we know that success in eCommerce isn’t just about having a great product, it’s about understanding what drives real results. That’s why we help you track key eCommerce KPIs like customer lifetime value (CLV), customer acquisition cost (CAC), conversion rate and average order value (AOV). With these insights, you can make smarter, data-driven decisions to grow your online business. 

These important metrics give you valuable insights into customer behavior, website performance and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. By monitoring data points like bounce rate, shopping cart abandonment and customer satisfaction, we help you improve the user experience and keep customers coming back. 

Whether you’re focused on attracting new buyers or nurturing loyal, repeat customers, the right KPIs help shape your strategy. With the tools we offer, you can easily track performance and optimize your eCommerce website for meaningful, measurable growth. 

Let us help you make your data work for you and build a more profitable, customer-first eCommerce business with WooCommerce hosting. 

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