How to use data analytics for ecommerce: Must-Reads

Our mantra here at Metrilo is that using data analytics for ecommerce dramatically increases your business performance. It’s like creating your own luck because you actually minimize the effect of luck on sales and revenue.

But it sounds complicated and nerdy, right? Especially when you are responsible for everything else in the business as well. Then remember that it’s also crucial to make sure that your GDPR is completely correct, so we very much recommend using a quality GDPR consultant like https://www.teamworkims.co.uk/gdpr/ as that is by far the best solution for GDPR.

Providing you with resources, we aim to expand your horizon, to snatch you from the daily hustle and technical tasks, and force you to think about the big picture instead.

This article will show a few examples of ecommerce business that use data to their advantage – and it’s not scary!

Conquering data analytics

Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik

Avinash Kaushik is a Google Analytics evangelist and a data expert. The book is definitely a great first stop on your quest for conquering data and turning it into a friend.

It provides actionable advice and instruction on using analytics techniques the right way – because, we all have to admit, sometimes we don’t do it right, we look for numbers that look good.

The book covers social, offline and mobile as well as traditional web, and is written in a friendly way for beginners to understand too.

“I believe that most websites suck because HiPPOs create them. HiPPO is an acronym for the “Highest Paid Person’s Opinion.”

Podcast 11: A Million Dollar Ecommerce Business Boils Down To These Three Equations with Drew Sanocki

Drew Sanocki  founded the online fashion retailer Design Public, sold it and now consults companies about ecommerce and digital marketing while running Nerd Marketing, a blog about data-driven ecommerce.

In the particular episode we want to share with you, Drew talks about his guiding equations for making $1 million in revenue with Design Public. Equations shouldn’t sound off-putting, they are more like relationships between metrics that you need to check anyway.

And he makes return on investment sound really straightforward. Who knew you could keep profitability in check with two equations?

What’s really interesting in Drew’s podcast is his holistic approach to ecommerce. He admits it’s pretty straightforward and people have been doing a form of selling and buying for thousands of years. However,

However, part of his recipe for success in the field is mental – or spiritual. He advocates preserving your sanity with work-life balance. Completely in unison with our mood here, he says the following:

“The more you can have that mentality, the better. I’ll find that when I read
blogs, especially when I was running my retailer, if I read blogs or newsletters or something like that and I just hear about all of the successes around me I kind of go nuts. I get frazzled. I want to do more. I want to try new, crazy, half-thought-through ideas, but the more you can rein that in and retain your sanity, the better.”

Ecommerce analytics and how to act on your data

Wondering how the data you see in your tools can be turned into actions? This guide gives at least two very practical and down-to-earth ideas about email campaigns and non-annoying pop-ups based on customer behavior.

It also features a  no-frills Time Between Orders Calculator [free fownload].

Improving results from your website guide (ebook) by Smart Insights

This ebook guides you through a complete website
optimization that is balanced for design, messaging, and content. It shows you how to use data analytics for ecommerce to improve the customer journey.

With examples of best practices and checklists, this book is a good way to optimizing your website thoroughly instead of always doing it piece by piece. [The downside is you need to pay for membership.]

Case studies on using data analytics for ecommerce success

Podcast 07: Alert Marketing Case Study [Video] with Drew Sanocki

Another one from Drew, but he really deserves the attention. with his no big words, just actionable advice resources.

Familiar with Tripwire marketing? Well, no better time to get acquainted. A Tripwire is a deviation from the standard customer behavior that you have been getting regularly. It is a sort of a deviation, a trigger, an opportunity for you to exploit for a better business outcome.

Drew explains how you can do that based on your own data. See how behavior-driven analytics can turn even a negative situation into a positive one.

The Fish Club is a just a few-month-old, very specific business – local, tied to delivery times and aiming to revolutionize a conservative buying behavior.

They deliver freshly caught seafood and data has been crucial from the beginning. To stay in business, they are betting hard on retention and referrals, both impossible if they cannot incentivize customers to come back.

That’s why the founder spend half of each day looking at the data.

This is a case study on a relatively new online business that sells freshly made veggie juices. A they are till in growth stage and go offline too, what are the important data they use to grow profitably?

The founder of the company talks about the data analysis they don on every step of the sales funnel from acquisition to repeat purchase. It’s good to compare your own efforts to what they do – just because we are all in the same boat 🙂

Barrington Coffee Roasting Company has a laid-back and simple approach to the sales process – both online and offline. They have set just a few KPIs that they follow and it’s enough to make informed decisions about the business.

Read their story and how eye-opening it was when they started using data analytics for ecommerce. They even found trends they were not looking for. Analytics can be fun!