What separates real eCommerce success stories from the rest (it's not just brand)

“I have a Google Analytics account, but I never really look at it.”

I hear this from store owners time and time again. And I get it. Besides Google Analytics being not the most user-friendly platform ever (so much data, like, everywhere), we’re all time-poor when running an online store. From customer service enquiries, to sourcing product, managing a team or managing all the other day to day demands, looking at your data can can often feel like doing your accounting: You know you should get around to it. You know it’s really important for your business. But you never make the time.

Unless you're one of those eCommerce success stories born on Instagram (and even then, how long will it last?), the truth is this: understanding and using your data is essential to building a high growth, sustainable eCommerce business. All those success stories we follow for their beautiful branding and user experience (Away Travel, Allbirds, Koala, to name a few), you don't see half of why they're growing so fast. It's because they are all leveraging its data as a part of their everyday decision-making and using the same data to assess the impact of these decisions.

In eCommerce, we are blessed with a wealth of real-time information about our customers and how they engage online - these are the sorts of insights that would make the CEO of any brick-and-mortar chain salivate. But so few of us are using them effectively and it's not a matter of just leaving money on the table, you're missing out on huge opportunities to grow over the long-term.

These are the sorts of insights that would make the CEO of any brick-and-mortar chain salivate.

Every business decision needs to start with data

If I had a penny for every store owner who’s made a critical business decision based on a hunch. Sure, there's nothing wrong with developing hypotheses based on your experiences with customers, but when you're running a business online, they need to be backed up by real insights based in data.

If you're wanting to take an action, what key (relevant) metric are you trying to impact and why? Better yet, which key metric needs work, how is it a problem and therefore what action can you take to drive success?

For example, if you're planning a flash sale, is it because you're seeing a drop in conversion rate or are you just treading your well-worn retail calendar path? Maybe it's your average order value that needs more work, which will see exponential results. Or maybe it's just a case of increasing your media spend to boost traffic. Identify the data first, then act.

Get manipulative with data to draw insight

Not in a conniving way - make like a detective! You may look at your Shopify or WooCommerce analytics dashboard once a week, but are you able to 'keep pulling the sweater' (Zoolander) to really dig further into your key metrics and identify the where, the how and - most importantly - the why behind your numbers?

The beauty of data is not in the actual numbers - it's in the story we can tell from them. Going back to our example, if you are seeing a drop in conversion rate, where is it down? Is it from search traffic, is it from the USA specifically, or is it down noticeably on mobile devices? From there, you can start to draw hypotheses and actions to fix the problem.

The beauty of data is not in the actual numbers - it's in the story we can tell from them.

Too often do I see teams throwing stuff at a wall and hoping for the best when they have plenty of data at their disposable to make qualified, intelligent decisions to address what needs work, or take advantage of what's already working.

The analytics dashboards in eCommerce platforms are great for a top-level understanding of your metrics, but they don't allow you to manipulate and dig into data to find these answers. You need Google Analytics to do that.

Reporting must not be an afterthought

Graphs, pie charts, Excel sheets...I know! Even for data geeks, reporting is far from the most exciting part of your job, especially if you lose sight of the reason you're doing it. If you're in an organisation, maybe it's about covering your ass and getting a promotion. If you're a solo store owner, your reporting is probably the equivalent of (perhaps defensive?) conversations over the dinner table with your significant other. These motivations often lead to a tendency to report on everything (ie. vanity metrics) and forego the meaning of the numbers entirely (eg. our ads drove 11,369 clicks to site).

But let me tell you, there is so much more to weekly, monthly and annual reporting than simply justifying the time and money you've spent on your store. Reporting means no action is wasted, regardless of how successful (or how disastrous) it was. It contributes to our 'bank' of gold nuggets - insights which can guide future decision-making to even greater success. It's precisely because we're so often time and cash-poor that we need this bank to show us where to spend the limited resources we have at our disposal.

If that flash sale did well, where was it most successful? How did it impact our conversion rate versus our AOV? Where on the site did customers abandon? What percentage of revenue was related to full price stock versus on sale stock? All of these insights help us form a better picture, they form the data which will inform our next business decision.

Reporting means no action is wasted, regardless of how successful (or how disastrous) it was.

And so the cycle repeats.

This is how really successful eCommerce businesses run. This is, essentially, 'growth hacking'. It doesn't just from the top, either. These businesses weave data-literacy into their entire team's process so that everyone has buy-in to new initiatives and can get around the impact they're having on the business. Just like "everyone is creative", the same goes for those who excel in eCommerce: "everyone is analytical".

Most importantly, this isn't to discredit any successful brands out there. While some stores may be running blind on short-term influencer marketing, pretty pictures and fad products, many have genuinely strong brand identity and market-fit product. They're just missing out on the final piece of the pie: the data that's right at their fingertips.

Key takeaway: Make a habit of digging into your data.

Where to next?

Okay so now you're thinking “I know I should learn Google Analytics, but I don’t know where to start”. Or maybe you've browsed a few online courses and found them too general.

Well, I've had the same problem - I've wanted to help my clients up-skill and direct my them to an online course that's designed specifically for eCommerce, but I've never found one that's worth its salt. Then, along came 2020 and the wondrous gift of time (and now this shameless plug).

I decided to use lockdown to develop my own comprehensive yet no-frills fundamentals course for Google Analytics - with a twist. Yes, it's specifically designed for eCommerce store owners but not only does it show you which questions to ask, where to find the answers, but I'll show you how to analyse data to generate actionable insights that will impact your revenue. My clients pay me good money to draw out these insights for them on a weekly and monthly basis, but in this course I'll teach you to do it all on your own (and your team - get them involved!), so you can weave it into your organisation's culture, level up your data literacy and become our next eCommerce success story. I'm throwing in some Google Data Studio dashboards as well, so reporting will be less manual and more FUN.

Check it out here: Google Analytics for eCommerce

Thoughts? Talk to me in the comments!