I see this all the time.
Sales slow down.
The first response:
Increase the ad budget.
Sometimes that's the right decision.
But before spending more money bringing customers to a website, I want to know what happens to them when they arrive.
That's why I developed my 8 Metric Method™.
It gives me a quick way to understand the overall health of an ecommerce business.
Metric 1: Conversion Rate
What percentage of website sessions result in an order?
This is the obvious starting point.
But I also compare:
- Mobile
- Desktop
- New customers
- Returning customers
- Traffic channels
- Countries
- Landing pages
The overall percentage is only the beginning.
Metric 2: Average Order Value
How much does each customer spend?
Increasing traffic is one way to generate more revenue.
Increasing what existing customers spend is another.
Look at product recommendations, bundles, thresholds and merchandising.
Metric 3: Returning Customer Percentage
How much of the business is coming from customers who have already bought from you?
If almost every order requires a completely new customer, you're placing enormous pressure on acquisition.
Retention makes growth more resilient.
Metric 4: Bounce Rate
People arrive.
Then immediately leave.
- Why?
- Slow website?
- Wrong traffic?
- Poor mobile experience?
- Confusing headline?
Landing page doesn't match the advert?
Bounce behaviour can tell you whether the customer journey is failing before it has even started.
Metric 5: Mobile UX & Speed
I separate this because it's too important to bury inside general conversion rate.
Most Shopify teams work on desktop.
Most customers often don't.
Review the entire mobile journey.
Not simply the homepage.
Metric 6: Checkout Completion
How many people who begin checkout actually complete it?
Someone starting checkout has demonstrated substantial buying intent.
If you're losing a large percentage here, investigate.
- Shipping
- Duties
- Delivery
- Payment methods
- Technical issues
- Trust
- Cart and checkout UX
Metric 7: Refund & Return Rate
Revenue isn't particularly useful if too much of it comes straight back.
Returns can expose:
- Sizing problems
- Poor photography
- Misleading colour
- Weak descriptions
- Product quality problems
- Incorrect customer expectations
- CRO doesn't stop when the order is placed
Metric 8: Blended ROAS
Finally, how hard is your total marketing spend working?
Don't only look at what an advertising platform claims it generated.
- Look at the business
- Total marketing spend
- Total revenue
- Margins
- Returning customers
- Email revenue
- Organic revenue
The channels work together.
Why These Metrics Work Together
Imagine you improve conversion rate.
Great.
Then you discover returns have increased dramatically.
Not so great.
Or AOV increases because customers are buying large discounted bundles that destroy your margin.
Again, not necessarily an improvement.
This is why ecommerce performance needs to be viewed as a system.
I don't want to optimise one number.
I want to improve the business.
A Real Example of the Thinking
With a luxury jewellery website like MATEO, we might work on:
- Product page confidence
- International shipping clarity
- Wishlist behaviour
- Email segmentation
- Checkout
- Mobile UX
- Returning customers
- These appear to be separate projects
- They're not
- They're different parts of the same customer journey
- That's what the 8 Metric Method helps me see
Before Spending Another £1 on Ads
- Open your analytics
- Write down these eight numbers
- Find the weakest one
Then investigate why.
Because more traffic amplifies whatever already exists.
If your website converts well, that's useful.
If your website leaks customers everywhere, you're simply paying to make the leak bigger.
Ready to sell more?
I help independent ecommerce brands improve conversion, automate customer emails and build connected AI systems. If you're unsure where to start, a free website audit will identify the top priority.
Book an Ecommerce Growth Audit