Customer KPIs and rates: key performance indicators in unified commerce

As modern commerce evolves, the lines between sales channels continue to blur, making it essential to unify data and make informed decisions. Unified commerce integrates both online and offline experiences, unlocking significant potential to enhance customer satisfaction and streamline operations. But how can we measure the success of such strategies?This is where key performance indicators (KPIs) come into play.

This article is designed to assist marketing managers, business leaders, and data analysts in identifying and tracking crucial KPIs to assess and optimize their unified commerce strategies. Understanding these indicators allows you to measure performance effectively and make strategic decisions that foster business growth.

Measuring the performance of a unified commerce strategy

Some essential KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurable metrics that assess an organization’s performance in relation to its strategic objectives. In the realm of unified commerce, KPIs enable businesses to track the effectiveness of integrating different sales channels, monitor progress, identify strengths and areas for improvement, and make informed, data-driven decisions.

Essential KPIs include:

• Omnichannel conversion rate: Tracks the percentage of customers completing a purchase across any channel.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Measures the long-term profitability of each customer.
• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS): Assess customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Average Order Value (AOV): Reflects the average spend by customers, crucial for profitability.
• Customer retention rate: Evaluates the long-term retention of customers.
• Engagement rate across various channels: Analyzes customer interaction with your brand through social media, your website, etc.
• Stock turnover rate: Measures the efficiency of inventory management.

The importance of aligning objectives

Selecting the right KPIs is critical, but they must also align with your overarching strategic goals. Your KPIs should help answer the fundamental question: “What do we aim to achieve with our unified commerce strategy?”

For instance, if your objective is to enhance customer experience and loyalty, your KPIs should encompass metrics like CSAT, NPS, and CLV.

• Focus and consistency: By aligning KPIs with your objectives, all actions and analyses converge towards a common goal, preventing dispersion and tracking metrics that, although interesting, do not directly impact success.
• Motivation and engagement: When teams understand how their efforts contribute to the company’s overall goals, it boosts motivation and engagement. KPIs become tools for progress rather than mere surveillance.
• Measuring ROI: Aligning KPIs with objectives simplifies measuring the return on investment (ROI) of your unified commerce initiatives, allowing you to justify expenses and demonstrate the value of your actions.

Concrete examples

• Objective: Enhance customer loyalty. 
  • Relevant KPIs: Customer retention rate, NPS, purchase frequency, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). 
  • Actions to take: Implement loyalty programs, personalize customer experience, provide proactive customer service.
• Objective: Boost operational efficiency. 
  • Relevant KPIs: Stock turnover rate, delivery times, customer acquisition cost, online conversion rate. 
  • Actions to take: Optimize supply chain, automate processes, enhance website user experience.
• Objective: Increase brand awareness. 
  • Relevant KPIs: Website traffic, social media engagement, brand mentions, number of subscribers. 
  • Actions to take: Conduct omnichannel marketing campaigns, create engaging content, execute public relations.

To sum it up, aligning KPIs with strategic objectives is crucial for effectively driving your unified commerce strategy. This helps you concentrate on the most profitable areas, motivate your teams, adjust resources and production, and showcase the value of your actions.

Prioritizing customer satisfaction as a key indicator

Using CSAT for product satisfaction and NPS for assessing loyalty

In unified commerce, grasping the subtleties of customer satisfaction is vital. The CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) and NPS (Net Promoter Score) are key indicators that, when used together, provide a holistic view of the customer experience.

CSAT: Spotlight on Product and Service Satisfaction

The CSAT evaluates customer satisfaction concerning a product, service, or specific interaction, often measured through a satisfaction scale, such as a questionnaire (distributed post-purchase or during a call center survey):

• “On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with your purchase?”
• “Are you satisfied with the customer service you received? (Yes/No)”

NPS: Gauging Loyalty and Recommendation Potential

The NPS assesses the probability that a customer will recommend your business to a friend or colleague, typically measured with a single question:

• “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [Company Name] to a friend or colleague?”

Customers are categorized into three groups:

• Promoters (9-10): Active, loyal, enthusiastic customers likely to recommend your business.
• Passives (7-8): Satisfied, yet not necessarily loyal customers, less likely to recommend your business.
• Detractors (0-6): Unsatisfied customers who may damage your reputation.

CSAT and NPS: A Winning Combination

Utilizing CSAT and NPS together offers a fuller picture of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

CSAT identifies improvement areas in your offerings. NPS indicates your business’s overall health and growth potential.

It is crucial to measure CSAT and NPS across all sales channels (physical stores, website, mobile app) to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each channel over time. By analyzing these results, you can make informed decisions to enhance the customer experience and bolster brand loyalty.

Measuring impact on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) represents the total revenue a customer generates for the business during their relationship. Enhancing customer satisfaction can boost CLV.

For example, a 10-point increase in NPS can lead to a 20% increase in CLV.

Monitoring conversion and engagement rates: the pulse of your omnichannel campaigns

Evaluating the Conversion Rate of Marketing Campaigns

Tracking omnichannel conversion rates assists in evaluating the effectiveness of marketing campaigns across various channels.

Adjusting Strategies Based on Collected Data

Data analysis helps identify areas for improvement and adjust strategies accordingly.

In today’s commercial environment, where customer interactions span multiple channels, accurately measuring the efficiency of your marketing campaigns is essential. Conversion and engagement rates serve as vital indicators to gauge the effectiveness of your messages and the overall impact of your actions.

Evaluating campaign responsiveness

The era of unified commerce demands a comprehensive view of your campaigns’ performance. Analyzing isolated results from each channel is no longer sufficient. Processing this data aims to understand how customers interact with your brand across all touchpoints.

• Omnichannel Conversion Rate: A Key Indicator
  • This KPI measures the percentage of customers who complete a desired action (purchase, sign-up, etc.) after interacting with your brand across one or more channels.
  • It helps pinpoint the most effective customer journeys and optimize campaigns accordingly.
  • For instance, a consumer might discover a product on social media, research it on your website, and finalize the purchase in-store. The omnichannel conversion rate considers this entire journey.

• Customer Journey Analysis: Identifying Friction Points
  • Mapping customer journeys across different channels enables visualization of touchpoints where customers abandon their paths.
  • This analysis highlights friction points and improvement opportunities. Examining client bounce rates across each medium is necessary to ensure the offer or medium usage is appropriate.

• Measuring Engagement: Beyond Conversion
  • Customer engagement goes beyond purchases. It includes interactions on social media (likes, shares, comments, reviews), website visits, newsletter sign-ups, and more.
  • Measuring engagement helps assess customer interest in your brand and strengthens their relationship with it.

Adjusting strategies based on collected data: agility driving performance

Data analysis transforms raw information into actionable insights. The objective is to identify trends, weaknesses, and areas for improvement to adjust strategies accordingly.

• Real-time Data Analysis: Responsiveness and Optimization
  • Real-time data analysis enables monitoring campaign performance and making immediate adjustments as needed.
  • For example, if an online advertising campaign yields a low conversion rate, it’s possible to modify messages or targets in real-time for better results.
  • Using relevant tools is essential for direct optimization of advertising campaigns.

• A/B Testing: Optimizing Messages and Offers
  • A/B testing compares different campaign versions (messages, visuals, offers) to determine which produces the best results.
  • This approach enables continuous campaign optimization.

• Campaign Personalization: Targeting Specific Needs
  • Customer data analysis allows personalization of campaigns based on individual clients’ preferences and behaviors.
  • Personalization increases message relevance and boosts conversion rates.
  • Connecting all customer data (CRM, social media, POS, website visits) is crucial for successful personalization.

Optimizing operations with data: operational efficiency at the core of unified commerce

Unified commerce extends beyond providing a seamless customer experience; it involves optimizing back-end operations to maximize efficiency and profitability. Data analysis is critical for identifying improvement areas and refining processes.

Implementing an effective tracking system

In a complex omnichannel environment, a centralized platform to manage and monitor your business’s performance comprehensively is essential.

• Centralized Operations Management: Manage all aspects of your business, from inventory to logistics, sales, and customer service, in a single platform. This centralization simplifies management and quickly identifies weaknesses.
• Real-time Visibility: Gain real-time visibility into your business’s performance, enabling rapid responses to changes and unforeseen events.
• Data Analysis: Analyze the performance of each sales channel, identify best-selling products, and pinpoint your most loyal customers.

Analyzing gaps to adjust offers and services: continuous improvement through analysis

Continuous improvement via gap analysis between actual performance and set objectives is key to identifying improvement areas and optimizing offers and services.

• Identifying Gaps:
  • Compare collected data with performance objectives. 
  • Pinpoint areas where performance falls short of expectations.
• Analyzing Causes:
  • Once gaps are identified, analyze the causes.
  •  Is it a pricing issue, quality of service problem, product availability, or another factor?
• Adjusting Offers and Services:
  • Based on analysis, refine offers and services to enhance performance. 
  • For example, if the analysis reveals product availability issues, you can optimize inventory management or present alternative solutions to customers.

In an era where physical and digital boundaries blend, unified commerce has become the norm. However, implementing such a strategy requires a deep understanding of performance and continuous adaptability. This is where the selection and tracking of strategic KPIs play a vital role.

By defining and tracking key performance indicators aligned with your strategic objectives, you empower yourself to:

• Measure the effectiveness of your omnichannel strategy: KPIs provide a clear view of each channel’s performance and the overall impact of your strategy over time. 

• Enhance customer experience: Analyzing customer satisfaction data (CSAT, NPS) helps identify strengths and weaknesses in your offerings, leading to optimized customer experiences across all channels. 

• Optimize marketing campaigns: Tracking conversion and engagement rates enables you to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns and adjust strategies accordingly. 

• Increase operational efficiency: Tools like Openbravo Commerce Central offer business intelligence solutions tailored to your industry, allowing centralized management, performance gap identification through intuitive dashboards, and optimized process decision-making.