If you want to boost the performance of your Shopify store, you’ll need to know how it works. This is because getting high conversion rates on the platform partly depends on how much information you can access. Information about the consumers, products, campaigns, and offers is crucial to your store’s growth. The good news is that this information is readily available to you if you sell on Shopify.
Shopify reports give you access to data that reveals how well your store is performing. This helps you make informed decisions about your products. These reports show you where your customers come from, how they make purchases, and what they think about your products. You also learn about your profit potential, product performance, and how likely you are to get returning customers.
Shopify reports will help you find problems and gaps that you can maximize. This puts you in a favorable position because you can set up your business for growth. So what are those reports you should take note of on Shopify?
1. Sales overtime report
The sales over time report show you the number of orders and total sales you made within a particular time frame. You can select the date range you need information for on your report dashboard. This could be monthly, quarterly, yearly, and so on.
Source: Zenstores
Some key indicators you should note here are your :
- Orders – the number of orders registered within a given period.
- Gross Sales – the total amount of sales registered within a period. This doesn’t exclude any discounts or outgoing expenses. (I.e., Gross Sales = Product price x Quantity sold)
- Net Sales – the total amount of sales registered within a specific period after deducting discounts and outgoing expenses. (i.e., Net sales = Gross Sales – Discounts – Refunds)
- Total Sales – this is the sum of your net sales, including discounts and taxes.
The sales-over-time report helps you identify which of your efforts are bringing results.
You can spot sales over time with your cash flow and devise strategies that improve the future performance of your store. For instance, if you see that you made more refunds within a particular month, you can try to find out why and see how to improve your store based on what you discover.
2. Growth report
The growth report gives you an overview of your store’s overall performance. You can see how well your store is doing periodically with this report. Reviewing your store’s growth dashboard will help you determine if you are reaching your broad revenue target. The growth dashboard shows your total sales and online store sessions.
Photo Credit: Astral Web Inc
Typically, the growth report is a foundation for more in-depth reviews of specific indicators of your store’s performance. Observing these indicators will provide information that helps you set SMART targets for your Shopify store.
For instance, if you see that the number of sessions declined in a particular month, looking deeper might reveal that this was because you reduced your promotional efforts in that month. With this, you can make plans to up your game in the next few months.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a great way to improve your store’s performance. It helps potential customers find you. This will lead to higher conversions and contribute to your store’s revenue. One of the best hacks for SEO is keyword research. Another one is building quality backlinks.
SEO works when you include relevant keywords on your Shopify store. You can use keyword research tools to find short and long-tail keywords that you can add to your products. These keywords will help potential customers find your store on search engines.
3. Returning Customer Report
According to Invesp, selling to an existing customer has a success rate of 60–70%, while selling to a new customer succeeds by 5-20%.
Shopify’s returning customer report will help you identify how you have built customer loyalty over time. Typically, you want to ensure that more customers revisit your store after their first purchase.
Source: Zenstores
Reviewing the returning customer report will show you if customers revisit your store. This information will help you build better relationships with your loyal customers by offering rewards, discounts, or customized campaigns.
If the report shows that more people are buying from you again, it is an indication that you are doing or have something that these customers like. However, if the report shows that your returning customers are low or declining, you know it’s time to revise your plan and seek ways to retain more customers.
4. Traffic Report
The traffic report is the right place to look if you want to find out where your customers are coming from. This report will show you which channels are bringing visitors to your store. The traffic sources are grouped into three primary metrics:
- Direct: These customers visit by entering your store’s URL on their browser.
- Referral or social source: shows customers who come to your store through another website, email, or social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
- Search Engines: this shows you visits from search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
The traffic report will show you your top referrals – channels that bring the most frequent referrals to your store. It also shows you which of these sources brings in the most conversions. You’ll know if visitors from each source buy a product from your store and the amount of revenue they generate.
With this information, you can tell which platforms are working for you. For instance, if you notice that you’re getting more conversions from influencer campaigns, you can use an email finder to get even more email addresses of potential influencers to scale the collaborations.
Also, if you discover that you have a low traffic, it means you need to optimize your store with relevant keywords. A good mix of specific and popular keywords will help customers find you on search engines.
5. Average Order Value report
Shopify gives you the option to obtain the average order value (AOV) of products in your store. According to Shopify, it’s one of the first numbers business owners try to improve to increase revenue or return on ad spend. This report may be found in your custom reports.
Source: Shopify
The AOV indicates the amount a sale is worth. It is dividing your total sales value by the number of orders made in a certain period. I.e., AOV = Total sales ÷ number of orders.
The Average Order Value is a crucial indicator to monitor on your Shopify store. You should track your AOV on a weekly or daily basis. A higher AOV indicates that you are getting more from your customers.
To improve your AOV, consider creating product packages, upselling or cross-selling complementary products, or offering free shipping using a “Shopify Shipping App” for a particular number of orders.
You can also think of other marketing strategies to adopt in the future to boost your AOV.
6. Sales by product report
The sales by product report show you the best-selling products in your store within a certain period. This report will:
- Help you make informed decisions about discounts, promos, or special product offers.
- Help you determine which products are doing well in your store.
- Provide information you can use to improve your inventory.
For example, if you sell jackets on your Shopify store, the sales by product report might reveal that denim jackets are getting more sales in a particular month. Your next point of action will be to increase your marketing efforts on these jackets so that they will do better. You already know what most of your customers like, so promoting this product will help you make more sales.
A poor-performing product might be due to low visibility on search engines. To improve sales on such products, use relevant keywords that will help them rank on search engines. Your choice of keywords should depend on the search volume these keywords get.
A search volume is the number of search queries for a particular search term within a time. According to Shopify, you’ll get more potential search traffic if you rank for terms with higher search volumes.
Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Semrush to analyze various search queries related to your products. Use the queries to develop a list of keywords for your store. You can include these relevant keywords in the product description, image titles, and tags on your Shopify store.
7. Wrapping Up
Shopify reports are there to help store owners succeed. Your ability to use the information these reports provide can boost your store’s performance.
With these reports, you can identify short and long-term trends and use them to grow your Shopify store. You can extract, visualize, and analyze data to help you do better.
Shopify is a terrific eCommerce platform for business owners who want to sell online. However, it is crucial that you generate and compare data from your store’s report and use them to achieve your SMART goals.
A consistent review of your store’s reports will help you spot sudden glitches in your store’s operations. You can identify areas that need improvement and set up systems for more effectiveness.
Now that you know which Shopify reports looking for, you should put them to good use. Compare your store’s performance over time and review your marketing strategies where necessary. You’ll be glad to see the results that follow.
Author
Owen Baker works as a content marketer for Voila Norbert, an email verification service. He has spent most of the last decade working online for a variety of marketing firms. When he’s not writing, you may find him in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes.