Growth Metrics Checklist for E-Commerce

Track total ad spend divided by first orders for Meta, Google, TikTok, and affiliates, plus a blended rollup. Pull spend from ad platforms and first-order counts from Shopify or your data warehouse to see where you can scale profitably.

Use GA4 to segment engaged sessions, average engagement time, and bounce rate by campaign UTM. Low engagement from a channel typically signals mismatched creatives or landing pages, not just audience failure.

Measure what percentage of purchases are first-time customers by channel and campaign. High new-to-file indicates you are expanding reach instead of re-paying for existing customers; Klaviyo and Shopify customer tags help attribution.

Compute breakeven ROAS using item-level gross margins, shipping, and payment fees. Push target ROAS back into Google Ads and Meta Ads bid strategies so spend is constrained to profitable traffic.

Use Klaviyo or Attentive to track opt-in rate by device, incentive, and trigger timing. Improving opt-in by even 1-2 percentage points compounds LTV and lowers blended CAC through owned channel revenue.

In Google Ads, split brand and non-brand campaigns and monitor impression share, CPA, and conversion rate separately. Protect brand terms efficiently and reserve budget for profitable non-brand queries.

Report CVR separately for mobile vs desktop and for each ad channel UTM source. Mobile usually drives volume, so improving mobile PDP clarity and button prominence often yields the fastest lift.

Use GA4 funnel exploration or Shopify analytics to see how landing pages and collections progress to cart and checkout. Pages with high traffic but low ATC need copy, image, or price anchoring improvements.

Track progression through contact, shipping, payment, and review steps. Use Shopify Checkout Extensions or GTM dataLayer events to pinpoint friction such as surprise shipping costs or rejected cards.

Set up automated email/SMS flows for cart and checkout recovery via Klaviyo and measure recovered revenue as a percentage of abandoned carts. Test send timing and incentives to lift recovery without eroding margin.

Use Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights to fix LCP, CLS, and TBT issues, especially on image-heavy PDPs. Compress images, lazy-load below-the-fold media, and defer non-essential scripts to protect mobile CVR.

Track CVR lift for products with higher review counts and star ratings using Yotpo or Okendo. Prioritize UGC acquisition for hero SKUs where social proof moves conversion the most.

Cohort customers by first order month and acquisition source, then calculate cumulative revenue at 30, 60, and 90 days. Use this to justify higher CAC on channels with faster payback and stronger LTV.

Measure the percentage of customers placing a second order and the median days to repeat. Build tailored replenishment flows at the median reorder window to maximize repeat conversions.

In Recharge or Stripe Billing, split churn due to cancellations vs failed payments. Reduce voluntary churn with skip options and flexible cadence, and solve involuntary churn with smart dunning and card updater tools.

Use post-purchase offers via Zipify OCU or Rebuy and track acceptance rate and AOV lift. Target compatible SKUs to protect fulfillment speed and avoid split shipments that hurt contribution margin.

Report revenue from welcome, browse/cart abandonment, post-purchase education, and win-back flows separately from campaigns. High flow-driven revenue indicates healthy lifecycle automation that reduces paid reliance.

Segment lapsed customers and test offers vs content-led reactivation. Monitor deliverability and unsubscribe rates to ensure win-back does not degrade your sender reputation.

Identify hero SKUs that drive most revenue and profit after variable costs. Feature these in ads and nav while ensuring stock depth to avoid paying for clicks you cannot fulfill.

Report the percentage of sessions landing on in-stock PDPs and quantify lost revenue from out-of-stock periods using session and conversion benchmarks. Use back-in-stock alerts to recapture demand.

Monitor the percentage of orders that include bundles or recommended kits. Use Rebuy or Shopify Scripts to surface high-margin combos that lift AOV without complicating picking and packing.

Track the percentage revenue impact of discounts, coupons, and promo stacking. Cap discounts where they dilute contribution margin and train customers to wait for sales.

Collect structured return reasons via Loop or Returnly and connect to SKU-level rates. High fit or quality-related returns signal PDP sizing guides, images, or QC changes to protect margins.

Calculate MAPE for top SKUs and maintain target weeks of cover based on lead time and sales velocity. Tighten purchase orders to limit stockouts and reduce capital tied up in slow movers.

Pull ship date and carrier scan data from your 3PL or ShipStation to compute delivery metrics by carrier and service level. Slow lanes increase WISMO contacts and suppress repeat purchase.

Monitor where-is-my-order contacts normalized by order volume and implement proactive tracking pages and notifications via Route or AfterShip. This cuts support cost and protects CSAT.

Send post-delivery surveys and correlate scores to repeat rate and LTV. Low scores often point to packaging, delays, or product expectations that require updates to PDPs or carriers.

Use Stripe or your PSP to track disputes and categorize by fraud, not received, or product not as described. Tackle root causes with signature confirmation, fraud rules, and clearer PDP messaging.

Record damaged-on-arrival tickets and tie them to packaging type and carrier. Optimize materials and right-size boxes to reduce DIM weight fees and replacements.

Automate review requests and capture photos or videos to boost social proof. Prioritize remediation on SKUs with average ratings below 4.0 and high sales velocity.

Segment average order value to see where bundles, free shipping thresholds, and post-purchase offers move the needle. Use this to align ad budgets and landing pages with higher-value paths.

Subtract COGS, shipping, and payment fees from revenue at the order level. CM1 shows how much is left to spend on ads and overhead while staying profitable.

Allocate ad costs to orders by channel to compute margin after marketing. Use this to decide which channels deserve incremental budget and which need creative or targeting fixes.

Calculate months to recover CAC from gross profit or CM2, not just revenue. Favor channels with faster payback to reduce cash burn and increase inventory buying power.

Measure days inventory outstanding plus receivables minus payables. Negotiating better supplier terms and accelerating fulfillment can improve CCC and free working capital.

Include shipping, restocking, refurbishing, and lost margin in the returns cost calculation. Set product and policy changes where this percentage is rising quarter over quarter.