Ecommerce KPIs: check yours and see what to fix first
It opens with a real-world example: a store doing $100K a month, converting at 2% and spending 28% of revenue on ads. Put in your own numbers and see every KPI in green, amber or red, what's wrong, and what fixing it is worth in sales and profit.
All 17 KPIs
Green = good, amber = OK, red = needs work. "Fix it" shows what reaching the good level adds per month, everything else unchanged.
Every business starts somewhere
Red KPIs aren't a verdict. They're a to-do list.
Every store has a few red numbers. Fix the most valuable one, then the next. Here is what your top fixes do, one on top of the other.
Step
Revenue
Profit / month
The 17 ecommerce KPIs that matter, and how they connect
Most dashboards show 50 numbers. Seventeen explain almost all of your profit, and they chain together:
Revenue per visitor (RPV): conversion rate × AOV. The number to judge A/B tests on.
Conversion rate: sessions that buy. Shopify average about 1.4%, top 20% above 3.2%.
Mobile vs desktop conversion: most traffic is mobile and often converts at half the desktop rate.
Add-to-cart rate: is the product page convincing? 5–8% is common.
Cart-to-order rate: is the cart and checkout losing people? 3 in 10 carts becoming orders is common, 4 in 10 is good.
AOV: what an order is worth. Bundles, add-ons and a free-shipping threshold raise it.
MER: revenue ÷ ad spend, or written as a percentage, ad spend ÷ revenue.
CAC: ad spend ÷ new customers. Compare it with what a first order leaves you.
Returning customers: orders that need no new ad spend. Email and SMS move it.
LTV : CAC: what a customer leaves you over 12 months vs what they cost. 3 : 1 is the classic target.
Product cost, shipping, discounts, refunds: the leaks between revenue and profit.
Operating costs: team, agencies, apps and overheads as a share of revenue. They don't grow with sales, so they're where a growing store gets its leverage, or loses it.
Contribution after ads: what's left after product, shipping, fees, refunds and ads. The number to scale on.
Net profit margin: what's left after everything, the number all the others feed.
A real-world example: $100K a month, 2% conversion, 28% on ads
The checker opens with a store like many we see: 50,000 sessions, 2% conversion rate and a $100 average order, so 1,000 orders and $100,000 a month. It spends $28,000 on ads (28% of revenue, an MER of 3.6). Only 4.5% of sessions add to cart, 20% of orders come from returning customers, product cost is 35% of revenue and shipping 10%, with 15% average discounts and 11% refunds. Operating costs are $15,000: $8,000 team, $4,000 agencies, $1,500 apps and $1,500 other overheads.
Revenue
50,000 × 2% × $100
$100,000
After refunds, product, shipping and fees
$89,000 − $31,150 − $8,900 − $3,000
$45,950
After ads
$45,950 − $28,000
$17,950 (18%)
Profit after operating costs
$17,950 − $15,000
$2,950 (3%)
The store looks busy, but 3% profit leaves no room for a bad month. The checker shows why: too few visitors add to cart, too many orders come back as refunds, and too few customers buy again. The biggest lever isn't more ads: taking the conversion rate from 2% to 3% with the same traffic and the same ad spend adds about $23,000 a month in profit. That's why the best-run brands A/B test their product pages and checkout before they raise their budget. Ideas: 100 ways to improve your conversion rate, Shopify funnel analysis.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most important ecommerce KPIs to track?
Seventeen numbers tell you almost everything: revenue per visitor, conversion rate, add-to-cart rate, cart-to-order rate, mobile vs desktop conversion, average order value, ad spend as a share of revenue (MER), cost to get a customer (CAC), LTV to CAC, share of orders from returning customers, product cost, shipping cost, discounts, refunds, operating costs (team, agencies, apps), contribution after ads and net profit margin. The checker above shows each one against a good level.
What is a good LTV to CAC ratio?
3 : 1 is the classic target: a customer leaves you three times what it cost to get them, over 12 months. Under 2 : 1, growth with paid ads is risky. In the example store, a customer leaves about $60 before ads over a year and costs $35, a ratio of 1.7 : 1.
What is MER in ecommerce?
MER (marketing efficiency ratio) compares total revenue with total ad spend. Some teams write it as revenue ÷ ad spend ($100,000 ÷ $28,000 = 3.6), others as a percentage, ad spend ÷ revenue (28%). Both say the same thing: how much of every dollar of sales goes back into ads.
What is a good conversion rate for a Shopify store?
About 1.4% is average for Shopify, and the top 20% of stores convert above 3.2%. Expensive products convert lower, cheap ones higher. Look at it together with add-to-cart rate and cart-to-order rate: they tell you whether the problem is the product page or the checkout.
How often should I check my KPIs?
Every week for the fast ones (sessions, conversion rate, AOV, ad spend, MER, CAC) and every month for margins, refunds and returning customers. Look for trends over four weeks, not single days.
Should operating costs like team and agencies count as a KPI?
Yes. Team, agencies, apps and rent don't show up in your ROAS, but they decide whether the store makes money. As a share of revenue, 12% or less is lean; above 20%, growth gets eaten by overheads. In the example, $15,000 a month is 15% of revenue and takes most of what is left after ads.
Which KPI should I fix first?
The one whose fix is worth the most profit, not the one that looks worst. The checker ranks every KPI by what reaching a good level would add to your monthly profit, with everything else unchanged.
Is a $100K a month store with 28% ad spend healthy?
It can be, but it is tight. In the example, 28% on ads leaves about 18% of revenue after ads and only about 3% after $15,000 of fixed costs. One bad month on Meta and the store loses money. Raising conversion rate from 2% to 3% would add about $23,000 a month in profit with the same ads.
A planning tool, not financial or tax advice. Payment fees are counted at 3%. Mobile vs desktop assumes 70% of sessions on mobile. LTV is what a customer leaves before ads over 12 months. "Good" and "OK" levels are rules of thumb for e-commerce, not promises; your category may differ. Each "fix it" value changes one KPI and keeps everything else the same. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.