Why isn’t the conversion rate improving? Which ad has attracted more visitors? Should I spend more on social media marketing? These are some burning questions one asks themselves when running an online business.
And while opening an online store has never been easier, staying afloat and becoming a success needs some smart decisions. Not surprisingly, businesses are investing in data analytics to obtain those smart decisions. Otherwise, they won’t be able to keep up with the intense competition.
For Shopify store owners, Shopify Analytics isn’t an exception. In the following article, we’ll discuss how data analytics can help your Shopify business grow.
Using Shopify Analytics
Let’s start with the basic analytics functionality you should use – Shopify Analytics.
Shopify Analytics offers many valuable reports to detect insights for your business – from basic conversion reports to in-depth marketing analytics. This helps stores to grow.
These basic analytics solutions of Shopify include around 10 main types of reports and tons of subtypes, each dealing with a specific area like customers, sales, marketing, inventory, finances, etc.
This way, a business can examine common eCommerce metrics that will be enough for tracking performance.
Source: Coupler.io
Apart from the perks Shopify Analytics offers you, there may be a few drawbacks you need to know about.
- It examines up to 250,000 users, so you have nothing to worry about if you have a small business. For bigger ones, you’ll need to think of third-party solutions
- There’s no segmentation between first-time and repeated purchases
- To enjoy more reports available, you need a more expensive subscription
That is why many businesses also use extra tools for Shopify data analytics. One can dive into broader data analysis with external analysis if Shopify Analytics isn’t enough for them.
Third-party apps and services offer meticulous analysis, reporting, and visualization tailored to your business needs. You can make faster decisions by examining data deeper and focusing your efforts on the right solutions.
5 Benefits of Shopify Data Analytics
Let’s examine why Shopify data analytics plays a crucial role in business growth and development. Here are 5 benefits to consider.
Enjoy data-driven insights
By employing Shopify data analytics, you’ll get to know your audience, dig deeper to examine sales repetitive patterns and save costs by predicting which marketing channel isn’t working.
So, first and foremost, any eCommerce business must collect a lot of data. Stitching your experience with meaningful analytics creates an opportunity to boost your profit.
From understanding your customer better to optimizing product pricing; from examining purchase trends to getting ready for the low-selling season – predictive analytics helps a Shopify business to make smart data-driven decisions.
Careful analysis will help you grasp the stats behind customers’ behavior:
- What is your audience searching for the most?
- Do I need to experiment with Instagram stories or focus on Facebook posts?
- What device are they using (desktop, mobile, or tablet)?
- Which products are most profitable?
This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the benefits of Shopify data analytics.
In addition, if you’re using a multi-channel retail strategy, it’s crucial to monitor data from different channels to meet your customers’ needs. It will be specifically useful for inventory assessments, our next point.
Streamline inventory management
There’s no secret that any business experiences low-selling and high-selling seasons. So if you don’t want to find yourself in a situation with no products to sell and tons of canceled orders, analytics for Shopify is just what you need.
With better inventory management, you will prepare your business for unexpected sales spikes.
Shopify Analytics offers a wide range of inventory reports. Here are a few you might be familiar with:
- Month-end inventory snapshot
- Average inventory sold per day
- Product sell-through rate
- Days of inventory remaining
- Percent of inventory sold
Source: Shopify
With advanced data analytics for Shopify, you can create custom reports and dashboards via automatic exports of SKUs and other inventory data.
This examined data will help you optimize your inventory. You’ll avoid excess products (as well as costs spent on them) and have the right amount of stock to satisfy customer demand.
Enhance customer service
Shopify data analytics sheds light on what’s hidden behind the curtain of customers’ habits and decisions. Consequently, one can use the insights to boost customer service significantly.
First, you understand how your visitors interact with your website and products; examine what they’re looking for and how they search. Then you can map out the entire client journey to see what your online store is missing: a better checkout experience, work with abandoned carts, etc.
By employing the insights from the analytics, you can optimize your chatbots, create better-customized discount offers based on individual preferences, and strengthen the connection with loyal clients with well-timed campaigns explicitly designed for them.
Moreover, Shopify data analytics lets companies see which channel works best. You can understand what should be done to polish customer experience, engagement, and satisfaction with analytics.
Improve marketing for eCommerce business
By 2024 eCommerce sales are expected to grow up to $6 trillion. So it’s not surprising that companies focus on boosting eCommerce marketing to stay competitive. Marketing analytics help a Shopify business to obtain meaningful insights and launch effective marketing campaigns.
For instance, you use email marketing to connect with your audience. You set up Mailchimp campaigns and need to understand how they contribute to your store’s growth. Configure Mailchimp Google Sheets integration and use collected data for deeper analysis and visualization. Eventually, you’ll see how to improve your email marketing campaigns or switch to another strategy.
Overall, with smart analytics for Shopify, you can:
- see which channels are driving the most traffic
- study how, where, and when your customers interact more with you
- invest more in channels that are top conversion sources
- be flexible in terms of marketing tests and experiment
Optimize financial operations and accounting
Monitoring your finances is a must that requires constant attention, even for a small online business.
Shopify data analytics enables you to get financial reports from your different channels (online as well as brick-and-mortar stores, social media channels, and others). Following, you can receive current figures regarding sales, discounts, returns, taxes, payment methods, etc.
So, for example, by noticing that your customers prefer mobile payments, you can quickly adapt and offer them several convenient mobile payment options. Moreover, by examining sales by month, hour, channel, and location, you can make fast and effective decisions to focus your effort on areas that bring you more sales.
With extra tools, you can take data analytics for Shopify to a new level – you can automate book invoices, payments, and refunds. You can customize billing options and examine monthly sales with convenient dashboards. You understand the budget and available costs to invest in some area, e.g. start affiliate marketing program, train employees, improve the website, and so on.
Analytics for Shopify helps a finance team to be alert to trends and changes by understanding total sales, examining return reports, and monitoring payment transactions. Is your business located outside of the North American market? Consider looking into one of the best data agencies in UK for your specific requirements.
Key highlights of Shopify data analytics
Overall, Shopify store owners should use data analytics to get the following perks:
- Depth. You’ll get to know your customers better. By examining all the available data and receiving useful insights, you can constantly keep improving your service and your products, thus meeting your client’s demands. Consequently, it will result in improved brand loyalty and affinity.
- Speed. You can quickly gather and analyze the data to get insights and stay flexible in the market.
- Optimization. Automation of mundane processes saves time and enables your team to focus on further growth.
- Future. You can make your future decisions based on informative and predictive analytics. You can predict buying patterns, prepare for low- or high-selling seasons with the perfect inventory, and avoid extra expenses.
- Relevance. Accurate reports show figures that don’t lie. You can focus on investing money and efforts in channels that drive the most sales. Relevant info helps polish marketing campaigns to attract more customers.
Once you dive into Shopify data analytics, you’ll take control of the invisible patterns affecting your business. By examining your data regularly, you’ll make these patterns work for your business’s growth and success. Focus your strategy on data-driven solutions and accomplish better results running your Shopify business.
