How using targets can boost your store metrics

Let's dig into the new Targets feature in Repeat Customer Insights a bit more.

(Even if you don't have the app, you might want to follow along as there's some advice you can steal from)

Arguably the most popular metric in ecommerce is Average Order Value so let's use that for this example.

Let's say you're current AOV is $120. After crunching some numbers your advisors say growing AOV to $140 this year with no reduction in customer orders will let you reach your goals (and get that sweet bonus to finally take a vacation).

You're going to want to enter 140.00 as your Average Order Value Target. But that's just one side. Your goal is also to keep customer orders at least where they are now (2,000/month), so you enter 2000 as your Average Orders per Month Target.

(Typically when you optimize for increased Average Order Value, you'll get a lower number of orders so you want to be aware of any drops)

With only those two changes you can now see where those two metrics are low all across the app. Investigating in the Store Analysis you find that while your overall AOV is $120, orders from customers acquired via POS are $150. You're only acquiring 500 orders from that customer segment though.

Just that one report (Store Analysis filtered by POS) gave you a few ideas on where to start reaching your targets:

• What can be done to drive up new POS traffic?
• What is POS doing to sell larger orders?
• Is in-person shopping customer service using better upsells?
• Or better merchandising and displays?
• Or does the smaller, more focused product selection boosting AOV?

Fast-forward a few months and you'll ideally start to see your improvements pay-off as the actual Average Order Values start to creep closer and closer to your target lines. Every now and then you might need to handle some drops in Average Orders per Month but the Target has you supported by highlighting them when they happen.

Now multiply those ideas by the dozens of reports that use Average Order Value in the app and you can see how many ideas you can start to get from the app itself. Multiply it again by the number of different metrics that Targets support.

I didn't realize it myself how useful this feature would be until I saw it in action with the app's advice.

Eric Davis