Life of an Internet Entrepreneur

If you run an e-commerce website then you likely are tracking metrics such as: total sales revenue, how many total purchases were made, and general visitor stats. Today, we’ll look at a few other metrics you can (and should) use in order to get your e-commerce website performing at its best.

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate

Definition: The percentage of shoppers who place an item in their shopping cart but do not successfully complete checkout.

Causes:

• Anxiety over having chosen the right product
• Fear over the security of giving out credit card details
• Confusion about how to checkout

Each year, I play a fun guessing game on which day(s) will be the biggest online selling days of the year. My “bet” for this year is going to be mid-day Dec. 12th -13. Why that particular day and a half? Allow me to explain:

Paycheck syndrome

In bad economies, we are less likely to have cash sitting around. This particular recession is no exception, and because this recession is partially caused by the credit crunch, we are certainly less likely to have cash. Therefore, we are more likely to spend based on our paycheck date. We are especially more likely to purchase something expensive near the time we are getting a paycheck (thursday evening) in anticipation of having the money, or when we have an actual paycheck in hand (friday).

Telecommuting to work, or working from home, is becoming more common each year. The recent price hike on gas, now thankfully behind us, provided ample incentive for businesses to re-examine their policy on telecommuting, and may prove to be the catalyst for an already occurring trend. During the $4 gas period, some companies offered 4 day work-weeks (10 hours a day) and others permitted working from home, with weekly in-office meetings.

While the price of gas hurt businesses, it really took a toll on the daily driver. I figured this would be an opportune time to point out some advantages to working from home.