The 5 most important KPIs for your webshop service

As an online retailer you naturally want to get everything out of your webshop and see your conversions rise. By measuring your customer service with KPIs you discover where you still have ground to gain. Measuring is knowing, after all. The question is: what exactly do you measure? By zooming in on your data, you can analyse the bottlenecks and apply solutions straight away. Gather insights you can do something with immediately! In this article you can read more about relevant KPIs for your webshop.

Why measure your customer service in KPIs?

How your customer service actually performs cannot be read off a handful of reviews. KPIs do that: they show you numerically how your customers experienced your service. Without figures it is impossible to assess your customer service. To work efficiently and purposefully, you choose KPIs that matter to your organisation. How do you start with that? First of all you formulate an objective, to which you attach the right KPI with its accompanying pillars. No time to research it extensively? We have lined up the most popular KPIs for webshops below.

1. The Net Promoter Score

The NPS shows you how likely it is that your customers recommend your company. You measure the NPS by asking: “Would you recommend this company/this product to others?” Your customers give an answer between 1 and 10, after which they are placed in three different categories. Does a customer give you a score below 6? Then that customer is called a detractor. Customers who give scores between 7 and 8 are known as passives. When someone gives a score of 9 or 10, we call that person a promoter. Worldwide the NPS averages 30. In the sober Netherlands the average NPS is a bit lower, namely 20. As a company you want to aim for at least a positive NPS. By measuring the NPS you map the customer experience and can make targeted improvements.

How do you measure the NPS?

You measure the NPS by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. Is your NPS above 0? Then you have a positive score! Every company's great dream is an NPS above 50; that means your customers have experienced your company as excellent. Is your NPS below 0? Then it is advisable to intervene and find out the cause; your service is then performing below standard.

By measuring your NPS consistently you keep any fluctuations in your score clearly in view. A much-used way of tracking this is through email surveys. It is also possible to measure the NPS via a chatbot, or via social messaging apps. Look at leading companies in your field and see what you can learn from them!

2. The Customer Satisfaction Rate

The Customer Satisfaction Rate (CSAT) is comparable to the NPS. With the CSAT, however, you ask a slightly different question, namely: “How would you rate your experience with this product/this service?” So where the NPS is based on measuring the customer's intention, the CSAT is more focused on the customer's emotion. Both scores matter for a good picture of the customer experience and for working in a customer-centric way.

How do you measure the CSAT?

With the CSAT you ask your customers directly to share their experience with your product or service. Let your customer answer this question using a number, an emoji or a number of stars.

Emotion is hard to represent in statistics, though. It is therefore also important that you ask your customers whether they would explain the answer they gave. An important advantage of the CSAT is that your customers get the chance to express their experience and/or emotion. This also gives customers the impression that they are being heard, which puts an empathetic, positive spin on the impression the customer has of you, whether that was already positive or not.

3. The Customer Retention Rate

Did you know that acquiring a new customer is between 5 and 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one? Try to transform your customers from one-off buyers into loyal ambassadors! To achieve this you measure the Customer Retention Rate (CRR). The CRR gives you an indication of the percentage of customers who stay loyal to your webshop over a given period. You calculate this on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis, for example.

How do you measure the CRR?

You calculate the CRR with a simple sum. Take a period of one month, for example. You begin the month with 200 customers. During the month you lose 20 customers, but gain 40. So at the end of the period you have 220 customers. You calculate the CRR as follows: 220-40 = 180; 180/200 = 0.9; 0.9x100 = 90. This means you have a CRR of 90%. With this KPI you aim for a high percentage.

4. Service and quality KPI

ServQual, a combination of the words ‘service’ and ‘quality’, shows you the extent to which your service deviates from your customer's expectations. ServQual is dealt with extensively in this book. This measure consists of a survey with various focus points. The survey consists of two parts: in the first part you ask your customers how they experience your service. The second part shows how your customers think your service should be. This KPI gives a clear picture of customer expectations, and shows straight away what your customers want to see from your company.

How do you measure ServQual?

You measure ServQual on the basis of reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness. The questions you ask your customers are based on these elements. You have the option of formulating these questions yourself; you can also choose the standard ServQual questions. The easiest way to carry out ServQual is by telephone or email.

The measures in a row:

• Reliability: is your customer service consistent?

• Assurance: does your customer service have the right knowledge?

• Tangibility: what does your customer service look like?

• Empathy: is your customer service empathetic?

• Responsiveness: how fast is your customer service?

5. The satisfaction of your staff

The satisfaction of your customer service staff is an important KPI. When your staff are not engaged with your company, this will undoubtedly be reflected in your customer service. So measure your staff's satisfaction, and ask them as well how they think you could improve the working environment. When your staff get through their working day with pleasure, your customers notice that too.

How do you measure your staff's satisfaction?

It is sensible to measure your staff's satisfaction at least once every six months, by means of a survey for example. Make sure staff can fill this survey in anonymously; that way you can be sure they feel free to share their input. Add both open and closed questions to the questionnaire so that you can draw clear improvements out of the results.

Manage your KPIs efficiently with tooling

Tracking these various KPIs can be a challenge. Fortunately there is customer service software that can lend you a helping hand. With the right tool it is possible to track all these KPIs in a single dashboard. In this dashboard you see the performance over a given period, and you can easily export the results for training purposes. This way you work as efficiently as possible and steer on the basis of data. Managing your customer service is impossible without data, after all. Choose the right programs, which are clear and easy to use, so that you can take your customer service to a higher level. With Watermelon you manage not only your KPIs, but your entire customer service. Try it yourself and create a free account.