Pretty Busy Today April 23, 2018 bizadmin I’m pretty busy today with so much to type and print out for a tender closing soon. And my forgetful boss lost the original CIDB certificate with the home office in a big mess, with file and quotations all over the place! Frankly, he’s a very disorganized person, albeit untidy too. Hygiene does not run in his family either. Many times, I have to do double work just to print out and search for files for him since he misplaced them frequently. I don’t know why he does not remove and discard old files of customers and the whole soho is filled with tonnes of files and enquiries from past years. We have been in business for at least 15 years already; so imagine the piles of quotations and whatnots gathering dust in the shelves. Thank goodness he’s out for a while to buy printing paper for the tender documents to be printed out later. In the meantime, I shall take the liberty to blog here and take sponsored posts now and then.
67 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Ecommerce April 16, 2018 bizadmin Performance should inform business decisions, and KPIs should drive actions. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are like milestones on the road to online retail success. Monitoring them will help ecommerce entrepreneurs identify progress toward sales, marketing, and customer service goals. KPIs should be chosen and monitored depending on your unique business goals. Certain KPIs support some goals while they’re irrelevant for others. With the idea that KPIs should differ based on the goal being measured, it’s possible to consider a set of common performance indicators for ecommerce. Table of Contents 1) What is a performance indicator? 2) What is a key performance indicator? 3) Why are key performance indicators important? 4) What is the difference between a SLA and a KPI? 5) Types of key performance indicators 6) 67 key performance indicator examples for ecommerce 7) How do I create a KPI? Here is the definition of key performance indicators, types of key performance indicators, and 67 examples of ecommerce key performance indicators. What is a performance indicator? A performance indicator is a quantifiable measurement or data point used to gauge performance relative to some goal. As an example, some online retailers may have a goal to increase site traffic 50% in the next year. Relative to this goal, a performance indicator might be the number of unique visitors the site receives daily or which traffic sources send visitors (paid advertising, search engine optimization, brand or display advertising, a YouTube video, etc.) What is a key performance indicator? For most goals there could be many performance indicators — often too many — so often people narrow it down to just two or three impactful data points known as key performance indicators. KPIs are those measurements that most accurately and succinctly show whether or not a business in progressing toward its goal. Why are key performance indicators important? KPIs are important just like strategy and goal setting are important. Without KPIs, it’s difficult to gauge progress over time. You’d be making decisions based on gut instinct, personal preference or belief, or other unfounded hypotheses. KPIs tell you more information about your business and your customers, so you can make informed and strategic decisions. But KPIs aren’t important on their own. The real value lies in the actionable insights you take away from analyzing the data. You’ll be able to more accurately devise strategies to drive more online sales, as well as understand where there may problems in your business. Plus, the data related to KPIs can be distributed to the larger team. This can be used to educate your employees and come together for critical problem-solving. What is the difference between a SLA and a KPI? SLA stands for service level agreement, while a KPI is a key performance indicator. A service level agreement in ecommerce establishes the scope for the working relationship between an online retailer and a vendor. For example, you might have a SLA with your manufacturer or digital marketing agency. A KPI, as we know, is a metric or data point related to some business operation. These are often quantifiable, but KPIs may also be qualitative. Types of key performance indicators There are many types of key performance indicators. They may be qualitative, quantitative, predictive of the future, or revealing of the past. KPIs also touch on various business operations. When it comes to ecommerce, KPIs generally fall into one of the following five categories: Sales Marketing Customer service Manufacturing Project management 67 key performance indicator examples for ecommerce Note: The performance indicators listed below are in no way an exhaustive list. There are an almost infinite number of KPIs to consider for your ecommerce business. What are key performance indicators for sales? What are key performance indicators for marketing? What are key performance indicators for customer service? What are key performance indicators for manufacturing? What are key performance indicators for project management? What are key performance indicators for sales? Sales key performance indicators are measures that tell you how your business is doing in terms of conversions and revenue. You can look at sales KPIs related to a specific channel, time period, team, employee, etc. to inform business decisions. Examples of key performance indicators for sales include: Sales: Ecommerce retailers can monitor total sales by the hour, day, week, month, quarter, or year. Average order size: Sometimes called average market basket, the average order size tells you how much a customer typically spends on a single order. Gross profit: Calculate this KPI by subtracting the total cost of goods sold from total sales. Average margin: Average margin, or average profit margin, is a percentage that represents your profit margin over a period of time. Number of transactions: This is the total number of transactions. Use this KPI in conjunction with average order size or total number of site visitors for deeper insights. Conversion rate: The conversion rate, also a percetage, is the rate at which users on your ecommerce site are converting (or buying). This is calculated by dividing the total number of visitors (to a site, page, category, or selection of pages) by the total number of conversions. Shopping cart abandonment rate: The shopping cart abandonment rate tells you how many users are adding products to their shopping cart but not checking out. The lower this number, the better. If your cart abandonment rate is high, there may be too much friction in the checkout process. New customer orders vs. returning customer orders: This metric shows a comparison between new and repeat customers. Many business owners focus only on customer acquisition, but customer retention can also drive loyalty, word of mouth marketing, and higher order values. Cost of goods sold (COGS): COGS tells you how much you’re spending to sell a product. This includes manufacturing, employee wages, and overhead costs. Total available market relative to a retailer’s share of market: Tracking this KPI will tell you how much your business is growing compared to others within your industry. Product affinity: This KPI tells you which products are purchased together. This can and should inform cross-promotion strategies. Product relationship: This is which products are viewed consecutively. Again, use this KPI to formulate effective cross-selling tactics. Inventory levels: This KPI could tell you how much stock is on hand, how long product is sitting, how quickly product is selling, etc. Competitive pricing: It’s important to gauge your success and growth against yourself and against your competitors. Monitor your competitors’ pricing strategies and compare them to your own. Customer lifetime value (CLV): The CLV tells you how much a customer is worth to your business over the course of their relationship with your brand. You want to increase this number over time through strengthening relationships and focusing on customer loyalty. Revenue per visitor (RPV): RPV gives you an average of how much a person spends during a single visit to your site. If this KPI is low, you can view website analytics to see how you can drive more online sales. Churn rate: For an online retailer, the churn rate tells you how quickly customers are leaving your brand or canceling/failing to renew a subscription with your brand. Customer acquisition cost (CAC): CAC tells you how much your company spends on acquiring a new customer. This is measured by looking at your marketing spend and how it breaks down per individual customer. What are key performance indicators for marketing? Key performance indicators for marketing tell you how well you’re doing in relation to your marketing and advertising goals. These also impact your sales KPIs. Marketers use KPIs to understand which products are selling, who’s buying them, how they’re buying them, and why they’re buying them. This can help you market more strategically in the future and inform product development. Examples of key performance indicators for marketing include: Site traffic: Site traffic refers to the total number of visits to your ecommerce site. More site traffic means more users are hitting your store. New visitors vs. returning visitors: New site visitors are first-time visitors to your site. Returning visitors, on the other hand, have been to your site before. While looking at this metric alone won’t reveal much, it can help ecommerce retailers gauge success of digital marketing campaigns. If you’re running a retargeted ad, for example, returning visitors should be higher. Time on site: This KPI tells you how much time visitors are spending on your website. Generally, more time spent means they’ve had deeper engagements with your brand. Usually, you’ll want to see more time spent on blog content and landing pages and less time spent through the checkout process. Bounce rate: The bounce rate tells you how many users exit your site after viewing only one page. If this number is high, you’ll want to investigate why visitors are leaving your site instead of exploring. Pageviews per visit: Pageviews per visit refers to the average number of pages a user will view on your site during each visit. Again, more pages usually means more engagement. However, if it’s taking users too many clicks to find the products they’re looking for, you want to revisit your site design. Average session duration: The average amount of time a person spends on your site during a single visit is called the average session duration. Traffic source: The traffic source KPI tells you where visitors are coming from or how they found your site. This will provide information about which channels are driving the most traffic, such as: organic search, paid ads, or social media. Mobile site traffic: Monitor the total number of users who use mobile devices to access your store and make sure your site is optimized for mobile. Day part monitoring: Looking at when site visitors come can tell you which are peak traffic times. Newsletter subscribers: The number of newsletter subscribers refers to how many users have opted into your email marketing list. If you have more subscribers, you can reach more consumers. However, you’ll also want to look at related data, such as the demographics of your newsletter subscribers, to make sure you’re reaching your target audience. Texting subscribers: Newer to digital marketing than email, ecommerce brands can reach consumers through SMS-based marketing. Texting subscribers refers to the number of customers on your text message contact list. To get started with your own text-based marketing, browse these SMS Shopify apps. Subscriber growth rate: This tells you how quickly your subscriber list is growing. Pairing this KPI with the total number of subscribers will give you good insight into this channel. Email open rate: This KPI tells you the percentage of subscribers that open your email. If you have a low email open rate, you could test new subject lines, or try cleaning your list for inactive or irrelevant subscribers. Email click-through rate (CTR): While the open rate tells you the percentage of subscribers who open the email, the click-through rate tells you the percentage of those who actually clicked on a link after opening. This is arguably more important than the open rate because without clicks, you won’t drive any traffic to your site. Unsubscribes: You can look at both the total number and the rate of unsubscriptions for your email list. Chat sessions initiated: If you have live chat functionality on your ecommerce store, the number of chat sessions initiated tells you how many users engaged with the tool to speak to a virtual aide. Social followers and fans: Whether you’re on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, or Snapchat (or a combination of a few), the number of followers or fans you have is a useful KPI to gauge customer loyalty and brand awareness. Many of those social media networks also have tools that ecommerce businesses can use to learn more about their social followers. Social media engagement: Social media engagement tells you how actively your followers and fans are interacting with your brand on social media. Clicks: The total number of clicks a link gets. You could measure this KPI almost anywhere: on your website, social media, email, display ads, PPC, etc. Average CTR: The average click-through rate tells you the percentage of users on a page (or asset) who click on a link. Average position: The average position KPI tells you about your site’s search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search performance. This demonstrates where you are on search engine results pages. Most online retailers have the goal of being number one for their targeted keywords. Pay-per-click (PPC) traffic volume: If you’re running PPC campaigns, this tells you how much traffic you’re successfully driving to your site. Blog traffic: You can find this KPI by simply creating a filtered view in your analytics tool. It’s also helpful to compare blog traffic to overall site traffic. Number and quality of product reviews: Product reviews are great for a number of reasons: They provide social proof, they can help with SEO, and they give you valuable feedback for your business. The quantity and content of product reviews are important KPIs to track for your ecommerce business. Banner or display advertising CTRs: The CTRs for your banner and display ads will tell you the percentage of viewers who have clicked on the ad. This KPI will give you insight into your copy, imagery, and offer performance. Affiliate performance rates: If you engage in affiliate marketing, this KPI will help you understand which channels are most successful. What are key performance indicators for customer service? Customer service KPIs tell you how effective your customer service is and if you’re meeting expectations.You might be wondering: what should the KPIs be in our call center, for our email support team, for our social media support team, etc. Measuring and tracking these KPIs will help you ensure you’re providing a positive customer experience. Key performance indicators for customer service include: Customer satisfaction (CSAT) score: The CSAT KPI is typically measured by customer responses to a very common survey question: “How satisfied were you with your experience?” This is usually answered with a numbered scale. Net promoter score (NPS): Your NPS KPI provides insight into your customer relationships and loyalty by telling you how likely customers are to recommend your brand to someone in their network. Hit rate: Calculate your hit rate by taking the total number of sales of a single product and dividing it by the number of customers who have contacted your customer service team about said product. Customer service email count: This is the number of emails your customer support team receives. Customer service phone call count: Rather than email, this is how frequently your customer support team is reached via phone. Customer service chat count: If you have live chat on your ecommerce site, you may have a customer service chat count. First response time: First response time is the average amount of time it takes a customer to receive the first response to their query. Aim low! Average resolution time: This is the amount of time it takes for a customer support issue to be resolved, starting from the point at which the customer reached out about the problem. Active issues: The total number of active issues tells you how many queries are currently in progress. Backlogs: Backlogs are when issues are getting backed up in your system. This could be caused by a number of factors. Concern classification: Beyond the total number of customer support interactions, look at quantitative data around trends to see if you can be proactive and reduce customer support queries. You’ll classify the customer concerns which will help identify trends and your progress in solving issues. Service escalation rate: The service escalation rate KPI tells you how many times a customer has asked a customer service representative to redirect them to a supervisor or other senior employee. You want to keep this number low. What are key performance indicators for manufacturing? Key performance indicators for manufacturing are, predictably, related to your supply chain and production processes. These may tell you where efficiencies and inefficiencies are, as well as help you understand productivity and expenses. Key performance indicators for manufacturing in ecommerce include: Cycle time: The cycle time manufacturing KPI tells you how long it takes to manufacture a single product from start to finish. Monitoring this KPI will give you insight into production efficiency. Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE): The OEE KPI provides ecommerce businesses with insight into how well manufacturing equipment is performing. Overall labor effectiveness (OLE): Just as you’ll want insight into your equipment, the OLE KPI will tell you how productive the staff operating the machines are. Yield: Yield is a straightforward manufacturing KPI. It is the number of products you have manufactured. Consider analyzing the yield variance KPI in manufacturing, too, as that will tell you how much you deviate from your average. First time yield (FTY) and first time through (FTT): FTY, also referred to as first pass yield, is a quality-based KPI. It tells you how wasteful your production processes are. To calculate FTY, divide the number of successfully manufactured units by the total number of units that started the process. Number of non-compliance events or incidents: In manufacturing, there are several sets of regulations, licenses, and policies businesses must comply with. These are typically related to safety, working conditions, and quality. You’ll want to reduce this number to ensure you’re operating within the mandated guidelines. What are key performance indicators for project management? Key performance indicators for project management give you insight into how well your teams are performing and completing specific tasks. Each project or initiative within your ecommerce business has different goals, and must be managed with different processes and workflows. Project management KPIs tell you how well each team is working to achieve their respective goals and how well their processes are working to help them achieve those goals. Key performance indicators for project management include: Hours worked: The total hours worked tells you how much time a team put into a project. Project managers should also assess the variance in estimated vs. actual hours worked to better predict and resource future projects. Budget: The budget indicates how much money you have allocated for the specific project. Project managers and ecommerce business owners will want to make sure that the budget is realistic; if you’re repeatedly over budget, some adjustments to your project planning need to be made. Return on investment (ROI): The ROI KPI for project management tells you how much your efforts earned your business. The higher this number, the better. The ROI accounts for all of your expenses and earnings related to a project. Cost variance: Just as it’s helpful to compare real vs. predicted timing and hours, you should examine the total cost against the predicted cost. This will help you understand where you need to reel it in and where you may want to invest more. Cost performance index (CPI): The CPI for project management, like ROI, tells you how much your resource investment is worth. The CPI is calculated by dividing the earned value by the actual costs. If you come in under one, there’s room for improvement. How do I create a KPI? Selecting your KPIs begins with clearly stating your goals and understanding which areas of business impact those goals. Of course, KPIs for ecommerce can and should differ for each of your goals, whether they’re related to boosting sales, streamlining marketing, or improving customer service. Key performance indicator templates Here are a few key performance indicator templates, with examples of goals and the associated KPIs. GOAL 1: Boost sales 10% in the next quarter. KPI examples: Daily sales. Conversion rate. Site traffic. GOAL 2: Increase conversion rate 2% in the next year. KPI examples: Conversion rate. Shopping cart abandonment rate. Competitive pricing. GOAL 3: Grow site traffic 20% in the next year. KPI examples: Site traffic. Traffic sources. Promotional click-through rates. Social shares. Bounce rates. GOAL 4: Reduce customer service calls by half in the next 6 months. KPI examples: Service call classification. Pages visited immediately before call. There are many performance indicators and the value of those indicators is directly tied to the goal measured. Monitoring which page someone visited before initiating a customer service call makes sense as a KPI for GOAL 4 since it could help identify areas of confusion that, when corrected, would reduce customer service calls. But that same performance indicator would be useless for GOAL 3. Once you have set goals and selected KPIs, monitoring those indicators should become an everyday exercise. Most importantly: Performance should inform business decisions and you should use KPIs to drive actions. By Mark Hayes
From Entrepreneur to Millionaire – See the Difference! April 3, 2018 bizadmin “I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.” ~ Charlie Munger Have you ever wondered what entrepreneurs did to become millionaires? and how they easily became multi-millionaires? They became millionaires because of their dedication, patience and focus. They became multi-millionaires so easily because after reaching their first million, everything else falls into places. However, they say it’s difficult to reach their first million. Why? Because most entrepreneurs often hold themselves back from the following mentalities: 1. Not believing in yourself. The biggest thing holding you back from becoming successful it’s the fact that you don’t believe in yourself. Instead of second-guessing every move you make, trust your gut and go with your intuition instead of waiting for insights from those around you. As Dale Carnegie once said, “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” 2. Doing everything yourself. Despite wearing multiple hats and being a jack of all trades, it’s impossible to do everything on your own. Let’s say that you just launched a startup. You need to hire talented individuals who enhance your strengths and pick up the slack in your weaker areas. Learn how to outsource and delegate the tasks that you’re not familiar with or aren’t as strong in. This is one of the secrets that entrepreneurs rarely tell you, but it’s essential if you want your business to grow. 3. Spending everything you make. It’s tempting to go out and buy a luxury car after receiving a six-figure check. The thing is, wealthy people know how to live below their means, as opposed to spending everything that they just made. Many wealthy people, such as Warren Buffett, live in modest homes and drive practical cars. 4. Setting unrealistic expectations. While the wealthy definitely dream big, they also set realistic expectations. They’re well aware that they’re not going to become millionaires overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and patience to achieve their goals. As any marathon runner will tell you, you can’t expect to run 26 miles without the proper training and conditioning. Review the progress you’ve already made and where you’re headed. 5. Spending time with the wrong people. The rich don’t waste their time by associating with the wrong crowd. I’m talking about the naysayers and negative people who keep telling you that you can’t achieve your dreams, or the people who are using your success to their advantage. Instead, the rich spend time with like-minded people who are driven, passionate and thinking about how amazing their future is going to be. They are always building their brand. 6. Relying too much on plastic. Credit cards can be useful if you need to build your credit or invest in your business as long as you’re smart with how you use them. It’s incredibly easy to get yourself into credit card debt. That means that instead of making wise investments or putting money into your business, you’re busy paying off your credit card bills with those high interest rates. 7. Not planning for the long run. The wealthy have a knack for always looking toward and planning for the future. They know where they want to go and what it will take for them to achieve success. This allows them to anticipate any obstacles and have a plan in place to handle those challenges. If you are starting a new business venture, you need to have a long-term plan that addresses how to attract and retain clients and customers and outlines how you’re different from the competition. If you have any or all of the above mentalities, don’t let it stand between you and your first million.
10 Habits of Self-Made Millionaires March 25, 2018 bizadmin These are the 10 nuggets of gold – Habits of Self-Made Millionaires. Statistics show that these are the common straits of such people, regardless of whether they are born rich or poor. What sets millionaires apart from the average people? Were they born into the right family? Did they strike the lottery? Research shows that they have these traits in common. 1) Thinking in Abundance There is no shortage of money on this planet, only a shortage of people who think correctly. As you are reading this, there is $2.3 TRILLION dollars circulating around the globe everyday, and that amount is destined to grow throughout time! 2) Surround Yourself with Like-Minded Individuals You are the sum of 5 people you spend the most of your time with. As the risk of being portrayed as arrogant, rich and successful people value their network of friends, because rich people build rich networks! 3) Shift Focus from Spending Money to Making Money Instead of becoming a consumer, become a producer. Instead of buying more, sell more. Instead of attending seminars, host seminars. Instead of buying books, sell books. You get the idea. Not that there is anything wrong with consuming, it is simply that rich people produce more than they consume. 4) No TV Did you know why you don’t see ads on Lamborghini on TV? It is because the people who can afford them don’t waste time sitting on the couch! 5) Multiple Streams of Income The rich people have multiple streams of income and don’t just depend on one. Income streams could be from property rentals, investment in stocks, royalties from book authoring, full time jobs, side hustling, hosting webinars, etc. 6) Be Generous The truly rich people think about serving others and giving back to the community. The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity. 7) Have an Exit Strategy Everytime you hear someone become a success overnight, it is backed by effort and turmoil. Ultimately, all the multi-millionaires and billionaires get their break when they sell their business away – which is actually the ultimate exit strategy. Whatsapp was started in 2009 and sold for $19 BILLION in 2014! 8) Get into Properties This is the most time tested vehicle to creating and protecting your wealth since centuries ago. If you really don’t know what to do with the excess of your money, you cannot go wrong putting them in properties. 9) Leaders are Readers For the rich and successful, learning never stops even after graduation. 10) Always be Hustling All the tips, tricks and trade secrets won’t amount to anything if you just sit around and do nothing. As you see, successful people are not necessarily smarter or more talented. They simply hustle or work more even when the going gets tough.
Came Back from KL March 21, 2018 bizadmin I came back from KL last night and had dinner at Chick King, an eatery with several branches all over Malaysia. I took several mouthfuls of fish fillet burger and some potato chips with ice Milo for dinner. Earlier, we stopped over at Tapah where I got some fruits and dined at Baskin Robbins with a scoop of mint chocolate topped with 3 spoonfuls of dipping hard chocolate and garnished with chopped walnuts. My colleague visit the client, an architect, and apparently he wants some clarification on our products. Today, I have 2 major quotations to prepare and email out. Next week, I shall be in Kuala Lumpur again, most probably by car. Tomorrow will help sis fetch dad to GH for his angiogram. That’s why we cut short the trip.
Came back from JB and KL March 11, 2018 bizadmin My colleague drove down to Kuala Lumpur a few days ago and then we took Firefly down to Johor Bahru where he rented a car to go to 3 places which are rather near to each other comparatively. Note that in Waze GPS, Senai Airport is DIFFERENT from Senai Airport City which is still under development! Such confusion that we thought we will miss the flight; but thank goodness, we started off early and then managed to find the right Senai Airport in time for the flight back to Subang Airport. Stayed in KL for 1 night before departing the next morning to Penang. On the way home, got some fruits from Tapah Rest & Relax area for dad and the family. Second sis is hopping mad that I did not make time for dad in my busy schedule to visit him in the nursing home. I was rather tired to entertain anyone, by the way.
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill January 29, 2018 bizadmin The infographic is detailed and highlights the tips by the famous author, Napoleon Hill in his Book “Think and Grow Rich”. First of all, you need to have a burning desire to reach your goals and succeed. Secondly, you need to possess faith in God and have confidence in yourself. Patience is a virtue. Be patient in your learning process and don’t get panicky (I was guilty of this once before). Afterall, Rome was not built in a day! You also need to specialize in some areas like medicine, accounting, IT, etc. The sky is the limit. Invest in a course that you find comfortable for learning and completing it and perhaps take a test at the end. Knowledge is power and this will propel you to higher income. Plan and be persistent and take massive action. Dream without massive action leads to nothing being done and you get to envy others who wake up early to work and are very successful. Find a mentor who can teach you the ropes of the trade and form a mastermind group to learn from others who are smarter than you. Bosses should not fear employing staff who are smarter than they are so that he or she can bring the company to greater heights of success while helming it.
Social Blade – Find Instagram Influencers January 28, 2018 bizadmin To find Instagram Influencers, you need sites like Social Blade which shows the relevant data. This site is useful, especially those doing Shopify or any other ecommerce sites selling online. I am still in the learning process and patience is a virtue. This is so true in any endeavours or venture you are doing – be it studying, business, etc and not get panicky easily. There is always a solution to every problem. You need to be persistent and not give up easily. There are so many apps that you can use and one can be overwhelmed if not focused. Don’t waste time going for karoake or binge drinking with friends till you get drunk.