The importance of reports

Keeping track of what’s happening on your website is not just a routine task; it’s a strategic imperative that can be the linchpin for the expansion and success of your online presence. In the dynamic landscape of the digital realm, where user behaviours, preferences, and market trends are in a constant state of flux, the ability to monitor and understand these nuances has become necessary for a business to succeed.

There are a wide variety of uses for reports, here are some quite general report types that can help your business, but using the right reports for your business anything can be tracked on your site. If you’re looking for a specific type of report you’d like on your site get in touch with us and we can discuss making the report for you.

Unfortunately there’s no quick and easy way to understand customers behaviour. The Pet Rock fad earned the founder over $1m in half a year as people flocked to buy rocks.

If we had inside understanding of customers and could find the next pet rock we’d be millionaires, unfortunately it isn’t quite as easy as wrapping a rock.

To gain understanding of customers behaviour we have to monitor their actions and use patterns to help improve the site and guide users in a way that will increase sales.

Most platforms will have some way of reporting on customer behaviour on your site. On OpenCart there are a number of extensions available to do this, we’ve got some available for free for you to be able to view your own reports.

Advertising is a great way of getting visitors to your site and helping persuade customers to buy from your or clients to book or contact you but without knowing how many people are visiting your site or taking actions on it.

With reports on your marketing results you can find out which of your campaigns are performing best and which need improving.

Marketing reports can help you to:

• Measure ROI (Return on Investment)
• Prevent wasting money on non performing campaigns
• Optimize campaign performance
• Gain audience insights
• Identify trends and patterns
• Spot ads not using full budget

Using marketing reports is highly advised if you’re spending money on advertising, especially as Free marketing reports are available for most platforms, we offer one for OpenCart.

By being able to properly evaluate your customers you can help build loyalty. Using reward points and coupons you can help build customer loyalty but without reporting on them it’s hard to tell how effective they can be.

Proper reporting can highlight whether customers are properly taking advantage of rewards programs and other offers on your site. If customers aren’t using your rewards points or coupons it may be that you need to improve awareness.

Getting a better understanding of how customers are returning items and which shipping options they’re choosing is the first step in improving the processes for customers.

If you offer multiple shipping types it can be difficult to keep track of the number of each shipping type you’re using over set periods. This information can help improve your shipping options by comparing a more in depth cost analysis.

While no company wants returns, understanding the numbers behind them can help reduce the number. Use reporting to find any anomalies that may be causing returns.

Sales and tax figures are vital for any business and while the figures are available with your sales the data is often hard to collaborate and takes a long time to manage.

Having proper reports that display Sales and Taxes over periods can make form filling much easier and is a great way of keeping on top of your own sales figures for analysis.

There are a huge number of other types of reporting that can help your business online, whether you’re looking to embark on a new e-commerce venture, get better return on marketing, or simple improve your website for a better customer experience there will be reports to help you achieve your goal.

If you’ve got an OpenCart site and want improved reporting on it then try our Reporting extensions or get in touch with us if you want an extension we don’t have, we’d be happy to make one for you for less than you’d expect.