How to measure the success of my business?

At the beginning of the pandemic, many businesses closed their doors and others managed to survive by adapting to an accelerated change in consumption habits. Business strategies and plans have been changing to ensure business survival and metrics have become more important than ever; For this reason, today we took on the task of sharing with you the necessary metrics to know if your business is being successful.

Business growth is seen with optimism

In an interview with Expansión magazine , Salim Bitar , vice president of Small and Medium Enterprises at Global Commercial Services for American Express, expressed that, according to his Global Business Spending Indicator study, "Mexico has up to 83% optimism in economic reactivation in the next 12 months”.

This tells us that there are high expectations that project Mexican businesses with good growth during 2022, but to ensure that the steps we take as a business are effective, it is necessary to have a set of business and commercial objectives that must be measured. to check its effectiveness.

There are certain metrics appropriate to each of these processes and, by obtaining their results, you will be able to improve essential aspects of both business and your sales processes with the aim of maintaining constant growth.

Some business metrics

One of the main problems that some business owners have is that they do not clearly know what is happening with the different aspects of their project and where they are going. The solution lies in the famous "measurement". Yes, you have to measure everything: your income, your expenses, the progress of your goals, the number of followers on social networks, etc.

The metrics give exact data on the true situation of your business by area, and knowing this information is what allows you to correct the path and act in time to easily achieve your goals; Therefore, here we share some metrics focused on your business that you can apply:

• At the beginning of the year, set sales goals and, month by month, measure how the actions established by this department are progressing to achieve them. This will allow you to make consistent and timely decisions on time.

• Compare actual revenue with billed amounts. If the accounts are in order, you have the peace of mind that there will be no unexpected surprises.

• Measure and keep track of all the movements of your cash flow. This will let you know when there are excesses and when to limit its use.

• Compare your budgets versus actual expenses. Carrying a constant analysis of this aspect will allow you to notice and optimize the allocation of new budgets the following year.

• Establish measurement guidelines to verify the impact of your advertising and promotion efforts on your sales. You will thus discover how effective that investment is being and to what degree it is contributing to your return on investment (ROI).

• Determine what the acquisition cost of each new customer is and compare it with your marketing expenses, as well as what goes towards your discounts and promotions.

• Uncover areas of opportunity in your sales process by comparing the number of deals you prospected against those that did close.

• Determine the lifetime value of your customer by analyzing the relationship of the time they spend with you, the frequency with which they buy from you and the amounts disbursed.

• Regularly compare the status of your inventories to determine a better frequency and value of your suppliers. It can even help you determine when to take advantage of better times to stock up with better prices.

• Analyze the hours dedicated to business growth in each area.

Knowing these basic metrics will help you make better business decisions that allow your business to maintain consistent growth. Now, income comes from sales and, today, many are made online, which makes it necessary to know some metrics related to your Internet sales processes.

Essential metrics for your online sales

As we are seeing, measuring your efforts will help you check if your strategies are effective, which translates into a successful business; therefore, now we share some metrics focused on your Internet sales.

• Measure the traffic, that is, the number of visits you receive on your website. The greater the traffic, the greater the visibility of your brand, that is, the greater the opportunities to generate purchases. One of the most used platforms to measure it is Google Analytics , where the most important variables to review are the sessions or times that your customers have entered your site and the time they remain within it.

• Measure the origin of your visits. This will allow you to know where the most traffic is being generated to carry out actions focused on them. By analyzing this metric, you will realize if your visitors came organically or from a paid medium. This information, in itself, will lead you to make better strategic decisions according to the origin of your visits.

• It measures how many people did not complete the purchase of their cart. To get this measurement you just have to divide the total number of sales by the number of carts created and multiply it by one hundred. Knowing and segmenting these customers can help you determine a retargeting strategy that allows you to increase the level of customers who do complete a purchase in your business.

• In the purchase process, measure how many customers leave your site. This is calculated with the total number of people who abandoned the purchase process and is divided by the total number of purchases, then you multiply it by 100. With this metric you will be able to identify flaws in the shopping experience that your customers experience and improve them in time.

• Measure your conversion rate, which not only means the total sales made, but also how many likes you receive on your social networks or the number of positive comments you receive on your site or app. Remember that everything adds up when thinking about the repurchase and loyalty of your customers.

• Determine the average ticket of your sales. This will allow you to know your star products or services, as well as those that are not working. It is calculated by dividing the sum of the value of all your sales by the number of sales made. This will allow you to create discounts and promotions that allow you to move those products that are stagnant, more easily.

• Know who your recurring customers are. Creating unforgettable experiences with customers who already trust you is the most important thing. Taking actions that make them feel even more special will ensure their long-term loyalty, which will always be a goldmine for business.

• As you can see, planning and financial analysis are the secret of SMEs to maintain constant growth. Get used to measuring everything related to your business regularly and this will bring invaluable information that will allow you to act quickly, achieve your business goals and increase your sales.

• That also leads us to have everything you need when closing a sale. Don't forget that at Oyster you have a way to make remote and contactless collections and payments, which will allow you to accept both cash and card payments so as not to slow down your business' sales or affect your customers' user experience.