Why Focusing On Revenue Alone Can Cloud Your Judgement & Utilising User Behaviour Instead

Understanding how user behaviour can transform your business’s bottom line.

I believe most businesses feel they have an understanding of their customers, whether that be from practical hands-on experience, a brand persona exercise or an in-depth user research study. Knowing your customer isn’t just a “nice to have”; it’s the foundation of profitability. Yet, many businesses rely solely on revenue metrics to gauge success, missing the wealth of insights hidden in user behaviour. 

Over the years, I've seen many presentations that surface website metrics, metrics that are conveyed in monthly reports, quarterly board meetings and occasionally in annual reports, all to be met with much nodding and little challenge unless, of course, revenue was down or under budget for the period.   

As I’ve grown in my career, I’ve come to learn this simply disseminates into what your role is within an organisation or perhaps even what you’re passionate about or truly care about. I suppose my passion and love for applying meaning to user behaviour has stemmed from a need to improve and deliver great online experiences. 

Through this need, I realised that by systematically monitoring and acting on behavioural metrics, you can create a feedback loop that can be used to optimise the user experience of your website, improve satisfaction, and grow your bottom line. 

Understanding the bigger picture.

Behavioural metrics tell a story that raw revenue figures cannot. They reveal why customers act as they do, whether it’s a product page that doesn’t resonate or a checkout process suffering from friction. By focusing on these insights, you’re not just reacting to what happened; you’re proactively shaping what will happen next.

The eCommerce metrics that matter.

Whilst the number of sessions and users on your website is a great indicator of how well your channels are doing, they don’t provide a true reflection of your overall performance; a healthy bottom line shows success, whilst looking a little deeper will provide valuable and actionable insight for growth. 

Here’s a breakdown of key user behaviour metrics and their impact on revenue:

Core conversion metrics.

• Session Conversion Rate. This is a core website KPI that tracks the percentage of visitors who make a purchase. An average conversion rate is 2%, so when you consider that for every one hundred sessions, just two users make a purchase, an improvement in conversion rate will directly increase revenue. 

• Average Order Value (AOV). This measures how much customers spend per order. The cost and type of products you sell influence this metric, but by encouraging upselling or bundling products together, we can influence this value.

• Revenue Per Visitor (RPV). Not one that I personally find helpful, but RPV combines conversion rate and AOV to give a high-level view of how much each visitor contributes financially. From a trading perspective, this is a foundational KPI, similar to Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV).

Engagement metrics.

• Session Duration and Pages Per Visit. Simply put, the longer the average session time and the higher our number of page views, the deeper engagement, which often leads to conversions. Perhaps a swathing statement, but for additional evidence, segmenting visitors based on average session time and monitoring conversion rate provide solid evidence for this in most cases.

• Bounce Rate. A lower bounce rate is a strong indicator that visitors find value in your page and are likely to proceed deeper into the website. Whilst there’s no direct correlation with Conversion Rate, the more visitors you have going deeper into the site the more your session duration will increase and pages viewed. This provides a greater chance of conversion or providing additional hooks such as newsletter sign-ups, access to exclusive content or incentives to purchase. 

Product interaction metrics.

• Add-to-Cart Rate. This is my go-to for indicating interest in products. A higher rate suggests a strong PDP with effective product descriptions, clear visuals and well-summarised key selling points such as product benefits or customer reviews. 

• Cart Abandonment Rate. A continual pain point and indicator of friction, but lowering this directly correlates to higher revenue. However, further analysis is almost certainly needed to understand the areas of friction causing abandonment, such as product price, proposition, or shipping costs. 

Customer loyalty metrics

• Active Customers. These are regularly engaged users who drive consistent revenue and offer opportunities for upselling and organic growth. I’m sure you’ve heard of the age-old statement in business that 20% of customers drive 80% of revenue; that’s these guys. 

• Returning Customer Rate. Having customers repeatedly return is the lifeline of sustained profit and growth. I recommend monitoring the retention of your customers and users, where possible, to provide an understanding of your core customer base, how well your retention strategies are performing and, of course, strategically to direct to activity that could be failing.  

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV or CLV). I once read that CLTV was the ultimate measure of long-term business health, which I don’t disagree with, but an eye on Active Customers and Returning Customer Rates on either side provides a solid set of KPIs to monitor and forecast from.

Now… just what do you do with them? 

Just monitoring behaviour isn’t enough. The magic happens when you use those insights to iteratively test and refine. A/B testing new layouts, tweaking your checkout process, or redefining product propositions based on behaviour analytics ensures continuous improvement and innovation.

For example, noticing a high cart abandonment rate? There are some key actions we can take, such as experimenting by reducing the steps to checkout or adding clear shipping information earlier in the journey. By addressing friction iteratively, you can optimise every stage of the shopping funnel in a considered and evidenced way.

Beyond metrics - building a customer-centric culture.

I should share that this process isn’t an easy one. If you're heading up ecommerce activities, you’ll be fraught with directives to meet revenue figures and targets. This will likely direct you to reactive actions like sending more emails and running sales and promotions. Likewise, if you're a business owner with a drive for growth, you’ll naturally strive to take action quickly and expect results; this is especially true when modelling financial impacts based on hypotheses. 

Tracking user behaviour isn’t just about numbers - it’s about empathy. It’s about stepping into the shoes of your customers to understand their motivations, fears, and frustrations, as well as recognising the objectives of the roles within your business that serve them. When you align customer needs with the goals of your team, whether it’s marketers aiming to improve engagement, product managers refining offerings, or customer support ensuring satisfaction, we create a synergy that drives growth.

This approach not only builds trust with your customers, fostering loyalty and increasing lifetime value but also empowers your team to make decisions that align with both user success and business objectives.

Need help going beyond the metrics?

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