Choosing and Justifying Post-Launch Metrics for a New Online Store

A new e-commerce website is about to launch. Which metrics would you track once it goes live, and why would you track each one? ```hint Follow the first order and the second one Trace a shopper from the first visit to a delivered order and then to a repeat purchase. For each step, ask which number would warn you early that the step is broken, and which would tell you whether the business can make money. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does the site sell its own inventory, or is it a marketplace where independent sellers list items, which would add seller-side metrics? - What must the launch prove in its first months: that shoppers want the products, that the site can hit a revenue target, or that it can build a base of repeat customers? - Is this a brand-new business, or a new site for a company that already sells through stores or other channels and has customers to bring over? - Should the answer focus on the first weeks after launch, the first quarter, or both? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A launch goal that drives the choice of one primary metric, rather than an unranked list - Coverage of the shopper funnel: traffic by channel, browse-to-cart-to-checkout conversion, order value and repeat purchase - Launch-specific health signals such as site speed, checkout and payment failures, and fulfillment or delivery problems - Unit economics: acquisition cost compared with the margin of a first order and early lifetime value - Guardrails such as returns, cancellations and support contacts, with the reason each metric is tracked and the action it would trigger ### Follow-up Questions - Two weeks after launch, traffic beats the plan but very few visitors buy. How would you find where shoppers drop off? - Which of these metrics would you report to leadership every week, and which would stay on the team's working dashboard? - A launch discount lifts orders sharply. How would you judge whether the customers it brought in are worth what they cost?