Over the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a significant tool in the world of e-commerce. Many online store owners think of it as a complicated and expensive technology, but in reality, it can help solve everyday problems – increase sales, optimize advertising, reduce returns, and more.

Here we will go over 10 metrics that are important to track if you want to maximize the potential of your digital store.

1. Conversion Rate

How many of your website visitors actually make a purchase? If out of 100 visitors, only two bought, your conversion rate is 21%.

How does AI help?
Learns user behavior and tailors suggestions that are accurate for them.
Helps showcase relevant products that can lead more people to purchase.

example: In one project, switching from a simple recommendation system to a smart algorithm increased the conversion rate by almost 50%!

2. Average Order Value (AOV)

The more products the customer adds to the cart, the higher the profits.

How does AI help?
Recommends complementary products (cross-sell) that match what the customer has already chosen.
Offers upgrades to existing products (Upsell) at the right moment.

example: On platforms like Amazon, the system recommends product combinations that work well together – and customers simply can’t resist the temptation.

3. Return Rate

Returns are an expensive headache for any online store.

How does AI help?
Identifies patterns in products that cause high returns and suggests improvements to descriptions.
Helps reduce returns by analyzing customer reviews and responses.

example: At one company I worked for, adding AI to identify problematic products reduced returns by about 12%.

4. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Customers who return again and again are worth much more to a business than a one-time purchase.

How does AI help?
Identifies customers who are about to abandon and sends them tempting offers.
Allows personalized communication with each customer.

tip: An AI algorithm can locate customers who have "disappeared" and send them a small discount – this can bring them back to buy!

5. Customer Retention Rate

How many of your customers actually come back?

How does AI help?
Builds personal profiles for each customer to tailor precise offers.
Identifies customers who have decreased activity and offers them a promotion that will make them come back.

example: Big brands are using smart recommendation systems to increase repeat customer rates.

6. Order Fulfillment Speed

Nowadays, customers want to receive their order as quickly as possible.

How does AI help?
Inventory optimization to reduce delivery times.
Improved delivery route planning for faster deliveries.

example: Amazon Prime manages to shorten delivery times thanks to accurate prediction of demand location.

7. Bounce Rate

Users who enter the site and immediately leave – this is a sign that something is not working well.

How does AI help?
Identifies which pages cause abandonment and improves content in real time.
Adjust the user experience to keep more people on the site.

tip: If more than 60% of your visitors are leaving quickly, it's worth checking what's bothering them.

8. Return on advertising spend (ROAS)

How much money do you earn for every shekel spent on advertising?

How does AI help?
Optimizes campaigns to maximize return.
Analyzes which ads bring in the best customers.

example: Using AI for paid advertising can improve return on advertising investment (ROAS) by tens of percent.

9. Organic Traffic (SEO & Organic Traffic)

Free traffic from Google is a great source of sales.

How does AI help?
Identifies new keywords with high potential.
Improves content quality to increase the chance of appearing high in search results.

example: In one project, AI helped improve SEO in a way that doubled the amount of organic traffic within a few months.

10. Customer Support Load

Too many support requests? It's time to streamline your service.

How does AI help?
Chatbots answer most common questions without human involvement.
Analyzes recurring questions and suggests ways to improve the site so that fewer customers need support.

example: On the site where I introduced an AI chatbot, the load on the support team decreased by approximately 30% in two months.

Summary

AI is not a passing trend – it is a real tool. Used correctly, it can:
Increase sales.
Optimize the marketing budget.
Reduce returns and speed up processes.

How do you get started? Identify areas where you can improve and gradually introduce smart solutions. Measuring, adapting, and constantly improving are the keys to success!