You’ve been selling on Amazon for a while, and it’s going well, thanks to the tips you picked up from the Amazon Selling Guide. But you’re looking for ways to improve your sales even further by analyzing your seller data.
One of the key ways to improve your sales is to analyze your seller data. But with so many metrics to track, it can be difficult to know which ones are worth focusing on and improving.
That’s why we’ve compiled this list of Amazon seller metrics. Track these figures regularly to understand what you need to improve and grow your Amazon business.
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But first — why do Amazon seller metrics matter?
Your seller metrics directly impact how you’re positioned in Amazon’s marketplace. A high order rate, for example, doesn’t just mean greater revenue — it could also mean more product reviews, better Buy Box placement, and a higher ranking in product searches.
Product ranking
Although Amazon has not released information on its search algorithm, there are a few benchmarks that determine your product’s ranking on search results pages.
- Keywords: does your listing include the search terms consumers look for?
- Sales conversion rate: do your items sell well?
- Customer reviews: are customers satisfied with your products, or do you have loads of negative reviews?
- Price: are your products priced competitively?
- Performance history: do you have a high fulfillment cancellation rate?
- Delivery time: do customers receive their products quickly?
Performance metrics help you gauge how your product pages are doing in each of these categories, so you can improve their search ranking.
The search results position has a huge impact on whether or not a customer engages with your product. According to Search Engine Journal, 70% of buyers don’t click past the first page of Amazon search results.
Check out this blog post to pick up some tips to improve your sales.
Buy Box placement (Featured Offer)
The Buy Box — recently renamed as the Featured Offer placement — is the first price option a buyer sees when they view an Amazon listing with multiple sellers. If a buyer clicks “Add to Cart,” they are purchasing the offer in the Buy Box.
Buy Box eligibility comes down to meeting seller performance metrics. Order Defect Rate (ODR) is the most important performance factor. Amazon assesses stock data to determine whether products are available for buyers, and Amazon uses your seller ratings as a measure of customer service.
So, if you’re not performing well in these areas, you have a lower chance of making the Buy Box — which could, in turn, lower sales.
You can check if you’ve made the Buy Box by checking the product detail page for your ASIN. If you see an “Add to Cart” button on the product detail page, congrats — you’ve made the buy box!
An overview of Amazon seller metrics
Amazon metrics can be broken into these two categories:
Seller performance metrics: these are calculated by measuring if you’re meeting seller performance targets like cancellation rate and whether you’re complying with Amazon’s policies.
Business performance metrics: these are made up of the analytical data associated with your Amazon account, such as the number of orders.
Let’s take a look at these metrics in-depth:
Seller performance metrics
Seller performance metrics are all about how well you’re performing as a seller. A large part of your performance metrics are benchmarks set from Amazon selling policies. The idea is for Amazon to make sure you’re delivering excellent customer service to buyers.
Account Health Rating (AHR)
The AHR gives you an overview of your account and how well you are complying with Amazon’s selling policies.
Ultimately, your AHR is determined by the customer experience you’re offering to buyers. For example, if you have unresolved policy violations, this will affect your account health. If your AHR falls into “at risk” or “critical,” your account may get suspended.
Amazon will notify you if your AHR is off-target, and if you improve and address violations, your account health can go back to “good.”
Order Defect Rate
The Order Defect Rate (ODR) represents the percentage of orders with indicators of poor customer service over 60 days.
There are three types of order defects:
- Negative feedback: the buyer is unhappy with the item and reports negative feedback in the “Customer Review” section.
- An A-to-z Guarantee claim that is not denied: the buyer is unhappy with an item, and the dispute can’t be resolved, so the buyer requests a full refund of their money. A-to-z Guarantee claims are typically a last resort, as most of the time, you should be able to resolve the issue at hand. You can check the conditions here which an A-to-z claim can be made.
- Credit card chargeback: the buyer contacts their credit card company to request that the charge is refunded. This could be due to unauthorized use, or the buyer isn’t happy with the item. You can respond to chargebacks on your Amazon Seller Central dashboard.
Sellers should maintain an ODR under 1% to continue selling on Amazon. If your ODR is above 1%, your account may be at risk of suspension.
Cancellation Rate
The Cancellation Rate (CR or Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate) consists of all the orders canceled by a seller during a seven-day time period.
Pre-fulfillment cancellation only applies to seller-fulfilled orders. So, if you’re an Amazon FBA seller, this doesn’t apply to you as Amazon fulfills your orders. Order cancellations initiated by the customer don’t affect the cancellation rate.
There may be times when you have to cancel an order due to inventory management mistakes or other issues. But ideally, you should avoid cancellations to maintain a CR under 2.5%. A CR higher than 2.5% may lead to Amazon revoking your selling privileges.
Late Shipment Rate
The Late Shipment Rate (LSR) is the percentage of total orders over a 10-day or 30-day period that are completed after the expected ship date. Your Amazon Seller dashboard will indicate which period you fall under. LSR doesn’t apply to Amazon FBA orders — only seller-fulfilled orders.
Confirm the shipment of orders by the expected ship date so that customers can see the status of their shipped orders online.
Late shipments may occur due to several reasons — like carrier delays and weather issues, etc. Keep your customer updated about any delays. If you don’t, they could leave negative customer feedback, which can also contribute to your AHR.
Sellers should try and maintain an LSR under 4%. An LSR above 4% can lead to seller account suspension.
Valid Tracking Rate
The Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) is the percentage of the total shipments over 30 days. VTR doesn’t apply to Amazon FBA orders.
Amazon suggests that sellers should maintain a VTR higher than 95% for their shipments. If your VTR is below 95% for a certain category, Amazon can restrict you from selling non-FBA. For instance, if your VTR for phone chargers is below 95%, you may not be able to sell by self-fulfillment.
If your VTR is below 95%, your eligibility to participate in Premium Shipping and guaranteed delivery may also be affected.
The marketplace takes this metric seriously because customers rely on tracking numbers to find out where their orders are and when they can expect their orders. So, you must enter the correct tracking numbers.
Of course, human error happens sometimes, and you can mistakenly enter a few wrong digits in the tracking number box. But this mistake can be costly to you as a seller. You can also automate your shipping process to minimize tracking errors.
On-Time Delivery Rate
The On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) is a percentage of your total tracked shipments that have been delivered by their estimated delivery date, and it only applies to seller-fulfilled orders.
Amazon suggests that sellers maintain an OTDR greater than 97%. However, there’s no consequence for not meeting the target.
Although Amazon won’t penalize you for not meeting the OTDR target, you should still aim to meet the target to improve your customer satisfaction. Your customers may leave positive reviews if their orders are received promptly.
Product reviews
Product reviews take place after a sale. After a customer buys an item, they’ll be prompted to leave a review. Product reviews are represented as a star rating out of five.
While Amazon doesn’t set specific review targets, as a seller, you should always aim for 4/5 stars. A high number of positive reviews could lead to more Amazon sales.
It’s a good idea to keep tracking this metric, as you’ll be able to find out if your buyers like your products. If you find that your products are consistently getting negative reviews, it may be worth evaluating whether you should continue selling that product.
Business performance metrics
Your business performance metrics are numerical data that tell you how well your business is doing. Unlike your performance metrics, Amazon’s selling policies don’t influence your business metrics— it’s simply the numbers your business is doing.
Sessions
Sessions are simply the number of visitors to your Amazon page. In the physical world, sessions are the visitors that pop into a store after seeing something that appeals to their eye in the windows — often referred to as footfall. Think of sessions like your virtual footfall, the customers that came to your Amazon page (your store) after seeing something they liked.
Sessions relate to your visibility as a seller on Amazon; if you’re getting a lot of sessions, it reflects a lot of interest in your product.
Unit Session Percentage Rate (UPR)
The UPR is the number of units ordered by customers divided by the total number of sessions. Consider the UPR like website conversions, but the visitors (to your store) are converted by checking out.
UPR is a good metric to track because you’re able to identify whether customers are converting and where you can make improvements. If you find that you have a low UPR, this could mean that your product name and image are attracting shoppers on SERP, but something about your product page is discouraging orders. This could be due to your product descriptions not being well written for sales. You can optimize your product descriptions to gain more sales and increase your UPR.
Units ordered
Units ordered is the number of units ordered across a certain period. For example, 300 units ordered across seven days. However, don’t confuse this with “Total Order Items.” Your total order items are how many orders you had for that particular item across a certain period.
For example, let’s say you sell phone cases and a customer orders two of the same phone case. Your total order item for the pink phone case is 1 because the phone cases were sold as one order, but your units ordered is 2 — because two phone cases were ordered.
Your units ordered is a metric you should be tracking for a few reasons. Units ordered directly give you a full view of your business operations, as unit orders relate to your:
Revenue: the number of units you sell will determine how much revenue you earn. If you track your units ordered, you’ll be able to see which periods you sell the most and least.
Accounting: when you track how many units you’re selling, you can compare your COGS with your revenue, and you’ll know how much profit you’re making.
Inventory: the number of units is recorded and tracked in your inventory, so you know when to restock from your suppliers.
Where to find your seller metrics
Now that you know the metrics to track, you need to know where to find the metrics on your Amazon dashboard.
This data can be found in three types of Amazon reporting:
- The Business Report includes the following:
- Unit session percentage rate
- Units ordered amount
- Sessions amount
- Buy Box percentage rate
- Inventory reporting includes the following:
- Stock status of products
- Seller Performance reporting includes the following:
- Seller rating
- Performance metrics
- Order Defect Rate
- Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate
- Late Shipment Rate
Business Report
Access your Business Report by logging into Seller Central, going to the Reports tab at the top, and clicking Business Reports.
From Business Reports, sellers can view the growth metrics for each of their products by clicking on “Sales and traffic by ASIN.”
From this page, sellers can view the metrics discussed earlier: unit session percentage rates, units ordered, sessions and Buy Box percentage rates.
Seller Performance Report
Performance metrics and seller ratings are found by logging into Seller Central, clicking the Performance tab at the top, and clicking Performance Metrics to view the ODR, Late Shipment and Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate.
You can check your Seller Rating by clicking the Performance tab and then clicking Customer Feedback.
Grow your Amazon business by regularly tracking performance metrics
Consumer behavior and preferences change constantly. Keep tabs on your audience by consistently monitoring these Amazon performance metrics.
If you see that your metrics are leaning the wrong way, don’t panic! Use those insights to make improvements. Maybe you update your product page based on a low UPR or switch your shipping carrier based on your On-Time Delivery Rate.
The goal isn’t perfection — it’s to act quickly. Check your performance metrics regularly, so you can make adjustments to your Amazon shopping experience soon after noticing changes in your reporting.
