A customer relationship management (CRM) platform records sales data and customer behavior from every interaction with your business. CRM reporting turns that raw data into actionable insights, visualizing business performance so your sales and marketing teams can develop better customer relationships.
According to a Salesforce survey, 49% of data and analytics leaders say they “occasionally or frequently draw incorrect conclusions from data that misses or misunderstands business context.” CRM reporting tools aim to solve this problem, translating sales and marketing data into context-rich graphs and charts that provide a snapshot of what’s happening at a given time.
This guide explains what CRM reporting is, details the types of CRM reports your ecommerce business can benefit from, and shows you how to build CRM reports that support data-driven decisions.
What is CRM reporting?
CRM reporting is the practice of turning raw sales and marketing data into reports that illustrate sales trends over time. Retailers use a CRM report to gain an at-a-glance view of how sales are going, identify behavioral shifts within customer segments, and spot customer satisfaction issues they need to address.
Your CRM system can generate one-time, custom reports on sales performance based on metrics you choose. CRM dashboards continually track key performance indicators (KPIs) in real time, such as customer lifetime value (CLV), average order value (AOV), conversion rate, customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), and campaign conversion rates.
4 essential CRM reports for ecommerce
- Customer acquisition reports
- Customer retention reports
- Customer value reports
- Sales by customer reports
Here are four reports for ecommerce businesses, as well as the key metrics to track in each one:
Customer acquisition reports
A customer acquisition report shows you how well you’re acquiring new customers through social media, organic search, paid search advertising, and/or email. Your report shows the percentage of new customers acquired through each channel in a given period of time, such as a month, fiscal quarter, or week following a marketing campaign.
Metrics to include:
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Gross number of conversions by channel. This measures the number of conversions, organized by acquisition channel, such as paid social (your Facebook ad campaign) or organic search (a customer making a purchase directly after finding your product in a Google search), during a specific period of time.
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Each channel’s share of conversions. Divide the number of conversions per channel by the total number of new customers acquired across all channels to understand what percentage of conversions each channel is driving. For example, if you acquired 50 new customers last month and four of them came through organic search, then organic search is driving 8% of your conversions.
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Channel conversion rate. Divide the number of conversions per channel by the total number of site visitors from that channel to understand how efficient each channel is at driving purchases.
Customer retention reports
Customer retention reports show you how well you’re keeping customers engaged and coming back for repeat purchases.
With this report, you can identify the percentage of customers who make another purchase in a designated time period (such as 30, 60, or 90 days) after their first one—or fail to do so. It also tells you the average time between purchases.
Metrics to include:
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Retention rate.Retention rate measures the percentage of customers who make additional purchases over the time period you’ve designated.
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Churn rate. Your churn rate is the opposite of retention rate, measuring the percentage of customers who do not come back for another purchase in the same range of time frame you designated.
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Time between purchases. This measures, on average, how much time passes between a customer’s first purchase and subsequent purchases.
Customer value reports
A customer value report details how much customers are spending on average. This report breaks down customers into predicted spend tiers, helping you group customers based on their value to your company. A customer value report allows you to parse out those who shop most frequently or spend the most per visit.
You can then tailor sales strategies and marketing campaigns for the cohort of customers driving the most revenue.
Metrics to include:
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Average order value (AOV). AOV is calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of orders. For example, if you made $5,000 from 25 orders last month, your AOV is $200.
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Customer lifetime value (CLV).CLV estimates the total net profit you can generate from a customer over the course of your entire business-customer relationship. Inputs to calculate CLV include the value of initial purchases, repeat purchases, and the average customer’s relationship duration with your brand.
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RFM score.RFM (recency, frequency, monetary value) analysis scores customers based on how recently they’ve made a purchase, how often they buy from your shop, and how much they spend. Each individual category is given a score from 1 (least recent or frequent, or lowest spend) to 5 (most recent or frequent, or highest spend) and then averaged into one numeric value.
While CLV defines customer value on a per-customer basis, predicted spend tiers use that data to broadly group customers based on how much they’ll likely spend in the future—high, medium, or low.
Sales by customer reports
In contrast with customer value reports, which look at categories of customers, sales-by-customer reports reveal individual, high-value customers. These reports show which customers have spent the most money over a defined time period (such as this quarter, this year, or all time).
They could be good prospects for referral marketing, where you encourage them to recommend your shop to their friends, coworkers, and relatives. This information also allows you to take a closer look at the spending habits of your highest-spending customers, looking for trends and patterns, such as the frequency of their purchases.
Metrics to include:
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Total sales over time. This metric shows you the total number of purchases a customer has made in the time frame you’ve designated.
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Purchase frequency. While total sales gives you the finite number of purchases, total frequency shows you how often they buy from your shop.
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Net amount spent. Net amount spent shows you the total dollar amount each customer has spent, subtracting discount and refund values.
How to build CRM reports
- Start with a business question, not a metric
- Choose a report type that answers that question
- Customize your filters, date ranges, and segments
- Turn report insights into action items
Use these steps as a guide to create your first CRM report:
1. Start with a business question, not a metric
Instead of trying to digest numbers and percentages with no context, use your CRM reports to answer questions, such as:
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How did new customers find us last quarter?
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Who are our most valuable customers?
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How often are customers making repeat purchases?
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Which channels are the most efficient and bring in new customers?
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Did a specific campaign succeed or fail at driving sales?
Establish the overall problem you want to solve, then build a dashboard or customizable report that gives you the information you need.
2. Choose a report type that answers that question
Configure your CRM report to connect the information that you need to the issue you’ve chosen.
Shopify Customer reports use your customer data to provide insights on new versus returning customers, customers by location, and RFM analysis.
All Shopify accounts also come with a selection of pre-built reports to help you understand customer acquisition patterns and trends in your sales data.
3. Customize your filters, date ranges, and segments
Set the parameters for your CRM report, such as the date range (like last fiscal year) and customer segment (for example, customers who live in California). To compare trends over time, it’s a best practice to examine at least 12 to 24 months of data.
In Shopify, the Reports tool allows you to choose the metrics you want to include (like orders or net sales) as well as the date range and how you want the data presented (such as in a line graph). With Shopify, you do not need to manually upload this data to generate a report; it automatically draws from your shop’s customer data.
Shopify merchants can build customer segments by using ShopifyQL to look at those who are subscribed to your emails and who have made a purchase in the past year.
4. Turn report insights into action items
Examine your report to spot trends related to your original question or issue, and then form a plan to address it. For instance, if data from your sales by customer or customer value report shows that your highest-value customers have been purchasing less frequently, consider emailing that group a limited-time discount code to entice them to come back.
Shopify’s Sidekick AI assistant helps you turn these insights into actions by interpreting your customer data, identifying trends, and suggesting next steps.
CRM reporting FAQ
What is a CRM reporting tool?
A CRM reporting tool is software that takes raw customer data and generates visual reports and dashboards, allowing you to easily glean insights. Sales and marketing leaders rely on this actionable CRM data to target the right customer segments with personalized messaging and remove barriers within the sales pipeline.
How do I make a CRM report?
You make a CRM report by first establishing the question or problem you want to solve. In your CRM, go to your analytics or report section and select the type of report you want to run, such as a customer acquisition report or marketing performance report. Customize your filters, date ranges, and segments, then generate the report.
What is the best CRM for beginners?
HubSpot CRM, Klaviyo, and Zoho CRM are among the best ecommerce CRMs for beginners. However, Shopify also has the ability to create customized reports based on your customer data.
