3 KPIs to monitor on B2B commerce experience

B2B commerce has changed a lot. It’s structured, data-rich, and more customer-driven than ever before. But with so many numbers floating around, how do you decide which metrics truly deserve your attention?

We’ve worked closely with many B2B teams while shaping and launching their B2B website and commerce experiences. Right after it goes live, some important questions start popping up among the marketing, sales, and leadership teams -

Is it doing what it’s meant to?

Are buyers finding what they need?

Are they moving through smoothly?

Are they coming back?

In B2B commerce, more than the beautiful interface, the user experience and performance go hand in hand.

There are always some graphs going up, some charts going down, and plenty of data moving around. But behind all those numbers, are we looking at the numbers that actually matter?

It’s easy to get stuck on stats like page views or clicks. They look nice in reports though. It's all about the experience you hoped for, if your buyers are finding what they need, trusting your website, and coming back again. In fact, we have a playbook that shows 100+ KPIs that can be tracked in a B2B commerce experience. Find it here.

But, checking out every metric can be confusing and overwhelming at the same time. So let’s look at the 3 most important KPIs that tell you if your B2B commerce experience is healthy and growing.

If someone visits your website, clicked but didn’t buy, you wanted to know why.

If lots of people are browsing but not buying or inquiring, it could mean something on the website or commerce experience is confusing or missing. Maybe the page is taking too long to load, pricing is unclear, or it’s just hard to checkout.

Reasons can be one or many.

Unlike B2C or DTC, B2B buyers often return multiple times before making a purchase. No impulse buying, they first have to trust you.

Order conversion rate is simple, it tells you how many people who visited your website actually placed an order. It helps you understand how effectively your experience turns browsing into buying. You can calculate it like this -

Order Conversion Rate = (Total orders ÷ Total website visitors) × 100

In B2B, that number is extra important, because decisions take time and orders are often bigger, it could be bulk orders or a sample order.

If your order conversion rate is dropping, it’s a sign to fix those friction points, because in B2B, even small improvements to the experience can give bigger wins.

Does your B2B commerce experience make reordering as easy as a single click?

If not, there’s more work to be done.

B2B is built on relationships, transactions just happen as an outcome. And repeat purchase rate tells you whether your customers see you as a partner or just a dry catalog.

Here’s how to calculate it -

Repeat Purchase Rate = (Number of customers who made more than one purchase ÷ Total number of customers) × 100

One-time buyers are fine, but the business is successful when buyers come back again. So much so, that they automatically get pre-negotiated pricing while placing orders on your system. They can just go through with their purchase order (P.O.) or any other payment mode their procurement team prefers. Imagine all of this happening without infinite back-to-back emails and calls, simply through your online B2B commerce dashboard for your customers.

A healthy repeat purchase rate, tells us that customers are getting what they need. The platform feels reliable and it’s easy to reorder. It saves them time and effort, and less burden of thinking and figuring out.

Having great products is a prerequisite of course, but providing a predictable buying experience every time makes them come back again and again. You become irreplaceable.

If this number is low, don’t immediately blame the pricing or product. Look closer at how intuitive, and helpful the digital experience really is.

If quotes are not turning into orders, the intent is much there, but there is a big problem.

Maybe it’s the confidence and buyers are still unsure.

For many of the clients we work with, quoting is the core of their B2B flow. It’s how conversations begin.

A high number of quote requests with a low conversion to orders - that’s a red flag.

Or

Even if a single quote doesn’t convert, something’s definitely not adding.

Both ways, this is where the real B2B pain shows up.

It often means buyers are interested but something breaks before the actual purchase happens. Maybe the pricing wasn’t right. Or your quoting process was slow, manual, or unclear. Maybe it’s the turnaround time where they got a good deal from another vendor and moved quickly. Or maybe it just feels too manual where buyers expect speed and clarity.

Quote-to-order ratio is a KPI that is often used to tune the experience where it matters most, at the final purchase decision.

You can calculate it like this -

Quote-to-Order Ratio = (Number of quotes converted to orders ÷ Total number of quotes issued) × 100

A lower ratio doesn’t always mean the buyer isn’t interested. It could mean something between interest and action is missing. And that’s the sweet spot where a small UX or flow change can make a big impact.

There are plenty of numbers you can track on a B2B commerce website but not all of them tell you what’s really going on.

These three KPIs stand out because they touch how people feel when they interact with your platform.

- When someone decides to place an order (OCR)

- Whether they feel confident enough to come back again (RPR)

- And when they reach out for a quote, hoping it’ll lead to something more (QOR)

They go beyond surface-level clicks and traffic.

So as you build, tweak, and optimize your B2B commerce experience, focus on the KPIs that speak volumes. The ones that whisper what’s working, what’s not, and where buyers need a little more help in their buying journey.

If you're wondering where to begin or how to make such an impact, we’re here to help you listen better, act smarter, and build something your buyers genuinely want to return to. You can always start a free discovery with us here.