Unlock growth with the right product data KPIs

When data speaks, good leaders listen. And great leaders know that it’s the quietest metrics that deliver the biggest impact.

For brands, manufacturers, and retailers, product data KPIs have historically taken a backseat to more direct revenue indicators, like cart size or customer acquisition costs.

Now, that’s changing.

Why? Because product data is the core of digital commerce. From searchability and discoverability to personalization and conversion, every customer touchpoint is powered (or poisoned) by the quality of the underlying product information. 

With more consumers confirming that brand loyalty hinges on consistent, relevant experiences, these KPIs have grown too critical to overlook. 

So, which KPIs relate to product data, and how can commerce leaders optimize them for maximum impact?

Data accuracy: The foundation of trustworthy product information

How accurate is your product data?

While that question can’t be answered with a percentage, it’s nonetheless an essential KPI. Factual, error-free content, from product descriptions to SKUs and everything in between, is essential for two reasons:

1. Accuracy equals brand trust – Imagine buying a table you believed was solid wood, only to later discover it’s a veneer. Disappointment is probably putting it mildly. Yet inaccurate product data is just as misleading, resulting in returns, lost loyalty, and potential compliance issues in highly regulated industries.

2. Trust is currency in the digital age – It’s a simple psychological fact that negative experiences stand out more than positive ones (the latter is expected, not just nice-to-have). According to a survey by Emplifi, 70% of customers operate by a two-strike rule, proclaiming they’ll leave a brand after just two bad experiences. Like any currency, customer loyalty is hard-won and easily lost¹. 

Doubtful data is a double-hit to your bottom line—you lose the immediate sale, and likely any future sales from the dissatisfied customer. 

So, how can you track and improve this KPI?

To start, data visibility. Centralizing your product data into a singular repository and setting proper data governance rule sets ensures accountability while laying the groundwork for accuracy. A simple accuracy-based KPI, such as percentage of SKUs verified for accuracy, can provide additional data visibility.  

Product content completeness: Ensuring your data is fully enriched

“Completeness” in this context refers to how fully your products are described and illustrated. Even if your data is accurate, gaps could leave lingering questions in the customer’s mind, sending them searching elsewhere.

To ensure completeness, enrich each product with:

• High-quality images, showcasing product angles and use cases 
• Clear, benefit-driven descriptions
• Detailed product specifications 
• Consistent, SEO-targeted titles
• Essential attributes (for example, size, color, material, and compatibility)
• Rich media, including videos or interactive guides

Which types of product content are most important will, of course, vary by industry. Fashion retailers may focus on fit, fabric, and style variants, whereas an industrial manufacturer might prioritize certifications and performance specs.

What remains consistent across sectors is the criticality for such data—especially for online shoppers. Google’s consumer insights reveal that 85% of shoppers agree that product information and pictures are important when deciding which brand to buy from².

In other words, insufficiently enriched data may just send them looking elsewhere.

Tracking this KPI, again, depends on industry. Retail clothing brands will want to prioritize attributes such as size and color, whereas a furniture brand may require much more specific data, such as exact dimensions. 

Identify what “complete” product data means for your products, then create a checklist to address each one. Finally, ensure this data is synchronized and syndicated across all channels to close any potential gaps.

Time-to-market: Speed matters in today’s fast-paced commerce environment

While every marketing leader dreams of overnight product launches, the reality is that latency exists between ideation and stocking the shelves (digital or physical). This KPI, time to market, tracks that latency.

Why is that important?

Simply put, opportunity cost. Every day a product launch is delayed is a day of lost revenue—and a chance for competition to catch up. Updates are just as essential, equipping brands with the agility to roll out product changes or promotions at strategic market beats.

This KPI is fairly straightforward: Fast time to market indicates a well-oiled machine. Slow time to market may indicate team silos, leaving potential revenue on the table. 

Inventory accuracy: Preventing stockouts and overstock issues

Accurate inventory measures how closely your inventory data matches the physical inventory populating warehouse shelves.

This KPI is critical for two reasons:

1. Customer satisfaction – Few things frustrate buyers more than placing an order for an item that’s actually out of stock. In today’s marketplace, shaped by same-day delivery and one-click convenience, expect an inaccurate inventory feed to result in canceled orders, negative reviews, and damaged brand reputation. 

2. Supply chain performance – On the other hand, undercounting your inventory (showcasing less stock than you actually have) means missed sales opportunities. You might slow sales, or even halt marketing initiatives for products that are actually available. Overestimating product demand introduces problems of its own, namely,  capital and clogged warehouse space. 

This is especially high-stakes in omnichannel environments. For example, if your website shows an item available in store when it’s actually sold out, customers might waste an in-person trip, fracturing brand trust. 

Further, inaccurate inventory data compounds across planning, procurement, and fulfillment. Incorrect data might trigger misguided reorders, throw off demand forecasting, and skew performance reports. 

On the other hand, if you get this KPI right, you reduce operational waste and build a more trustworthy experience across every channel.

Customer satisfaction: Measuring product data impact on CX

In this context, customer satisfaction refers to how happy your customers are with their purchase—relative to the expectations set by your product data. In other words, it’s less about whether they like the product and more about whether they received what they intended to purchase.

While direct input (such as customer surveys and reviews) provides the most accurate measure, this can also be indirectly measured through:

• Return rates – Higher return rates may signal unmet customer expectations due to misleading or incomplete product data

• Repeat purchase rates – On the flip side, more repeat purchases can mean that customers not only received what they expected, but were satisfied enough to come back for more

• Confirmed referrals – Whether word-of-mouth or via referral codes, referral business reflects a strong alignment between your brand’s promise and its payoff

As marketing leaders know, customer satisfaction is much more than a feel-good KPI. It’s a strategic metric that drives success across the shelf—both digital and physical. 

Accurate product data is the foundation to get you there, setting up proper customer expectations for your products to deliver on.

Conversion rate: How product data drives sales

Even small upticks in conversion can translate to huge revenue gains, transforming browsers into buyers. That’s why this metric is one of the most direct indicators of ecommerce success, indicating the effectiveness of your overall sales and marketing strategies.

Consider how high-quality product data drives conversions: 

• Rich, accurate imagery captures the product from multiple views and contexts, enabling shoppers to visualize the product in their lives

• Clear and informative product descriptions answer common questions before they even come up, eliminating internal friction

• Detailed specifications, from dimensions and material to certifications, confirm the product meets their exact needs

• Accurate pricing and availability cannot be overemphasized—ensuring a smooth path to purchase with no room for disappointment

• Complete metadata optimizes listing discovery, ensuring the product ranks on search engine pages and marketplaces for maximum visibility

When conversion rates average at 2–4%, every sale matters, and even fractional gains count³. 

Factors such as pricing, user experience, and promotion certainly play a role, but ultimately, it’s compelling product data that delivers the clarity and confidence needed to move customers from consideration to commitment. 

Product data consistency across channels: Maintaining alignment across your ecosystem

Today’s customers live omnichannel—they might discover your product on social media, check details on your website, then finally purchase online or in-store. Encountering conflicting information at any stage of that journey instantly breeds confusion and distrust.

Consistency as a KPI tracks the uniformity of key data points—or put negatively, how frequently discrepancies arise. This includes touchpoints such as:

• Websites
• Mobile apps
• Marketplaces (like Amazon)
• Social commerce channels
• Print catalogs
• In-store physical shelves and point-of-sale systems

Maintaining uniformity across all of these channels—and for all of your products—could sound like an impossible task. Luckily, you’ve got help.

How Inriver supports you in tracking and optimizing these KPIs

It’s clear that product data plays a critical (if hidden) role in the commerce scene. 

Tracking product data KPIs spans content creation, software integration, and internal workflows. But optimizing these KPIs for maximum customer satisfaction requires more than an ERP.

It requires Inriver.

The Inriver product information management (PIM) solution is purpose-built to help commerce leaders gain control over their product data. Beyond centralizing your product data for maximum visibility, Inriver enables omnichannel syndication to keep your channels in sync—no matter how many you’re operating on. 

With a unified platform for efficient tracking, reporting, and optimization of these product data KPIs, leading brands position themselves to benefit from data-driven optimizations at every step.

Sources: 

[1] Emplifi. Emplifi reveals 70% of consumers will abandon a brand after just two negative experiences. https://emplifi.io/press/emplifi-reveals-70-of-consumers-will-abandon-a-brand-after-just-two-negative-experiences/
[2] Google. Consumer Insights. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/product-information-preference-statistics/
[3] Convert Cart. eCommerce Conversion Rate by Industry (2025 Update). https://www.convertcart.com/blog/ecommerce-conversion-rate-by-industry