At a glance
A composite 0-100 score summarising overall BigCommerce store health across revenue trend, conversion rate, refund rate, OOS percentage, channel diversification, fulfilment SLA, and catalogue hygiene. The owner-dashboard headline; one glance tells you whether the store is in good shape or needs attention.
| What it counts | A weighted composite of 7 sub-metrics: revenue trend vs prior period (20%), conversion rate vs benchmark (15%), refund rate vs benchmark (15%), OOS-listing percentage (15%), channel diversification index (10%), fulfilment-on-time rate (15%), catalogue hygiene score (10%). Each sub-metric is normalised 0-100; the weighted average is the headline. |
| VAT / tax treatment | n/a (composite metric). |
| Shipping | n/a. |
| Discounts | n/a. |
| Refunds | The refund-rate sub-component uses 30-day refund value ÷ 30-day revenue. |
| Cancelled / voided orders | The fulfilment SLA sub-component excludes voided orders. |
| Currency | Currency-agnostic (composite normalised metric). |
| Channels / sources | All channels feed the score; the diversification sub-component rewards spreading revenue across channels (concentration above 80% in one channel costs 5-10 points). |
| Score bands | 90+ (excellent, top decile of BC stores), 75-89 (healthy), 60-74 (needs attention), 45-59 (multiple problems), <45 (crisis state, drop-everything). |
| Sub-metric drill-down | Clicking the headline expands each sub-component score; the lowest-scoring sub-metric is your priority. The aggregate is interesting; the sub-component breakdown is actionable. |
| Why composite vs single metric | Single metrics each tell part of the story; the composite catches multi-dimensional issues (high revenue but rising refunds, great conversion but channel concentration risk). |
| B2B Edition note | B2B-heavy stores are scored on a B2B benchmark (lower conversion expected, higher AOV, lower refund rate). The system auto-detects B2B share and adjusts. |
| Time window | RT/30D (real-time for inventory; 30D for revenue / conversion / refund) |
| Alert trigger | <70 (composite health degraded) |
| Roles | owner, marketing, operations |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your BigCommerce data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A US homewares brand on BigCommerce Pro, headline score 73 / 100 (band: needs attention). Snapshot 14 May 26.| Sub-metric | Weight | Score (0-100) | Weighted contribution | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue trend (30D vs prior 30D) | 20% | 84 | 16.8 | Healthy growth (+5.6%) |
| Conversion rate vs benchmark | 15% | 78 | 11.7 | Slightly below sector benchmark |
| Refund rate vs benchmark | 15% | 65 | 9.75 | Refunds rising, attention needed |
| OOS-listing percentage | 15% | 58 | 8.7 | 22 OOS listings, needs cleanup |
| Channel diversification | 10% | 88 | 8.8 | Excellent multi-channel mix |
| Fulfilment SLA (% shipped on time) | 15% | 72 | 10.8 | Slightly below 95% target |
| Catalogue hygiene | 10% | 65 | 6.5 | Some products missing SEO / images |
| Headline | 100% | 73 / 100 | Needs attention |
- The headline 73 hides multiple issues. Revenue growth and channel diversification are excellent (84, 88); refunds, OOS, fulfilment, and catalogue hygiene are dragging the score down. Focus on the lowest-scoring sub-metrics, not the headline.
- OOS at 58 is the lowest sub-score, biggest lift opportunity. 22 OOS listings dragging the catalogue score; cross-reference BC Channel OOS per Channel for the SKU list. Hiding or restocking these 22 SKUs would lift this sub-component to 85+ and the headline to 76-78.
- Refunds at 65 is the next priority. Cross-reference BC Refunded Products. One or two problem SKUs likely drive most of the refund volume; fixing those would lift the sub-score and the headline.
- Catalogue hygiene at 65 typically reflects products missing meta titles, alt-text, or proper categories. A 2-hour catalogue audit could lift this sub-score to 80+. Cross-reference Missing SEO and Missing Descriptions.
- Fulfilment SLA at 72 suggests 88% of orders ship on time vs 95% target. A 7-percentage-point lift requires operational change (3PL coordination, stock-near-order routing); not a quick fix but a strategic priority.
- The bright spots: revenue trend at 84 and channel diversification at 88 are protecting the headline from being much worse. Without those, this score would be in the 60s, the multi-channel strategy is keeping the store healthy despite operational gaps.
- OOS cleanup this week (22 listings to hide / restock; 2-3 hours of work).
- Refunded-products audit this week (top-5 problem SKUs; size-chart / photo / pause decisions).
- Catalogue-hygiene sprint next week (2-hour audit of missing SEO / descriptions).
- Fulfilment SLA improvement plan this month (route orders to nearest-stock warehouse, escalate 3PL late-shipment incidents).
- Quarterly: re-baseline this score, target 85+ within 90 days. Track sub-metric trends weekly.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Store Health Score |
|---|---|
| Total Revenue | The revenue-trend sub-component drill-down. |
| Conversion Rate | The conversion sub-component drill-down. |
| Refund Rate | The refund sub-component drill-down. |
| BC Channel OOS per Channel | The OOS sub-component drill-down. |
| BC Channel Revenue Mix | The diversification sub-component drill-down. |
| Fulfillment Rate | The fulfilment SLA sub-component drill-down. |
| Missing SEO / Missing Descriptions | The catalogue hygiene sub-component drill-down. |
| BC Alert Revenue Drop | The real-time guardian; this composite is monthly health, the alert is moment-to-moment. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in BigCommerce Control Panel: BC does not provide a native composite health score. The closest is Analytics → Dashboard which shows individual KPIs without aggregation. Each sub-component has a corresponding BC view: revenue (Sales report), conversion (In-Store Conversion report), refunds (Returns report on Plus / Pro / Enterprise), OOS (Inventory snapshot), channels (Channel Manager), fulfilment (Orders report). The composite is Vortex IQ’s contribution; BC sees the parts but not the whole. Why our number may legitimately differ from any single BC metric:| Reason | Direction |
|---|---|
| Composite weighting. Sub-component weights are configurable; default weights aim for “operational health” framing. Stores prioritising growth might re-weight revenue trend higher. | Configurable |
| Benchmark sources. Conversion-rate and refund-rate benchmarks come from Vortex IQ’s anonymous BC merchant pool, segmented by category. Your specific category benchmark may differ from cross-category averages. | Benchmark choice matters |
| B2B detection. Auto-detection of B2B share may misclassify hybrid stores; manually set the B2B/retail split for accuracy. | Configuration-dependent |
| Sub-metric time windows. Revenue / refund use 30D rolling; OOS is real-time; fulfilment SLA uses 7D rolling. The composite blends different time horizons. | By design |
| Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence |
|---|---|---|
google_analytics.ga_engagement_score | GA4’s engagement score reflects user-side health; this card reflects merchant-side health. They correlate but measure different surfaces. | Independent measurements; expect 50-70% correlation. |
stripe.stripe_decline_rate | A spike in Stripe decline rate may not show in this composite (we don’t track payment-side directly); add it as a custom sub-component if relevant. | Limited overlap. |