Alkali cation exchange has received significant attention with respect to introducing compressive stress in the glass surface, a process frequently called chemical strengthening. Besides mechanical properties may also other properties such as optical, electrical and chemical properties be modified using ion exchange of various monovalent ions. The mobility of monovalent ions varies and the relations of structural and effective diffusion coefficients may help to understand how to improve the ion exchange kinetics of soda lime silicates. We discuss the trends in the effective diffusion coefficients when exchanging Na+ for various monovalent cations (K⁺, Cu⁺, Ag⁺, Rb⁺ and Cs⁺) by their correlations to physico-chemical properties. The most significant correlations were found to be the bond dissociation energy and the electronic cation polarizability, indicating that electron localization and the rupture of bonds are of importance for the ion exchange rate.