If you’re reeling from this year’s holiday season and want to hibernate, bring your laptop! This is a perfect time for a holiday review. While it’s good to see how well you did compared to previous years, it is also good to see how your online competitors have done. No two businesses are identical, but this may help give you a baseline for comparison and improvement.
E-commerce is still exploding. Forrester Research expected online holiday retail sales to increase 21% in 2007. How did you do? No time like the present to review the past! Many lessons from the holiday season can be carried through the year.
Your year-end review should include:
1) Website Analytics
2) Promotional Activity
3) Marketing Performance
4) Inventory Management
5) Customer Service
Website Analytics
If you created special holiday gift sections or categories; how did they perform? Rather than examining the number of people who visited those sections, instead see if the holiday promotions increased conversions. Study the data to see if people shopped via search, regular categories or the gift sections.
Many analytic programs give you this type of insight with the click of the mouse, but if you don’t have those stats readily available then compare the number of visitors to that page with the sales of the products in that area. Make a note of any changes that might boost traffic and awareness to those areas.
Promotional Activity
Promotions are more important than ever during the holiday season. Review which promotions drove the most traffic to your website and which promotions led to the most sales. Ask basic questions. What worked, what didn’t and why? Which promotions generated the best conversions? Best sales?
If you see a promotion that generated traffic but few conversions, you may need to tweak your landing page, the spot where you send your customers. If a holiday promotion worked, see if it has success during the rest of the year. Tweak and refine your promotions to boost sales.
Marketing Performance
Review your holiday marketing efforts. You might have the right message, but did you get it in front of the right people? How well did your banner perform? How about your pay-per-click marketing? Did you see any improvement during the holiday season?
Analyze the traffic and see which types of marketing provided the highest conversions. Then, focus your marketing budget on the winners.
Inventory Management
All the data analysis in the world won’t help if you’re out of stock. If you had problems filling specific orders because your inventory ran out the door too quickly, fix the problem. Review past holidays sales and plan on increasing inventory levels by September. Monitor new items or items that you feel will be big sellers during the holiday season and adjust stock accordingly.
Do you have extra inventory on hand that didn’t move as quickly as you hoped? Get rid of it! Now is a perfect time for a website promotion or e-mail blast. Get rid of any excess inventory now and fill your shelves with products that will move.
Customer Service
Service is vital during the holidays. You may have been able to get away with e-mail correspondence the rest of the year, not during the holidays. Your customers want attention! Toll-free numbers are worth their weight in gold for confused customers. Providing live chat services allows you to answer questions immediately, without requiring someone to pick up a phone. Review the complaints you logged this year and see where you can improve. While you’re at it, remember to improve your strengths too.
There is no excuse for letting your customer service voice mail fill up. If you found yourself overwhelmed this year with calls, e-mails and chats, consider adding part-time help during the peak season or talk to an outside call center.
Looking Ahead
After completing your holiday review, take the next step and create a roadmap for the coming year. Note important deadlines and dates so you don’t find yourself making changes at the last minute, or worse, the same mistakes as this past year. Make the effort now so that you can reap the rewards tomorrow (and beyond).
