10 + 1 Tips on How Not to Fail at the Peak of the 2024 Season
The main season in e-commerce is almost here. What are the most important points you should think about well in advance, if you want to make the most of this season? Read our 10 + 1 bonus tip at the end, which will reliably prepare you for Q4 2024.
UPDATED: We originally published the blog post on 26.9.2023 and updated it on 29.8.2024.
1. Plan well in advance, double-check is king
Having a good plan is essential. Ideally, you are already following it (after all, Christmas in e-shops starts to be discussed already in spring). Thanks to it, you won't be surprised by problems such as stock outages, misunderstandings with suppliers, excessive traffic on the site, or even a constantly ringing phone that no one will be able to answer. Valuable documents and important numbers will be provided by the analysis of last year's season. In addition, it is important to set a goal for this season. An example is target turnover, according to which you will subsequently know what number of orders will be key for you. And also margin, which you need to set within the goods. However, it is always necessary to work with numbers in the background of cash flow, which you will always have under control.
Broken down into small parts, you definitely have a plan for:
- stock,
- human capital (manual execution of orders, administration, and customer care),
- transport,
- marketing and campaigns (how to support the business),
- budget (personnel costs and increased expenses for stock inventory or marketing activities).
If you prepared budgets for 2024 more than 9 months ago (which is last fall), it is highly likely that some investments have become more expensive, others have stopped, the performance of the e-shop has changed during the year, and so on. Therefore, check and do a detailed analysis of the planned vs. actual budget for 2024, so that cash flow does not stop you in critical months.
UI42 TIP: When planning costs, do not forget about basic mathematics. If you plan to achieve 50 orders daily during the season instead of the current 30, it cannot be done without a higher PNO – the cost ratio to turnover.
2. Test the state of the e-shop and subject the website to a stress test and a speed audit
You have certainly made some changes to your e-shop over the past year. Whether with the intention of improving UX or you have launched new features, do not forget to test them, so that no short circuit occurs in live operation during the season. The same applies in the case of a website redesign or a demanding migration. You can test at various levels – from clicking through the pages yourself to the opinion of a family member to usability testing, which can reveal 80% of the website's errors.
Just before the season, do not forget to check the subpages with the highest traffic, where there is also a high rate of exits (Bounce Rate) and find out where the problem occurs. Also focus on the "error page" 404. Make sure that if a customer clicks through to it, you can still direct them back to the website (for example, by searching directly on the 404 page, a clear CTA to return to the list of categories, or direct contact).
Export the redirected pages and check if there is a redirect loop anywhere.
Correctness checks, especially regarding technical matters and website functionality, are stress tests. Simulate sufficiently high traffic to know how your website will stand up under customer pressure. Also, we recommend doing a website speed audit, meaning checking if there are unnecessary (micro)seconds of delay in the normal flow of the customer on the frontend or backend, which can mean a fatal failure of the e-shop, integrations, or a bad customer experience during high traffic.
3. Boost UX and the customer journey through the website
UX – user experience is one of the most important factors that decide whether a customer will make a purchase with you. While on one hand, you are trying to bring more customers to the website through paid campaigns and better SEO, on the other hand, it can easily happen that you will have a higher increase in page abandonment. Why?
The reason is simple:
- the user does not find what they are looking for on the page,
- the customer cannot navigate the categories,
- the form to be filled out is lengthy,
- and so on.
There are indeed many mistakes and missteps that websites still do not have fine-tuned from a UX perspective. The journey through the website (from the first display of the page to the completion of the shopping process) should be intuitive, friendly, uncomplicated for the customer, and from entering the website to purchase as short as possible.
Customer Journey is often mentioned and starts much earlier than arrival on the website. If you are already running out of time, we recommend highlighting the so-called low-hanging-fruit, i.e., focusing on things that bring maximum effect with minimal effort.
UI42 TIP: Our UX/UI designers have put together a checklist with the most common mistakes that cause a customer to abandon the cart. Examples include missing support during the purchase (online chat or phone contact), incorrectly set validation fields, or the need to fill out complete forms repeatedly in case of an error. Read the entire list of most common mistakes.
4. Improve customer service, you will improve CX
User experience even has its own extension. CX (customer experience) – customer experience includes the impressions your customer gains within all touchpoints when they come into contact with your company. Examples include a brick-and-mortar store or customer care.
Customer service is ultimately one of the significant factors in deciding on a purchase. Therefore, it is important to provide support at every stage of the shopping process. There are several channels. Online chat directly on the website, always visible quick contact, thoughtfully elaborated FAQ, swift responses from the support team and even customer care after the purchase itself (complaints, service, etc.). In a busy period, definitely count on higher pressure. During it, customers will appreciate if:
- customer support is available in the exposed months also in later hours (for example, after 18:00 and on weekends),
- online chat is in active mode,
- they can ask questions directly in the product detail,
- get an answer to a question even if it is not possible in real-time (effective management of inquiries at the customer care department).
If you do not have suitable human resources within the company, look around the market and use "outsourcing" of customer care services, or AI chatbots.
5. Automation and efficient use of AI is a #musthave
While on one hand, you need strong customer support, on the other hand, it is sometimes personnel and financially demanding to provide it.
And that's when a smart chatbot or tools based on artificial intelligence will help you. In both cases, automation relieves support, especially in a demanding season. The currently inclined tool Chat GPT can help you with content creation and overall content strategy, keyword analysis, PPC advertising, or understanding the search intent of your potential customers.
Proof that AI can increase sales are automatic recommendations, which offer the website visitor supplementary or complementary goods and services. Without manual clicking, complex pairing, and administrator intervention. The golden nail is effective upsell and cross-sell in the cart, large product detail, or another part of the website, which increases the conversion ratio (on average 3 – 5 times) and subsequently also revenues. In the case of the cart by 4.5% per visit and in the case of a large detail even by 25%.
6. Work on email marketing and use remarketing
Do you have a contact database? Use it! Email marketing is still one of the strongest tools to pull customers into the shopping frenzy. Remind them through a newsletter about unused loyalty points or offer a special benefit (for example, a discount code or time-limited actions) or premium content and let them know about yourself before the biggest shopping holidays of the year. This period is also a suitable opportunity to expand the database with new email addresses for newsletter subscription.
The same applies to remarketing pursuit. The costs for it are lower than acquiring new customers. Show the offer to those who have already shopped with you or remind those who for some reason did not complete the purchase and left the shopping cart abandoned.
UI42 TIP: effective email marketing is not just collecting contacts and sending a newsletter once a month. Work on the infrastructure of touchpoints and strategy on how and when to properly address that individual, not the whole group together. The customer is still a person and has their own needs and thinking, so approach them individually. Cluster customers according to behavior, preferences, engagement, and send them only what is potentially interesting to them. Personalization is the key to success.
7. Be active on social networks & short videos lead
Depending on which social networks you choose, create interesting content for your target group. You don't have to be everywhere, but choose at least one channel as dominant and regularly post. Within the Meta space (Facebook and Instagram), you can also use effective advertising campaigns, which you can effectively target according to interests. Today, well-thought-out automatic tools can create a campaign with interesting results. The workhorse of viral videos are short videos - an interesting, creative, and fun form brings a fresh breeze to your content.
UI42 TIP: At ui42, we can manage advertising campaigns for our selected clients thanks to the Dotidot tool with better results than before. Read how we create more effective ads with lower costs.
In addition, do not forget about organic reach on Tik-Tok - the opinion still prevails that Tik-Tok is only about the young generation, but the young generation is already your potential customer today either for the 2024 season or for the following one. It is definitely worth it also Twitter with low advertising costs and narrow-profile but still growing LinkedIn, if it is in line with your business. However, activity is not just about creating content. Potential customers will appreciate if you stay connected with them in the comments.
8. Create meaningful content
Unique and valuable content, supported by well-conducted keyword analysis, is the way to provide added value to your potential clients. Engaging articles, premium e-books, or the aforementioned social media posts are exactly what gives you a competitive advantage. Share your know-how, demonstrate that you are a specialist in your field, or offer advice, tips, and solutions to the specific problems your customers face. Besides all the above-mentioned benefits, content marketing contributes to brand building.
Similar to SEO, this is an activity that can yield long-term results. By creating meaningful content according to a well-thought-out content plan throughout the year, you also prepare for the peak season and avoid last-minute rushes.
In addition to traditional website content, you can also create categories or landing pages that focus more specifically on Christmas themes. Alternatively, you can add Christmas-related filters to the search (e.g., Christmas gifts, gifts for grandma, etc.).
9. Work with data
Data is the most crucial information you should base your decisions on. Experienced e-commerce players monitor, analyze, and evaluate it on a regular basis. Besides showing exactly where the purchasing process on the website is failing, data also provides valuable insights into customer behavior across the site (such as immediate bounce rates or cart abandonment). To work with it effectively, make sure your Google Analytics account is properly organized. Ideally, use a data analysis tool that allows you to collect and manage data under your ownership. Focus on seasonal products and services, or those you want to promote the most. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Review ad copy
- Update keywords
- Ideally, don’t limit your campaigns
- Compare results from mobile and desktop devices
- Compare results by browser
- Track Google Ads Microconversions
- Check Facebook API
Additionally, focus on information from the Cookies bar, where you can check how many customers do not consent to data processing (so you can work on improvements). Simply put, take a closer look at the channels you may not be monitoring as closely throughout the year. This is where you might uncover errors that are unnecessarily costing you sales.
10. Make your website more attractive in organic search
Finally, it doesn’t always have to be a paid campaign that brings new customers to your website. Check how you are performing in organic search (unpaid search results). You might discover weaknesses that are costing you new orders. SEO—search engine optimization—involves not only technical elements (such as website speed and indexing) but also incorporating relevant keywords, valuable content in the right format, and link building. Investing in SEO will pay off even after the season is over. Since SEO doesn’t "turn off," continuous optimization will provide long-term benefits.
UI42 TIP: You can read a helpful article with tips on how to improve SEO and rank first in search results on our blog.
Bonus tip:
Check the validity of your web hosting, monitoring of critical functionalities, automated or Selenium tests, and the current SLA (service level agreement) before the peak season starts. Why is this important?
If, during busy days, your e-shop experiences heavy traffic and for some reason cannot handle it, without a valid SLA, it will be difficult to reach your provider or integrator outside of business hours. Thoroughly review your web hosting and e-shop’s critical functionalities and increase monitoring to 24/7 at least during Q4.
At ui42, we wish you success in managing this year’s peak season. You can use the tips mentioned above to help you along the way. Experienced e-commerce players follow many of these strategies year-round to enter the last quarter in full force. If you feel you need help with any of the points, contact us. As a one-stop-shop agency, we will help you get through the season without any unexpected issues.
