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Spring clean now for Christmas ‘08
by Gillian Liesnham, Managing Director, Web-Feet
For many e-commerce businesses, the thought of having to start planning ahead for the ’08 year end peak trading period must fill them with horror. But with so much internet trading volume skewed towards the Oct-Jan period now is the time to take stock and effect improvements which can be implemented, tested and ready from September onwards.
So where do you begin? Here is my six point checklist to get you underway:
Stats packages: Even if you didn’t want to make any major changes to your site, ask whether you are obtaining sufficient management information that enables you to track, measure and manage web performance, user behaviour and marketing activities. For example, where are your sales coming from - adwords, natural search, returning customers, direct mail etc? Where are users abandoning your site? How is each page performing? There are significant differences between the reports available from different statistic packages and it’s worth contrasting and comparing.
Content Management Systems: To keep your site fresh, vibrant, and up to date make sure you can make your own changes to all content without having to pay an agency to do it for you.
Hosting: Take a critical look at how many times your web site was too slow or has been down during the Nov-Jan period. If you have concerns in this area you might want to check on your hosting package. Is your web site sharing a server with hundreds, tens or several other sites? Or is your volume so great that you now require a dedicated server?
Speed and reliability are crucial for e-commerce success.
Optimisation: Here’s a simple check. If you have been optimising your site for more than a year and are still relying unduly on Google Adwords it sounds as if you have problems. This is a complicated area which requires full time attention - but it doesn’t have to be expensive to outsource to a specialist. One thing’s for sure though, if prospective purchasers can’t find you then all your web investments will have been wasted.
Usability: How long is it since you undertook usability testing? When is the last time you actually observed people (representative of your target audience) navigate their way around your web site and provide direct feedback on design and content? This is a relatively easy to set up and you’ll be amazed at the valuable insights this can generate. The first set of tests exposes any major problems; second and third stage testing identifies problems deeper in the site. The point is that web sites should be subject to continuous user testing and this should directly influence changes to web design and functionality.
Back office integration: A huge subject, but is your web site integrated with your accounts system, warehouse or with your other sales channels? If not, peak trading conditions will mercilessly expose the weaknesses in your infrastructure and lead to operational problems across the board. If you want to make improvements in this area though, you better start right now…
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