The holiday rush is winding down. Before you close the books on 2023, take a hard look at your retail website. What worked? What frustrated customers? What cost you sales? The fixes you make this week will determine how strong your online presence is when 2024 kicks off.
Review Your Holiday Season Data
Pull up your website analytics and look at the past 60 days. Which pages got the most traffic? Where did people drop off? What was your conversion rate…and how does it compare to the rest of the year?
If your product pages got tons of traffic but few purchases, the issue might be pricing visibility, poor product descriptions, or a clunky checkout process. If your homepage bounced people quickly, your messaging or design might not be resonating. Let the data tell you where to focus your effort. For a mid-year checkpoint on these same metrics, our mid-year Google Business Profile audit for retail shops covers how to track what’s working.
Fix Your Checkout Flow
If you sell online, your checkout process is the single most important part of your website. Every extra step, every confusing field, every surprise shipping cost is a lost sale. Audit your checkout by placing a test order yourself.
How many clicks from “Add to Cart” to “Order Confirmed”? Is guest checkout available? Are shipping costs clear before the final step? Can someone pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal? If any of these are lacking, fix them before January.
A boutique near the Shops at La Cantera simplified their checkout from five steps to three and saw their online conversion rate increase by 28% the following quarter.
Update Product Descriptions and Photos
Fresh products need fresh content. If you’re restocking for the new year, make sure every new product has a clear photo (multiple angles if possible), a descriptive title, and a description that goes beyond the obvious.
Instead of “Blue scarf…$35,” try “Hand-dyed indigo scarf…lightweight cotton blend, perfect for San Antonio’s mild winters. Made by a local artisan. $35.” Give people a reason to click “buy” beyond just seeing the item.
Speed and Mobile Optimization
Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights one more time. After a busy holiday season, things can slow down…cached data, accumulated plugins, or increased image files from holiday product uploads. Clean house.
Test your mobile experience thoroughly. Over 60% of retail traffic comes from phones, and that percentage keeps climbing. If your site isn’t a joy to browse on a phone, you’re losing more than half your potential customers.
Plan Your January Content
January is traditionally slow for retail, but it doesn’t have to be. Plan content that drives traffic: “New Year, New Arrivals,” gift card redemption promotions, end-of-season clearance events, and fresh blog content about trends for the new year.
Create a simple content calendar: one blog post per week, three social media posts per week, and one email per week. Consistency during the slow months is what separates shops that grow from shops that coast. Our email marketing guide for retail shops lays out the exact campaigns that drive January traffic.
Set Your 2024 Website Goals
Write down three specific website goals for 2024. “Increase online sales by 20%.” “Get page load time under 2 seconds.” “Add 500 new email subscribers.” Clear goals give you something to measure and keep you accountable throughout the year. And when Fiesta rolls around, you can use social media to capitalize on the biggest retail event of the spring.
End the Year Strong, Start the Next Stronger
Your website never closes. It’s selling, building your brand, and representing your business every hour of every day. The investment you make in it now pays dividends all year long.
Need professional help optimizing your retail website? See our website management services…we help San Antonio retailers turn their websites into reliable revenue channels.