What are your business resolutions for 2023?
Uh-oh. It’s THAT time of the year again. You know, when you’re grateful for all the ups and downs of the ending year because it’s taught you so much, but you’re also wide-eyed and hopeful for what’s to come in the year ahead. Along with personal goals, you are excited to proclaim your business resolutions too.
You make a lot of promises backed by strong-willed determination only to lose steam by February 1st. Yeah… “Bah-humbug” to new year resolution ideas, right? Not so fast! And here’s why: Making an eCommerce business resolution is critical to your business’s well-being because it focuses your intentions on what you want to accomplish.
“It sets the tone for the whole year, so you can smash goals, sky-rocket revenue, and spank the little fanny of your bottom line.
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Why it’s important to make business resolutions
Whether you’re starting a new business or you’ve been running your company for years, making business resolutions not only sets the tone, pace, and focus for the year, it allows you to regroup. You can take a step back to see what’s working, what’s not, what needs improvement, and what you’d like to do differently to give it new life.
One example of keeping things fresh that can also be in tandem with your business resolutions is creating a theme to promote throughout the year.
For example, using an expression or hashtag – like #restdontquit – throughout the year to create buzz has multiple benefits. It gives you a “reason for the season” of your business, reminds you to stay focused on your business goals, and helps to encourage your customers to stay motivated as well; this deepens relationships with customers, all while increasing purchases as a result of better engagement. (Hashtag: WIN-WIN!)
So what does a bigger, better year actually look like for you? Here are some thoughtful considerations when making your New Year's resolutions for your eCommerce business:
If you want more of a work-life balance, what do you need to give up, reduce, or adjust to make that happen?
If you want to automate the buyer’s journey, what processes, tools and software do you need to research, and how much time or money are you willing to invest in it?
Do you need to outsource projects or grow your team?
First, audit your business. Then, make a needs assessment. Finally, set goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and put to a timeline. (Yes, you guessed it: SMART goals!)
New year resolution ideas for your business
Here are four New Year resolution ideas that we consider to be essential for any eCommerce business, new or established, that are best practices, and promote growth and success.
1. Focus on your customers/community
Getting to know your customers better can only serve you. It’s a reciprocal process of deepening the relationship: the more you understand their pain points, needs, habits, lifestyles, and desires, the more you can provide them with solutions that will make their lives easier or more fulfilled.
Tapping into your customer community is another great way to get feedback, involve them, and practice one of Elementum’s core values: collaborative community. Don’t shy away from going straight to the source. This is an opportunity to listen to those who support you, and learn about their preferences or experiences with your product.
For example, let customers vote on a new product color or an aspect of your next product launch. They’ll love being included in the process, and you’ll show that you care about what they think.
2. Give back to people who supported you in 2022
It’s not always about the money. Just giving thanks is more than enough. People like to know that they matter and are appreciated.
Giving back could also look like applying customer-suggested improvements to your business, offering incentives or discounts for a limited time, or simply giving shout-outs on social media or in an email/newsletter to those who recently purchased, are most frequent spenders, or are new customers.
3. Refresh (or create!) your website
New theme, who dis?! That ‘new year-new you’ expression has a good point. Give your website a facelift. Update your photos, add a relevant section, re-organize it to make shopping easier, or update your site theme. Site themes provide a functional and cohesive look for your brand as well as for the customer experience, and leave a positive impression that they’ll remember.
4. Respond faster and communicate better
Look at how you do business from every angle, and see if there isn’t a loophole that could be closed that allows for the work to be done faster and more efficiently, without sacrificing quality. Does that mean getting refunds, shipments, or responses faster?
If you can’t accelerate order fulfillment or email responses, think about how you can communicate the process to your customer better. Detailing exactly what they can expect sets clear expectations, instead of leaving them guessing.
TL;DR :
Making business resolutions can improve your eCommerce business by setting the tone for the entire year, and keeping you focused on what’s important. It’s a simple process.
Identify what your business needs are
Determine how you’ll go about accomplishing them with SMART goals
We’ve dubbed these four essential New Year resolution ideas to get you started:
focus on your customers and deepen that relationship
show support and thanks to those who supported your business
give your website a makeover with a new site theme
enhance customer service with speed and clear communication
Happy New Year!
