4 essential strategies for success beyond peak times.

Peak seasons are less relevant in today's digital landscape. That’s according to our latest benchmark report, The fall of peak, which incorporates survey responses from consumers and digital leaders, alongside anonymized data from the Quantum Metric platform, to understand the biggest shift in shopping and booking trends for the holidays and beyond.

Don’t worry, the holiday season is still critically important, but the lines between peak and off-peak are blurring, requiring brands to adapt and maintain consistent engagement year-round. So what can digital leaders learn from our latest findings to apply not just to peak periods, like the holidays, but build a more robust post-peak strategy? Let’s find out.

1. Peak success is driven by what happens before and after the big day.

Preparing for just a single day or week each year is no longer enough to win over consumers. Our findings show a rise in sale periods throughout the year is changing shopping habits.

• Digital traffic patterns are shifting from familiar peaks and valleys to more consistent engagement. 2024 saw a mere 3% dip in traffic between March and May, compared to the double-digit declines in prior years.
• Whether iPhone sales or Cyber 5, the average customer visits a product page 2-3 times before deciding to buy, 4-6 visits when purchasing gifts or higher-priced items.
• A surprising 51% even visit a site pre-sale to test out payment methods and the checkout process.

How digital teams should respond.

This trend highlights the need for continuous optimization where brands recognize the impact of everyday digital experiences on peak season success and vice versa. However, shifts in how consumers browse and buy also create new opportunities for personalized experiences.

Effective audience segmentation here is key. Go beyond basic demographics and examine specific customer actions and behaviors during peak seasons. Did they gravitate towards particular product categories? Did they respond to certain types of promotions? Once you have a deep understanding of your customer segments, you can craft highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their unique needs and interests post-peak.

Customer spotlight: How Canadian Tire created a win-win with bargain hunters.

Canadian Tire used customer segmentation to drive a 40% increase in conversions from price-sensitive customers. Using Quantum Metric and Google BigQuery to identify a customer segment dubbed "bargain hunters," who frequently abandoned their carts after attempting to use invalid or expired coupons, their team was able to identify and reactivate popular expired coupon codes to drive more sales.

2. Retaining customers post-peak should be a primary goal.

Acquiring customers during peak seasons is a significant achievement, but the real challenge lies in retaining them.

• Even minor issues can have a big impact: 54% of shoppers will abandon a site without asking for help with a plan to either return later or try another site.
• When it comes to customer service, 67% are ready to switch to a competitor's site if they encounter problems, particularly during support interactions.
• Consumers expect their feedback to be incorporated or fixed in the experience within a few hours, while digital leaders say it could take 1-2 days.

How digital teams should respond.

Creating intuitive and frictionless digital experiences is fundamental to building lasting customer loyalty. Think about the entire customer journey, from the moment they first interact with your brand to their ongoing engagement with your products or services. Are there any pain points or areas of friction that could discourage them from returning?

Investing in the right monitoring and alerting is critical. Implement real-time dashboards to keep track of key performance indicators (KPIs) and set up automated alerts to signal any anomalies or potential issues. Quantum Metric's real-time alerts have been instrumental in helping customers reduce cart abandonment rates by up to 20% during peak periods. This is also where close integration of data from all channels is key to getting a full understanding of the customer and a quick fix for their experience.

Customer spotlight: Improving customer understanding in the Alaska Airlines’ call center.

Alaska Airlines took significant strides in improving its customer support by integrating Quantum Metric into their team workflows. This integration enabled agents to instantly access customer session replays for troubleshooting, log issues by pinpointing the precise moment of friction, and even determine the number of customers experiencing similar issues. This led to reduced call center time, time spent by agents on troubleshooting, and reduced engineering time to fix problems.

3. Make mobile a year-round priority.

A robust mobile strategy is no longer a mere option but a necessity. Brands must ensure mobile web and app experiences are fully optimized.

• Mobile traffic saw a 10% increase between March and June of this year, compared to a mere 1-2% increase observed in previous years.
• In mobile sales, 2024 saw a 27% increase between March and June, compared to just 7% in 2023.
• 44% of consumers find push notifications annoying, often due to their frequency or irrelevance.

How digital teams should respond.

Mobile should be built as a unique experience, with the right visibility into mobile user behavior. It’s about going beyond simply having a website that adapts to different screen sizes. Brands must consider the specific needs and behaviors of mobile users. Is the navigation intuitive and easy to use on a smaller screen? Is the checkout process streamlined and secure?

Added to this, brands need to consider when and how they communicate with consumers on mobile. We instance access to their customers, it’s important to have the right process in place to monitor the impact of app notifications and text messages—do more messages hurt conversion rates?

Customer spotlight: Vista’s approach to a smoother mobile experience.

During a major replatforming initiative, Vista used Quantum Metric to improve its mobile experience, uncovering and fixing issues like a poorly placed “Revision” button that was hindering PayPal conversions. This led to a 10% increase in mobile conversions and a 20% improvement in PayPal user conversions for the company

4. Make sure to examine KPIs beyond conversion.

While conversion rate remains an important metric, it doesn't tell the whole story.

• For example, our data reveals that while average order values (AOV) in the retail sector increased by 50% between March and July 2024, conversion rates (CVR) dropped by 16%.
• Meanwhile, in travel, while CVR saw a 14% increase between July and September, AOV dropped by 30%.

How digital teams should respond.

Each industry example shows that conversion rates without context can’t define real success. To gain a comprehensive view of post-peak performance, brands need to delve into metrics that measure engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty. Track metrics like time spent on site, pages per session, and repeat visits to gauge user interest and platform stickiness. And most importantly, evaluate the Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) to understand the long-term profitability of each customer relationship.

By combining these metrics with traditional KPIs, brands can gain a deeper understanding of customer behavior, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions that drive sustainable growth.

Peak seasons provide a wealth of insights that can fuel continuous improvement and drive brand loyalty throughout the year. By embracing continuous optimization, leveraging first-party data, prioritizing customer experience, and redefining success metrics, brands across all industries can thrive in the evolving digital landscape.

Ready to transform your post-peak strategy and sustain year-round engagement? Explore Quantum Metric's suite of tools and discover how we can help you achieve your goals.