The holidays are great for business. But now that the you’re coming to the end of the first quarter of the year, fresh after that massive holiday spike, you might have noticed a dip in your sales or conversions.

Not to worry, for any eCommerce site, this is perfectly normal; but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything about it.

Here are some things that you can do to give your conversion rates a boost—

1. Offer free shipping

Statistics show that offering free shipping to shoppers will prompt users to spend 30% on eCommerce sites. Try offering free shipping as a promotional and limited offer at the first quarter of the year to build a sense of urgency among shoppers that will contribute to added sales.

Free shipping has always been a big draw for online shoppers and it’s usually the final push they need to follow through on their purchases.

2. Learn and understand the latest trends

Take your cue from your users. At the beginning of the year, people are still very much into their resolutions and are also more likely to try new things that you can easily add into your marketing mix.

For instance, for 2016 there are 4 major sectors that are getting a lot of attention—

• Organization and productivity

• Health and fitness

• Green living and sustainability

• Safety and security

You can try adding more products that focus on these segments to your current offerings and use it as a way to capture the attention of your users.

At the beginning of the year, a lot of planning and organizational tools catch the eye of shoppers.

3. Retarget abandoned carts

Over half of users who abandon their carts do so because they weren’t ready to make the purchase the first time and are likely saving the cart for later, when they have more time to mull over their purchase.

Instead of hunting for new customers, you can save time and effort and focus on these shoppers who already have an expressed interest in your products to begin with?

Sometimes, all your users need is a little reminder that they were interested in what you had to offer.

According to statistics, over a quarter of shoppers who were retargeted come back to complete the purchase. So reach out to these people—remind them of their pending carts. That’s still a quarter more shoppers that you would not have had if you didn’t use retargeting at all.

4. Get insight from social media

By now you should already know that your social media presence is just as important as your website. But if you’re trying to pull your conversions up, you should know that social media is a good way to gain insight into your customers as well.

• Go on your Facebook page and start reviewing which product specific posts are getting the most engagement.

• Review frequently used hashtags by your followers on Twitter and Instagram—this is a good way to showcase your products to potential customers.

• Check out the data analytics tools from Facebook or Twitter are able to gather to track your consumers’ behavior.

Review your social media accounts to uncover valuable data about how your users interact with your posts and offers.

5. Check in on regular customers

Users who frequent your site generate revenue—they are the ones who are likely to complete a purchase. A simple, automated follow-up email that can inform them of your latest promotions or even just check in on whether they were happy with their purchase and customer service will go a long way.

Send a brief email that ‘checks in’ on your customers–relationship building is an important part of giving your conversions a big boost.

Building a relationship with your customers through touchpoints beyond your website is an opportunity to encourage them to return and check out what else you have to offer.

6. Start a sale

Not only is this a good way to get rid of overstock, but it shows that your eCommerce site is a source of good finds. Remember that users go to your site not because it’s the holidays, they do so because they want to find good bargains—regardless of the occasion.

Sales are always a big draw for shoppers. Start one after the holidays and give your sales a push.

Check out these post-holiday ideas:

• A post-holiday clearance sale is a great way to clear out holiday inventory.
• Throw in freebies—shoppers love gift with purchase promotions and is a great way to encourage them to complete a transaction.
• Offer bulk discounts for a limited peiord to spur them to make the purchase now.

7. Do not neglect post-holiday seasonal offers

Christmas isn’t the only time that shoppers spend. A lot of effort goes into your holiday marketing, why not put even just a fraction of that effort into seasonal, albeit smaller, strategies as well.

There are several other minor occasions that you can create thematic marketing efforts around after the holidays–take advantage of it.

Following the end of the holidays, you already have Valentines Day and Mothers Day, Presidents’ Day, Friendship Day to name a few. Thematic marketing efforts that remind them of special occasions can certainly help boost your sales.

8. Review user data

Regardless of whether your site user convert or not, whether they finish the check out process or abandon their carts, you can learn from their activity and habits on your eCommerce site.

Here are some things that you can look into:

• At which point did your users abandon their carts? If most left right before they were going to check out, could it be because your eCommerce site has a very complicated checkout process? Are your trust symbols credible enough to make them trust your site?
• Do your upsells match your user’s profile? For instance, a user shopping for sweaters won’t care if you upsell something about car parts. They would however may want to see more colors or other sweater styles. What can you do to customize this stage in your conversion funnel so that they are more likely to complete a purchase or add to their purchase?

Align your upselling or cross selling techniques depending on your user’s buying habits. (Image credit: http://www.trueship.com/)

• What were the biggest selling items during your holiday spike? Do you still have these items in stock? Was it selling simply because of the strength of the product? Or because you had a promotion or discount running?
• Were you able to capture pertinent information about your users such as location, items purchased, average of total cart value, whether or not they completed the purchase with incentives, what device they used to browse through your site. Take a look at their shopping behaviors to really understand where you can focus your efforts on to raise your sales.

Try these out and see for yourself how well they work to give your post-holiday sales a boost. And if you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comment section below.