Sales Expectations in First Three Months after Replatforming

How will replatforming to IRP affect your sales? There is a three-stage sales pattern: slight DIP, RECOVERY then GROWTH.

Recapping on some IRP Fundamentals

From the very beginning IRP are aligned. IRP are not only a technology company but a Partner in Profit. Deployment is a well understood process - with mutual interests between the Merchant, IRP and Agency in successful delivery.

IRP has a unique position that eCommerce is not just about PRODUCT or SERVICES but it is BOTH {PRODUCT AND SERVICES) lined up and measured for merchant profit.

We believe in Service Markets and Competition. We believe Merchant’s eGross Profit is the aim of everyone. eGROSS profit goes up by:

• Traffic X Conversion X AOV
• Controlling Traffic Spend
• Choosing the right Traffic Services
• The right Merchant buying
• The Merchant’s Ambition
• Using the IRP SOFTWARE & TRADER DATA

THREE STAGES to Growth AFTER Deployment

The first 3 months after replatforming are filled with change. A dedicated IRP Customer Success Manager (CSM) will be involved in guiding the Merchant Team.

The CSM helps ensure the Merchant, eCommerce Manager and Account Manager are building the right relationships and processes based on an agreed Action Plan.

After replatforming sales naturally progress through THREE stages:

1. DIP - Natural traffic and sales dip in week one
2. RECOVERY - Sales recovery to former levels by end of month one
3. GROWTH - Sales growth pattern in month two/three

THE THREE STAGES EXPLAINED

On the day of Go-Live, your IRP Deployment Team will be on hand to ensure that the Go Live runs smoothly and will check that customers are navigating throughout the website and purchasing as normal.

We recommend a week long soft launch to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

STAGE 1: DIP - Post Go live Traffic Resetting

Days one-to-three will see the most significant impact on Traffic. The first few days are about configuration of channels.

If you are running marketing channels such as Google, Bing and Facebook, these should all be switched on day one. For companies that have not been running these channels, we recommend a slower, phased approach of switching them on five-to-seven days after Go-Live. This ensures that each channel is tracking and landing correctly on your new website.

From three days in onwards, we recommend ramping up your email marketing again.

STAGE 2: RECOVERY - Sales Return to Former Levels in Month ONE or TWO

It’s not unusual that there are some speed bumps along the way. Sales dip in the first week or two after replatforming due to the rollover of traffic channels on inbound traffic. Sales will quickly recover as Traffic returns to normal.

By now your ecommerce team and Account Manager will be able to see data building in TRADER and can begin to take a data led approach to growth.  Recovery can happen quickly or it can take a month so teams should be efficient but patient.

STAGE 3: GROWTH 🚀 - Month TWO or THREE the Growth Journey Begins

As the Trading Team settles and everyone understands their roles and responsibilities work begins on maximising the sales. Trading Terminal, the Service Providers and the IRP tools will power the growth journey.

The growth journey is affected by the market - but the vast majority of merchants experience growth on IRP within 2 to 3 months of replatform.  Future long term growth is built on the solid IRP foundations of Data, Services and Merchant Ambition.

Conclusion

For companies of all turnovers, the three-stage sales pattern is similar: DIP, RECOVERY, GROWTH.  eCommerce is based on data - and the key team should all be on the Insights APP from Go-Live and use TRADER continuously to watch traffic.

The exact mechanics of the traffic flow change on Go Live depend on the split of channels (email, social, PPC, affiliate, organic). Companies that are reliant on PPC, affiliate and organic channels will be impacted the most. Outside market factors can play a part that no one can control - however the vast majority of merchants see growth by months two or three.  

A successful Go-Live comes down to ensuring that the merchant team is correctly resourced, has completed the training certifications and that all partners are aligned to pay attention to detail.  The goal of all parties is then to HIT the agreed ANNUAL SALES TARGET at the Agreed CPA%.

Read More 
Replatforming to the IRP: Best Practice and Mitigation of Risk.
How IRP Commerce Runs an Efficient Replatforming Project.