SPECIAL DATES: VALENTINE’S SEARCH INSIGHTS
Romance was certainly in the air last week as many of us reached into our wallets to demonstrate our love. Valentine´s day has in fact become one of the busiest and most important days of the year for some eCommerce companies, driving millions of buyers worldwide.
What´s more, as Angel Maldonado pointed out in his post Valentine´s Commerce Search, these shoppers tend to demonstrate different and singular characteristics. For example, they often display a higher commitment to purchase, having a clear idea of what they´re looking for, as well as producing comparable traits such as an increase in query volume, more terms per query, higher specific queries.
Understanding these different behaviours and patterns on special dates such Valentine´s Day and Black Friday can help brands and online retailers anticipate trends and demand, as well as to make improvements to the customer experience and journey.
We decided to do some analysis on customer behaviours in the lead up to Valentine´s day on Interflora.es, and also have some fun in the process to see just how romantic my fellow Spanish men are!
Looking at the activity and searches on the site showed us that the most popular time to look for a gift was at 5pm on 13th February and 12pm on Valentine´s Day itself, suggesting a lot of last-minute planning!
In fact, thanks to the data visualizations it´s easy to see that most sales took place on the afternoon of the 13th between 4–8pm and the morning of 14th between 9am-2pm.
And while perhaps a little eleventh-hour, Spanish men were nevertheless sticking with tradition. Roses were, by far, the most searched and purchased gift on Interflora´s website, with a bunch of the classic flowers coming in top place followed closely by a single red rose. Together these were searched six-times more than third-placed Margaritas and fourth-placed Orchids.
We were able to add this insight to Interflora´s own purchase data to establish that the average spent per person was an impressive €60. And that men in the regions of Madrid, Cataluña and Andalucía were the most romantic with Interflora´s website having the highest volume in sales for these three areas.
While a bit of fun, this shows us that on special dates such as Valentine´s Day, consumers demonstrate a very unique wave of demand and a commitment to purchase. What´s more, as online shopping increases so does the use of search, and not just to find something specific but also often for inspiration.
Search and browse data is an incredibly valuable asset and one often overlooked and under-exploited by online retailers. Through analysing and understanding customer behaviours and intentions, retailers can anticipate demand, as well as creating ideas to improve and boost the shopping experience.
Conclusion
Through a better understanding of data and customer behaviour on special dates such as Valentine´s Day, online retailers can make more informed buying and design decisions, anticipate trends and detect opportunities. They can also use these insights to enhance and personalise the customer experience, enrich user interactions and create happy customers.
