Observe, measure, and test your way to better results

Last year I had problems with squirrels digging up and eating most of my fava beans.

This year, upwards of 10x more fava beans are growing with no squirrel trouble.

What changed?

I tested a new process.

Last year I planted most of the beans while the squirrels were digging and hiding food for winter. In other words, that environment wasn't best for fava beans even if the weather and season were right.

This year I planted them at the same time but instead I cover them with a sheet of mesh. Water, sun, and air can get through the mesh but squirrels can't.

This changed the environment (no squirrels) enough for the fava to grow large enough for the squirrels to not bother them.

I was able to do this by observing what was going on last year (squirrels digging), measuring the results (very few surviving plants, small harvest), and testing a change to see how it will impact the results (the harvest).

All the while continuing to observe the behavior.

It still can fail for the same reason (e.g. squirrels come back to dig out the larger plants) or another reason (e.g. bad winter) but as long as I'm observing and paying attention, I'll be able to test another thing next year (e.g. larger hoop coverings).

Hopefully you're observing how your customers behave during the winter holidays and any other major sales event. From those observations you should be able to brainstorm things to test next time to improve your results.

This could be as simple as how many emails you send in November and December or as complex as a personalized-AI-driven-marketing-and-engagement-campaign (buzzword bingo!).

Whatever the change though, observation and measurement are important first steps. Without them you're just "changing shit" as one mentor would say.

You can use Repeat Customer Insights to automatically measure many different factors of your customer behavior. It'll make it easier to observe that behavior too, you'll need to regularly review the reports and analyses it creates.

The sooner you signup, the more historic behavior and trends it can pick-up.

Eric Davis