Seasonal resets aren’t just for physical storefronts. A targeted audit of your ecommerce campaigns — especially ahead of peak retail moments — can eliminate clutter, improve relevance, and surface the right products faster. Approach seasonal cleaning with impact by making it focused, efficient, and aligned to revenue.
1. Start with your campaign inventory
Why it matters:
Campaign bloat builds quietly: legacy pins, outdated banners, low-impact clones. Left unchecked, it slows down operations and drifts from your current merchandising strategy.
What to do:
- Sort by age and impact. Pull a list of campaigns from oldest to newest. Flag those with outdated creative or minimal engagement.
- Retire or refresh. Remove campaigns tied to expired promos (e.g., “Labor Day 2024”) and replace them with current offers.
- Simplify where possible. If a campaign duplicates your global rules without adding targeting nuance, fold it back into the base logic.
What improves:
You reduce maintenance drag and make it easier for top campaigns to perform without interference.
2. Review boost logic and unpinning conditions
Why it matters:
Boost and unpin rules drive dynamic product visibility. But if they’re misaligned (e.g., promoting out-of-stock items or holding stale promos), they erode shopper trust.
What to do:
- Update seasonal tags. Ensure boosts reflect current periods (e.g., phase out “season:winter” and elevate “season:spring”).
- Automate unpins. Tie unpin logic to stock status and promo end dates, so stale products are removed without manual effort.
- Test first. Roll changes out in high-traffic, low-risk campaigns before scaling globally.
What improves:
Cleaner logic = fewer manual errors and a sharper shopper experience.
3. Audit synonyms for precision, not volume
Why it matters:
A bloated synonym list can create more confusion than clarity. If shoppers are served irrelevant results, engagement drops — and so does conversion.
What to do:
- Inventory current synonyms. Prioritize coverage of essential terms and deprioritize low-impact or overly complex entries.
- Address root terms, not edge cases. Instead of endless permutations, link core concepts (e.g., “USMC” ↔ “Marines”) to handle broader search intent.
- Watch for false equivalence. Avoid synonyms that flatten meaningful product differences (e.g., “hoodie” ≠ “sweatshirt” in many assortments).
Technical clarity:
Multi-word synonyms only help if they align with how your product data is structured.
What improves:
Tighter synonym logic increases relevance and reduces shopper friction.
4. Reassess merchandising campaigns and redirects
Why it matters:
Campaign and redirect logic often outlasts its original purpose. As assortments and priorities shift, old logic can obstruct rather than guide.
What to do:
- Streamline campaign sets. Eliminate overlap and consolidate redundant logic. Focus on clear, high-performing themes like “spring arrivals” or “best-sellers.”
- Prune old redirects. Sunset links that lead to discontinued pages or irrelevant content. Ensure key seasonal URLs point to fresh, conversion-ready destinations.
- Use performance data. Prioritize changes based on traffic and conversion metrics—not assumptions.
What improves:
Reduced friction in discovery, stronger SEO hygiene, and a more efficient shopper journey.
5. Lock in a cadence that sustains performance
Why it matters:
A one-time audit helps. A recurring, operationalized process compounds benefits over time.
What to do:
- Schedule quarterly reviews. Tie to seasonal resets for maximum strategic alignment.
- Run monthly spot-checks. Focus on fast-moving areas like pins, boosts, and synonym entries.
- Document the process. Standardize your review workflow to ensure consistency across teams.
What improves:
Cleaner logic, faster updates, and fewer surprises as you scale.
Final thoughts
Cluttered campaigns slow growth. Clean ones drive it. A targeted reset—backed by data and discipline—sharpens your merchandising engine and positions you to convert with relevance and speed.
At Athos Commerce, we’ve helped teams reduce campaign bloat by up to 40% while increasing product visibility where it matters most.
Want to make this your cleanest—and most productive—season yet? Let’s get to work by starting with a complimentary site audit to uncover opportunities for growth. Book your site audit.
