Ecommerce Questions to Answer BEFORE You Build Your Website
Your ecommerce website just doesn’t cut it anymore. It used to be what you needed, but now it looks old, feels slow, and it’s not as appealing as the competitions.
A reasonable thought would be to take your proposal for a new website to a digital marketing agency and ask them to build you something that will keep you relevant and modern.
Is it a logical train of thought? Absolutely. Is it that simple? Absolutely not.
The First Big Question
There’s a laundry list of questions that you’ll need to answer before you approach an agency with the opportunity to build your custom ecommerce website. However, one of the first and most significant questions you need to answer is simple:
Even if you develop the perfect website, your product will go nowhere if you don’t have something that you KNOW works.
“The development of a strategic plan focusing on traffic, on-site conversion, and customer retention is a key and ongoing concern,” writes IRP Commerce in an article on the topic of success in ecommerce. “Each of these aspects will cover many areas and open much debate, but all are part of the formula for success.”
Perhaps before investing in a full-scale, custom ecommerce site, try testing your product on a website like Shopify for a third of the cost.
It’s OK to start small. It’s great to start small.
One of the best ways to determine your viability online is to use platform-ready solutions and start with a minimum viable product.
If you can find success and gain momentum, then you have a better chance of building up a business that can successfully expand.
Other Important Ecommerce Questions
OK, so you’ve figured out the big-picture items, but now you’re ready to scale up and have a fantastic digital marketing agency build out a custom website for you.
Get ready.
To create a site that suits your company and meets your business needs, you’ll need to have some critical prep work done and a solid grasp on your operations.
Download the Ecommerce Website Checklist for a comprehensive list of what you should have ready—or at least think about—before you engage with an agency.