Simple and straight forward
Our Approach
We like to keep things clear and simple and get your online shop set up as quickly and efficiently as possible
Step 1 : Objectives and Goals
Lets start at the beginning by asking a few questions….Why do you need an online shop? What goals do you want to achieve? Are they realistic? Are they measurable?
We will ask you to explain to us a bit about the background of your business which will help to build a framework around your objectives, which we can refer to along the process of building your site
Common objectives are usually :
Increase website sales revenue and margin
Increase conversion rate
Increase visitor numbers/be higher in Google
Reduce admin/order fulfillment time and cost
Test consumer opinions on products, customer service etc
Of course, these will depend on your business and the marketplace it operates in but it’s really useful to come up with specific measurable amounts for each. These can be shared with us but we understand if you want to keep these private at the start of the project.
Step 2 : Target Market
One of the questions we always ask our clients is who is your target customer? This starts the whole marketing process which leads to visitors and sales. You will need to identify the key target customer that visit your website (or that you’d like to visit your website). In e-commerce, the absolute number one focus is visitors and returning customers.
You may have many target markets but once you have these listed, then its important to understand for each is what they want to be able to do easily on your site and what you want them them to be able to do easily on your site.
In Ecommerce, the ultimate goal is going to be a completd sale. For this reason your navigation and content should almost always direct and focus your customers to products and special offers.
Step 3 : Competitor analysis
Who are your closest competitors? What are they up to? Who has the best site and why? Who isn’t doing so well?
This is a really important consideration if you are going to compete against them, so have a look through your main competitors and make a list to include in the specification.
We alway advise our clients to produce a GAP chart to show where you sit in terms of quality, price and customer service – this will be helpful in understanding how you should differentiate yourself.
Step 4 : Other Users
One of the big problems with IT projects is that all potential users are not involved at the start of the project.
This s more relevant for larger brands whose various departments work as a series of smaller businesses.
The key point here is that if you are going to produce a solution that is going to make everyone happy, everyone needs to be taken in to consideration.
So before your project even begins, consider all the people that will need to use the site. This can include:
The marketing/product development/accounts deptartments
Warehouse employees
Admin staff
Customer service staff
Content publishers
Management
It can get difficult because if people do not buy into the project at the beginning then the only talk is about what’s missing, not what’s already been achieved. Lets try and reduce the risk of this by ensuring all parties’ requirements are taken account at the start of the project.
Step5 : The Budget Elephant
Many people are very wary about telling us what their budget is when they contact us.
This is can be counterproductive but we can understand this viewpoint. We like to be realistic and keep in mind that if you don’t have much budget you’ll need to compromise on what you want the site to do
If you have a budget we would always recommend that you split it as follows
70% Design, Build and Functionality
30% Digital Marketing
Both elements are crucial to the success of your Ecommerce operation. Visuals bring any site to life so don’t compromise on brand logos and product imagery. There is no point in having a well built Ecommerce site but poor quality images, one sure way to failure.
We operate at three levels :
Beginner : A basic Ecommerce site with products and descriptions
Intermediate : You review your competitors, our demo sites and decide on the level of functionality that you require. We then customise one of our design concepts to best fit your requirements with your colours and logos. Once we agree the design concept we complete the build.
Advanced : You give us a detailed brief and we produce a bespoke design concept for your site. This is the most expensive option but you get a completely unique site built to your specifications
We can also provide Ecommerce solutions for your current site such as Woocommerce or Magento for Word Press installations
We can add functionality to your current Ecommerce operation such as Abandoned Cart Email Software, Trust Reviews etc.
We can configure specific product/brand feeds into two of the largest online platforms ie Ebay and Amazon
For specific projects we will quote you on a project by project basis
Step 6: Features and functionality
This is the place for technical specifications, if you have any. For example :
The platform that should be used,
Payment gateways : should the website should integrate with any other systems?
Abandoned Cart Email Software
Trust Reviews
Multi Channel integration (eg Ebay, Amazon)
We would require a short bullet point list of what features are required which is extremely important in determining the effort required in the build stage of your site.
Step 7 : Contract
Once all the details have been agreed we will ask you to sign a contract, a copy of which you can view here.
The contract has been written in plain English and tries to avoid any ‘legalese’ ie language that is difficult for non legal people can understand.
The contract is a legally binding contract and covers both parties should anything go wrong
Step 8 : Deadlines
This can be a key constraint on the project and may determine how the project is structured.
It is very important that you advise of any dead lines you may have. If the deadline is unavoidable, then in some cases a simple version of the online store can be made live whilst the full version is in the works.
In terms of timeframes
Beginner : This would take one month to build test and go live
Intermediate : This type of project would take around 3 months to complete
Advanced : Sites that have been built from scratch usually take a minimum of 6 months to complete
