7 methods to weigh your new eCommerce platform against the old
Making the choice to re-platform an eCommerce site is not for the faint of heart. It takes a major commitment. For some, the project can span multiple years. There’s the research required in choosing an eCommerce provider and then there’s the task of determining how to customize it in a way that will deliver results. Once those items have been fleshed out, the implementation itself still has to take place.
According to research conducted by Forrester in 2011, published in an article by Building Keystones, online retailers are more than willing to put in the time. About 49 percent of online retailers surveyed by Forrester said that they had intentions to re-platform their e-commerce solution within the next two years.
When all of the research and implementation has come to fruition, the work, however, isn’t complete. Online retailers must then gauge whether the new platform is performing as expected. To do so, Building Keystones said that there are seven metrics that should be used to measure the success (or lack thereof) of a re-platforming project. Not only should metrics be tracked after the implementation, they should also be tracked beforehand to paint a comprehensive picture.
1. Traffic – Although it may seem obvious, Building Keystones said that traffic must be measured. And no matter how excited a company is to push new traffic to the new site, they recommend keeping traffic generation to a minimum. It's important to “compare apples to apples as much as possible,” they said.
2. Traffic profile – “Measure your traffic sources to see if there are any significant changes,” Building Keystones explained. “You should have an understanding of the revenue per visitor from different channels.” By doing so, it also gives online retailers a chance to catch items that may have fell through the cracks during the migration, such as in the case of one company whose PPC campaign had been temporarily shut down but not re-implemented.
3. Exits – “Another common mistake that goes unnoticed is changing the flow of your checkout process so that it increases or decreases by a number of steps. This change may contribute to either an increase or a decrease in the conversion rate for the entire platform or potentially for a specific channel. If you previously required a customer to visit three pages to go from home page to cart but now require only two pages, be certain to closely investigate at what point visitors are exiting your site.”
4. Conversion rate – Building Keystones also warned that macro conversion rates may be misleading. They suggest that etailers focus on conversion rates for specific streams like products and countries.
5. Revenue per visitor – An increase in traffic is only significant if it’s accompanied by an increase in revenue. “If it doesn’t, you need to look into what factors are causing a decrease in conversions despite an increase in traffic,” they said.
6. PPC – It’s important to measure the cost of PPC before and after a migration, just as it’s important to know where traffic is being directed. As was mentioned about measuring traffic, it will be imperative to compare apples to apples. Therefore, don’t change the amount that you’ve historically spent on PPC.
7. E-mail campaigns – To gauge organic traffic, it’s recommended to halt any e-mail campaign work for a few weeks before and after the migration. “Unless you include redirects for an already active cart, stragglers who open up an old email after the migration may find themselves looking at an empty cart,” Building Keystones said. “Remember that email is one of the strongest marketing channels around. Don’t make the mistake of misguiding customers because of your re-platforming project.”
To make your re-platforming endeavor a successful one – before, during and after – let NetSphere Strategies take on the bulk of the work involved. We understand the complexities of the project and will work diligently to ensure a smooth transition.
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