One of the most common objections we hear at Pineapple Development to a long term web development retainer is “I’m just not sure what my needs will be six months down the road.”
The answer for that level of uncertainty is simple:
It doesn’t matter that you know specifically what your needs will be. What matters is recognizing that if you intend to continually GROW your eCommerce business, you will always have development needs.
It’s not a needs conversation you really need to have, rather than a budget conversation. How much of your budget can you dedicate to your website? As the foundation of your business and your ‘ground zero’ for growth strategy, there’s no question it deserves a chunk of your monthly budget.
Why are we so confident in this? Because we live and breathe eCommerce, and aside from all the stats and best practices you can find on this subject, we’ve seen first-hand that our partners who dedicate a portion of their budget monthly to their website are the ones who have consistently grown their business. Period.
Some of the “given” reasons:
There are certain elements of your website that will always need maintenance and attention.
- Things like format and integration of dynamic content. Think blog posts, promotions or sales that tie into your marketing calendar and require a tie-in on your website, etc.
- Updates and security patches linked to the platform you’re on.
- Site speed (which is critical to your UX/UI and is not a one-and-done kind of task).
- Custom configuration of new tools or extensions that become necessary for your business as you grow.
- Bug and glitch fixes. Technology is ever-changing, and therefore, to expect that you’ll never have a problem with your site because it’s “finished,” is a dangerous expectation. Ensuring your site is always functioning at its optimal level with bugs that arise being fixed ASAP is paramount to creating customer loyalty and increasing conversions. If there’s a button not working, a confirmation email not firing off, an image or text on a page that’s distorted – that could be the difference between someone buying from you or going elsewhere.
Now you may say, “yes I get it, but even so, I have someone in-house who can probably tackle this, which leaves us only needing to outsource occasionally when that person’s plate is full…”
Here’s where the major benefit comes in:
Time and time again we’ve heard partners say “If we could just spend less time fixing things and more time on things that would help grow the site, we would be in good shape.”
The benefit in having a specialized web partner as an extension of your team is this: Having someone who is staying on top of regular maintenance as needs arise frees up time for everyone involved to be thinking more strategically and continually putting growth-focused efforts into play.
Site is working great? Site looks great? Site is up to date? Great!
Now:
- Let’s look at the user flow of each page. Spend some time analyzing any challenge points in our sales journey and what we could add or change about each page that would make it more effective.
- Have there been payment methods added to the market that are becoming mainstream since the last time we updated our checkout? Let’s make sure we’re optimized to make payment easiest for every possible consumer.
- What could we add to the site that would encourage further engagement and more time on site? Let’s brainstorm, do some AB testing, and implement what works best.
- What has the bounce rate looked like for the past six months? What else can we do to reduce it?
- Are there any new tools that would make our operations more efficient? Or make our user experience better? There’s constantly something new being released. Let’s stay on top of the latest and greatest.
- How’s your email marketing been working for the past six months? Let’s revamp it, make sure it comes across as a seamless compliment to everything you’re trying to accomplish through your site. The most effective way to communicate and engage with consumers is ever-changing just like technology, so you don’t want to allow your strategy to become stagnant.
- Would some kind of limited time, web-based event or promotion hosted on your website boost customer engagement and sales? Let’s spend some time trying new things!
These are just a few examples of what a long-term web partner can do for you to ensure you’re treating your eCommerce section of the retail industry just as you a brick and mortar operation: with the understanding that you constantly need to be making tweaks, implementing updates and trying new things in order to grow.
If you’d like to discuss some ideas about what the most beneficial partnership would look like for you and your business, schedule a 30-minute intro call with our lead strategist here.