Are you planning to hire an e-commerce web designer to build your online store? Although, you can get several web designers and developers who can quote you an affordable price to develop your e-commerce website, there are few things which you must ensure before you hire any of them.
In this blog post, I have shared 7 important things that you must find out before you hire an e-commerce designer:
#1 Does your web designer work for your benefit?
Before you hire an e-commerce developer or designer, do make sure that he or she is willing to work for your benefit, rather than just finishing off his job.
Are they keen to hear from you about the specialities & USP of your products or services before they dive into designing the mock-up of your website?
Are they able to suggest some ideas in order to make your e-commerce website better than the competitors?
If not, then something is wrong and you must start looking out for some other option. It’s simply because if an e-commerce designer is not completely engaged with your business activities, he or she can’t build a website that has a true reflection of your business.
#2 Does your web designer understands your website goals?
Your e-commerce developer or designer must understand your business goals clearly. In addition to a great design, your developer must ensure that your website is able to meet your KPI.
Not all websites can fit in a standard pattern. Based on your niche, your web developer must be able to build a tailored website for you.
For eg. if you want to sell premium products, the design of your e-commerce store must be elegant enough to win the trust of your customers.
#3 Communication & support of your web designer
Communication is vital, before and after the development of your e-commerce website.
You must therefore check if your e-commerce developer’s communication is limited to emails only, or he is willing to take calls or chat over other mediums like Skype & WhatsApp.
#4 Availability of your web designer
Checking the availability of your web designer or developer is very crucial for your e-commerce web design.
Several web design companies don’t make their development team available to the customers.
Even worst, many companies do outsource their web development projects to other agencies and as a result the customers can’t interact with the web designer.
Outsourcing isn’t unhealthy. But if your project requires strong coordination with your web designer, you must ensure their availability.
You can also consider hiring an e-commerce consultant who will always be there to meet you and coordinate with you during every phase of your website development.
#5 Has your web designer got you protected?
Before moving forward with development of your e-commerce store, do ensure that you have signed a web design contract with your developer or agency.
In the absence of a contract, you may experience conflicts & disputes.
Here are but some of the essential clauses of a web design contract:
- Project timeframe
- Deliverables
- Payment terms
- Obligations
- Intellectual Property Rights
#6 Has your web designer provided you a detailed proposal?
Do you have a detailed quotation or proposal that has all the important information like scope of work, milestones, technologies details etc.
Here are but some of the important elements of a web design proposal:
- Cost and delivery timeline
- Number of revisions for mockup till the time you are happy with the design
- Website updates costing
- Website maintenance cost
- Web hosting (if your web designer is hosting your website)
- SEO cost (if SEO is included in the project)
#7 Expertise of your web designer
Is your web designer expert in designing e-commerce websites? Have you done enough check on their expertise?
The best way to check the expertise of any web developer or designer is to have a look at their portfolio. You will get a fair idea about the quality of their website development.