WD Market

Your store change was finished three weeks ago. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞? Often because the route to production was never part of the plan. Plans tend to stop at the point where something is built. Platforms are more opinionated than that about how a change reaches customers, and the details differ. - On Shopify, the CLI share command uploads your theme as a new unpublished theme and returns a preview link, so a stakeholder can review a real storefront without the live theme being touched. - On WooCommerce, the documentation describes a staging site as a copy of your live site where you can test updates before customers are affected, and advises testing there rather than on production. - On Adobe Commerce cloud infrastructure, you are required to complete testing on Staging before deploying to Production. Each of these costs something. A staging environment has to be paid for and kept in sync, and it can still diverge from production around payment providers and third-party scripts. A preview link is quick, but it shows the storefront rather than the full order path. So the question worth asking before development starts is not only who builds it. It is which environment the work gets reviewed in, who approves it there, and what happens if it behaves unexpectedly once live. When that is left implicit, the queue forms at the least visible point in the project, after the budget has already been spent. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/ewauFKDN #ShopifyExperts #WooCommerce #AdobeCommerce #eCommerceEducation #wdmarket

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝? From what we have seen, it is rarely because the team is not capable. Ask why a project never went live and the answer usually arrives as a resourcing problem. The developer was pulled onto an urgent bug. The design was waiting on product copy. Peak season arrived and everything froze. Each of those is true. None of them explains why the same thing happened to the three projects before it. In our work, the more common pattern is that the work is short of a decision rather than short of people. - Nobody is clearly authorised to say the scope is now closed. - Nobody wrote down what finished means, so the handover between build and review has no agreed standard. - Nobody agreed how the change reaches the live store, or who approves it there. A project missing all three does not usually get cancelled. It drifts, and drift can resemble progress closely enough to continue for months. That is why we treat decision ownership and the release route as part of the project plan, not as admin around it. It does not make the work faster on its own. It does make it possible to tell whether the work is actually moving. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/ewauFKDN #ProjectManagement #EcommerceOperations #eCommerceInsights #wdmarket

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞? More often than people sometimes assume. Strategic input is valuable when priorities are unclear. But if the roadmap is already well defined, paying another team to decide what should happen next can simply duplicate work. Three situations where delivery-focused support can make more sense: • The scope is already fixed. A replatform, defined integration or compliance requirement usually needs reliable execution more than another layer of strategy. • You already have a strong internal ecommerce owner. If someone internally owns the roadmap, understands the data and sets priorities, external capacity may be more useful than external direction. • There is not enough volume for continuous testing. In some stores, a focused audit followed by implementation can be more practical than an ongoing optimisation programme. For us, the key question is simple: Who should be responsible for deciding what gets worked on next? If that responsibility already sits clearly inside the business, the external team may be most valuable when it focuses on delivery. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/eHxWhGK4 #EcommerceDevelopment #ProjectDelivery #AgencyPartnership #eCommerceKnowledge #wdmarket

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝? Tickets closed and releases shipped tell you what was done. They do not tell you whether the store actually improved. In our experience, the more useful question is whether each meaningful change had: • a clear baseline • an expected outcome • a way to measure the result • a plan for what happens if it does not work Not every well-reasoned change will improve performance. That is normal. What matters is knowing in advance what success and failure look like. Two things help make that possible. First, data history. If the right historical data is not available, seasonal or year-on-year comparisons may be impossible later. Second, change control. Theme backups, staging environments and clear release processes make it easier to test changes without putting the live store at unnecessary risk. The important part is agreeing on the measures before the work starts. Otherwise, a year later, you may know how much was delivered without knowing how much of it actually helped. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/eHxWhGK4 #PerformanceReporting #DataTracking #ConversionRateOptimization #eCommerceStrategy #wdmarket

“We sent it to the developer. Why is it still not fixed?” Sometimes because what reached development was a symptom, not yet a clear task. For example "Mobile visitors are abandoning at the delivery step" is a symptom. Turning it into something a developer can build means reviewing session recordings, segmenting by device and browser, checking whether the pattern predates a recent release, testing payment methods on real hardware, and forming a view on which of several plausible causes is actually operating. Only then does the issue become specific enough to implement and measure. That diagnostic work takes time, but it often sits in the same queue as urgent bugs, support requests and campaign deadlines. In our experience, this is one reason improvement work can keep moving to next month even when the development team is doing its job well. The missing role is often the person who turns a business symptom into a clear technical specification. Without that step, the request either waits or gets solved with a change based on an assumption rather than evidence. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/ehnNvUv6 #ConversionRateOptimization #ProjectManagement #eCommerceAdvice #wdmarket

Your marketing agency drives traffic. Your development team keeps the store running. Who is responsible for improving the buying experience? In some established ecommerce businesses, that responsibility is not clearly owned. Marketing may focus on acquisition and channel performance. Development may focus on implementation, maintenance and technical work. Both can be doing their jobs well while conversion improvement sits between them. A few signs this may be happening: • Traffic grows, but conversion stays relatively flat • Heatmaps and session recordings are available but rarely used • Website changes arrive as requests rather than evidence-based priorities • Marketing and store data tell different stories, but nobody investigates why • It is difficult to name the recent changes made specifically to improve conversion From what we have seen, the issue is often not the quality of either team. It is that nobody clearly owns the question: What should we change next to make the store perform better? A simple test: who in your business is accountable for answering that question? Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/ehnNvUv6 #ConversionRateOptimization #eCommerceStrategy #eCommerceInsights #EcommerceAgency #wdmarket

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞? Because the redesign may be happening before the actual problem is understood. A product page can underperform for very different reasons: 🚫 The price presentation creates doubt. 🚫 The variant selector is difficult to use on mobile. 🚫 The images do not answer what the buyer needs to see. 🚫 The page performs poorly on the devices most visitors use. 🚫 The traffic arriving has weak purchase intent. Each of these points to a different fix. A slow page needs performance work. A confusing option selector needs UX work. Unanswered sizing questions may need better content rather than a new template. The order we prefer is: Find where the journey breaks ➡️ understand why ➡️ fix that specific cause ➡️ measure the result. A redesign may still be the right answer. But it should come from the diagnosis, not replace it. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/exTa3uqe #ProductPageRedesign #AddToCart #ConversionRateOptimization #eCommerceStrategy #wdmarket

𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞. Sometimes the problem is simply that an important buying question was never answered: - What will this cost me once shipping is included? - Will it fit, suit or work for my situation? - What happens if I need to return it? - Why should I trust this store enough to buy? Baymard’s research on cart abandonment found that extra costs such as shipping, tax and fees are one of the biggest reasons shoppers abandon a purchase. These are not always design problems. They are often information problems. That can mean showing total costs earlier, making sizing or compatibility easier to understand, explaining returns where the decision happens, and giving customers enough evidence to feel confident buying. A product page does not necessarily need more design. Sometimes it simply needs to answer the questions standing between the customer and the purchase. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/exTa3uqe #ProductPageUX #CartAbandonment #ShippingCosts #CustomerTrust #eCommerceInsights #wdmarket

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭. Before changing the page, ask: Is the issue the traffic, the offer, or the page itself? The same low add-to-cart rate can come from very different causes. If campaigns are bringing people with the wrong intent, even a strong product page may struggle. If the right audience arrives and still does not move forward, the issue may sit in the product experience, offer or information on the page. A useful starting point: 1. Compare add-to-cart rates by traffic source and campaign. 2. Segment by device and market. 3. Review session behaviour to see where visitors hesitate or leave. The goal is not to redesign the page because one metric looks weak. It is to understand where the problem starts before deciding what needs to change. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/exTa3uqe #ProductPageOptimization #ConversionRateOptimization #eCommerceTips #wdmarket

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝟐𝐁 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐟𝐲? Not necessarily. It depends on how many distinct price sets and payment flows the business needs. Companies, quantity rules, price breaks and net payment terms are available below Plus. Basic, Grow and Advanced allow up to three active B2B catalogs. Plus becomes relevant when the requirements include: - Catalogs assigned directly to individual companies, for negotiated account pricing. - More than three active catalogs. - Deposits, partial payments or payment requests per fulfilment on large orders. - Custom apps built with Shopify Functions. There is an integration side too. Shopify's GraphQL Admin API allows 100 points per second on standard plans, 200 on Advanced and 1,000 on Plus. For an ERP pushing nightly price updates across thousands of products and catalogs, that difference can matter at peak times, such as a seasonal price change. From what we have seen, listing these requirements one by one gives a clearer answer than revenue alone. A business may find four of six needs fit Advanced and two need Plus. That turns the plan decision into a question about the value of those two requirements. We find it useful to settle this before the contract is signed, rather than partway through the build. Want to go deeper on this topic? We’ve covered it further in this article:  https://lnkd.in/e-_XnW_d #ShopifyPlus #ShopifyB2B #WholesaleEcommerce #ShopifyPricing #wdmarket