How I wasted a couple of bucks
I have made a lot of mistakes in my online commerce business in three years. It was due to the fact that I did not know who to ask and where to read. All the bumps stuffed himself. Today I will tell about one shishkentsiya, which I filled with my website and it cost me more than all.
First, I will tell you how I screwed up and what I got in the end, and then what I learned from it.
The first start of the store, or rather the first engine, was Shopcms (at that time avalonshop). Without describing all the charms of this engine, I will say that it is heavy for modifications. Even in those early years, even to make a normal design for the engine, and then it would cost us, according to our standards, a lot of money. And for three months we realized that we need to change the design. And besides design, I wanted to make a beautiful, user-friendly site.
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This is where the general errors began.
A new CMS was chosen - shop-script premium.
Well, like almost all novice traders, I turned to a friend who made the first version of the site. I didn’t know what “detailed and competent TZ” is, therefore it was cut and ruled profitably. And about the search for the optimal path of speech and was not conducted, as I saw it, it was done.
From what I have planned, what seemed to me to be cool and customers will be delighted - the withdrawal of the product catalog and the products themselves using Ajax. Ideally, clicking on the letter of the alphabet, in the left column of the catalog there was a list of brands, in the right list of products starting with this letter. When switching to a brand in a block, brand goods appeared in the goods.
In practice, everything turned out to be deplorable. Tolley because of the programmer’s curvature, toli because of the idea itself, the “return” button in the browser did not work as most users were accustomed to, which they cursed strongly (the return was at the beginning of the session, not the previous page). Filters: female, male, “all ...” worked malfunctioning, and it’s not clear whether anything changes when the filter is activated.
The main page was different. There were no goods, no advertising banner. The percentage of failures (departures without visiting each other's pages) was very high. Later banners and products were developed on the main one. But again, take a look at how the goods are sold on the main one))). It was planned that in the opening window will be the prices of competitors and our great price. After the implementation, they thought it was incorrect. Yes, and with the withdrawal of photos of goods in the drop-down box, it is still unclear to something sire - sometimes there is a random feeling)
The conclusion of the goods in the client part was made so that the admin had to update the goods manually. Although it was possible to indicate the articles, it turned out to be able to implement this function only a year later and having remade it greatly. The engine had been so shredded and carved with various upgrades that almost nothing worked from the old functionality.
When we launched the cosmetics, I again stepped on the old rake and decided to surprise my customers.
See how cool the colors are displayed in colors ? When you hover over a small icon, a large square shows color. We did the same, only with instructions on how to use. It looked awful, uncomfortable, inaccessible. We decided to stand out, but forgot about usability, so the cosmetics did not go. A couple of months altered as it is now, as in almost any other online store.
And the problem is not even that, then we spent a lot of time and money on alterations, the sum of 1500 cu You can see in what condition the site. The biggest problem is that the current engine is not subject to modification. Easier, cheaper, faster to buy a new one and do everything on it. And the old one also works with periodic glitches, the most deadly ones were corrected, but earlier they “killed” orders / clients.
PS I am sure there will be those who wish will try their handouts or make quick conclusions. Despite govnosayt, my store has a conversion only for new customers in 6%. We work with old ones through regular mailings and personal contact, which gives us a good influx of new orders, despite the small number of visitors. Relations with regular customers are built on high trust in the store, excellent service, in a word - on marketing, not usability, prices, design, and so on. About this - what is cooler design / usability or marketing, I will write.
Why we have not launched a new site yet - a long, confidential conversation.
Any modernization of the site should be carried out after a deep analysis of the issue. Statement of the problem, the need, methods / methods, material and time costs, the preparation of TK and the EFFECTS of implementation. The latter is not just an analysis and forecast of the result of introducing a new functional. During planning, it is necessary to calculate the consequences for each item.
The formulation of the problem depends on how well the formulated task will be, depends on how easily it will be solved, how much money will be spent. In addition, a detailed description of the task helps to see more subtleties and details in the implementation, and to find new ways to solve it during the preparation of the TOR. The consequences of poor development of this stage are an increase in time and material resources for implementation.
Necessity - are changes necessary at all? How profitable are they? Are there any more pressing issues? Consequences - if it turns out that you solved a particular problem, instead of solving global issues, in the future the created functionality may be irrelevant and subject to remodeling.
Ways / methods - look for a long time, painstakingly, dig deep, find many different ways to solve the problem. Approach systematically to develop a method for solving the problem. Analyze links tied to future functionality. Plan how the new functionality will work in conjunction with the rest of the engine. Consequences - innovation simply can not fit into the existing system, if you develop it in isolation from the functionality of the entire engine.
Material and time costs - as already mentioned, you can find a middle ground. Need to find.
The result of the introduction of new functionality - how to perceive its end customers. How much will be clear and accessible to customers a new feature. Consequences - ignoring service, deterioration of conversion, loss of money.
Honestly, a year ago, I did not fully understand why to pay professionals money to solve your questions, consult and conduct an audit. But more and more delving into the essence of the issue, comes the understanding that: “to do everything from the very beginning correctly” saves not only time, nerves, but also money. Yes! The most important thing is that professional solution saves money. Miserly pays twice, and each new time a large amount.
No, I do not in any way call urgently to run ordering audits, research, business plans, marketing support, which of course should be done with money. But at least consult on the subject of elementary things. As practice shows - this is very important, most startups are surprisingly monotonous in repeating the same mistakes of doing business in online commerce.
No money for IT? And you thought? This is another big problem - the wrong system for calculating profitability. Entrepreneurs pity the money for the design + engine, they take it away where they can, in order to put as much as possible into contextual advertising. And at the same time, many do not understand that it is not enough that advertisements were launched stupidly (in the overwhelming majority of cases), it gives a small result because they did not prepare well. And 100 bucks spent with an efficiency of 20% (beat backs + 20%) could be spent more rationally: 20% of the budget is spent on specialist assistance, and then the remaining 80% of the budget can be implemented with efficiency of at least 50% . The context is taken as the simplest example.
Fasting is not something revolutionary. I once again appealed to those who have not yet realized the vital truth of this post. Repetition - the mother of learning
PS you want to trust, you want to check
PPS thank dimansky for the remark with errors in the text
First, I will tell you how I screwed up and what I got in the end, and then what I learned from it.
The first start of the store, or rather the first engine, was Shopcms (at that time avalonshop). Without describing all the charms of this engine, I will say that it is heavy for modifications. Even in those early years, even to make a normal design for the engine, and then it would cost us, according to our standards, a lot of money. And for three months we realized that we need to change the design. And besides design, I wanted to make a beautiful, user-friendly site.
')
This is where the general errors began.
A new CMS was chosen - shop-script premium.
Well, like almost all novice traders, I turned to a friend who made the first version of the site. I didn’t know what “detailed and competent TZ” is, therefore it was cut and ruled profitably. And about the search for the optimal path of speech and was not conducted, as I saw it, it was done.
From what I have planned, what seemed to me to be cool and customers will be delighted - the withdrawal of the product catalog and the products themselves using Ajax. Ideally, clicking on the letter of the alphabet, in the left column of the catalog there was a list of brands, in the right list of products starting with this letter. When switching to a brand in a block, brand goods appeared in the goods.
In practice, everything turned out to be deplorable. Tolley because of the programmer’s curvature, toli because of the idea itself, the “return” button in the browser did not work as most users were accustomed to, which they cursed strongly (the return was at the beginning of the session, not the previous page). Filters: female, male, “all ...” worked malfunctioning, and it’s not clear whether anything changes when the filter is activated.
The main page was different. There were no goods, no advertising banner. The percentage of failures (departures without visiting each other's pages) was very high. Later banners and products were developed on the main one. But again, take a look at how the goods are sold on the main one))). It was planned that in the opening window will be the prices of competitors and our great price. After the implementation, they thought it was incorrect. Yes, and with the withdrawal of photos of goods in the drop-down box, it is still unclear to something sire - sometimes there is a random feeling)
The conclusion of the goods in the client part was made so that the admin had to update the goods manually. Although it was possible to indicate the articles, it turned out to be able to implement this function only a year later and having remade it greatly. The engine had been so shredded and carved with various upgrades that almost nothing worked from the old functionality.
When we launched the cosmetics, I again stepped on the old rake and decided to surprise my customers.
See how cool the colors are displayed in colors ? When you hover over a small icon, a large square shows color. We did the same, only with instructions on how to use. It looked awful, uncomfortable, inaccessible. We decided to stand out, but forgot about usability, so the cosmetics did not go. A couple of months altered as it is now, as in almost any other online store.
And the problem is not even that, then we spent a lot of time and money on alterations, the sum of 1500 cu You can see in what condition the site. The biggest problem is that the current engine is not subject to modification. Easier, cheaper, faster to buy a new one and do everything on it. And the old one also works with periodic glitches, the most deadly ones were corrected, but earlier they “killed” orders / clients.
PS I am sure there will be those who wish will try their handouts or make quick conclusions. Despite govnosayt, my store has a conversion only for new customers in 6%. We work with old ones through regular mailings and personal contact, which gives us a good influx of new orders, despite the small number of visitors. Relations with regular customers are built on high trust in the store, excellent service, in a word - on marketing, not usability, prices, design, and so on. About this - what is cooler design / usability or marketing, I will write.
Why we have not launched a new site yet - a long, confidential conversation.
"The tale is a lie, and there is a hint in it, to the good fellows a lesson ..." (c)
Any modernization of the site should be carried out after a deep analysis of the issue. Statement of the problem, the need, methods / methods, material and time costs, the preparation of TK and the EFFECTS of implementation. The latter is not just an analysis and forecast of the result of introducing a new functional. During planning, it is necessary to calculate the consequences for each item.
The formulation of the problem depends on how well the formulated task will be, depends on how easily it will be solved, how much money will be spent. In addition, a detailed description of the task helps to see more subtleties and details in the implementation, and to find new ways to solve it during the preparation of the TOR. The consequences of poor development of this stage are an increase in time and material resources for implementation.
Necessity - are changes necessary at all? How profitable are they? Are there any more pressing issues? Consequences - if it turns out that you solved a particular problem, instead of solving global issues, in the future the created functionality may be irrelevant and subject to remodeling.
Ways / methods - look for a long time, painstakingly, dig deep, find many different ways to solve the problem. Approach systematically to develop a method for solving the problem. Analyze links tied to future functionality. Plan how the new functionality will work in conjunction with the rest of the engine. Consequences - innovation simply can not fit into the existing system, if you develop it in isolation from the functionality of the entire engine.
Material and time costs - as already mentioned, you can find a middle ground. Need to find.
The result of the introduction of new functionality - how to perceive its end customers. How much will be clear and accessible to customers a new feature. Consequences - ignoring service, deterioration of conversion, loss of money.
Why did I even decide to tell about it?
Honestly, a year ago, I did not fully understand why to pay professionals money to solve your questions, consult and conduct an audit. But more and more delving into the essence of the issue, comes the understanding that: “to do everything from the very beginning correctly” saves not only time, nerves, but also money. Yes! The most important thing is that professional solution saves money. Miserly pays twice, and each new time a large amount.
No, I do not in any way call urgently to run ordering audits, research, business plans, marketing support, which of course should be done with money. But at least consult on the subject of elementary things. As practice shows - this is very important, most startups are surprisingly monotonous in repeating the same mistakes of doing business in online commerce.
No money for IT? And you thought? This is another big problem - the wrong system for calculating profitability. Entrepreneurs pity the money for the design + engine, they take it away where they can, in order to put as much as possible into contextual advertising. And at the same time, many do not understand that it is not enough that advertisements were launched stupidly (in the overwhelming majority of cases), it gives a small result because they did not prepare well. And 100 bucks spent with an efficiency of 20% (beat backs + 20%) could be spent more rationally: 20% of the budget is spent on specialist assistance, and then the remaining 80% of the budget can be implemented with efficiency of at least 50% . The context is taken as the simplest example.
Fasting is not something revolutionary. I once again appealed to those who have not yet realized the vital truth of this post. Repetition - the mother of learning
PS you want to trust, you want to check
PPS thank dimansky for the remark with errors in the text
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/64933/
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