E-commerce Guide
9 questions to ask when choosing an e-commerce agency
Choosing an e-commerce agency? Assess scope, account ownership, product data, testing, support and analytics, and go into the quote meeting prepared.
Magma Reactive · E-commerce team·Published: ·4 min read
Short answer
Choosing an e-commerce agency is a broader decision than deciding who will design the store. Who will prepare the products, how will the order flow be tested, and who will run the store after handover? A good quote makes the answers to these questions visible at the start of the project.
Before your first agency meeting, write down your goal in one sentence. Opening your first store, migrating an existing store and consolidating marketplace operations are different projects. Asking every candidate the same questions makes it easier to compare them independently of how impressive their presentations are.
1. What exactly will be delivered?
Ask for page types, product count, variant structure, number of languages and integrations in writing. The phrase "turnkey" does not, on its own, explain which tasks are included. Ask separately whether product photography, description writing and translation are within scope.
The quote should also have an out-of-scope section. That makes it easier to tell later whether a new request is additional development or an incomplete delivery.
2. What need is the platform choice based on?
It is understandable for an agency to recommend the tool it is used to; still, ask it to explain how the recommendation fits your operation. Talk it through in terms of product options, target countries, payment providers, team structure and integrations.
Rather than commissioning custom development up front for features you will not use, define the scope that completes the first sales process. Also ask about the expansion path for needs that are likely to change.
3. Who will own the accounts and access?
Clarify how the domain, store, advertising and analytics accounts will be managed by the business. Giving the agency access appropriate to its role is not the same as having every account opened under the agency's control.
Ask for a handover plan covering the removal of access, the delivery of files and a list of the tools used once the work ends. This plan is useful not only for a possible parting of ways, but also for the day-to-day continuity of the business.
4. Who will fix errors in the product data?
The fact that a file can be imported does not mean it is ready for sale. Missing measurements, duplicate product codes and wrong variants cause problems in the store too. Review sample products together at the start of the project.
Ask whether the agency will clean the data, who will approve product information and how the final check will be documented. Data quality affects delivery time as much as catalogue size does.
5. If an existing store is being migrated, what happens to the old links?
Ask for a plan that maps old product and category URLs to their new equivalents. Products that will be retired, categories that will be merged and content that will be kept should be assessed separately. Shopify's migration and launch documentation also includes redirects for old URLs in its checklist. Shopify redirect check.
It is not enough for the agency to show only the new design; it also needs to explain how the value carried over from the existing store will be preserved.
6. How will we know we are ready to launch?
Tie acceptance to observable steps: product selection, cart, payment, order notification and stock update. Cover exceptions such as cancellations and failed payments as well.
Ask who will run the tests and how the issues found will be closed. Shopify's general store setup checklist treats successful and failed transaction tests as separate items. Visual approval and functional testing are different delivery steps.
7. Which question will the analytics report answer?
A report that only shows visit counts may not explain the problem in the sales process. Discuss how you will track the transitions between visitors who view a product, add it to the cart and buy.
Ask separately about the scope of measurement setup, consent management and data validation. For the technical details, see our conversion tracking guide. Instead of a sales guarantee, focus on which data will support which decision.
8. How will support and training work?
The support period, contact channel and expected response time should be clear. Find out whether bug fixes, content updates and new feature requests fall under the same scope.
Define which tasks your team will be able to do after the training, such as adding products, changing prices and managing orders. Short user notes or a recorded training session can reduce dependence on one person's knowledge.
9. What is the total cost for the first year?
Look at the platform, apps, maintenance and chosen marketing services alongside the setup fee. Assess payment and other order-dependent costs separately. When reviewing our service sets, you can enter the delivery scope of each component into the same table.
Make the decision with a concrete comparison
Collect each agency's answers to the nine questions on a single page. Clarify vague answers in a second meeting using a sample product and order flow. Along with budget, make clarity of scope, communication and how well the store can be run after handover part of the decision.