Slow website loading pages, a bounce rate that’s creeping up, and a website that’s janky and impossible to change, or even make basic changes to.
These are just a few of the things that can tip you off that your current eCommerce platform is holding you back.
That said, it’s also no secret that an eCommerce migration project can be very expensive, not to mention consumptive of time and resources. You’ll want to make sure that you put your money in the right place with respect to eCommerce migration services.
But the truth is that balking at the cost of migration, or at the complexity of a migration process, might be the wrong move. Sitting tight with your current platform might cost you more in the long run than the short-term, up front cost of a migration or eCommerce replatforming.
The Long-Run Cost to Your eCommerce Operations
While eCommerce migration services can be fairly expensive in the short term, keeping your online store on a platform that is limiting you can cost you more in the long run.
The worst thing that can happen with a platform that isn’t meeting your needs is that user experience may suffer if you can’t make adjustments to your website. If UX starts to flag, it will likely have an adverse effect on conversion rates.
A platform that is inflexible can also make it difficult for you to make basic changes to a website, which will make it impossible for you to scale, improve your website’s performance or optimization, or just boost the look and feel of a website.
If your website is constantly plagued by little bugs and other issues, keep in mind that these things can snowball and become much worse than they are. It is also a sign that you might be on a platform that is not serving your needs well. As the performance of the website, or its data security, erodes, so too will its SEO rankings – another cost of staying with a platform that isn’t performing.
Another sign that it’s time for a migration to a new platform or to a new platform and an entirely redesigned website, is if any of your other user engagement metrics are on the downslide. Ideally, you want high time on page, plenty of pages per session, and high conversions.
If these are dropping off, the problem might not be something that you can easily turn around with a migration, but they also might be. It could be a combination of a few things and the platform might just be one of them.
Also, whenever and wherever your platform limits you, that is a problem. If you find it impossible to make basic changes to a website without breaking something, or even to add new categories or products, it’s time to move to a more capable platform that’s more supportive and flexible.
Things That Can Go Wrong During an eCommerce Migration
With all of this being said in defense of an eCommerce migration, it’s also important to note that a lot of things can go wrong. Just a few of these are as follows:
- Loss of customer, order or product data
- Order history loss
- Changing URLs result in broken links
- Site structure changes tanking SEO performance
- Traffic falloff
- Excessive downtime resulting in lost orders
These are just a few of the high level issues that can occur with a migration project, and which make it all the more imperative to work with a qualified migration expert.
Seeking Suitable eCommerce Migration Services
The best way to hedge your bets against the risks of an eCommerce migration while ensuring that you’ll reap the benefits is to work with an eCommerce migration services provider, preferably with an agency that has executed hundreds if not more.
Look for one that has been around a while and get started – you’re only hurting yourself by staying on a platform that doesn’t support your operations.
