eCommerce Know-How

eCommerce Know-How Know-Letter Newsletters

Closer Look

April 20, 2010

The Devil is in the Details

We've heard of a lot of "gotchas" after the contract's been signed and implementation road bumps that delay launch. "That wasn't what I wanted!" retailers too often say.

The cause could be poor implementation or poor communication (or a little of both). You say "I want reviews" and the provider says "No problem". But what you wanted was to capture email addresses to respond to customers posting negative reviews. Turns out the provider's solution can't enable that. Oops.

In another example, the retailer defines promotions as a requirement:

 Table #1


But simply asking if a provider's solution can handle promotions isn't enough. Dig a little deeper:

 Table #2


That's an improvement, but there is yet more granularity required. See the table below for more detail for just ONE of the options above - Item Promotions.

Also notice that rating the need and stating a timeframe for each sub-feature is better than a "Yes or No". This is particularly important because, as the selection process gets further along, there are trade-offs that need to be made. This helps the retailer define what is critical with respect to features and timing.

 That's an improvement, but there is yet more granularity required. See the table below for more detail for just ONE of the options above - Item Promotions.


And so far, we've only been considering features. You need to have the same specificity around support, service levels, integrations, hosting, other capabilities, company cultural needs and fees, etc.

It can seem overwhelming and a little like "overkill". And, yes, it definitely takes a lot of time and effort to think through all of this, prioritize requirements and properly vet the solutions. But, better now than after you can't turn back.


Bottom Line: Take the time (half the evaluation time!) to spell out everything ahead of time.  Otherwise, somewhere down the road, the devil most certainly will be in the details.




HOTPOLL

What do you use as your primary web browser?








EssentialKnowHow