What is an eCommerce agency?
An eCommerce marketing agency is a B2B business that helps eCommerce companies meet their business goals. It's an external team that can help you start, manage, and grow your business without having to hire an in-house team. It can do anything from digital marketing to custom design to website and mobile app development.
Ecommerce agencies usually offer a variety of digital marketing services including - search engine optimization (SEO), conversion rate optimization, user experience optimization, and digital marketing strategy.
What does an eCommerce agency do?
There are a number of services that a typical eCommerce agency offers. Here are the main ones.
Ecommerce marketing
An eCommerce agency usually offers a wide range of digital marketing services including - conversion optimization, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, search marketing, social advertising, display advertising, content strategy, influencer marketing, and PPC management.
The goal is to help establish and grow the online presence of an eCommerce business and then manage digital experiences across the many marketing channels that are used.
Web development & graphic design
Most full-service eCommerce agencies do marketing but some do other things like web and mobile development. You'd think that a brand could just open a store on Shopify or Shopify Plus and call it a day but there's usually a lot of custom development that goes into it, especially for medium-large operations.
An eCommerce design agency would have an entire team of designers and web developers that could support both the creation of the online store and any modifications that come along with it.
Depending on the eCommerce platform you're using, you should look for an agency that is a BigCommerce Partner or a Shopify Plus partner to get the highest quality development services. At the same time, keep an open mind because some Shopify agencies don't have these qualifications but they still do good work.
Operations & fulfillment
The third type of eCommerce agency is one that helps with the operations side of the business. It can help the eCommerce store expand to new marketplaces and integrate new marketing and fulfillment tools. It can also offer third-party fulfillment or shipping and negotiate directly with vendors on your behalf.
With the wide range of services available, how do you find the best agency to work with?
What's the advantage of working with an eCommerce agency?
There are several advantages of outsourcing your eCommerce marketing & development. Here are the main ones you should consider.
Specific expertise
Let's say you expand to a new marketing channel or want to optimize your existing campaigns and you just don't have the expertise on the team. Your full-time staff is busy and you don't have the resources to hire another in-house employee. You want to validate the channel before investing 3-6 months into it. This is a great reason to get an eCommerce agency to take a look at it. They could give you a consultation and say what they could do based on their experience.
More flexibility
That leads us to advantage number 2 - the flexibility that comes with working agencies. There is usually no contract, it's month to month, and you can test a new channel or see if the agency's marketing efforts are working within a month or two. Want to hire an in-house specialist later on? Or work with another e-commerce agency? No problem, you can switch any time.
Faster growth
More expertise, faster iteration, and increased flexibility all lead to faster growth. Ecommerce businesses have a lot of different things to juggle and the faster they experience a win on any one marketing channel the greater their chances of surviving the tough competition in the space. Working with a digital agency is often the best way to achieve those wins.
Looking for growth? Check out our list of Facebook Ads agencies, Google Ads agencies, and TikTok agencies.
Why hire an eCommerce agency?
There are a few reasons you should hire an eCommerce agency. First, is if you don't have the resources or experience to manage a specific channel. That's when you would need to hire an agency that has an experienced team and proven results.
You might also be looking for specific experience in a particular channel or digital strategy. For example, you might want to hire a digital marketing expert to help improve your email marketing campaigns or develop a better SEO strategy for your business.
How much does an eCommerce agency charge?
A typical eCommerce agency can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 per project. Ecommerce development agencies could charge more (up to $50,000) if they're working on an entire re-design of an eCommerce website.
What should I look for in an eCommerce agency?
Here are the top things you should look for to find a good eCommerce agency:
- They want to understand your brand
- They have a growth mindset, they want to blow past your business goals
- They have proven experience + results working with similar brands in your niche
- They have extensive experience managing similar projects for eCommerce brands
- Their customer service is on point, they go above and beyond to answer all your questions and continue to be available and responsive
- They have the right processes and tools to keep your work on track
- They have full transparency about who is working on your account and what is being done
- They have experience running advertising campaigns for similar brands
Should I hire an eCommerce agency?
It depends on the stage of your business and your own internal resources. The first thing you should do is to get a consultation with an eCommerce expert and get an idea of the areas you need to improve on, where you are doing well, and the type of expertise that you are missing on the team.
Once you know where your biggest opportunities are then you should hire an eCommerce agency to develop those channels.
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