Five questions
- How many orders a month, and how has that trended?
- What is your contribution margin after all variable costs?
- Where do orders come from — which channels, in what proportion?
- What does support get asked most often?
- What does delivery actually cost you per order?
The second question is the one most owners cannot answer immediately, and it is the one that determines whether any proposed spend can pay for itself.
What the answers reveal
| Answer pattern | What it suggests |
|---|---|
| Orders flat, traffic up | A conversion problem |
| Orders flat, traffic flat | A distribution problem |
| Thin margin after returns | A product or listing problem |
| Support dominated by one question | A content gap with a known fix |
| Delivery costing more than expected | A pricing or packaging problem |
Then two more
- What have you already tried, and what happened?
- What would success look like in six months, as a number?
The first prevents us proposing something that has already failed. The second makes the engagement measurable rather than open-ended.
Why we do not start with the website
Store owners usually expect the conversation to begin with the site. It rarely should, because the site is frequently not the constraint.
A store with a conversion problem and a store with a traffic problem need entirely different work, and the numbers tell you which you have before anyone looks at a page.
Bring the numbers
Even rough figures are enough to have the right conversation. Orders per month, average order value, cost of goods and delivery cost gets us most of the way.
If you do not have them, working them out is the first piece of work and it is worth doing whoever you engage.