Technology is the great equalizer. Large or small companies are directly impacted by their competitors introducing innovative technology and digital conveniences that lure customers away. It’s time to flip this fear on its head and become the disruptor.
This starts with ensuring a secure and efficient site. Being able to take charge and understand all facets of how your current eCommerce technology is performing and fixing issues before they become problematic is important to ensure future success. And while technology alone is never the whole solution to running a successful eCommerce business, it is the engine you’ve built your business on. Like any engine, rushed design and improper maintenance often lead to poor performance. An annual assessment allows a review of the tool, providing a detailed report of what is happening and the tune-ups recommended in order to improve eCommerce technology performance.
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Reviewing Your eCommerce Platform
Having an impartial, in-depth review of your eCommerce platform and website helps improve performance and future allocation of time and resources. It can also help you better understand if your technology is meeting current and future needs. These are the four critical areas that should be reviewed when assessing your current eCommerce platform to help you make more informed decisions and improve performance.
1. Site Security
A breach in site security can be devastating for brand loyalty. An overall review of site security can prevent potential hacking and stolen customer data that will wreak havoc on company growth. During this audit, a review of security patch application and examination of common vulnerabilities should take place. Analyze payment configurations, user accounts, admin panels, and the database at this time. It is also important to review your integration approach and audit code for potential hazards, including virus and malware detection before they become problematic.
The average cost of a data breach in retail in 2021 is $3.27 million. The retail industry ranks 15th on the list of most costly {industry} data breaches.
2. Site Performance
Next to site security, speed is key to improving eCommerce technology performance. More important than ever to conversion rates and search engine rankings, having an annual assessment that provides actionable items to improve your front end is critical. A review should include a report of the server response time of each page, cookie usage, DOM element size, 404 pages, and HTTP requests. Being given the insight to improve site design, optimize scripts, optimize image size, and reduce HTTP requests are also important factors.
3. Overall Site Health Audit
Taking the entire database, theme, extensions, and file systems into account is a great preventative measure to catch anything troubling before it makes an impact on your business. Do a thorough review of your robots.txt and .htacess file for indexing or 301 redirect issues that are hindering site health.
4. Complete Code Audit
A comprehensive analysis of both front-end and back-end code annually helps improve overall site performance and customer experience. A code audit should allow you to identify bottlenecks related to code, give recommendations to site improvements and optimizations, guidance on following platform-specific best practices, and actionable insights on further managed services support.
Improve eCommerce Technology Performance
Take a proactive problem-solving approach and start improving your eCommerce technology performance today. Impartial code and performance audits will find bugs and vulnerabilities before they become a problem. We know technology alone won’t solve all business challenges, but we make sure its use puts our clients at an advantage over their competitors.
Echidna’s eCommerce technology assessment provides an in-depth review of your entire eCommerce ecosystem. Our senior developers will provide actionable tasks to improve your system’s health and website’s performance. Contact the team at Echidna to learn more about our eCommerce Technology Assessment service and improve eCommerce technology performance this year.
