I'll be at Creative Works WEST in Seattle next weekend!
It's for designers & artists; they still have tickets. Join me? |
Some bozos are using AI to send scam emails as Aeolidia again. If a Gmail address claims to be me, don't let them access your Shopify site. Terrible! |
Hi Reader,
We hear from a lot of people who have been burned by agencies of all types: web design, ads, marketing, CRO, SEO. I have a few stories that have outraged me. I won't share the details, but here are the common threads:
- Finally hiring big-name agencies with an impressive roster of clients, and being overpromised and underdelivered
- Agency bro sales hype! Some agencies seem to be very good at sales and not so great at doing the work
- Having to step in and essentially design the site yourself, because the agency focuses on development
- Having a pretty site that doesn't perform, because it's more of a design team that hands off to a freelance developer
- AI tools doing the bulk of the creative design work
- Free work being done in the sales process, before getting to know the brand and review the stats - which can make you feel indebted and push you to sign a contract you're unsure of
- General "best practices" and being run through a conveyor belt, without attention paid to your unique business and customers
- Of course: projects going past schedule and over budget
- All this leads to blowing a budget on a project that doesn't pay off and then not having the funds for the next step. Or feeling understandably cautious about trying again
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I have been keeping these "agency trauma" stories to myself because it feels defensive to pop in and say that our competitors aren't doing a good job. I am a total "community over competition" and "rising tide lifts all boats" kind of person, so it doesn't feel right to be talking smack about other agencies.
And of course, there are many honest and reliable choices out there. In fact, we are part of several mastermind groups with dozens of other prominent ecommerce agencies, where we share the latest news and solutions for Shopify sites. So how do you tell the good eggs from the bad?
I hate the idea of you making a bad hire and having to go through this yourself. To save you from agency trauma, I suggest asking these questions before signing a contract:
Can you provide examples of other businesses of my size and in my niche that you've worked with? What results did they see?
You're asking this to find out if you'll be the smallest, least important project they're working on, or if you're bigger than they're capable of helping with.
Would you share a few references I could speak to?
You're asking this to make sure their case studies are backed by happy clients who enjoyed the experience and saw results from the work.
How much of my project will be handled by junior team members or offshore contractors? What is this team's experience with UX and conversion?
You're asking this to find out if your project will be given to someone who doesn't have the experience they're selling you on.
How do your designers and developers work together?
You're asking this to make sure developers and designers work together on features and functionality. This matters because designing something that is unnecessarily complex to code can cost you money. And having a developer make design choices without a designer at hand can be a mess.
Do you focus more on design or development? How do you include brand strategy and storytelling in your projects?
You're asking this to avoid working with a team that's great at one but not so good at the other. The technical aspects of CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) need a brand story to support them.
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I hope this helps as you take the next steps for your business.
If you're interested in hiring us to make your online shop more successful, we'd be glad to chat through these questions and more. Here's our rate sheet, so you can see how we can help.
If you need any services we don't offer, I make a point of finding service providers who are honest, reliable, and smart to partner with. Ask me about your next step, even if it doesn't seem like it's in our wheelhouse! I probably know someone.
P.S. In case you clicked through to the old site in my past newsletter, I messed up and posted the Paperfinger site before the owner had launched with our new design! I'll post it again once it's live.
