– The order in which ecommerce brands should hire out services is important for success.
– The first hire should be a consultant or strategist who can define the company’s journey and processes.
– Data collection strategist, email specialist, and ads specialist should be hired next, followed by a customer journey advocate.The key action item is to follow the order of hiring outlined in the text: 1) Consultant or Strategist, 2) Data Collection Strategist, 3) Email Specialist, 4) Ads Specialist, and 5) CRO/Customer Journey Advocate.A lot of e-commerce brands are often confused about the order in which they should hire services. Here’s how not to get burned.
1. Consultant or Strategist: This person comes first. They define your company’s journey for the next steps and the processes needed to responsibly launch and scale a brand. They take into account unit economics, expenses, market size, and general market positioning. This person understands the different elements of running a business, both on the product and marketing side.
2. Data Collection Strategist: This person comes second. When you’re growing, launching something new, or expanding, data should always come first. Otherwise, you’ll spend a lot of money on advertising, emails, and other things that are pure guesswork. Ideally, this person can also fulfill the role of number 1 and leverage data collection to get you set up.
3. Email Specialist: This person comes third. In all honesty, this is a role that can be done internally in the beginning. There are enough templates available to handle the basics. I typically wouldn’t recommend hiring for this role until you have a large enough email list. However, you should have email in place before you start running ads. When you reach a larger scale, consider hiring for this role and vet potential candidates carefully, as not all agencies are the same in this area.
4. Ads Specialist: This person comes fourth. So, you have a strategy, you have data that tells you what people are looking for and why, and you have emails in place. Great, let’s go. Creative is nice to have, but a great reusable creative combined with a good data strategy will be the winning formula here. Creative alone is no longer enough. Make sure to thoroughly vet candidates who are data-backed and understand how to use ads for market research.
5. CRO – Customer Journey Advocate: This comes fifth. I think I’d like to call this role the Customer Journey Advocate instead. These are the people who visit your website with the goal of removing friction and creating a memorable purchase experience. A lot of CRO is about experimentation, but most of the time, it’s just a fancy way of saying creating an experience that converts more.
Other important roles, such as customer support and supply chain specialists, are not mentioned but are crucial as well.
Most founders and brands do not follow the framework above. It’s easy to focus on one thing or another, but understanding how all the different parts fit together is challenginghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jivanco