Questions to Ask a Website Developer For a New Parts and Accessories Site
Do you know the right questions to ask when getting a website built? If you’re getting your first website built, or you’re switching from one platform to another, most people are in the dark about what to ask. You don’t want to know how to build a website to sell auto parts and accessories, you want to know what questions to ask when designing a website.
Here we’ll try to give you some clarity and ideas on questions to ask a website developer. Don’t fret, a lot of people getting a new parts and accessories site usually don’t know what to ask.
For this article, let’s assume that: 1). You already decided what web platform you’re going to use; and 2). Your website will be used for eCommerce.
But, if you need help deciding which web platform to use, we have some other articles to help. First, here’s a link if you need help picking an eCommerce solution for parts and accessories. And here’s a link if you’re trying to decide between using Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce or Magento/Adobe.
Questions to ask when designing a website for auto parts
Let’s start with the big question. Does your web developer have experience with parts and accessories websites?
It’s not absolutely mandatory but be careful here. A web developer should have some knowledge of auto parts and accessories to build out a proper navigation taxonomy following best practice. The developer should also have some knowledge of fitment and experience working with ACES product fitment data.
We’ve seen websites built without this knowledge or experience, too late in the process, and the website doesn’t work well for parts shoppers.
Web design interview questions specifically for parts and accessories sites
Here are a few questions to ask just to get you started.
- Do you specialize in auto parts eCommerce, or do you primarily serve many industries? Can you share examples of your past work?
- How will my customers verify fitment for an auto part to select the correct product on the website?
- How will vehicle selection or filtering work on the new website? (This question can cover year/make/model, or engine, or drivetrain, or bed length, and so on, depending on your product line.)
- How does site keyword search work? What about filtering for search results? How is it maintained and managed (does the developer manage keywords, do you the client manage them, or is it managed automatically)? Is there an additional charge for any third party search platforms or plugins?
- How is data for automotive parts and accessories added to the website?
- How will fitment for products be maintained and what is the source for that data? Is it compatible with ACES?
- How many clicks does it take to get to a product page from the home page? (Note: the fewer clicks, the better.)
- How many clicks does it take to check out and complete an order? Does the platform have one-page checkout?
Questions to ask a website designer about “look and feel”
“Look and feel” is important. You want a site that looks contemporary, follows best practices, won’t look outdated in two years, and can be easily updated. Here are important questions on design:
- First and foremost: What will it look like on a mobile device? (At least 75% of your site visitors will be on mobile.)
- How much control will I have over the auto parts website’s “look and feel” and branding?
- How easily can the auto parts website design be updated? Can I update it or do I have to pay to have it updated?
- Am I buying an auto parts eCommerce template, a completely customized solution, or something in between?
- If this is an auto parts eCommerce template, how much customization is available? How many other sites will it look like?
How much does it cost to build an eCommerce site?
Cost is an important topic! A website can easily run $25,000 to $75,000. A high-end Adobe Commerce website (the rebranded Magento platform) or BigCommerce site can run over $150,000. Here you go:
- What is the complete cost to build a website? Is this a firm bid, or is there potential for overages and what is considered an overage?
- What technical support for the website is included? Is there an additional charge for technical support?
- Am I paying a one-time charge for development, and is the site hosted on another platform and what are the recurring monthly costs?
- Are there any charges for plugins required for functionality or security, and are those one-time charges or recurring?
- Do I have to pay a percentage of revenue?
- How reliable is your hosting platform and what is your uptime? (Related to cost if you are down and not generating revenue.)
- How long does it take to respond to technical support issues? How is the technical support team reached? What time zone are they in? (Related to cost if you’re paying for technical support and specifically what kind of technical support.)
Questions on website content
“Content” includes product descriptions, photos, prices, illustrations and graphics, downloadable PDF files, basically anything that you can see that makes up a page. Here are questions related to content.
- What brands of auto parts do you work with, and am I limited to those brands or are there options for custom data? Can I create/upload my own private label product data? What about creating product kitting and combos?
- How are product prices managed? Are there automated pricing rules for parts, or do parts prices need to be uploaded?
Site speed and SEO compatibility
- How fast does the mobile version of your sites typically load and how do your sites score for Core Web Vitals? (Fast websites tend to rank better.)
- Will my website use a content delivery network (CDN) or use full site delivery (FSD) to speed up load times?
- Is a blog included or integrated with your eCommerce platform? Is it on the regular domain in a subdirectory (recommended!) or is it on a subdomain (not recommended!). For an example, our blog is in a subdirectory at https://hedgescompany.com/blog/ and not on a subdomain like this: blog.hedgescompany.com.
- How will page titles, meta descriptions and page headlines be created? If I change a product description does it automatically change the page URL? (Note: automatically changing the URL is not good and will give you a lot of 404 “not found” page errors down the road.)
- If there is a product on the site that has options available, does a product page have a final URL that changes with each option? (It should to work well for Google Shopping!)
Other web design interview questions
Here’s a round up of questions to ask about site security, checkout, integration into your business and the shopping cart:
- What are my options to integrate my website with my parts inventory levels?
- Can you integrate my website or its product data with my eBay or Amazon parts business?
- Do you manage Amazon or eBay Motors listings or do you also facilitate order processing?
- Can my new website connect directly with aftermarket drop shipper warehouses?
- How is customer credit card information managed and is the website compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS, usually just called “PCI-compliant”)?
- What payment gateways do you support?
- How are fraud orders prevented and managed? Is fraud detection included in the price?
- How is website security maintained? How do you specifically maintain customer data security? Have any of your websites been hacked?
Summary
We hope this list of questions helps. If it leaves you confused, or if it creates new questions you may have thought of and want to talk through them, give us a call in the office, we’re happy to help out.
This article is copyrighted, but it’s polite to share! This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License and can be distributed or quoted, with attribution given to Hedges & Company, and a link back to this article from your website.
