The fashion industry is one of the most competitive industries on the internet. This means that you need to find the best fashion web design agency that understands your needs and knows how to create an online presence for your business. In this blog post, we will discuss how you can choose the best company for your website’s new design.
Understand Your Fashion Web Design Goals
Before reaching out to a fashion web design agency to get your website built, you first need to understand what your company’s goals are for the new site. Understanding your goals will help you in your research make decisions about which company is able to offer services that match those goals. If a fashion web design agency focuses on SEO more than they do design, but you already have an SEO expert in-house, then this company wouldn’t be a good fit.
Take a day with your team to understand what you are looking for in a new website. Set three different sections for short, medium, and long-term goals with the site. Brainstorm elements of a website that you feel are necessary to the growth of the company. Ask yourself if your business is in an awareness phase and if the design of the site is the top priority. A negative website experience can cause 62% of customers to be less likely to make a purchase from your site.
From headers, CTAs, and navigation to page load speeds and mobile-friendliness your customer experience directly influences your revenue. You should consider asking your fashion web design agency how they plan to make a great first impression for your customers as 75% of people base the credibility of a business on their website.
Analyze Their Fashion Portfolio
After getting your goals together, take a look at all the possible best fashion web design agencies that exist. You will use your goals to narrow your search but otherwise, keep an open mind to who you might work with. This is especially important for transitioning to a new design agency because you don’t want to make the same mistakes twice.
Having a large list will make it easier to eliminate choices when you want to pick the right one. Make sure you do your due diligence for each company that you are considering. Take a look at their website to see what services they list on the site and compare them to the goals you outlined. You will also be able to see how they work on their own site and if it’s a style you immediately connect with.
Use their portfolio to see if they have on-page design elements that make their sites stand out. See if any of their previous work is similar in style or function to what you are looking for and would help you reach your audience better. You can take a look at the sites they have worked on before to check if they have some of the features you may be looking for. Browse through their testimonials from their own site but also from around the web. The feedback you read might shed light on bad business practices that you wouldn’t be able to see from only looking on their site.
This should go without saying but check to see if they have any experience in the fashion industry. Have they already created websites for fashion brands and do they have anyone on the team that has been in the fashion industry? The more familiar they are with the industry the more likely they can appeal to your target audience.
Reach Out to Their Previous Fashion Clients
Once you’ve gathered a list of the best fashion web design agencies that you’d like to work with, it’s time to narrow down your selections. You’ve done most of your research in the section above but now it’s time to take it one step further. Reach out to the companies that left the testimonials you were researching.
Have a conversation with someone on their team to see if the fashion web design agency is really who they claim to be. Ask enough questions to get a full understanding and context on how the working relationship was facilitated. Start sending messages to all the companies that are on the top of your list and gauge their response time and customer service. Are they able to respond to you in a timeframe that matches your expectations? Do they treat you like you are someone special or are you just another customer of theirs?
Look into all the ways that you are able to reach out to them. See if they provide a phone number, and email contact, or if they have a website chat you can reach out to at any time. The more available they are, the less you have to worry about getting your questions answered or bugs fixed.
Ask the Right Web Design Questions
When you start having conversations with your fashion web design agencies, it’s important to ask the right questions that will solve any remaining doubts you may have.
You can ask any of the common questions below:
- Will my team be able to manage the site when it’s finished?
- What features do you have that are unique to the fashion industry?
- Will we have a point of contact on your team?
- Do I own the website and all the content on the website?
- Can we change hosting companies at a later time?
- What is the best checkout design (one-page vs. multi-page checkout)?
- What advice do you have for fashion websites?
You want to get an idea of what exactly the fashion web design agency will be in charge of, how their process works, and if they have any suggestions based on their previous experience. The best fashion web design agency should be able to provide some simple, but perhaps enlightening, tips on what makes a fashion website special and unique. For example, time is money in regards to the checkout process. Shopify’s ecommerce website has a compact checkout that is, on average, 60% faster than other checkouts.
Tips like this will prove they have experience in this industry and can help your site. Before signing a contract with any fashion web design agency, you want to eliminate any doubt and be crystal clear on expectations.
Choosing the Right Fashion Web Design Agency
By following the right steps when looking for the best fashion web design agency, you will save your business time, money, and energy. Take your time through each step and communicate as much as possible when talking with agencies. The time you invest before hiring a fashion web design agency will double its value when the process is all said and done.