Hitting the nail on the head

Posted by SolidShops on December 10, 2011 at 09:40 AM

When doing support for SolidShops, we often receive interesting feedback from our users. Today, I had the chance to have a short conversation via email with the very friendly Jessa B who was looking for a solution to power her fabrics store. When I asked her about what she didn’t like about her current e-commerce solution (we won’t name names), she sent us the following feedback:

It’s such a heavy piece of software that upgrades and simple customizations become big nightmares that have to be outsourced even though I have a pretty good handle on CSS and HTML. It’s also not as speedy and responsive as I’d like it to be — particularly in the backend/admin side. And because I’m on the Community version, some basic functions — like good control on shipping costs, use of gift certificates and a search function that actually works to help customers find products — seem to be lacking without paying for 3rd party extensions that may or may not ‘break’ or be compatible with my already existing site. — Jessa B

The feeling I had after reading that mail was: wow, she really hits the nail on the head. I’ll never claim that SolidShops is the perfect solution for every single business in the world, far from it, but this email exactly describes why we started building SolidShops in the first place. We think that most e-commerce software is too complex and limitative, especially for web designers.

The takeaway point here is to always ask your clients what they don’t like about their current solution. Ask why they prefer your solution instead of going with a much more well-known application. You probably think you know why clients prefer your software – you’ve built it after all – but until a client tells you the exact reason why, you’re just guessing and hoping you’re right.

This time, Jessa hit the nail on the head and confirmed our beliefs but sometimes user feedback will give you insights into the strenghts of your application that you might not even have thought about. Your clients won’t lie, don’t be a fool by not listening to them. If you know what frustrates them, you can focus on creating a real solution for them.

Thanks for sharing your opinion with us, Jessa.