Navigating Best Practices for eCommerce Site Migration

The worldwide web provides access to an enormous pool of potential customers. Nothing stays the same forever and products, marketplaces, and customer needs are in a constant state of flux.

‍

To continue to grow and scale your company, successful eCommerce site migration is essential. Whether you decide to migrate to a new platform or are forced to by the changing factors in your business, migration will happen periodically. Navigating the process properly can be quite a challenge. 

‍

Successfully moving your eCommerce site to a new platform is complex and involves several essential processes. 

1. Preparation - Like any other major business move, planning, and preparation are the first steps. Clarify why you are moving to a new platform and what goals you hope to achieve. Identify the resources you will require to complete the move. Set a timetable and anticipate any potential problems or roadblocks and how to deal with them.
2. Exporting and importing data - Your data is a valuable company asset and must be exported from your current platform and imported to the new one. Another important step is to clean and organize your data before moving it to the new platform. You will need quality tools to perform these steps successfully.
3. Update your SEO strategy - SEO is a driving force in eCommerce and you need to update your SEO strategy. This includes meta titles, URLs, descriptions, and your site map.
4. Update your design - eCommerce site migration is about a fresh look. You will want to update the design of your website to draw new customers and keep your current ones coming back.
5. Integrating apps - You will need to integrate any apps your site uses into the new platform. You may need to utilize new APIs or update the code.

The massive task of moving to a new platform can seem overwhelming but help is available. We, at elk Marketing, have a core team of 20 experts in every aspect of eCommerce migration services. Since 2016, we have helped many companies implement Growth SEO to boost sales and allow the successful scaling of the brand.

‍

elk Marketing can aid you in knowing when and how to migrate your eCommerce site to a new platform. Our experts can advise you on the choice of a new platform, as well as guide you through the process from start to finish.

Understanding eCommerce Site Migration

At its most simple, ecommerce site migration is moving your online store from one platform to another. You first choose a platform such as a cloud, SaaS, on-premise, headless, or monolithic. Once you’ve decided, you move everything from your old to the new platform. This includes customer information, order histories, product data, images, blog posts, and SEO elements. As you can see, it’s a process with many steps and it does take some time to complete.

‍

There are several reasons why a company will decide to migrate:

• Platform limitations - Your current platform may lack certain features that hold back your growth or negatively impact your business. These could be security features, multiple shipping options, customizable user interfaces, or special offers and discount management.
• Poor internet performance - You want your customers to have a smooth, fast experience navigating your site. Product pages that take too long to load, checkouts that are sluggish, and frequent periods of downtime cost you sales and money. This is a very common reason to migrate to a new platform. ‍
• Lack of Scalability - Naturally, you want to continue to grow your business. If your current platform crashes when too many users visit your site, cannot support the growing offering of products, or limits your inventory, you should consider eCommerce migration.

Any of these are cause for concern and good reasons to move to a new platform. Like anything else, successful eCommerce platform migrations have benefits and risks. You need to consider these carefully.

Benefits of eCommerce Migration

There are several upsides to migration:

• Better security features - Hackers are out there and security is essential to eCommerce. Migrating to a new platform can offer more advanced security features that protect your precious data, ensure legal compliance, and even train your employees in online security protocol. Some platforms can guard against distributed denial of service attacks.
• Improved user experience - You want your customers to have an enjoyable experience. This means easy navigation of your site, being able to find the products they seek, and simple methods of checking out, payment, and choosing shipping. A smooth transition to a new platform can improve the process of visiting your site, making your current customers happy and attracting new ones. ‍
• Better speed and performance - In today’s internet-centric marketplace, things move fast and people lose patience quickly. A new platform can use code that is streamlined and improves the overall performance of your site as well as the speed at which pages load. SEO can benefit as blog posts load faster and can include media such as images and videos.‍
• Greater flexibility and scalability - Your eCommerce site needs to be both flexible and scalable to handle what you hope will be a significantly larger amount of visitors as time goes on. A newer platform with updated software and features allows you to adapt and scale your platform to meet the needs of a growing customer base. ‍
• More cost-effective - Profits grow when expenses go down. Moving to a new platform can be expensive initially, but over time, the improved features can prove to be more cost-effective, saving you money, and improving the bottom line.

Risks of eCommerce Migration

eCommerce site migration is not without its potential cons. You must take these into account along with the benefits when deciding whether to migrate.

• Potential loss of data - Your data is one of your company’s most valuable assets. Migrating to a new platform could result in the loss of some of that precious information. Back up everything and have a recovery plan in place.
• Issues with compatibility - Failures in the operation of the new platform due to compatibility problems are common. Conduct a careful and thorough audit before migration begins.‍
• SEO problems - You work hard on best SEO practices to climb to the top of search engine results lists. After migration, you may experience a drop in results. This is usually temporary and you can resolve the problem but you need to be aware of it.‍
• Running over budget - There is usually a significant initial expense in eCommerce migration. If you don’t budget carefully, you may experience overruns that can be problematic.‍
• Downtime during the process - While the process of migration goes on, you may experience a period of downtime during which you are losing potential sales and revenue. Careful planning and attention to detail can minimize or eliminate downtime.

Cons are as important to consider as pros when deciding whether or not to migrate to a new platform. 

Pre-Migration Planning

We cannot stress enough how important it is to thoroughly plan your migration before beginning the process. Careful planning will help to reduce the risk of any of the potential pitfalls and increase the efficiency and success of the migration. There are three key steps to follow:

1. Thorough site audit - A complete and detailed audit of your current website and platform is the vital first step to migration. Examine your content and the user experience. Look at customer reviews and have employees try out your site firsthand. Test the speed and performance and measure load times for pages and media. Audit your platform and integration technologies and look at how your site performs in searches. Take a careful inventory of your content to ensure everything gets moved to the new platform. The results of the audit will be invaluable in determining the potential gains of migrating and in choosing a new platform.
2. Choose the right new platform - Every business is different and they have varying needs. After conducting your audit, use those findings as you search for a new platform. Make a list of your needs for operating your online business. Consider your goals for the future and anticipated growth. Many platforms include tools that boost security, ease of user experience, and SEO optimization. 
3. Set clear goals and KPIs - To measure the success of your migration upon completion, you need to set clear and specific goals and decide what your key performance indicators will be. This will eliminate confusion and ensure that your success measurement is accurate.

A successful migration begins with careful and detailed planning.

Best Practices for a Smooth Migration

There are best practices you should follow to ensure a smooth and successful eCommerce site migration. Failure to follow this can lead to major problems, time delays, and a significant loss of revenue: 

• Be very cautious and ensure the preservation of your SEO. It is, after all, the best way to draw in new customers. This includes content, as well as metadata and your URL structure. Make sure to properly redirect URLs to your new platform. This step alone can make or break a migration.
• All of your data – product, customer, and history – are vital assets. It is an absolute must to protect its integrity and ensure that it migrates to your new platform completely intact. Any loss or corruption of data can be extremely costly.
• Before going live with your new site on your new platform, set up a staged environment and perform extensive testing on every operational aspect of the site. The time to catch mistakes is now, not after you’ve gone live and errors can cost you customers and revenue.

Here are some case studies that illustrate how effective elk Marketing’s strategies are:

• Sands Investment Group - A nationally recognized commercial real estate firm that specializes in triple net investment properties, SIG experienced massive growth with our help. Significantly faster and more efficient site performance set the stage for some impressive numbers. Organic search traffic increased by 127%, and page one keyword ranks shot up by a whopping 800%. SIG continues to grow with our guidance.
• Melton Tackle - One of the most respected and fast-growing big game fishing tackle companies in the industry, Melton’s growth exploded with our guidance. An in-depth audit and thorough analysis of the competition provided the data to create an aggressive plan to optimize targeted keywords and create compelling ad copy. We carefully monitored progress and the results were beyond impressive. Melton has experienced a 127% increase in revenue from paid media YoY, as well as $3 million in revenue generated by paid ads in 2022. Needless to say, they are happy customers.‍
• La Marguerite & Co. - This gourmet dessert company specializes in Pareve Kosher French pastries and macarons using high-quality ingredients. In early 2021, La Marguerite enlisted the help of elk Marketing to promote the business through paid marketing. After an extensive audit, we were able to create a plan tailored specifically to La Marguerite’s unique situation and goals. The results have been astounding. In 12 months, the company experienced an amazing increase in revenue from paid media of 690% with conversions from paid media going up by 194%. La Marguerite is thrilled to have partnered with us.

Putting together a migration task force with a capable project manager at the helm is the key to following these best practices for a smooth and successful migration.

Post-Migration Strategies

The work is not finished after completing the migration. In many ways, it’s just beginning. There are steps you need to take to ensure a smooth post-migration transition:

1. Monitor performance on the new website - You may have carefully followed best practices before and during migration but don’t assume that everything turned out as planned. Make sure you carefully monitor your new website. Check that it is performing up to expectations and that the updated and new functionalities are working the way they are supposed to.
2. Engage users with updates - You put a ton of effort and a fair amount of money into your eCommerce site migration. Make sure your users are aware of the updated features and improved performance. Do a bit of bragging and they will keep coming back and perhaps spread the word to potential new customers. Remember, growth is essential to any business.
3. Implement post-launch strategies - Once the launch is complete, and your new site is online, it’s time to implement your carefully crafted strategies. Launch your new marketing campaigns and start integrating those updated SEO strategies to pull in new visitors to your site who may become loyal customers. 

Migration is a lengthy and involved process. Make sure you finish that job so your expense of time and capital doesn’t go to waste. 

How elk Marketing Can Help

eCommerce site migration is not an easy process and you may find it intimidating. Don’t let that hold you back from changing platforms and improving the online experience for you and your customers. We can help. At elk Marketing, we have the expertise, experience, personnel, and tools to guide you through the difficult process. We offer:

• A dedicated strategist to provide consultation and guidance in planning and development of new ebusiness strategies.
• When it’s time for the migration of data and the integration of new systems, we have technical support staff to see that it goes off without a hitch. You’ll have peace of mind knowing that our experts have your back.
• After the migration is finished, our top-notch SEO and digital marketing services will make sure you keep your entire customer base. Our Growth SEO method has helped many businesses, both consumer and b2b increase their customer base, sales, and revenues. Our experts have more than 120 years of combined experience in SEO optimization and they know exactly how to implement the tactics to grow your business beyond your expectations. 
• We don’t leave you hanging once the migration process is finished. We provide ongoing support and optimization services. Our expertise is always available to continue to improve every aspect of your digital marketing. If you decide to migrate again down the road, we’ll guide you once again. 

When it comes to digital marketing and SEO solutions, nobody does it better than we do.

Conclusion

At some point during the lifetime of your online business, you will choose to or have to migrate to a new eCommerce platform. It’s a complex process and there are potential costly problems if you fail to follow best practices from the planning stages to post-migration.

‍

It’s challenging and requires experience and knowledge of eCommerce site migration best practices. Look no further than elk Marketing for the guidance and support you need to successfully change platforms. You will retain valuable data, content, and your search engine position throughout the migration without costly downtime.

‍

After launch, we will implement our Growth SEO method to add new customers to your existing ones. With continued support and guidance, you will experience post-migration growth and success.

‍

If you are considering migrating your eCommerce site contact elk Marketing at our website We will set up a consultation and tell you more about our excellent services. We don’t do long-term contracts and offer a 90-day guarantee. We will guide you through your migration faster, better, and less expensively than if you try to do it yourself.

‍

Team up with us and enjoy the growth and success our clients have experienced.

‍