HQ: Cedar Park, TX
Cart Consultant
An executive conversation with Jeremy Gryder
co-founder & CEO
As an eCommerce consultant, our purpose is to leverage our expertise to help our clients navigate the turbulent waters of eCommerce. Our clients tend to be extremely savvy and knowledgeable when it comes to their brick and mortar businesses, but relatively new to the online space. Cart Consultant does the eCommerce heavy lifting while empowering our clients to excel in the areas where they have are most skilled.
Cart Consultant assists eCommerce brands in their journey by pulling into focus the necessary tasks and technologies we need to leverage to launch, run, and grow their eCommerce initiatives. Then, Cart Consultant works in partnership with our eCommerce brands to decide how these tasks will be completed in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
Our focus is not just on building an e-commerce firm but also developing a company that answers all of the questions for any e-commerce entity. This means we are not only doing the integrations and design, but also managing the day-to-day for stores. This allows us to put our tools and training into practice for our clients so they can reach their goals for their stores.
The Design Approach
For designing a eCommerce website, we love the ‘Build’, ‘Run’, ‘Grow’ approach coined by the leading eCommerce platform BigCommerce.
In the ‘build’ stage, Cart Consultant asks questions and listen to our clients’ needs to create a fully-realized scope of work for the eCommerce initiative’s launch.
In the ‘run’ stage, Cart Consultant works to simplify administrative and logistics processes to maximize efficiency and administrative ease-of-use for the client.
In the ‘grow’ stage, Cart Consultant sets up marketing processes and funnels with the purpose of growing the eCommerce brand. Cart Consultant also recommends marketing applications, software, and partnerships to our clients that will benefit their brand.
Cart Consultant partners with its clients to map out their existing processes. Once you understand the current state at a granular level, you can then plan for a desired future state that solves for the pain points of the current state. By being extremely specific and transparent about exactly how new software will benefit your client, you can achieve buy-in from the stakeholders.
We break down complex technical projects into easy-to-understand, actionable tasks. Cart Consultant categorizes and prioritizes eCommerce tasks into these four categories:
Data layer: The raw data Cart Consultant plugs into the eCommerce database.
Presentation layer: How the data is displayed to customers and utilized.
Administration and logistics: The back-end processes related to managing the eCommerce business
Marketing: How the client will reach and convert their target customers
Among the most complex tasks in any of these categories is software integration via API. When visualizing and conceptualizing a software integration, consider the following:
- What data do I need to send from Software A to Software B
- What data do I need to send from Software B to Software A
- What are the triggers that cause the data to send:
> IF X happens, THEN I need Y to happen.
From there we create a visual map of the data flow between software that is easy to read, understand, and act on. Then, we build.
Delivering Customer Success
Cart Consultant has a rich history of taking on exceptionally complex and difficult projects. We have done projects ranging from Enterprise Payroll Software development for a $1 billion dollar per year construction company, to small $5,000 eCommerce design and development builds. Since our inception we have landed brands like YBell Fitness, Kettlebell Kings, and Callaway Junior.
Out of the many exciting works we carry out at Cart Consultant, the FFL app at checkout has been a real game-changer technology for us. When a customer buys a firearm online, they cannot simply ship it to their home (for good reason). The weapon must be shipped to the nearest location with a Federal Firearms License. We have created an intuitive app that adds-on to our clients’ checkout that automates and simplifies this process for customers, allowing them to easily search and find the nearest FFL location. This app also comes with a user interface for our clients to easily manage their products and the data that goes along with the FFL.
Cart Consultant only builds with and uses technology that integrates well and plays nicely with others. We will not work with software that does not have a public API unless forced to, i.e. the client is tied to a custom-built ERP.
Working with easily integratable software allows for scalability, growth and change without breaking the client’s bank. We are always looking for new software and technologies that can benefit our clients. When we learn about them, our clients learn about them and are able to make an informed decision for themselves.
If there is an existing app that is well reviewed and established on a marketplace—for example, a WordPress plugin, or an app on the BigCommerce, or Shopify marketplaces, we will opt to implement that application over custom developing one of our own. Cart Consultant is always looking out for the bottom-line of its clients.
We also do help our clients with optimization services resulting in higher conversion rates for them. Heatmap software such as Lucky Orange and Hot Jar and Crazy Egg are wonderful tools for making informed, data-based decisions to improve the conversion of our clients’ websites. We love implementing and reviewing heatmap software to make conversion rate optimization decisions. With conversion rate optimization, there will be obvious, ‘quick-win’ situations where we can clearly see when something goes against best practices and needs to be adjusted, but when those are exhausted, it’s important to dig into the data.
Towards Happy Clients: The TCO Commitment
Money cures all ails. Our clients make money, plain and simple. We build long-lasting relationships by making our clients money. There is no secret sauce or hidden magic to what we do. When a client calls, we answer. When a client emails, we email them back.
Total Cost of Ownership is a massive factor in how we build long lasting, happy relationships with our clients. When we engage in business with our clients, we let them know how much their project is going to cost TOTAL. Not sixty thousand now, then we get into the project and it’s forty more. We leverage our experience to identify these ‘curveballs’ outright. Even when an additional project cost is truly unforeseen, it can be perceived as incompetence, or worse, underhandedness by the developer from the perspective of the client.
When we put together proposals for our clients, we have the long-term health of their business in mind and include all three stages of the eCommerce life-cycle: ‘build, run, and grow’, into our quotes. By offering up this total cost of ownership at the onstart of a project, we are looking out for our clients’ growth by reducing risk and avoiding those ‘gotcha’ moments, paving the way for significant growth and prosperity.
The term in-house mentality is an accurate and great way of describing what we do here at Cart Consultant. We want our clients to feel like we are an extension of their board of advisors. Working hand-in-hand with them to build their businesses and see their visions come to fruition. If an existing application or software does not suit a clients’ needs, we will build one from scratch to solve the problem. If another partner of a client is not doing the job right, or our clients’ need advice in scoping out a new technology, we will sit in the demos with them. We are always looking to go the extra mile for our relationships.
We have a deep knowledge of the platforms and technologies we work with and our world-class customer support. We offer a total cost of ownership to our clients so they know exactly what they’re paying for, and we hit tight deadlines in order to accomplish our clients’ eCommerce visions exactly the way they want them. We respond to all customer service inquiries within 24 hours and take a problem-solving, solutions-based approach. We believe in having no wasted communication. Every client communication should push us closer to our goals.
The Genesis
The Cart Consultant journey started twelve years ago when I went to work for Josh Crawford at Musketball Group and worked my way up to Vice President of creative for his company. This sparked a friendship that has lasted ever since. Josh is a wizard when it comes to coding and business. I have the utmost respect for him and all that he has done with his life.
In 2012, I left Musketball Group to start my own design firm called Crude Design. I also went to work at BigCommerce where I would spend the next seven and a half years. Three years ago, Josh and I started talking about creating our own company that was focused on beautiful eCommerce design, app creation, and software Integration. In October 2019, our vision became a reality and we have been extremely busy creating the most well-rounded design firm partner at Bigcommerce. We decided to focus on Bigcommerce because of my history as well as the flexibility of the platform.
At Cart Consultant, we adhere to a simple management style. We believe that a good culture creates great production. Our team is not only skilled at what they do, but enjoys the day to day interaction with one another. Each individual takes pride and ownership of their work. We believe you should wake up every morning excited to get to work. As the saying goes “those with a lot of drive do not need to be driven.”
