Our RFP/RFI guide has been put together to help select both Content Management Systems (CMS) and eCommerce platforms. The downloaded spreadsheet will give you a list of over 500 questions to ask to help identify the features you need to consider when choosing a platform. The questions also help identify the right vendor that aligns with your business.
For the Content Management platform selection, the questions ask how content is created, edited, and managed. A series of questions also ask what the process for managing content across various channels, including websites, applications, social media and email. Other topics that are covered include metadata management, version control, and best practices in content archiving. Finally, a series of questions help understand the use of WYSIWYG editors, spell checkers, and the ability how content can be reused across multiple brands.
There are also a series of questions that look at the administration of a CMS. These include how users can be granted access and assigned roles and permissions within the platform. You also also need to consider system features that enhance usability and prevent your data being lost, like autosave features, Version control and and delete confirmations.
With the eCommerce platform questions they explore the omnichannel capabilities of a platform, including how it integrates with social media platforms, connects to online marketplaces, and also physical point of sales systems. It highlights the importance of creating a seamless customer experience across all device channels.
More and more headless commerce is becoming an important consideration for platform projects The RFP has a series of questions looking at the need for well documented APIs and the ability to implement flexible front-end frameworks. With the headless commerce questions they explore how businesses can decouple the front-end presentation layer from the back-end functionality, allowinging developers to create solutions for non browser based systems like mobile phone and IOT applications.
With the headless nature of platforms we have seen the development of a new integration and connectivity layer. It's become essential to have a way to integrate with other business systems, like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Information Management (PIM), Order Management Systems (OMS), and various payment gateways. The questions here explore the flexibility of these integration systems. In what ways do they provide a low code interface to not only interface but also create complex integrations.
One of the areas of strong focus is on product information management, the questions outline the requirements for enterprise product catalogues that include elastic search functionality, and effective ways to merchandise products across both ecommerce and the CMS. The questions dig into features like product variations, bundled products, and allowing the ability to manage product visibility based on inventory levels. The questions also include the importance of user-generated content through a robust CMS and how to properly incorporate customer reviews and ratings.
When it comes to conversions and client journeys, questions now focus on the importance of A/B testing and SEO optimisation tools. In addition as companies seek to scale internationally, it becomes important to have features that support multiple languages and currencies for international markets.
The sales process questions focus on cart and checkout functionality, including the ability to support multiple payment methods, guest checkout, and abandoned cart recovery. The RFP also explores the post sales and organisational requirements for order management capabilities, covering order tracking, refunds, and customer service.
Shipping and fulfilment options can be as important as the way that your products are priced. The questions here include, flexible carrier integrations, ways to calculate shipping calculations, and how the platform supports international shipping.
Supporting the platform requires the right analytics and reporting capabilities. There are many stakeholders involved here including the marketing, sales performance team and technical issues that may occur on the platform. Questions here explore the capture and presentation of reporting and analytics for decision making.
Security aspects are becoming a critical part in the assessment of platforms. Questions here, focus on not only the technical aspects rather the processes and policies that govern how the platform is developed and deployed. In addition there is an understanding of privacy policies, data encryption, and disaster recovery plans.
This RFP/RPI will help you get a detailed understanding of the key considerations you need to consider when selecting a CMS or eCommerce platform that meets your specific project needs.