Ecommerce Project Onboarding

This is the brief we use to scope and plan your ecommerce build. Thirteen sections, around 65 questions, roughly 45–60 minutes if you take your time. Dot points are fine. Where a question doesn’t apply, just write “N/A” and move on. There are no wrong answers — even “I don’t know” is useful because it tells us what to dig into on the discovery call.

Upload fields: drag and drop logos, photos, brand guidelines, product catalogues, line sheets. Max 25 MB per file (50 MB for catalogues). Send your best — we’ll ask for more if we need it.

Once you’ve sent this back, we’ll review and book a discovery call before scoping.

Section 1 — About you and the business

The basics. Who you are, what you call the business, where you operate from.

1. Your full name and the role you hold in the business

2. Business name (exactly as you want it displayed across the site)

3. Trading address

4. Phone, email, and current website URL

5. ABN and any relevant licences, registrations or certifications

6. How long has the business been operating, and how did it start?

Section 2 — What you sell

A high-level view of your range. We dig into the catalogue itself further down.

7. In a paragraph: what do you sell, and to whom?

8. Your top 3–5 product categories

9. Your hero / signature / best-selling products

10. Anything you specifically DON'T sell?

Section 3 — Who buys from you

Your customers: who they are, how they find you, and what convinces them to buy.

11. Describe your typical customer

12. How do customers find you currently?

13. Top 3 questions or concerns customers ask before buying

14. What makes a customer buy from you over a competitor?

Section 4 — The competition

Who you're up against, and what they do well or badly. Honest answers help us position you sharply.

15. List 3–5 competitors you respect or run into often

16. Where do they do better than you?

17. Where are they weak, in your view?

18. Is there a competitor whose website / store you wish yours could match?

Section 5 — Voice and brand

How the site should sound. The closer to how you'd actually speak, the better.

19. How would you describe your brand voice?

20. Catchphrases or signature language to use

21. Words, jargon or buzzwords to AVOID

22. Tick the words that describe the tone you want

Confident

Friendly

Authoritative

Plain-spoken

Premium

No-nonsense

Warm

Playful

Editorial

Technical

Section 6 — Trust and social proof

Reviews, accreditations, press, partner brands. The credibility-building material.

23. Where are your existing reviews?

24. Any press, features or partnerships worth highlighting?

25. Returns policy and guarantees

Section 7 — Design and brand

How the store should look and feel.

26. Logo files

Upload files

27. Brand colours

28. Brand fonts

29. Brand guidelines or other brand assets

Upload files

30. Stores / sites whose design you like

31. Stores / sites whose design you DON'T like

32. Overall feel you want

Minimal & modern

Bold & confident

Warm & approachable

Premium & refined

Editorial & magazine-like

Rugged & industrial

Playful & energetic

Not sure — guide us

Section 8 — Product imagery and content

The photos and copy that make products feel desirable.

33. State of your product photography

Pro shots — consistent, on white, ready to go

Mostly pro but inconsistent

A mix of pro and phone shots

Mostly phone shots

Nothing yet — we need to shoot

34. Sample product photos

Upload files

35. Lifestyle / in-context shots

Upload files

36. Do you need product photography arranged?

Yes — full shoot needed

Top-up shoot for new lines / hero products

Maybe — let's discuss on the call

No — we have what we need

37. Do you want product video on the site?

Yes — we have video to use

Yes — but we need it created

Not now, maybe later

Section 9 — Products and catalogue

Scale and complexity of your product range — this drives most of the build cost.

38. Roughly how many SKUs / product variants will you have at launch?

1–25

26–100

101–500

501–2,000

2,001–10,000

More than 10,000

39. What kind of product variants do you sell?

Sizes (S/M/L)

Colours / finishes

Materials

Bundles & sets

Subscription / recurring

Custom / made-to-order

Digital products / downloads

Single-variant products only

40. Where does your existing product data live?

Nowhere yet — building from scratch

Spreadsheet (Excel / Google Sheets / CSV)

Existing ecommerce store (Shopify / Woo / etc.)

POS or inventory system (Vend / Square / Lightspeed)

ERP / accounting (Cin7 / Unleashed / MYOB / Xero)

A mix of the above

41. Upload your product catalogue or sample data

Upload files

42. Stock management

Real-time stock tracking — show "in stock / X left / sold out"

Track quantity but don't show counts publicly

Don't track stock — everything is always available

Made-to-order — no stock concept

43. Any specific product-page features you want

Section 10 — Payments, pricing and tax

How money moves through the store.

44. Payment methods you want at checkout

Credit / debit card (Stripe, Square, etc.)

PayPal

Apple Pay / Google Pay

Afterpay

Zip Pay

Klarna

Direct bank deposit / EFT

Account / invoice (B2B)

Buy now pay later — let us recommend

Crypto

45. Existing payment processor (if any)

46. Currency handling

AUD only

AUD + a few key currencies

Multi-currency, full international

Not sure — guide us

47. GST / tax handling

Standard AU GST included in prices

GST shown separately at checkout

GST-exempt products / mixed

B2B with GST + B2C without — both

Not sure

48. Multiple price levels?

Single retail price

Retail + wholesale (logged-in customers see wholesale)

Retail + trade discount on application

Tiered by quantity (bulk discount)

Member / loyalty pricing

49. Subscriptions or recurring billing?

Yes — core to the model

Some products will be subscribable

Maybe later

Section 11 — Shipping and fulfillment

How orders get from you to the customer.

50. Where do you ship to?

Adelaide / local only

South Australia

Australia-wide

New Zealand

Asia–Pacific

UK / Europe

USA / Canada

Worldwide

51. How should shipping be calculated?

Flat rate (one price everywhere)

By order total (free over $X, flat under)

By weight

By postcode / zone

Real-time carrier rates (Aus Post / Sendle / Shippit live quote)

Free shipping always

Not sure — recommend

52. Carriers you use or want to use

Australia Post

Sendle

Shippit

StarTrack

TNT / FedEx / DHL

Couriers Please

Own delivery / van

Local courier on demand

None yet — recommend

53. Click & collect?

Yes — single location pickup

Yes — multiple pickup locations

54. Delivery time promise

Section 12 — Operations and integrations

What the store needs to talk to.

55. Existing tools the store needs to integrate with

Xero

MYOB

QuickBooks

Mailchimp

Klaviyo

ActiveCampaign

HubSpot

Salesforce

Cin7 / Unleashed

Vend / Lightspeed / Square POS

Shippit / Starshipit

eBay marketplace

Amazon marketplace

Etsy

Google Merchant Centre / Shopping ads

Meta Catalog / Facebook Shop

Custom warehouse / 3PL

56. Where is the source of truth for stock and orders?

The new website — everything else syncs FROM it

An existing inventory / ERP system — website syncs FROM it

POS — website syncs FROM POS

Not sure — guide us

57. Customer account features

Guest checkout (no account required)

Optional account creation

Required account

Order history

Saved addresses

Wishlist / favourites

Loyalty / points

Subscriptions self-management

Reorder previous purchase

Account-only / wholesale gating

58. Email marketing / abandoned cart / post-purchase flows

59. Any other systems we should know about?

Section 13 — Existing platform and migration

What's already in place, and how clean the move needs to be.

60. Where does your store currently live?

No store yet — building from scratch

Shopify

WooCommerce

Squarespace

BigCommerce

Wix

Magento / Adobe Commerce

Custom-built

Selling only on marketplaces (eBay/Etsy/Amazon)

In-person / wholesale only

61. Current store URL (if any)

62. What data should be migrated to the new store?

Products & variants

Categories / collections

Customer accounts

Order history

Reviews

Blog posts / content

Redirects from old URLs (preserve SEO)

Nothing — fresh start

63. Target launch window

ASAP — already late

Within 1 month

1–3 months

3–6 months

No firm deadline

64. Anything else important we haven't asked?

One last thing

Just so we can email you back.

Your email address

Ecommerce Project Onboarding

Section 1 — About you and the business

Section 2 — What you sell

Section 3 — Who buys from you

Section 4 — The competition

Section 5 — Voice and brand

Section 6 — Trust and social proof

Section 7 — Design and brand

Section 8 — Product imagery and content

Section 9 — Products and catalogue

Section 10 — Payments, pricing and tax

Section 11 — Shipping and fulfillment

Section 12 — Operations and integrations

Section 13 — Existing platform and migration

One last thing

Let's make something great together

Our Services

Start a conversation

Recent Posts