Commerce Stack Consolidation and Data-Flow Audit (10-15 days)
A fixed-scope engagement that maps every tool touching the buying journey, removes overlapping subscriptions, and wires one clean data path from storefront to post-purchase. Built for agencies that want a repeatable diagnostic they can sell before any build work. Time: 10-15 days.
By InnovaAI ResearchPublished
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Commerce Stack Consolidation and Data-Flow Audit (10-15 days)
A fixed-scope engagement that maps every tool touching the buying journey, removes overlapping subscriptions, and wires one clean data path from storefront to post-purchase. Built for agencies that want a repeatable diagnostic they can sell before any build work.
- Read access to the client's storefront admin, helpdesk, and email or SMS platform; a list of all active software subscriptions with monthly amounts; 90 days of order, refund, and support-ticket exports; one named client-side owner who can approve cancellations; agreement on which single metric (conversion rate, repeat purchase rate, or support cost per order) the audit is optimizing.
- 1.Inventory every tool in the commerce stack and record its monthly cost, owner, and last login date
- 2.Pull 90 days of order, refund, and ticket data into one working sheet
- 3.Confirm the single success metric with the client sponsor in writing
- 1.Trace the path a new order takes from checkout through fulfillment and post-purchase messaging
- 2.Mark every manual handoff and every point where data is re-entered by a person
- 3.Flag tools that receive data but never send anything back
- 1.Score each tool on overlap with at least one other tool in the stack
- 2.Identify subscriptions with no measurable effect on the chosen success metric
- 3.Draft the shortlist of candidates for removal or replacement
- 1.Test the storefront search and recommendation behavior against five real customer queries
- 2.Document where results miss obvious intent or return out-of-stock items
- 3.Record the gap between what the platform claims and what the storefront actually does
- 1.Review the support and chat layer for response coverage outside business hours
- 2.Count how many inquiries in the last 90 days were answerable from existing help content
- 3.Note which inquiries required a human and why
- 1.Model the cost of the current stack against the proposed consolidated stack
- 2.Estimate hours per week currently spent on manual data movement
- 3.Convert both figures into a 12-month projection the client can read in one page
- 1.Present findings to the client sponsor and confirm which tools are approved for removal
- 2.Agree on the target data-flow architecture in plain language
- 3.Set the migration window and freeze dates
- 1.Export all historical data from tools scheduled for removal
- 2.Verify export completeness against the order count from day 1
- 3.Store exports in a client-owned location, not an agency account
- 1.Configure the surviving platform to absorb the functions being retired
- 2.Connect the storefront, helpdesk, and messaging layer through native integrations where they exist
- 3.Document every connection that required a workaround
- 1.Run a live test order end to end and capture each system's response
- 2.Trigger a refund and a support ticket to confirm the post-purchase path holds
- 3.Log any silent failures where a system accepted data but did not act on it
- 1.Cancel the retired subscriptions and confirm the client owns the billing relationship
- 2.Write the runbook covering who owns each remaining tool and how to escalate
- 3.Hand over the data-flow diagram and the 12-month cost projection
- 1.Review the first week of live data against the baseline from day 1
- 2.Adjust any integration that produced errors or duplicate records
- 3.Schedule the 30-day check-in and close the engagement
The audit pays for itself when it removes even two overlapping subscriptions, since mid-market commerce stacks routinely carry $800 to $2,500 per month in tools that duplicate each other. Agencies can charge a premium because the deliverable is a cost reduction the client can verify on their own bank statement, not a promise about future conversion gains. The recurring monitoring retainer is the real margin: once the agency owns the data-flow map, every later build, migration, or personalization project starts from a position the client cannot easily hand to a competitor.
- Tool inventory with monthly cost, owner, overlap score, and removal recommendation for each entry
- Current-state and target-state data-flow diagram covering storefront, support, and post-purchase messaging
- 12-month cost projection comparing the existing stack against the consolidated one
- Migration and cancellation runbook naming the owner and escalation path for every surviving tool
- Baseline metrics sheet with the pre-audit conversion, repeat purchase, and support cost figures
The client has cancelled or downgraded at least one overlapping subscription, a live test order has passed through the consolidated stack without manual re-entry, and the signed data-flow diagram plus baseline metrics sheet are in the client's possession.