Introduction
The title online store consultant gets used a lot — but what does one actually do, day to day? If you're considering hiring an ecommerce consultant, it's a fair question. You want to know exactly what you're paying for and what outcomes to expect.
In this article, we'll pull back the curtain and walk you through the real, practical work that goes into ecommerce consulting — from the first discovery call to ongoing growth optimisation.
Phase 1: Discovery and Audit
Every good engagement starts with understanding. Before an ecommerce consultant recommends anything, they need to deeply understand your business, your customers, and your current performance.
This typically involves:
- Store audit — a thorough review of your site's design, UX, page speed, mobile experience, and checkout flow
- SEO audit — analysing your current search visibility, technical SEO health, and keyword opportunities using tools like Ahrefs or Google Search Console
- Analytics review — digging into Google Analytics 4 and Shopify Analytics to understand traffic sources, conversion funnels, and drop-off points
- Competitor analysis — benchmarking your store against key competitors to identify gaps and opportunities
- Customer research — reviewing reviews, support tickets, and customer feedback to understand pain points
The output of this phase is a clear picture of where you are now — and a prioritised list of what needs to change.
Phase 2: Strategy and Roadmap
With the audit complete, your online store consultant will develop a strategic roadmap. This isn't a generic checklist — it's a tailored plan built around your specific goals, budget, and timeline.
A typical roadmap might include:
- Quick wins to implement immediately (e.g., fixing broken links, improving product descriptions, adding trust badges)
- Medium-term projects (e.g., a homepage redesign, launching an email welcome sequence)
- Long-term initiatives (e.g., building an SEO content strategy, expanding into new markets)
At Elevon Studio, we present this roadmap clearly and collaboratively — you'll always understand the reasoning behind every recommendation.
Phase 3: Implementation
Depending on the scope of the engagement, an ecommerce consultant may either implement changes directly or work alongside your team to do so. Implementation work can span a wide range of disciplines:
Store Design and Development
This includes customising or rebuilding your Shopify theme, improving navigation and product page layouts, optimising for mobile, and ensuring your brand identity is expressed consistently throughout the store.
Platform Migration
If you're moving from WooCommerce, Wix, or another platform to Shopify, a consultant manages the entire migration process — including product data, customer records, order history, URL redirects, and SEO preservation.
SEO and Content
An online store consultant with SEO expertise will optimise your product pages, collection pages, and metadata; fix technical issues like duplicate content or slow load times; and build a content strategy — including blog articles like this one — to drive organic traffic over time.
Email Marketing and Automation
Setting up and optimising automated email flows is one of the highest-ROI activities in ecommerce. A consultant will build sequences including:
- Welcome series — introducing new subscribers to your brand
- Abandoned cart recovery — recapturing lost sales
- Post-purchase flows — encouraging repeat purchases and reviews
- Win-back campaigns — re-engaging lapsed customers
Tools commonly used include Klaviyo, Omnisend, and Mailchimp.
Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)
CRO is the science of turning more of your existing visitors into buyers. An ecommerce consultant will identify friction points in your funnel and test improvements — from button copy and page layout to pricing presentation and social proof.
Paid Advertising Strategy
While some consultants manage ad campaigns directly, others focus on strategy — helping you understand which channels to invest in, how to structure your campaigns, and how to measure performance accurately across Google Ads, Meta Ads, and beyond.
Phase 4: Reporting and Optimisation
The best ecommerce consulting relationships don't end at launch. An ongoing online store consultant will:
- Provide regular performance reports with clear metrics and commentary
- Monitor key KPIs including conversion rate, average order value, customer acquisition cost, and lifetime value
- Continuously test and refine — ecommerce is never "done"
- Keep you informed of platform updates, algorithm changes, and new opportunities
- Adapt the strategy as your business evolves
What an Ecommerce Consultant Is NOT
It's worth being clear about what falls outside the scope of most ecommerce consulting engagements:
- Not a magic fix — results take time, especially for SEO and content
- Not a replacement for your team — a consultant works best alongside your existing people, not instead of them
- Not a one-size-fits-all solution — every engagement should be tailored to your specific business
How Elevon Studio Works
At Elevon Studio, we follow a structured but flexible consulting process designed to deliver real, measurable results for small and growing brands.
We offer:
- One-off project engagements — for store builds, redesigns, and migrations
- Monthly growth retainers — for ongoing SEO, email marketing, and CRO support
- Strategy-only engagements — for businesses that have an in-house team but need expert direction
Every client relationship starts with a free discovery call where we listen first and recommend second.
Ready to Get Started?
Now you know exactly what an ecommerce consultant or online store consultant does — the question is whether you're ready to take the next step.
If you'd like to explore how Elevon Studio could help your business, book a free discovery call today. No pressure, no jargon — just a straightforward conversation about your store and your goals.