What To Ask The Provider Before Integrating A Magento Product Designer

Web-to-print solutions have revolutionized the printing industry as they are the cornerstone of the consumer trend of customized and personalized products. With the increasing demand for customization and personalization in products and consumer experiences, the printing industry has been aggressively adopting the web to print solutions for their print commerce stores.

While the demand for print commerce stores is on the rise, so is the demand for Magento Product Configurator solutions. If you are one of the Magento print store owners, you might have noticed that with the increasing demand, there are many product designer tools available in the market too.

So, how can you determine which solution to opt for? To help you make an informed decision, we have created a detailed list of questions that you must ask the product designer solution provider.

So, here are the questions you must ask your web-to-print solutions provider to make the final decision:

Q1. What are the customization capabilities of your Magento product designer?

The first and the most important question that would determine if you would want to proceed further must be about the product customization capabilities of your prospect tool. When we talk about product configurator solutions, there are a lot of customization options available for printers to provide such as color, fonts, icons, images, design areas, design templates, emojis, clipart and many other such customization options.

You must also inquire if there are template libraries that are available for you to access. Apart from that, you must also understand if the solution provides product-centric design templates and your desired design areas to pitch to your customers. When you have satisfactory answers to these questions, only then you can move forward with the solutions provider.    

Q2. What printing methods does your Magento product configurator support?

Once you have sorted the virtual designing part, it is now a time to enquire about the printing methods that the solutions support along with the quality that it delivers. There are many different printing methods that printers use these days such as:

• Digital Printing
• Screen Printing
• Flexography Printing
• Litho Printing
• Transfer Printing
• Engraving
• Embossing
• Embroider Printing

Apart from that, there are also many printing method updates and innovations coming in the market with the increasing customer expectations. Thus, it is essential to understand if the Magento product designer tool that you are planning to integrate into your platform supports which printing methods.

Also, it is essential to understand how a design file is exported to the printers. For instance, there are web to print solutions in the market that export ready-to-print files to the printers. So, it is essential to assess the capabilities that are available in the market and choose the solution whose capabilities align with your current and future business scenarios for optimum returns on investment.  

Q3. What additional features does this Magento product customizer provides?

Once you have understood the core functionalities of the solution, it is now time to move on to additional functionalities that your Magento product customizer provides. Many other aspects would affect the overall performance of your platform and the Magento web to print solution provider that you choose must adhere to them.

It can be as small as the loading time of the solution to major aspects such as customer management, order management, data management, UI and UX options and other such aspects. For instance, if your tool has all the configuration capabilities but if it takes a lot of time to load, there is a higher probability that your customers will bounce to your competition.

Also, personalized and seamless experiences are essential that your customers have a delightful user experience and thus, it is essential that your Magento product designer seamlessly aligns with the UI of your print store and has the capabilities to deliver personalized user experiences. While the presence of these aspects might not make much difference to the performance of the tool, but these capabilities can ensure that your customers have a seamless and delightful experience for you to gain a competitive edge in the market.

Q4. Is your solution mobile friendly?

Did you know that Google recently announced that they are planning to Index and rank to mobile version websites? This means that the platform that is not mobile responsive will not be given any priority while Google algorithm crawls through websites! So, it is essential that your Magento product designer must also be mobile responsive. Not only is that make your eCommece platform SEO friendly, but it also ensures that your customers can access your platform and your product offerings from anywhere and you can get optimum sales opportunities for your investment.

You might be interested: The Complete Magento 2 SEO Checklist and Guide

Q5. How user-friendly this solution is?

Most of the print stores integrate the product configurator tool for their end-customers and if you have a B2C business model, there is a high probability that your customers will not have the design knowledge as well the technical proficiency for a complex technology solution. Thus, it is essential that the solution that you integrate with your print store is user-friendly and equipped for layman customers. Apart from that, your solution must have customer-friendly features such as a 3D preview of their designs, instant quotation for informed decision and customer account for previous purchase history, easy checkout, quick re-order and other such functionalities.

Q6. What are the pricing options and cost-benefits of this product design software?

For optimum returns on investment, your web to print software must have various payment and employment options. For instance, an ideal Magento product design software will have both subscription and licensing options for its customers. While the first one is an affordable trial option, the other provides ownership.

Apart from that, you must also inquire about the updates and maintenance packages that are available for the customers. You must also get information if your web to print partner provides a Magento website or a multi-vendor platform along with the solution. If yes, understand the charges of that along with customization, updates, migration and maintenance charges for the same.

Q7. Does this well with Magento 2 and is this solution scalable for future updates?

Lastly, Magento 2 is the latest version of the eCommerce platform and your solution must comply well with the platform. Apart from that, you must also try and understand how scalable and flexible is the solution for all the future updates in the platform and what services can your web to print partner provide for a seamless transition.

Informed Decision Mitigates Risk and Ensures Sustainability:

When you have answers to all these questions, you would get a brand-centric solution that aligns with your business goals and customer expectations to provide optimum efficiency and profitability. Understanding these aspects will provide you with an opportunity to find an ideal solution that would help you to gain a competitive edge in the market and create a sustainable business model for your enterprise. All the best!

About the author – Abhishek Agarwal Abhishek Agarwal, CMO of Design’N’Buy comes with a huge experience in custom web to print solution & IT. With a mission to deliver the best and innovate new ideas in w2p, he and his team always deliver challenging and exciting results. Delivering the best and with utmost perfection has always been his life’s motto. Website | Twitter | LinkedIn