Think back to how you analysed user feedback two years ago.
For me, running Iconic (my WooCommerce plugin company which I later sold in 2021), it meant opening dozens of browser tabs: GitHub issues, Reddit threads, support tickets, forum posts. I’d spend entire afternoons copying user feedback into spreadsheets, trying to identify patterns that would shape our plugin roadmap.
It was necessary work, but exhausting. And I always wondered: what patterns was I missing in the noise?
I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how drastically ecommerce has evolved, particularly around how customers discover products. Traditional SEO has been a cornerstone of online retail for decades, but we’re entering a new era, one powered by artificial intelligence.
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the small things that make big differences in ecommerce experiences. One issue that’s popped up again and again, both in conversations with merchants and from my own online shopping frustrations, is surprise checkout costs.
We’ve all been there. You’ve booked an appointment with a tradesperson and they’ve arranged to come at a certain time. Maybe you’ve booked the morning off work to wait for a package to arrive. The anticipation, the planning around it, and then the waiting. But the event never happens. The person never arrives and the package never shows.
I mentioned recently on Twitter (I still find it hard to call it X) that one of the first projects I’ll be working on at Woo is the “Launch Your Store” initiative.
One part of that project is a “Coming Soon” mode built into core. That’s what I’d love your feedback on.