CHRIS: I think that's a really good point about what folks are getting whenever they get estimates from a vendor partner like Clarity. And it's really interesting because, at the end of the day, it can be a challenge for the eCommerce business owner or the director or the marketing VP, possibly the IT director. If you're doing this research and you're digging in to compare apples to apples, because there really isn't a standard litmus that you can measure against. So everyone has their own way of estimating things and ultimately being able to put it into categories is really important. And I think you can look at it as capital expenditure and then basically ongoing monthly and quarterly expenditure, that kind of a thing thing, operating costs essentially.
So capital expenditure, typically, is going to be around getting the software in place and getting it built out. But you can of course do this in phases, and we strongly recommend that. A lot of our clients have an existing capability. So we're going to want to effectively meet or exceed that capability, but with an eCommerce framework that's going to be flexible and adaptable so they can phase in improvements and growth and optimization.
What I would say here is, to the extent that you can detail out and collaborate with whoever you're working with on your marketplace business so that if you do have an existing capability or you know for sure—and I mean, you've actually validated it with a real business use-case scenario that, yes, I need this functionality, I need these features. Not just I think I need them, but I actually know that this is something that we need. It needs to work a certain way.
The more fidelity you have around that, the more accurate the estimates are going to be that you get for what I would call capital expenditure, upfront expenditure. But to your point, Ron, you want to think about the ongoing or operating costs and some of the additional phases that you're going to conduct.
A lot of this work can be done in a spectrum. So you can actually bring folks on internally. You may already have a team internally that you can bring on for a much lower cost, relatively speaking. And you can work with partners like Clarity who are willing to actually teach and train your team so that your internal team can conduct a lot of the ongoing operating overhead at a much lower cost.
So a key question for you is where is the company that you're working with, that you're partnering with, where are they focusing to generate their profits? Are they focusing on delivering a really high value with a product that's flexible and it's going to meet your needs? And they're really accumulating enough volume that they can be profitable around that core value of the product offering? Or are they trying to nickel and dime you with operating expenses throughout the rest of the process after you get your site live? And so I think that's a really key question. That's something you can get a really good feel for from talking with them and collaborating with them. But the opportunity with the online marketplace platform is extensive beyond just getting the functionality out there.
And I think this is something that we could spend literally an entire webinar going into detailed nuances, but certainly you should keep in mind that there are so many opportunities for ongoing SEO, paid advertising, enhancements to the site, transactional marketing where you're sending direct emails to folks, and really the list goes on, doesn't it, Ron? You should definitely budget for this, whether it's internal or working with a partner because you're going to get a pretty substantial return on investment for a lot of these categories. In a lot of cases, it'll be somewhere to I would say between three to ten times return on investment, or return on ad spend, or whatever metrics we're measuring on. There will be a pretty substantial return.
Then if you're doing organic SEO, for example, or transactional emails that you're sending, these don't really have a cost to continue taking advantage of them. They're evergreen, relatively speaking. And so once you set them up and get them in motion, they're going to be available for you to use and continue to build on themselves. Any thoughts on that on your end, Ron?
RON: Yeah. I mean, for me, I always like to call SEO the gift that keeps on giving. Because it's the one thing that every ounce invested adds on to every previous ounce invested. It's not like pay-per-click where it's just pay 50 bucks. And if it doesn't generate anything, well, that was 50 bucks [lost]. Now you got to pay another 50 bucks.
[SEO] is, if you put 50 bucks in, you've now got 50 bucks worth of whatever in the pot. And now the next 50 bucks just adds on to that over time, and it just continues to add and add an ad. So I love SEO. I am big on SEO because I'm frugal that way.
But you know, I do understand that for some people—pay-per-click, it's like I've got clients that'll spend $50,000 a month on pay-per-click and they're like, “It generates five million dollars in business a month, who cares?” Well, good point, right? I mean, if you can generate the return and do it much faster, then pay per click is a play and there's options there.
As Chris said, there are so many things that you want to think about and plan for. Because after you have that initial capital expense, not only the SEO, but you can start talking about retargeting and how do I drive additional business, and how do I ensure to keep my clients happy so I keep them returning? Are there any benefits for becoming a member?
Are there any ongoing things that they can sign up for that helps them keep engaged? Are there any additional reports or statistics that you can send them to show them how much money they've saved by buying with you, or how many items they bought this month versus last month. There are so many things that you can think up, that you don't have to stay within the lines of any other site that you're modeling after. Think outside the box with your eCommerce website.
That's what we do with clarity. We constantly sit down and think about differentiation and disruption. Marketing says those are the two things that, if you can come with anything that's disruptive or differentiates you from your competitors, that's what you focus on. And I find a lot of times that clients are like, “You see this site over here, we want you to build it just like that.” I'm like, “Well, is that one of your competitors?” “Yep.” “Well, don't you want to surpass them.” “Oh, we'll never catch them.” “Why do you say that?” Their vision doesn't go beyond.
I love your analogy where you always say, the 3-to-5-year plan that we just talked about. “Well, in three years I want to catch our competition, these two competitors. And in five years I want to be the leader.” So one of the things that helps with that, leading us into the next thing, it's the sister to budget—the timeline.