What is a tech stack audit?
When you conduct a tech stack audit, you will evaluate a brand’s software usage to identify any gaps that you can help them overcome. In the video below, you’ll learn the importance of this audit and how to conduct one with your client or prospect.
Best practices for conducting tech stack audits
Now that you understand why and how to audit, let’s dive into some tangible best practices to conduct your audit effectively.
Use our audit template
Make a copy of our guided audit walkthrough to use in your meeting with the client.
This sheet consists of 3 tabs:
- Goals:
Work with your merchant to establish clear goals for each funnel stage. - Tech stack audit:
Follow guided prompts to uncover gaps that each integration type may solve. - Plan of action:
Build a game plan and establish clear timelines for implementation.
Keep in mind:
- You can add a pricing column to this sheet for implementation services at your discretion.
- Because this sheet contains dynamic formulas and follow-along guidance, do not delete the cell content, as you may interrupt the sheet function. If this occurs, make another copy of the original sheet or restore its original version history.
Conduct research in advance
As mentioned in the video above, we recommend sending a recording to your client or prospect before conducting your audit together. This recording should run through your general understanding of their current tech stack and any questions you have for them.
How can you find out what tools they use?
- If you have access to their Klaviyo account:
Locate what tools are currently integrated within Integrations. - If this is a prospect and you do not have account access:
Use a third-party tool to assess what their tech stack contains. For example, tools like BuiltWith let you find out what a website is built and integrated with at the click of a button.
Identify tool-specific use cases
Before, during, and after your audit, you can learn more about the tools a client uses or is interested in within Klaviyo’s Tech Partner Directory.
Here you can:
- Filter to find tools based on categories (loyalty, advertising, shipping, returns, etc.).
- Click into a specific tool to access integration use cases with Klaviyo as well as links to relevant help resources.
- Click a direct link to that tool’s official website to get started.
Understand your client persona
Ahead of your audit, be prepared to encounter the following client personas:
- Time-crunched builders
They have internal resources or knowledge to build solutions from scratch or via API. They need you to help manage their toolset and take tasks off their plate, simplifying their day-to-day.- Pain points: Salary maintenance, large backlogs, constant software updates with little time to do it themselves
- Agency solution: Resource prioritization, time-to value savings, flexibility
- Non-technical clients with a large tech stack
They may have every tool under the sun and understand the need for these solutions. However, they under-utilize functionality and have room for consolidation. Your job is to ideate and act upon creative solutions within their current toolset that will drive ROI.- Pain points: Underutilization and confusion on tools, high costs
- Agency solution: Simplify, consolidate, and manage their tech stack
- Clients in need of full support
They have holes throughout their tech stack. They're often new to the space or opposed to the idea of multiple softwares, connectivity, and contracts. Your role will be selling them on tech stack expansion and managing this long-term.- Pain points: Lack of experience, limited budget, hesitant to move away from the "status quo" and try a new strategy
- Agency solution: Uncover and prioritize key strategies and the tools that support them, take away the "overwhelm" of managing a tech stack, prove the ROI possibilities from key tech investments
Define tech stack "types"
Be ready to understand the following terms that are often brought up during tech stack audits, especially when working with a more technical client.
- Monolithic (i.e. "traditional"): platform has one code-base, meaning the front-end (website) and back-end (server-side logic or database) are directly connected.
- Key considerations: Any changes you make to the back-end are reflected on the front-end. For an ecommerce platform, this means any back-end functionality is directly connected to a front-end tool (e.g., their website).
- Headless: separates the front-end code (e.g., their customer-facing website) from the back-end (i.e., business logic synced, say via API calls); thus, the 2 can function independent of one another. For instance, you have a headless set-up when using an ecommerce platform to power the back-end of your client's website, but have a custom-coded storefront.
- Key considerations: By separating the front-end and back-end of their ecommerce experiences, companies can become more agile and flexible. That said, this often requires developer experience to implement effectively.
- Composable: breaks the capabilities of all-inclusive monolithic suites into individual micro-services that can be constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed again and again.
- Key considerations: This style of architecture is helpful for companies to continuously meet evolving needs.
Next steps based on your findings
Based on your audit findings, you may proceed with any of the following 3 next steps. Review the dropdowns below to see how we recommend approaching each option with a client.
Optimize the client’s existing toolkit
You may find that your client needs help managing their current tools and unlocking new strategies that they are currently unaware are possible with their existing tech stack.
Why?
They may not have the knowledge or bandwidth to explore all of the strategies possible with this tool and its integration with Klaviyo.
How?
Draft a proposal for how your team can effectively manage their existing tools to better grow their brand strategy. Your tasks to implement may include the following:
- Outline what use cases are currently in use that they can expand on.
- Uncover new use cases this tool can offer that they have not begun testing.
- Explain what next steps your agency will take to implement or manage this tool.
- Define how this affects their current agency package (is this part of their retainer or an added charge/service).
- Present your plan to the client in a follow-up call, answering questions and opening the floor for ideas.
- Kick off the project if they agree to move forward.
Recommend a new tool
In addition to or instead of optimizing an existing toolkit, you may recommend a new tool to add to their tech stack.
Why?
During your audit, you found either a blocker affecting their team or a new opportunity that could grow their brand.
How?
- Research the blocker or opportunity to see what tool can fix this need. We recommend filtering on the Klaviyo Integrations Directory to help with this process.
- Develop a project plan that outlines:
- What this tool is.
- Why it is needed.
- How your team will help implement and/or manage it.
- When they can expect implementation to occur.
- What the desired outcome, goal, and next steps are.
- Schedule a call to review your plan and gain buy-in from the team.
- Determine how this will affect your current package with the client. For instance you may:
- Add as an additional maintenance service.
- Charge hourly for setup and training if their team will manage the tool after implementation.
Start a conversation around re-platforming
In some cases, your audit may uncover issues with the platform that houses your clients website; for instance, if you work with an ecommerce business that decides they need to move to a different ecommerce platform.
Why?
During your audit, you found a blocker that is directly stemming from their web-hosting platform; for instance, key features are missing that their team needs as soon as possible to scale.
How?
- Identify needs and priorities: Consider what you want to achieve by replatforming, such as improved functionality or access to the latest features.
- Get stakeholder alignment: Make sure everyone involved is on board with the project.
- Identify a platform that better fits their needs.
- Draft a project plan specifically centered around platform migration. This should include:
- Stakeholders across teams that will need to share buy-in.
- The ideal state of their website using this new platform.
- How you will successfully migrate their data across sites.
- Timelines for implementation.
- Schedule a call to review your plan and gain buy-in from the team.
- Determine if and how this will affect your current package with the client.