General Questions

What kind of stores/businesses do you work with?

We work with all kinds of businesses! Clothing/children/jewelry/etc boutiques, hair/nail/tanning salons, digital services, food/drinks/farms, and much more. If you have a business where you sell or want to sell any sort of product or service, our packages are designed for you! If you are in a specialty niche or have more advanced website needs - we may need to provide a custom quote and are always happy to do so! We can also chat if you book a call with us here!

Are your services/packages for Shopify or CommentSold websites?

We love Shopify and CommentSold and we work with both! Our packages have been designed with both ecommerce platforms in mind to be sure that we are optimizing your site on your chosen platform. We do not work with other platforms at this time - we have chosen to specialize and be the BEST at these two instead!

What if I’m not on Shopify or CommentSold?

If you aren’t currently on Shopify or CommentSold, we’d love to help you make the move! Otherwise, our packages are designed for Shopify or CommentSold only.

Do you offer payment plans?

Yes! We offer both Sezzle and ShopPay as payment options (if you qualify). ShopPay even offers payment plans of up to 6-12 months, making our services super affordable (again, if you qualify with them)!

While we love when you use Sezzle and ShopPay - so we don't have to fuss with managing payments - we do offer in-house payment plan options as well. Here are the details on that:

Full Pay: for our primary package, this is $3950, paid upon booking

2 Pay: This incurs a fee of $150, so this is 2 payments of $2050. First payment due upon booking. Second payment due 3 weeks later (unless we are starting your project past that point, in that case, we request the second payment to be due the week we get started on your project).

3 Pay: This incurs a fee of $200, so this is 3 payments of $1383. First payment due upon booking, second payment due 2 weeks later, final payment due another 2 weeks later.

If you have any questions on our payment plans/options, please don't hesitate to ask! We want to make this accessible for you :)!

When will we get started? And when will my site be done?!

Project Start Dates are assigned on a rolling schedule based on availability and booking date. (First come, first served!) Most projects take approx. 4-6 weeks after your project start date as long as we recieve everything we need from you in a timely manner.

If you have a specific launch goal or deadline for your website and you want to discuss this prior to booking, please do reach out. We do also offer a rush/priority project fee of $1500 if you need to get started immediately and remain top priority (though we can only allow a limited number of clients to hold priority status at one time).

What are your services and how much do your services cost?

After four years and working with over a thousand biz owners, the Hot Mess Team has crafted an amazing standard branding + Website design package for our clients:

Sold out

We've crafted our services to specifically meet the needs of ecommerce owners. This package covers everything from brand development to website optimization!

  • We do also offer branding ONLY on it's own (this does not include website graphics, but rather your full branding development including logo, color scheme and typography, as well as nailing down the overall vibe/aesthetics for your biz. This is currently $2450 (rate as of 9/8/21).
  • We do also offer web setup/optimization on it's own (but this does not include any branding or graphics to be designed for your website). This would be a good choice if you have (or are) your own graphic designer or if you do not want to utilize graphics on your website - and instead want to focus on amazing photography (this makes sense particularly for minimal brands)! This is currently $1550 (rate as of 9/8/21).

Can you help me with my POS/hardware questions?

We are always happy to help or point you in the right direction if you have any Shopify POS questions or need hands on help. We are proud Shopify POS partners and can help get you signed up, make sure you are on the right POS plan if you are already utilizing, guide you to the right resources if you are having issuess, or even handle your migration over from another platform (this isn't included in our packages rates, but can be added on).

Branding + Website Design Questions

I want to know AAAAAALLLLLLLLLL the juicy details of your main full package! Give me the DEETS!

We don't want you to go cross-eyed, so get ready because our branding and website design package includes A LOT!!! Here's all those juicy deets you're looking for....

Branding:

  • Brand Call with the Hot Mess Design Team and 2 x brand revisions
  • Custom Brand Guide:
    • Choose your style from our Exclusive Catalog
    • Color scheme (with color codes for future use)
    • Semi-custom typography/font choices (with the option to purchase a license for future use, usually $15-$35)
  • Custom logo design including primary logo, text only, Favicon, Alternative Logo, and B&W logo options
  • All the Logo files you would ever need including digital, print, AND design files
  • Stock photos or client provided photos may be used
  • Graphic overlays + instructional video
  • Social Media Brand Design Bundle: Custom Covers + 2 x Templates

Website Design:

  • Premium Setup & Customization with Dawn, Turbo, Impulse, or Icon Theme (Shopify) or CS Webstore 2.0 (CommentSold)
    PLEASE NOTE: There is an additional one-time fee to purchase a Shopify theme. Typically $140 - $350 depending on your selection.
  • Mobile Optimization
  • Revisions to menus and collections, with standard product filters - includes up to 90 minutes of Project Hours with the Hot Mess Team.
  • Standard Product Filters setup (Color, Availability)
  • Setup of Primary Pages, including standard ready-to-go copy:
    • Homepage, About/Meet the Team, Sizing Guidelines/Meet the Models, Contact, How Sezzle Works, 404 Page, Email Subscriber Thank You, Gift Card product page, Privacy Policy, and Shipping + Returns
  • Light copywriting assistance with About Page
  • Email Subscriber Pop-Up Setup
  • Photo Resizing Magic 2.0 (Shopify Only)
  • Sizing Fit Marker Coding (Shopify Only)
  • Up to 2 HM Approved Shopify Apps installed, to be done on a call with the Hot Mess Team. (Additional apps can be quoted separately.)

Support & Training:

  • UNLIMITED email support DURING your project
  • 30 Days email support AFTER your project
  • Wrap up call with a member of the Hot Mess Team

Estimated Turnaround Time:

  • 4-6 weeks from the time we receive all needed information to complete your project.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Product Management (including upload/migration, syncing/integration, bulk editing/tags, photos/descriptions) is not included in any of our packages. But this can be added-on!
  • Full wholesale setup (for a wholesale only, or combined retail/wholesale site) will incur an additional cost.

I already have my own logo/FONTS/color scheme/Full branding. Can you still help me?

All our packages are designed to support biz owners with both branding and website optimization - because they go hand in hand!

We know you'll fall in L-O-V-E with the designs from our expert team! When you work with your dedicated designer* they'll listen to what you want and work to incorporate elements that reflect your style to craft a unique brand for your business.

We understand that sometimes you've worked hard to create something for your biz that you want to keep, and our team will work to incorporate your current branding details when possible. However, we don't offer discounts or changes to our packages if you already have some of your branding in place.

*A dedicated designer and the opportunity for feedback/revisions is included in our Standard and Deluxe packages only. There are no changes, revisions, or customizations for our Starter package.

I need help with Marketing and/or SEO! Do your packages include this?

Our branding and website optimization packages do not include SEO or other marketing platform setups. But between marketing services that we offer (Email Automations/templates, SEO, Paid Facebook Ads, etc) and those that some of our trusted partners offer - we are more than happy to chat about your marketing needs during or after your project with us! We definitely want to help you maximize the results (and drive more traffic) to your website once it's beautiful and fully optimized.

Which Shopify themes are Hot Mess approved for your main full package?

We’ve worked with A LOT of Shopify Themes and these are the themes we recommend for our clients:
FREE: Dawn (Note: Our Starter Package is setup with Dawn ONLY)
PAID: Turbo, Icon, or Impulse (Note: Our Standard package is setup with one of these three themes only - or you can upgrade to our Custom or Deluxe package to unlock several extra hours of team time and we will work on any theme of your choice)

And don’t worry - we’ll help you choose the best theme based on your needs!

Why do you only work with certain Shopify themes? What if I already have a paid theme?

Your Shopify Theme is the foundation for a successful ecommerce store. After working with over 1,000 business owners, we've worked with a LOT of themes. We know what works and what doesn't. We've learned what's worth it, and what's fluff. And we've narrowed down the playing field to the themes we know are the strongest foundation for your business.

Buying a paid theme is an investment - and the paid themes we recommend are worth it! And that's why we limit those on our Standard package to only our Hot Mess approved themes.

If you already have your own paid theme you want to keep, or if you're looking at something outside of our approved themes, you'll want to move up to our Deluxe or Custom service. These higher level packages allow our team to devote the time and resources needed to fully optimize your selected theme.

Why don’t your packages include Product Upload/Migration, Product Syncing/Integration, Bulk Editing/Tags, or Product Photos/Descriptions?

Product management is an entire beast all it's own that can take a ton of hours (aside from the work and time included in our main packages). Needs in this area really vary from client to cleint too, depending on which platform you are moving from, which data you need migrated, how much data needs to be migrated, etc! If you need help with this, it's not a problem - just reach out for a quote (email us at welcome@hotmesshustle.com).