Rocketspark

What Rocketspark is

Rocketspark is a website builder with a full online store option, aimed at small business owners who want to run their own site and at designers who build sites for clients. The company describes itself as "tucked away in Cambridge, New Zealand" and says it was founded in New Zealand in 2009, with thousands of customers in 27 countries. Its pitch is a balance of "creative freedom and simplicity": "enjoyably easy drag and drop website design and editing", with real people behind support. The pages describe it as a way "to get a beautiful website design or get a website designed for you."

What you build and how

There are 2 routes to a Rocketspark site. In the do-it-yourself route you design the site with the drag and drop builder, starting from "customisable templates with preset content" on "simple monthly subscriptions". In the second route you work with a local Rocketspark Design Partner who designs the site for you, which the page says includes "initial setup fees" and ongoing professional advice. The site asks visitors to choose between "I need a website" and "I'm a designer", and a separate Design for clients area is aimed at designers who build sites for others without getting "tangled in tech".

Content help comes from Flint, which the homepage labels the AI website builder. The pitch is "Writing great content is hard, try Flint", and the page says it "can auto-create top-notch content that sounds just like your business (and help you fine-tune it)". Rocketspark also lists a network of design and marketing experts you can hire to improve a site's design, performance or SEO now or later.

The store side is described in detail on the ecommerce page, which says you can "take your brand online with a beautiful online store, packed with editing and store management that's so simple anyone can do it." The same drag and drop editing applies to store design. The feature list names inventory management, categories, tags and brands, coupons and promos, order processing, model terms and conditions, payment gateways, buy now pay later, in-store pickup, gift mode checkout, product searching, bulk product import, auto-resizing of product images storewide, shipping and tax rules, Google Shopping, social media integrations and traffic and sales reporting. Customer accounts and Subscriptions are marked as Ecommerce Pro features. The page says customer accounts support easy repeat purchases and shipping integrations give simple order tracking, and it adds that the store is fully mobile responsive. A new feature called Scheduled Ordering is announced for stores.

The ecommerce page organizes the work in 3 steps. Design means taking control of your store's design with easy drag and drop editing. Sell means showing products at their best with product pages, store layouts and more, and the page says you can craft your own journey to lead visitors through the store. Grow means driving traffic with Rocketspark's SEO tools and social media integrations. A case study on the same page follows Glenn, who wanted to take his range of board riding products online: he engaged a Rocketspark design partner to build the site, and says the recommendations and the features available made the choice "a bit of a no brainer".

Payments include Afterpay: "four easy payments and no interest". The integrations menu lists Mailchimp, Xero, Lightspeed, Afterpay, GoSweetSpot and Zippay, and the shipping add-ons named are Starshipit, eShip and GoSweetSpot. Mailchimp ecommerce is described as a way to reward your best customers with exclusive discounts, send abandoned cart emails and welcome first-time purchasers. A built-in form builder covers returns forms, contact forms and feedback forms. Blogging and galleries are also built in. For security, the page says the SSL security certificate comes "at no extra cost or effort to set up".

Self-help sits beside the support team: help guides, product tours, a How it works section, guides for beginners, a Network Status page and a Contact us page. The company also runs a Become a Partner program for designers, a Creative Launchpad, events and an awards showcase of Rocketspark web design. Beyond the builder, the navigation lists Domains, business Email, Website Design Packages, Website Templates, Recurring Subscriptions, a Website Showcase and a transfer path for moving an existing site to Rocketspark. A free online class aims to "get up to speed in 30 minutes", and a beginner eBook called Getting Started With Ecommerce is offered.

What the pages say about results, support and cost

The ecommerce page shows Capterra scores: 4.8/5 for ease of use and 4.9/5 for customer service, and a 5/5 average for customer service. The homepage footer carries a separate "Website builder rating 4.8 out of 5 based on 193 reviews". Testimonials on the homepage come from designers and business owners who praise the support team. Kylie of The Bush Boardroom writes that she "can't rave highly enough with their response rate," and Chantelle of Varntige says "It is always a pleasure chatting with them!" On the store page, the do-it-yourself route promises "5-star support throughout and beyond." A store owner in Tauranga, NZ, says a standout feature is "how clean it looks and how simple it is to navigate". The page notes that many of its ecommerce clients get more than 50% of their traffic on mobile.

The company has "helped thousands of businesses", and the store page says the builder has been the starting point for a range of Australian retailers in fashion, health and beauty, florists and giftwear, food and beverage, sports goods and homeware. The homepage lists industries such as graphic design, building and construction, education, restaurants and cafes, tourism and accommodation, bookkeeping, retail and online stores, automotive and bakeries.

On cost, the do-it-yourself route runs on "Simple monthly subscriptions," the designed-for-you route adds "Initial setup fees," and Customer accounts and Subscriptions sit in the Ecommerce Pro tier. Plan prices sit on a separate Website Builder Pricing page rather than on these pages. A "Try for free" button lets you start before paying, a "Multi-year domain name discounts now available" banner runs across the top of the site, and Domain Names and Business Email are sold alongside the builder. Regional versions of the site exist for the United States and Global, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Who it suits

Rocketspark suits a small retailer or service business that wants a polished site and a store with an interface it can handle itself, and wants a person to call. The Design Partner route fits an owner who would rather hand the build to an expert. Designers who want a simple way to deliver client sites have a dedicated path.

The limits come from the focus on simplicity. Everything the pages describe is about designing pages, running a store and getting found, built for owners rather than developers, so a business that wants a custom web application is outside the brief. Subscriptions and customer accounts need the Ecommerce Pro tier, which a store selling repeat orders should factor into its budget from the start. For most small businesses, though, the mix of drag and drop editing, a full store, local design partners and support from real people is the point.