Start with who edits the site. Ask that person to show you the changes they make most, such as adding holiday hours, publishing news or swapping a staff photo. A CMS demonstration should include those jobs on a test site with their own content.
Price the whole setup
List costs for hosting, the editor, forms and any other integrations. Ask who will update each piece and what happens if you want to move it again. Request a sample content export and make sure you know who owns the domain and the accounts.
Check the public pages on a phone
The editor experience is only one half of the decision. Test a long service page, a contact form and a page with lots of photos. Use the same content across your comparisons. Talk to Lumos if you want help identifying which features your business needs to keep.
Give the editor a real assignment
Use a task the staff already handles, such as changing the phone number across templates or posting a service update with an image. Give the editor the content and ask them to complete the task while you watch. Notice where they look for controls, whether they can preview changes, and what they do if they make a mistake.
- Ask the front desk to update a holiday schedule without waiting for a developer.
- Ask the marketing owner to publish a draft and check its preview on a phone.
- Ask for a sample export and find out which parts of the content are still tied to the tool.
Include the cost of running it
Compare costs over a year. Count hosting, any paid form or search tools, maintenance, and how often someone will need help. Think about the time needed to hand the site over to a new employee. A quiet publishing workflow can be more valuable than a long feature list, especially if the site changes only a few times a month.