6 Factors to Consider When Evaluating Shopify Development Agencies
When evaluating Shopify development agencies, consider the following criteria:
Factor 1: What Kind of Experience Do They Have?
It’s common to look for an agency with experience – and plenty of companies get recommended a specific agency by word of mouth. That is, someone in a similar boat as you has found success with one agency. But even if you’re recommended an agency, you still want to vet that they can develop Shopify stores that work for you.
You can check this information by looking at their portfolio, which should show both:
- Completed projects of Shopify stores
- Existing Shopify stores that you can visit. This gives you insight into how your store will actually operate.
Plus, you’re going to be better if you focus on an agency with experience in your specific industry.
For example, at SwiftOtter we focus mostly on developing Shopify stores for manufacturing/B2B companies and outdoor sporting goods companies. Of course our experience could lend itself to other industries, but we know the most about those types of businesses.
This means we have more industry knowledge in those areas and can recommend plugins or developments or designs based on established best practices.
Factor 2: What are Their Development Capabilities?
When looking at an agency’s testimonials and portfolios you want to see evidence of their technical development capabilities. That’s why it’s best if the agency can point you to a live, active Shopify site that is currently performing well. You don’t want just to trust screenshots of a site that is no longer functional.
Remember, you’re not just looking for a designer, but a developer. You want a functional, optimized site.
If you’re a little unsure yourself of what to look for when it comes to technical capabilities, consider things like:
- Does the agency demonstrate understanding of Liquid, Shopify’s templating language? As well as JavaScript.
- Does the agency showcase experience in using third-party services and APIs? You don’t want to be limited to what's only native to Shopify (or your store’s functionality will be severely limited, without features like customizable payment gateways and inventory management systems), and you don’t want an agency that doesn’t know how to effectively and securely use third-party services.
- Does the agency’s testimonials show examples of developing custom features? Furthermore, the agency should demonstrate their ability to develop custom features and functionalities that go beyond Shopify's out-of-the-box offerings. This may involve creating custom apps or leveraging Shopify's APIs to build tailored solutions that meet your unique business requirements.
- Can you visit a shopify that the agency developed on mobile? Even if your site currently uses more desktop customers, you still want a mobile-first design. There’s a good chance that you get more desktop customers because your mobile site isn’t great, which in turn is limiting your audience.
- Check the load times of sites the agency has worked on. You can spot check the load time of live sites on your own or use free load time and response time checkers. Slow response times can really hurt a site’s ability to convert visitors into paying customers.
Optional: Request a Coding Challenge
This is a little unorthodox, but if you’re struggling to thoroughly evaluate a development agency, you can request a technical evaluation or coding challenge. They’ll charge you, of course, but it’s worth it.
Factor 3: How Do They Approach Design and UX?
Development and design go hand in hand. The two parts need to speak to each other and factor in real insights from user experience testing.
You may already have a lot of data that can help a development agency. But if not, your development agency ought to do user research that helps them understand your target audience.
By knowing specific pain points and preferences, your agency can create a more tailored design and dev plan.
But again, a designed Shopify site isn’t a one-time product or transaction. You want your agency to:
- Conduct initial user research
- Do usability testing along the way
- Utilize an iterative design process
- Do performance testing / journey mapping
- A/B testing
Further, you want to keep doing testing for some time after the site launch, to figure out how to better improve/optimize your new Shopify store. This brings us to our next part.
Factor 4: Do They Offer Post-Launch Support and Maintenance?
Delivering a Shopify site isn’t a one-time transaction. If you work with an agency that treats it as such, you’re going to have to find another agency to handle support and maintenance once the site is launched. However, chances are this new agency will not understand the choices your initial agency made, and they may even push for another re-design and development.
To save yourself money and headaches, work only with an agency that offers post-launch support and maintenance.
This includes, but is not limited to:
- Software updates and security patches. Shopify is consistently releasing new updates and security patches that need to be set up to keep your site functional.
- Theme and app updates. Similar to the above – your site is going to be using non-native apps and plugins. They themselves will go under updates or will be affected by Shopify’s updates.
- Training and knowledge transfer. You’re likely working with a development agency because you don’t have developers who can handle it, either they’re lacking the skill set or simply the availability. Either way, you want to make sure your internal dev team understands your new site. This empowers you to make choices that are in the best interest for your Shopify store, without being tied to a single agency.
Factor 5: Do They Offer Pricing Plans that Fit Your Budget?
Most agencies won’t share transparent pricing plans on their site, as the prices will change slightly based on your specific project. For example, if you’re migrating away from BigCommerce to Shopify, if you’re bringing over a lot of data, if you’re requesting multiple unique landing pages, the number of SKUs you have, how detailed you want the design and user testing process, etc.
But there are general ballparks, and you can ask an agency for the lows and highs of what they offer.
Factor 6: Is the Statement of Work Clear and are Key Factors Defined?
You’re likely going to have several email threads going with your potential dev and design agency. But make sure you know that just because something was mentioned in email that doesn’t mean it’s been agreed upon.
You want a clear and explicitly defined statement of work (SOW).
Your SOW, should have:
- Deliverables listed out.
- Turnaround time mapped.
- Communication channels and updates defined.
- How many iterative processes are going to be offered.
- What does the post-launch maintenance look like
