Why you should hire a professional to build your Shopify store

Shopify is a leading SaaS-based platform that hosts online stores for over a million merchants globally, including celebrity brands and e-commerce moguls. The platform enables entrepreneurs to sell digital and physical products online.

Expert services enable you to exploit Shopify’s capabilities for your business. A Shopify expert can manage your Shopify store professionally and optimize the platform for your business. 

In this article, we reveal the importance of hiring a Shopify expert, explain how to find one, and discuss the best way to test their Shopify skills. Let’s dive in.

What is a Shopify expert?

A Shopify expert is a highly skilled developer with extensive knowledge and experience in designing websites and managing stores on the Shopify platform. They are trusted professionals, typically recognized by Shopify as experts in growing your store.

Why should you hire a Shopify expert?

Your Shopify store will be ineffective if you cannot optimize it properly for your business.

Below are some of the main reasons why you should hire an expert to manage your Shopify store:

1. Quality work

Shopify experts deliver quality services to achieve a brand’s aim and satisfy customers. They can customize your online store and use digital marketing tools, ensuring that your store is attractive and functional.

It’s helpful to check individual work portfolios to find a Shopify expert with a high-quality work output. That way, you can identify which would add the most value to your business in a short period.

2. Time saver

Delegating an aspect of your business for an expert to manage helps you focus on other business tasks. Shopify experts can reliably oversee your brand and reduce your workload.

Note that Shopify professionals have varied estimated times of arrival (ETAs) for completing a project. Therefore, you should endeavor to establish your requirements and choices before hiring.

3. Improved customer experience

Shopify experts can significantly bolster your business strategies. With a Shopify professional, you can be confident they can complete their projects in a customer-oriented manner once you establish customer concerns. 

Their input enhances user experience and customer loyalty to your brand, leading to increased customer service satisfaction. 

4. Continuous technical advice

Hiring a professional for your Shopify store ensures constant support for as long as they work with you. They will always provide technical advice and consultations for situations in which you may be stuck. 

This consultation service helps you update your services and continually improve your brand.

How to find the right Shopify expert

It’s one thing to understand the value of an expert for your brand, but it’s another to know where to find the best ones.

Here are three steps to help you find the right Shopify expert:

1. Ask the community

The easiest method of finding a credible professional is by asking other businesses. In whatever community you belong to, you can usually find entrepreneurs who have needed Shopify experts for their companies. 

Note that you shouldn’t hire anyone based on mere recommendation. Research the recommended professionals on their websites or social media platforms to discover their business models. 

You can also check for customer reviews and projects with past clients to evaluate the value they have given to other businesses.

2. Check the experts’ directory

If it proves difficult to get an expert that suits your business needs through recommendations, you can use the Shopify Experts directory. You can filter your search by city and keyword if you want a Shopify professional in your community.

The directory also allows you to modify your search based on specific price points and expertise. This is a good alternative, especially if your business is on a budget.

3. Evaluate the candidates 

After finding the best candidate for your business, either from community recommendations or the directory, the next step is interviewing them. The interview doesn’t need to be standardized, as the purpose of the meeting is to ensure your ideas align with theirs. 

If they live locally, you could arrange for a coffee chat to discuss the goals for your organization and the role they’ll play in achieving them. If it’s impossible to meet physically, you can engage in a virtual meeting via Zoom, FaceTime, or Skype.

These meetings are also essential for such professionals to get to know you. An expert typically has experience working with many brands and can determine if their professional relationship with you will also benefit them. 

It is good practice to ask questions based on the skills Shopify experts require during the interviews. Technical skills in JavaScript and JQuery and soft skills like communication skills are important in this profession.

A reliable way to test for these skills is to use a pre-screening test. A pre-screening test can help you assess your candidates’ skills in developing, customizing, and running a Shopify store.

TestGorilla has a comprehensive Shopify expert test just for this purpose.

Recommended reading: How to hire a Shopify expert to level-up your e-commerce store

What to look out for in a Shopify expert

A Shopify expert has technical abilities and offers special services that distinguish them from non-specialists. To identify an expert, here are some factors to look out for:

1. Ownership of a professional website

A Shopify expert must have a professional website that communicates unique and high-quality services. An amateurish website interface reflects a low level of expertise and can be discouraging. 

The site should have a portfolio of past works, a list of the Shopify services they provide, and their price points.

2. Ability to provide free bug fixes and minor updates

A freelance Shopify professional who doesn’t add bug fixes and minor updates to their offer might be unsuited to accomplishing a project in the first instance. It’s normal to want minor modifications to a project. 

Experienced professionals make minor adjustments without requesting payment for a new milestone.

3. Perfect understanding of Shopify’s APIs

Shopify professionals use APIs to convert an ordinary site into an enriched e-commerce store. Invariably, they must know about the different available APIs and how to use them. 

To determine this, you can research available APIs and ask the Shopify developer to describe and explain them. You can also ask them about Shopify’s coding language.

4. Ability to offer support and maintenance services

Support services and continuous consultancy distinguishes a mediocre professional from an expert. Experts are always willing to solve subsequent user-based or database problems. 

Ideally, you can find this information on their website and determine if they offer free maintenance services for a few months or charge immediately after the initial project is completed. 

5. Transparent communication

Clear communication and clarity are crucial to developing a Shopify web store as any misunderstanding can lead to unsatisfactory work and extra costs. 

A Shopify expert communicates clearly and timely to ensure they reflect the wishes of their clients. You can email them to assess the level of clarity in their response as well as the response time.

6. Ability to provide comprehensive estimated times of arrival quickly

Professionals have sufficient experience to know the precise requirements and time to develop a web store. This means that you can identify a professional by how clearly and timely they send a proper estimated time of arrival for the project. 

The ETA (estimated time of arrival) should contain a detailed list of items for the project and their cost implications. 

Identify Shopify experts with TestGorilla’s Shopify test

Recruiters can be naturally biased because even subtle details can affect an employer’s hiring decision. A candidate’s birthplace, hair color, age, or even religion can all influence whether or not they are shortlisted for an interview and, in turn, the job.

To control this bias and ensure you hire suitable candidates, you can use TestGorilla’s Shopify test to assess a candidate based on their level of expertise in managing a Shopify store. 

This pre-screening test examines candidates for crucial aspects of Shopify development: web store development, store management, advanced modifications, and the use of apps to further its functionality. 

Anyone who performs well on this Shopify test has extensive knowledge of the Shopify platform and sufficient experience to help you develop your Shopify store adequately.

Furthermore, this test reveals your candidates’ abilities to write in Liquid and how much they understand Shopify’s applications and features.

Register here to access our assessment options and sign up for a free plan.