9 Questions To Ask Before Hiring A New WooCommerce Developer

In this guide, I’ll show you what questions to ask before hiring a WooCommerce developer.

Use these questions I put together below to identify what team or freelancer is right for you.

1. Can I see examples of your portfolio?

Your website represents your business reputation online. Don’t discount your business by choosing an agency that does not have a portfolio.

Asking an agency for actual sites they have created gives you a better idea of how they work and the quality of their work.

We provide examples of work for my agency on our customer stories page.

2. How does your process work?

Why ask how the process works? A lot of WordPress and WooCommerce agencies don’t follow a process and leads to a website that is delayed, over budget, and not looking how you would like!

Picking a team that has a clear and thought out development process will take more time but is the best strategy in the long run.

A good fit for you will be someone who has a process similar to this:

Phase 0. Discovery and Strategy

Define clients goals of website, collect written content and images, and plan how your website will achieve these goals.

Phase 1. Strategy + Project Kick-Off

Any project must begin with an established strategy in order to define what success means to you.

At SG Web, we begin each project with in-depth market research to better understand the primary users and their needs.

This process helps to pave the way for developing a detailed strategy.

Requirements are not just written down and built into a solution – the team identifies key metrics of success with the information to ensure the final product will hit those performance goals and ensure project success.

Phase 2. Design

Create custom design mockups for the client to review.

Phase 3. Development – Agile Methodology

During this phase, daily collaboration and mandatory weekly meetings allow the SG Web project manager to:

  • Talk and communicate to the entire team
  • Keep abreast of the project status
  • Manage critical decisions on a continuous basis throughout the development process.

Phase 4. Testing + QA

Website soft launch – at this time, we will be able to show you the website on a staging server (in coded format).

This is our opportunity to ensure the website is functioning correctly, and all the technical and business goals have been met.

After the website has been tested and approved, it will be passed along to your team to review and prepare for launch.

5. Launch + Training

After the website has been tested and approved, we will launch the site!

3. What are my responsibilities?

Knowing what you’re going to be responsible for is important.

Full service agencies will offer web design, web development, SEO, content writing, and social media.

At SG, we do not offer SEO, content writing, or social media services. Instead, we only focus on web design and development because that is something we can promise 100% EXECUTION on EVERY project.

Asking your agency up front is a good way to set expectations of who is responsible for what.

For example, at SG, the client is responsible for providing us written content, photography, and collaborating together to identify the goals of the site.

4. Do you have testimonials of your work?

Has the agency worked on WooCommerce projects before?

To get a better idea of their service, type the agency name into Google and see what past customers have reviewed.

Do you see any bad ratings? Be CERTAIN to bring this up when you talk to your agency.

Any agency with multiple 1, 2, or 3 star ratings should be a immediate pass.

google-reviews-minneapolis-web-design
SG has over 20 5 star reviews on Google!

5. How much will my WooCommerce website cost?

The pricing conversation doesn’t have to be awkward.

Asking your agency about a price range as soon as you are able to.

Finding the agency who can offer you the most value for your money is essential.

Pro tip: Use our ecommerce calculator quiz to get an instant estimate of what your project will cost. This is great to get a feel for pricing!

6. How long will my project take?

You likely do not expect your store to be live in 5 days. However, you do not want this process to take 6 months.

Typically, if you are looking for a high quality WooCommerce website expect this process to take at least 2-3 months.

Pro tip: Watch out for anyone claiming they can redesign and develop your website in under a month.

7. Will my website be mobile responsive?

How frustrating is it to go to a website and see that it isn’t mobile responsive?

Responsive design is undoubtedly one of the most important elements of your ecommerce site. Without it, you stand to lose customers and sales.

With it, you stand to please your customers, get sales, and retain customers at a much higher rate.

Mobile access to the internet is on a major incline as everybody uses their phone or tablet to surf the web now.

50% of Google searches now come from mobile devices.

To get a visual of our work on mobile, see a few WooCommerce projects we have worked with on:

If your site doesn’t translate between devices and screen sizes, you’re going to lose customers, because 61% of users will leave a website when they encounter problems with optimization.

8. Do I receive training on how to update the site?

Does your prospective web team offer training on how to edit your WooCommerce site after the project is complete?

A benefit of working with us is we offer training for our clients post launch. Not everyone does this. We do because this adds a lot of value to our offering.

Why is training important?

We develop the site so you’re able to easily update your site in the future. We don’t believe in you calling us 2 months after the site is launched to ask how to update your heading text or add a new product photo. The customer experience is important to us and finding a partner who offers training is something that sets us apart from the competition.

9. Who owns the website after the launch?

When the website is complete does the agency own the website or do you? Some agencies have their client’s “lease” their website to them for a monthly fee. Others (like us!), allow you to host your website on the hosting platform of your choosing after the website is launched.

Asking this question before engaging in a contract with an agency will provide peace of mind during this process that someone is not going to hold your site hostage.

Summary

Overall, use these questions the next time you are interviewing a Minneapolis WooCommerce agency.

It definitely helps to have a few questions to get started with so you can focus on finding the best fit for your company.

Looking to get started on a project? Find out more information about how to work with us by filling out our project planner.

Simon Gondeck

I’m a big fan of WordPress + WooCommerce (especially WooCommerce Subscriptions). Check out my YouTube channel.

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