A qualified BigCommerce developer can revolutionize the look and feel of your website by coding and integrating custom apps and developing unique, custom functionality.
But knowing whom to hire can be a bit of a trial. Naturally, a part and parcel of the process is to read through reviews so you know what you’ll be getting.
However, you should be cautious when reading reviews because some are more valuable than others. Here’s how to sift through reviews like a pro.
The Problem with Reviews That Appear on the Agency Website
It makes sense for you to check the BigCommerce developer’s website first for reviews and testimonials.
But this can be a serious pitfall of hiring a developer. Here’s the issue.
Think about the incentive a company has to promote itself. It’s pretty high, right? It’s in their best interest to gild the lily. Not to lie, necessarily, but to curate the impression produced.
What we mean is, companies have total discretion over the reviews and testimonials they make readily available to potential customers.
For instance, let’s just say that hypothetically a BigCommerce developer only has a 30% satisfaction rating.
So there are 70% negative reviews submitted. The thing is, the developer has total control over what reviews appear on their website.
Either the developer itself or its website administrator can pick and choose what reviews to publish. It can select from the positive reviews and publish only those if it likes.
That also means that if you look on the website and they only display the positive reviews, it’ll look to a prospective client as though customer satisfaction is 100%.
But that is not the case, as has been illustrated here.
The other thing is the website admin can solicit positive reviews from only the customers that he or she knows are going to be positive, further entrenching the misleading positive appeal.
So, what can you as a potential customer do to get a clearer, less biased image of what sort of service the developer offers?
Don’t just limit your exposure to the developer’s website. There are other places you can look where you’ll be able to see reviews that the developer won’t be able to touch.
Where Else to Look?
One great place to look for potentially unbiased reviews is Google. Thousands if not tens of thousands of people leave Google reviews each month and the entities they review do not have control over what gets displayed.
So, if there are lots of unhappy reviews, you will see that.
Another place to look is Clutch, as is Birdeye, for the same reason. Review boards and forums are a great place to start.
Now here’s a word of caution. This post is not meant to discourage you from reading reviews on a developer or agency website. Just balance them by reading disinterested reviews published elsewhere.
Also, make sure you’re just as leary of a collection of reviews that seems all negative as you’d be of an overly positive assortment of reviews.
There should be some balance. Anything too positive or too negative is suspicious.
Still Not Sure Where to Start with a BigCommerce Developer? Start with BigCommerce
Before you get to reading reviews of BigCommerce developers, you need to have a list of potential options. If you don’t know where to start with that, your BigCommerce representative may be able to help.
The thing about BigCommerce is that it’s so big it supports its own ecosystem, and many of the participants are developers. Talk with your rep about your goals and see if he or she has any specific recommendations for a developer – you may be pleasantly surprised.
