How to Choose the Right Magento Partner
As one of the most-popular eCommerce and content management platforms, Magento/Adobe Commerce provides one of the most robust and scalable platforms for building and managing digital stores. While some platforms are more accessible for smaller operations, Magento’s end-result quality and sophistication are unmatched.
It’s open-source or licensed version are both scalable, flush with features, and outperforms its “generic” counterparts.
Given the capabilities, however, Magento requires specialized expertise. eCommerce businesses looking to leverage the platform need to begin by asking themselves how to choose a Magento partner that’s right for them.
Why the Right Partner Makes the Difference
Given the platform’s customizability, massive ecosystem of third party modules and integration capabilities, Magento is an ideal solution for designing and developing an eCommerce website. However, the challenge Magento presents many organizations with is actually having too much potential—they don’t know where to begin or how to maximize the platforms’ functionality and capabilities.
In a nutshell, Magento is only as effective as the team that builds, integrates, and deploys it.
Therefore, demonstrable and specialized Magento expertise should be the foremost priority for eCommerce businesses seeking a partner. In which case, it’s imperative that you consider three factors when searching for your new partner.
#1 Ensure Your Prospective Partner is Magento Certified
As with other products in their creative suite, Adobe offers professional certifications for partner organizations and individuals. For Magento, the platform’s complexity necessitates developers with expert knowledge for quality results.
Magento Certifications
Adobe provides different certifications for Magento specialists but here are the most common ones:
- Magento 2 Certified – Developers that pass four or more Magento 2 certification exams.
- Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer – Developers that demonstrate a deep understanding of Magento 2 source code customization, according to Magento best practices.
- Magento Certified Professional Cloud Developer – Developers that demonstrate skills and requisite knowledge to deploy, test, troubleshoot, and operate a Magento 2 Cloud environment.
- Magento 2 Certified Solution Specialist – Developers that demonstrate a deep understanding of how to use Magento 2’s functionalities to accommodate eCommerce business goals per Magento best practices.
Note that one Magento certification often isn’t sufficient for comprehensive site design, development, and support. Each Magento certification is dedicated to a different aspect your site will require up to and after a successful launch. You’ll want to evaluate partners that can operate as a “Magento agency,” staffed by numerous certified developers and specialists.
Check Adobe Partnership Status
Aside from their certifications dedicated to specific Adobe suite products, your evaluation should consider their prospective partner’s status with the Adobe Solutions Partnership Program (SPP).
To achieve SPP membership for Magento, partners must demonstrate:
- eCommerce and Magento expertise
- Proven skills comprising:
- Design
- Development
- Integration
- Marketing skills
- A successful history of Magento implementations
In 2020, our team became certified as an Adobe Solution Silver Partner. These accolades separate successful partnerships from the rest.
“Specialized” Designations
Beyond official Adobe recognition, certain SPP partners may earn a “Specialized” designation. Organizations that achieve Adobe specialization must earn a minimum number of Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) credentials particular to a given application, among other requirements.
Given the expertise necessary to maximize Magento’s potential, your partner evaluations should target SPPs that have earned a specialization in “Commerce” applications.
#2 Ensure Your Prospective Partner Facilitates Site Integration
Although specialized, platform-specific expertise must be the primary criteria by which eCommerce businesses evaluate potential Magento partners, you can only do so much with a site in isolation. To make the most of your eCommerce site, you’ll need to integrate it with your various management and IT resources.
Businesses today rely on a variety of “Software-as-a-Service” (SaaS) and other cloud or on-premise implementations to streamline their management and operations. SaaS platforms can provide integrable platforms for:
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Content management systems (CMS)
- Project management services
- Email marketing platforms
- Customer-facing support ticketing
SaaS services quickly become integral to operational efficiency, but their benefits significantly diminish if your employees manually enter and verify data for each platform.
Instead, integrations establish direct communications between all of your SaaS platforms—minimizing manual management, consistently keeping every system up-to-date, and ensuring data accuracy.
Integration Complexity and Customization
While some integrations are more standard and available, your business will likely require dedicated, custom-built connections or purpose-specific configurations. Unfortunately, some Magento partners may adopt a “one-size-fits-all” approach to integrations—only for their clients to discover that “one-size-doesn’t-fit-them.”
It’s essential to verify that your Magento partner can facilitate all of the SaaS integrations your eCommerce site and overall business needs require.
Per SaaS platform, your partner should be able to develop integrations ranging from specialized application programming interfaces (APIs) to generated, batch-import Comma Separated Value (CSV) files—regardless of their direction capabilities and complexity.
Nearly all Magento partners uses a combination of onshore and offshore model for some aspect of site and integration development. Therefore, a critical consideration for your evaluations is a partner that will deliver quality work and facilitate prompt communication under any circumstance.
#3 Assess Your Prospective Partner’s Portfolio
If your prospective Magento partner has achieved SPP and “specialized” status, they’ll have demonstrated to Adobe a successful track record of eCommerce site developments using the platform.
However, you should still review their portfolio of published eCommerce sites to ensure that they can deliver to your expectations.
Beyond a Magento partner’s portfolio, how successful have their sites’ performance been?
If prospective partners provide case studies, you’ll want to review those as well to see the impact they’ll provide. If case studies aren’t available, ask for site improvement metrics such as:
- Sales numbers
- Organic search results
- (Landing) page bounce rates and click-through rates (CTRs)
- Conversion rates
- Integration and Customization Capabilities
DotcomWeavers—Magento Specialists Turned Partners
Finding the ideal Magento partner takes careful consideration, meticulousness, and plenty of communication. So, now that you’ve started the work, let us finish it.
At DotcomWeavers, we’re a team of passionate and experienced Magento specialists working to realize your eCommerce vision. Whether you need help with design, development, integration, or consultation, we’ve spent the last 14 years successfully delivering on more than 400 projects.
As for the accolades and acknowledgments outlined above, we check every box.
Schedule a consultation with us today!
