Hiring An Agency vs Freelancers: Who’s Right For Your eCommerce Store?
Just seeing the title, you may assume that we’ll point you to an agency. After all, we are an agency. But, before Coderapper, we were freelancers too! We definitely know the struggles (a post for another day perhaps) and the kind of roles that a one-man army would be able to ace. We also know that some projects definitely need an agency.
But, do you know if you should be hiring a freelancer or an agency for the project you have in mind?
Who you hire depends on the kind of requirement you have, the complexity and time duration of your project, and your budget. We’ll break this down for you below.
Difference between Agencies and Freelancers
Why An Agency is the Right Choice For Your eCommerce Business
1. You need ongoing and long-term support
If you require ongoing assistance with your eCommerce business, whether it’s managing your marketing or social media from end-to-end, an agency can provide you with a dedicated manager to deliver your work consistently.
Unlike a freelancer, an agency is structured to provide long-term services, with dedicated account managers following through with the project and communicating with you regularly with updates.
2. You have large projects and want to track specific metrics for them
Want to set up your marketing from scratch and hit specific targets or want to set up a full customer journey funnel and track its success? Large projects like these require multiple specialists and take time and dedication. To pull off such projects on your own would require hiring a team from scratch.
Agencies have the bandwidth and the resources to pull in multiple stakeholders to handle the project from start to finish. The account manager would be able to keep tasks within timelines, track the project’s performance, and tweak the strategy as required.
3. You’re hiring them for their expertise in the field, not just for a service
When you hire an agency, you’re also hiring them for their expertise in eCommerce and the kind of services they provide. Having worked with brands similar to yours, agencies would have more insight into what would work with the project, with benchmarks and learnings to help them execute the project and achieve results.
4. You need a team of experts with more time and bandwidth to focus on your brand
If the task at hand is just writing product descriptions, a freelancer would do. But, if you want to set up your store’s branding, customize the design for your website, and develop it from scratch, an agency would be right for you.
An agency would consist of multiple different team members specialized in different domains, ensuring that every part of your project is handled by experienced eCommerce professionals.
5. Quality assurance is a fundamental part of the process
When you’re working with a freelancer, reviewing and ensuring quality of the work they do falls on your plate. But, with an agency, quality assurance is integrated within the project and prioritized at every stage of the project.
This means that as an eCommerce merchant, you never have to worry about low-quality work being shipped out from your store nor have to be hands-on with the project.
6. You want the project to be owned and driven by the stakeholder
As a merchant, you have quite a lot on your plate. So, it makes more sense to hand over the project to the hired team and only check in to get high-level details. You don’t need to be involved in every step.
When working with an agency, you can trust the eCommerce experts that you’ve hired to own the project from start to finish. This way, you can spend your time on more important tasks on your list.
How CodeRapper Works With eCommerce Businesses
Our team of eCommerce experts at CodeRapper work with eCommerce stores across the globe to help them with different kinds of projects— from site audits to custom design to platform development to marketing.
We help businesses identify their needs, set goals for the project, and bring in different stakeholders within our agency as required. Having years of industry knowledge and understanding benchmarks for success allows our agency to work with eCommerce brands and help them achieve their goals.
If you are looking to grow your eCommerce brand, you can reach out to us at hello@coderapper.com.