How to Hire a Shopify Expert (and Who I Recommend)

How to Hire a Shopify Expert (and Who I Recommend)

Most “best Shopify expert” lists are directories someone was paid to appear on. This one is short, because I only put people on it that I would hand my own client work to, and that is a small number.

Before the names, the part that matters more: how to tell a good one from an expensive one.

What to check before you hire anyone

What to check before hiring a Shopify expert: ask to see a real account rather than a screenshot, ask what they would look at first, ask who else will touch the account, and ask what they would refuse to do

Ask to see an account, not a case study. A case study is a story someone wrote about themselves. Ask to be walked through a real account, live, with the parts that did not work still visible. Anyone good has those and will explain them.

Ask what they would look at first in your store, and why. The answer tells you how they think. If someone wants to talk about creative before they have asked about your margin, your AOV or your fulfilment times, they are selling a service rather than solving your problem.

Ask who else will touch the account. At an agency, the person selling is rarely the person doing. That is not disqualifying, but you should know whose hands it ends up in before you sign.

Ask what they would refuse to do. Good practitioners have a list. No list usually means no opinions.

Check the unglamorous work first. Feed quality, tracking, and fulfilment decide the ceiling on everything downstream. Someone who leads with those is thinking about your business. Someone who leads with creative is thinking about the part that is fun to show you.

Freelancer or agency

If you are early, and the work is one or two channels, a freelancer is usually better value and you get the person you actually hired. An agency earns its premium when you need several disciplines at once, or when you need cover if one person goes on holiday.

I wrote the longer version of this comparison in freelancer vs agency for Shopify ads.

Who I recommend

Utsav S

New Jersey, USA. Around six years across Facebook Ads, Shopify store builds and ongoing support, with a long tail of stores behind him. I send him work when the job is store build and support rather than pure media buying.

Works with: clients worldwide Strongest at: Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Klaviyo

Email Utsav

Working with me

I am the author of this page rather than an entry on it, so take the following as what it is.

I run data and operations engineering for a DTC brand and take a small amount of outside consulting: paid media, feed and tracking work, and the AI workflows that sit behind support and fulfilment. Most of what I know is written up on this site, including the beauty brand case study and the Shopify marketing checklist.

If that is the kind of help you need, book a call. If it is not, the checks above will serve you better than any list will.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Shopify expert cost?
Freelancers commonly work hourly or on a monthly retainer. Hourly suits a defined piece of work like a theme fix or a feed cleanup. A retainer suits ongoing work like paid media, where someone needs to be in the account every week. Ask what the retainer actually covers in hours and deliverables, because the same number can mean very different amounts of attention.
Should I hire a Shopify freelancer or an agency?
If you are early and the work is one or two channels, a freelancer is usually better value and you get the person you hired. An agency makes sense when you need several disciplines at once, or cover when one person is unavailable. The tradeoff is that at an agency the person who sells you the work is rarely the person doing it.
What should I ask a Shopify expert before hiring them?
Ask to see an account they have run, not a screenshot. Ask what they would check in your store first and why. Ask what they would refuse to do. Ask who else is on the account. Vague answers to any of these are the signal.
How do I know if a Shopify expert is any good?
Look for someone who asks about your margins and your fulfilment before they talk about ad creative. Shopify work that ignores unit economics tends to produce impressive platform numbers and disappointing bank balances.
Do I need a Shopify Plus partner?
Only if you are on Shopify Plus or close to it. Below that, Plus-badged agencies are usually priced for larger accounts and the badge tells you nothing about whether they are good at the specific thing you need.