Best bang for the buck for the non-geek and geek alike!
September 16, 2019

Best bang for the buck for the non-geek and geek alike!

Sandi Keller | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Pro

Overall Satisfaction with BigCommerce

BigCommerce is our Store and since connecting to Klayvio our CRM too. We use our BC site for retail and for our dealers to log in and purchase, which BC does quite well with its ability to create Customer Groups with different levels of site access and pricing. BC addresses the problem from a customer service stand point of being able to keep things in one place and keep tract of notes per order both that the customer can see and private ones that they can't. I also utilize built-in merchant services with the Braintree service. I spent 4 years with another platform and had our own merchant services and I can say, much fewer headaches with the BC system of things and added bonus is the cost isn't really anymore either. I am a 1 woman show from the product design, website updates, marketing all the way thru customer service, so I greatly appreciate the BC platform for being able to keep things as contained as possible, from time to money management its a huge help.
  • Template design: Defiantly in the last 2 years has gotten much better and on par with any other platform out there. They have introduced some really great templates that now have flair and style and go beyond the "Cart" vibe. We are a unique brand and always appreciate being able to make a template our own and get our values and vibe across from the moment you land on our store.
  • Customer Service: I have tried other platforms and when it comes to customer service, BC is the best I've seen! Quite often I have to work on the website during the night and appreciate the 24/7 chat availability of support when I have a question or am just not finding the answer in the help area (which really has happened and been feeling stupid after). They are always knowledgeable and very friendly, their customer service alone makes up for the few things I wish BC had.
  • App and widget ease: Almost anywhere there might be an industry-specific detail needed, there is an app or widget for it that is easy to install right from the admin panel of BC. Most are quite affordable or free. The biggest one we use is Klayvio for our email marketing, funnel and flows perfectly with the BC system for CRM too.
  • Bulk Edit: The bulk edit feature really isn't much of a bulk edit, to be honest. The only things you can really change are the sale price and maybe inventory qty. A platform we were on before we used the bulk edit all the time because it was so perfect. Some real time saving adds to it would be: The ability to turn free shipping on and off/The ability to change all the pricing including MSRP/The ability to update the "availability" text/The ability to change the bin picking number, sort order, featured and visible.
  • Coupon Codes: I wish there was an easier way to work with the coupon codes. The ability to sort or search them would be hugely helpful.
  • A big factor for us was having the unlimited visitor ability without an increase in cost making our marketing much easier. Our brand is one that takes a minimum of 4-7 visits before a customer commits. our previous platform charged on bandwidth so we had to really watch our marketing efforts, with BC we have been able to experience a minimum of 20% increase in sales year after year without any worry of our site costing us every penny of profit. This alone has given us the ability to expand the line with more than twice the amount of products we make, in turn giving our customers more options.
because we design our own products we are only limited by our own imagination. Big Commerce takes the worry about the ability to add products and market them to our customers out of the equation.
We use Klayvio for our email and funnel marketing and it works seamlessly and flawlessly as does our shipping integration (ShipRush)
I spent 4 years on the Volusion platform. While being a website geek and loving all the options I had to make it very unique and specific, and the bulk edit for products was amazing, Volusion charging for bandwidth usage as well as the whole back end would be much more difficult for a non-geek to use and why I wouldn't recommend them to any of my industry friends (most are newbs in the website realm). BC is much easier to learn, manage and grow with.

Shopify I have researched and even done the free trial a couple of times, It was probably the biggest competitor in my opinion when I was searching to leave Volusion. While it has a couple of great perks/bells and whistles to it in regards design and flow for a customer, it is quite a bit more expensive the BC, Shopify has less built-in options (would have to pay for quite a few add ons/apps) and being not friendly at all to our industry friends that did go with them, I'm beyond glad I went with BigCommerce!
I have had quite a few of my industry friends come over to BC on my recommendation and, in fact, I'm currently helping one in the set up of their first website/store. I did research other platforms for her to be able to show her why BC was the best option, the most value and also added that for her not having any website experience it would be the easiest for her to maintain herself. That has been a huge selling point I have made to others when it comes to BC—the fact they can now maintain it themselves over having to pay someone a hundred bucks every time they want to make a change and having to wait for that person to get around to doing it. They can make changes quickly and on the fly as needed themselves and better market themselves because of it.

BigCommerce Feature Ratings

Product catalog & listings
8
Product management
6
Bulk product upload
Not Rated
Branding
9
Mobile storefront
8
Product variations
9
Website integration
9
Visual customization
9
CMS
Not Rated
Abandoned cart recovery
4
Checkout user experience
8
eCommerce security
9
Promotions & discounts
6
Personalized recommendations
6
SEO
8
Multi-site management
9
Order processing
9
Inventory management
7
Shipping
7
Custom functionality
9

Using BigCommerce

1 - I am a lone ranger from product design to customer service and BigCommerce helps me be able to do everything myself, affordably.
  • Retail Sales
  • Wholesale Sales
  • Customer Management
  • We've been able to set ourselves apart and have our website be as unique as we are in our industry
  • To integrate with Amazon
After seeing what else is out there.. it's the best bang for the buck!

Evaluating BigCommerce and Competitors

Yes - We were on the Volusion platform for 4 years. We finally started to see some traffic come to the website and our cost due to bandwidth almost tippled in price. We didn't have an increase in sales (due to the number of visits it takes for someone to purchase our products), so we couldn't afford the cost of Volusion and expect to grow our business at all.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
I did the free trial of BC and a few others simultaneously when looking to make the change, and BC was the most user friendly, had the ability to customize it to be unique as we are and the most cost effective.
I wouldn't! I have actually gone thru the process since for friends and found myself recommending BC every time

BigCommerce Support

Because they are always there no matter how simple or complex the question is, if they don't know the answer they don't fake it and just make you go away feeling frustrated.. they get you to someone that does know the answer. I always appreciate their help and their honesty!
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
No - BC's support is so spot on and their knowledge base is so extensive that I can usually find an answer on my own but those times I can't or I am pressed for time they are right there thru the chat and usually have the answer.
Yes - I have had I think 2 times I have had to go beyond the chat for the issue to be resolved. Each time it was taken care of with either an explanation on why or just fixed.
Oh, heavens there are so many times they have been exceptional! I always make sure, especially during those 2am chats to tell the support person how much I love that they are there and that they are so helpful. One night I had been working on a big change I was making on the site and been at it for 10+ hours, I was so tired and knew my question was probably beyond simple and easily found in the help section, but I was just too tired to put the effort in.. hit that chat and got a great gentleman to help me.. I apologized to him because he did have to hold my hand that night thru the question but he did it and with a smile in his voice.

Using BigCommerce

Very easy..
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None