After we saw the rollout of four different certification programs by Magento aimed at developers, project managers and business analysts (all those behind-the-scenes folks), we couldn’t help but feel there was something missing. There was nothing in store for the ones in the very heart of every eCommerce transaction – the customers.
So, we have joined forces with several of our favorite Magento community members gathered around #RealMagento hashtag and are proud to present the first unofficial certification program in the Magento ecosystem – Magento Certified Customer and Magento Certified Customer Plus!
Wait, what?
You heard it right – we are about to launch a certification program aimed at customers who are shopping on online stores powered by Magento platform.
[Before you continue…]
Please check the date when this article was published – it was prepared as an April Fools’ Day joke, similar to these we did in past years:
- Magento Imagine coming to Europe – hosted by Croatia
- Magento certification cheat sheet revealed!
- Inchoo goes public!
I hope you enjoy it – now keep on reading with your safety goggles on 🙂
Why would you do that?
First and foremost – to pay tribute to those who are actually keeping us all in business – paying customers. Without these modern-day heroes who diligently swipe their cards day in, day out, all of our work would be in vain.
And there are some customers who really know their way around online stores, so we figured, why not let them verify their know-how and have something to show for it.
Certification overview
Pretty much like with the official developer certifications, there will be two levels of customer certification – Customer and Customer Plus.
Both will need to cover the same basic and intermediate knowledge of finding their way around various Magento-powered online stores, with Plus exam covering some of the advanced purchasing techniques and aimed only at highly experienced shoppers.
Magento Certified Customer
A Magento Certified Customer is a person who is able to demonstrate the deep knowledge of finding the right product, the right coupon code and the right payment and shipping option throughout their purchase path.
As we are all painfully aware, some online stores go out of their way to discourage online shoppers from actually completing a purchase, so the persistence in finding that add to cart button on a cluttered product page and showing grace in face of an extremely slow site are the traits of a true Magento Certified Customer.
In addition to those, some of the areas specifically tested during the exam are:
- finding the right stores and product(s) – basic search engine usage
- shopping internationally – switching languages and currencies
- best practices in getting around and using My Account interface
- on-site and off-site (redirect) payment options
- shopping responsively – using all available devices (even refrigerators)
- wishlist management
- site search
- discount coupon redemption
- tips and tricks for engaging customer service
Magento Certified Customer Plus
Building on all the topics covered in the MCC exam, those who’d like to show off a bit more and earn some bragging rights among their peers by obtaining an MCC+ badge should, among other things, be able to showcase their advanced online shopping skills by:
- being able to get to the bottom of an infinite scroll
- keeping perfectly calm when faced with a pop-up within a pop-up
- bypassing all obstacles and actually proceeding to checkout in IE6
- making an actual purchase off of a demo store
The badge and the rewards
In addition to obvious bragging rights and having a nice badge to flash around, first 100 customers who pass the exam will receive a unique discount coupon valid on every single online store powered by Magento platform worldwide.
With this code they will be entitled to a 25% store-wide discount for any purchase made. The coupon can be used without any limits until a first stable release of Magento 2 is published.
When is it rolling out, how much does it cost and how do I take the exam?
We will make the official announcement of this unofficial certification program at this year’s Imagine Commerce conference.
The exam itself will be completely free of charge, however you will need to travel to Inchoo offices in Osijek, Croatia as the actual exam can only be taken here.
This is where we have set up special state-of-the-art workstations that will monitor exam participants’ every move while browsing through and making purchases off of a number of Magento online stores that have been pre-selected by our own UX experts.
We will be happy to welcome you so you can start showing off those certificate badges. For any assistance with travel arrangements, you can contact us using our standard contact form.
See you soon in Osijek!
