If you’re looking for top Shopify tips that can help you create a great store, we’ve got you covered in this article.
We will highlight Shopify store tips you can implement no matter where you are in your Shopify store ownership journey.
If all that sounds great to you, let’s get started!
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28 Top Shopify store tips for building a great business
According to Failory, most new ecommerce stores fail to reach their potential because of reasons like the following:
- Bad User design/experience.
- Failing to implement the right marketing strategy or understand how to use the right tools and technology.
- Poor product content, money management, and pricing, among others?
We brought this to your attention not to scare you but to show you that your Shopify store may not do as well as you’d hoped if you don’t implement the right business strategies.
Fortunately, you can avoid many of these mistakes with these practical Shopify store tips.
Let’s dive right in. Shall we?
1. Choose an attractive Shopify theme
The first step to creating a great Shopify ecommerce store is choosing a suitable theme based on your niche and audience.
Themes are visual designs for your store and are one of the essential parts of any Shopify store.
Luckily, you do not have to create your store theme from scratch or hire a developer because you can find a variety of Shopify themes.
The great thing is that Shopify has many theme options to suit different ecommerce stores at different levels and niches.
For example, you can filter your theme choice based on price (free or paid), industry, catalog size, and features.
Because the theme you use matters so much, here are some tips you should keep in mind when choosing a Shopify theme that’s attractive, customer-friendly, and suited for your store based on your niche:
- Filter down. The Shopify theme store allows you to filter down to specific themes; for example, you can filter by popularity or the many other available options. Use this feature to find store themes you believe can work for your store.
- Look at other stores in your niche to see what works. If you find a store in your niche that seems like it’s working with a look-alike audience, think about what elements of it you can apply to your store to make it stand out.
- Try different layouts. Try different layouts that show off your products so you can get an idea of which works best for your brand and product line.
For more information, check out these eight great tips on how to choose the best Shopify theme.
2. Use beautiful, high-resolution product images
Using high-quality, high-resolution product images is one of the most—if not the most—important things you can do as a Shopify store owner.
Images are so important in ecommerce that 75% of customers say images are essential to the purchase process.
Using high-quality product images ensures customers see your products in their full glory.
High-quality product photography also makes your store look more professional and decreases instances of returns due to products not matching the images.
Moreover:
Good images can be a crucial differentiator for your store and help it stand out from competitors. For example, suppose you sell high-end bags.
In that case, having a beautiful image displayed on your product page can attract customers’ attention and encourage them to buy the product.
This is something Vera Bradley does incredibly well, as the screenshot below shows:
3. Write detailed, on-point product descriptions
Write detailed product descriptions explaining your product’s features and benefits.
Good product descriptions will ensure that your customers know exactly what they’re buying before checking out.
Here are some tips to help you create stand-out product descriptions:
- Use bullet points to describe the product features and benefits.
- Include a video or image of the item to demonstrate how it works or looks. Hands-on product videos will help customers see what they’re buying and decide whether to purchase from you!
- Create an easy-to-use call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your description that encourages people to take an intended action—purchasing!
Additionally, here is a handy table covering the do's and don’ts of product descriptions:
| Do's | Don'ts |
| Show, don't tell (create a relatable scenario). | Don't tell winding stories: keep things short and relatable. |
| Focus more on the solutions–what problems does the product solve? | Don't forget to add features/specs where necessary. |
| Write to your audience, in a language they understand and find relatable. | Don't be generic; let your passion for your brand shine through in your product description copy. |
| Make it scannable and easily readable; buyers should easily manage to find key product information. | Don't go overboard, especially by telling winding stories; keep things short and to the point. |
| Choose your layout carefully based on your product and target audience. | Don't forget to address and answer all relevant questions buyers may have about your product(s). |
| Use creative visuals where necessary. | Don't overuse product-related buzzwords. |
4. Conduct market and competitor research and analysis
Thorough market research will help you understand your customers’ current trends, preferences, and needs.
Knowing this is important because it can help you create a product that fits customers’ preferences and helps them solve their problems.
Competitor analysis will also help you identify what other stores are doing well and what they are doing poorly. Observe how other stores in your industry package and price their products, how they market them, and how they price them.
By doing this, you’ll be able to create a better solution that is more compelling to your customers.
Here are a few articles that will help you further:
- How to Find Gaps in the Ecommerce Market (7 Tips)
- Finding Your Ideal Dropshipping Target Audience (2024 Guide)
5. Have a clear call to action
Make sure you have a clear call to action on every page of your Shopify store, so visitors know exactly what they need to do next.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the Good Fair uses a 'shop all' CTA on its homepage to motivate visitors to shop.
You can A/B split test and experiment with different calls to action like:
- Buy now
- Shop now
- Check out
- Contact us
6. Add product videos
Product videos are a great way to showcase your products and add value to your store.
You can use them in many ways, including:
- Adding value to your product pages.
- Adding value to your product description.
- Adding value to your product images.
- Creating a more engaging experience for customers.
Fortunately, you can use various tools like Final Cut Pro, Vimeo Create, and Pinnable Studio to create impactful product videos.
Additionally, you can ask your suppliers for product videos —this works especially well for AliExpress suppliers—or incentivize your customers into uploading hands-on product videos as part of their review.
Vera Bradley is a great case study of how to use product videos:
Alternatively, you can use a service like Billo to buy user-generated content (UGC) videos from one of their thousands of vetted video creators working from their home studios all over the United States!
It's the most accessible and affordable way to get UGC videos for your Shopify store!
Interested? You can learn more about Billo's services and pricing on their website.
7. Organize collections by customer behavior
Organizing your products into logical groups based on their purpose will make it easier for customers to find what they need to make buying decisions.
iRobot Education is an excellent example of a Shopify store that effectively uses this strategy by categorizing products based on customer needs.
Additionally, grouping your products by customer behavior will help optimize your Shopify store and generate more sales.
For example, if you sell clothing, grouping similar items may make it easier for customers looking for specific apparel products to find what they want quickly.
8. Make your store industry-specific
It can be challenging to make all your products stand out when you have a broad product line.
You can, however, create a strong product line by focusing on your target industry. For example, if you’re selling items related to fashion or beauty, then your product line should remain focused on that one industry.
For example, Vera Bradley, which we’ve mentioned severally in this article, stays industry-specific by focusing only on all types of bags.
This strategy is effective for the store because, according to Similarweb, the brand generates $500M-$1B annually and has over 4.2 million visits, which is nothing short of impressive.
The great thing about ensuring your Shopify store is industry-specific is that it will ensure that everything on your site works together and is consistent.
You’ll also find that many of the features offered by Shopify are specific to particular industries and niches. It also makes it easier for customers to see what they are looking for as they can easily search by category or brand name.
Note: As we’ve covered before, there’re upsides and downsides to doing general or niche for ecommerce or dropshipping. Choose appropriately depending on where you are in your ecommerce store journey.
9. Focus on search engine optimization (SEO)
Your Shopify store doesn’t have to be the first one people see when they search for what you’re selling.
But if your store is not visible in search results, people will never find it, which is why you should also focus on SEO.
If you want your store to rank well in Google and other search engines, focus on getting your site found by their algorithm. To do this, you’ll need to create valuable content for the web and ensure it’s optimized.
Focus on long-tail keywords. If you’re unfamiliar with the term 'long-tail keyword,' it’s the industry's fancy way of saying a more specific string of keywords.
Ranking for generic keywords used by all your competition will be an uphill task; that is why you should focus on long-tail keywords.
For example, if you’re selling bedding products, instead of using 'bedding' as your primary search term, try something like 'bedding sets queen,' bedding linen,' bedding sets kind,' etc.
Long-tail keywords are 'niche' or 'highly targeted' search terms. They are often more specific to your target audience, product, or service.
10. Create dedicated landing pages for your products
Creating a dedicated landing page for your product is one of the best ways to generate sales.
For example, Shop Justice has some very envy-worthy product landing pages for their leggings—the landing page shows the different colors and sizes available, information about shipping and returns, product details, etc.:
Landing pages are more effective than general store pages and blog posts because they target a ready-to-buy audience with an unbeatable offer.
For example, landing pages are so effective that, according to a 2018 infographic from Unbounce, service businesses that create great landing pages using fewer than 100 words tend to covert 50% more than those using more than 500 words.
Landing pages should be part of every ecommerce business owner’s strategy. Shopify has a great tutorial that will teach you how to create a landing page that converts.
Ensure you have a single navigation menu for all pages. This menu will help people navigate your site and easily find what they need. A single navigation menu makes your store more accessible.
Fortunately, Shopify has clear instructions on how to create and edit a menu, irrespective of whether you’re using a desktop, iPhone, or android:
12. Create a consistent look and feel across your website
It’s vital to ensure that all your pages have the same look, feel, and functionality.
If a page looks and feels entirely different from all your pages, it may puzzle your audience.
Additionally, having many differently-designed pages may impact your brand consistency, making your store easy to forget.
13. Use Shopify CDN
A great Shopify store should load fast; ideally, all pages should load in under two seconds. CDNs are a great way to reduce load times on your site.
A CDN service hosts your website’s files across multiple servers, which means that when someone visits your store, they don’t have to load all of the files from your server; they pull down the page from the CDN’s server. This can save you up to 50% of bandwidth.
A CDN also allows you to use server and browser-side caching, which can help your store load faster.
Cache files work like browser cookies but remain unsaved on the user’s device; instead, they are saved in the browser cache and used later when the user revisits the same website. This speeds up page load times and reduces server load.
Page load speeds are super important in ecommerce. For example, according to research data by Portent, conversion rates decrease by 4.42% for every additional second of load time beyond 0-5 seconds.
14. Optimize images
Image optimization involves reducing your image file sizes without compromising quality to ensure your pages load faster because, as mentioned above, page load speeds are integral to the ecommerce process.
Because they are usually the most significant contributors to page sizes, optimizing your images by compressing their size, height, and width —without compromising quality—can give your customers a better shopping experience.
Fortunately, you can use Shopify CDN to optimize, compress, edit, and even convert images.
When optimizing your images, remember to:
- Use keyword-optimized alt attributes to help search engines understand the image context, but remember not to stuff keywords, to include the SKU, and to name your images appropriately.
- Optimize your thumbnails.
- Be mindful of your product angles and image dimensions—Shopify recommends 2048 by 2048 pixels for square product photos.
Tip: Interested in seeing more ways to speed up your Shopify store? Check out our other article here!
Lastly, have you ever noticed how many online stores have the same product photos?
Yep, it’s a common problem.
Using those old, duplicated images from your supplier can actually hurt your store's visibility on search engines like Google.
That's where OnModel steps in. This Shopify app uses AI to transform your existing photos into unique images!
You can:
- Swap out the models in your clothing images (For example, according to your target market.)
- Put your t-shirt design on an AI-made model (No more costly photoshoots!)
- Change photo backgrounds
- Add faces to cropped images.
In short, OnModel makes your store photos unique and fun. So, if you're in dropshipping or POD, you can try it here!
15. Have a rock-solid delivery and shipping management system
How effectively your store processes and ships customer orders will determine their satisfaction with your business in general.
That is why a rock-solid order delivery and shipping system is one of the secrets to ecommerce success.
Here are some shipping tips you should keep in mind and the order delivery information you should give to your customers as soon as possible:
- Have a transparent order processing, shipping, and delivery system that lets customers know what to expect from your store.
- Provide clear instructions on how much your store charges for various shipping options like 1-day, 2-day, and so on.
- Include free delivery as an option while calculating the costs of different types of shipping options.
One of the most effective ways of using social proofing is testimonials or reviews from previous customers.
We’ve previously covered how to get product reviews on Shopify, even when you have no sales; that article has some invaluable insight, including some of the best Shopify product review apps.
Product reviews are vital to your store's social proof strategy because they remind customers that others have bought your products and experienced excellent services.
This can increase your conversion rates because it is a reference point for your value proposition.
17. Experiment with different lead magnets
Once your email pop-up is ready, experiment with different lead magnets, even on different pages, to know which offers your customers like better.
Don’t let the term intimidate you: a lead magnet is a free item, offer, or service you give customers to entice them into giving you their contact information.
It’s true: most ecommerce store owners use lead magnets to get customer information.
However, because its purpose is to lead a customer further down your funnel, you can use different lead magnet types at various points of the customer lifecycle.
For example, we’ve found that experimenting with different lead magnet offers for cart abandonment, like a video or infographic explaining the product creation and design process or bonus packs, can lead a customer further down the sales funnel and increase conversions.
18. Offer various quick payment options
It’s essential to offer various, quick payment options that don’t always require customers to give their credit card information or bank account details.
Integrating your Shopify store with a fast payment method like PayPal, Stripe, or Shopify Payments will help keep your customers very happy, especially when you offer local payment methods familiar to your customers.
Fortunately, Shopify integrates well with over 100 payment gateways and systems:
As mentioned earlier, even though some of these tips are very beginner-level, they apply to all Shopify stores, and you can implement the ones you haven’t tried yet.
19. Use email marketing
You’ve probably heard the common online marketing saying, 'the money is in the list.'
If you haven’t, here is the gist of it:
From the onset, i.e., the moment your Shopify store goes live, you should do your best to entice customers into giving you their emails so you can stay in contact with them enough to market to them on the back end.
Our blog has a detailed beginner’s guide to email marketing for ecommerce.
Without taking anything away from that blog, the most foundational thing you should do to capture emails is to create an attractive email pop-up, then provide an incentive, say 10% off, in exchange for a visitor’s contact email and contact information!
Here is a really neat example from Stereogum showing a floating subscribe pop-up offering 10% off the first order as the incentive:
To create an enticing subscription pop-up, you can use different Shopify apps, like Popup ‑ Free Email Popup or AVA Email Marketing, SMS, and pop-up.
The most important thing to remember is that your visitor should consider the offer valuable enough to want to give you their contact details to get it.
As the name suggests, related products are similar or related to a product you sell in your store. Consider the American Spectator example below:
Although adding a customizable related products section to your Shopify store is a bit involved and challenging, it can make a big difference.
Liam Griffin, a Shopify partner educator, has a detailed write-up outlining all the steps necessary to add a custom-made related products section to your Shopify store.
21. Customize your 404 page
The 404 page is the part of your website that tells visitors what pages are available and where they can go if they cannot find any of the pages you have listed.
For example, you can use a Shopify app like Better 404 Pages—a premium app—to create customizable 404 pages with a recommended products section:
As a tip, ensure you customize your 404 page with relevant information, such as your products, links to relevant offers and articles, or even a link back to your homepage.
22. Set upsells/cross-sells on your store
Upsells and cross-sells are similar to related products in that they relate to your primary product; however, they also increase the main product’s value.
This way, if someone buys one of these items and likes it, they will likely buy another item from you because they have seen how much it helps their primary purchase (e.g., adding an extra pair of socks).
23. Implement smart cart abandonment strategies
As mentioned in our other blogs, you can use various cart abandonment strategies, such as automatic discounts and coupon codes, in your email marketing campaigns.
The most important thing to remember about cart abandonment is that you should:
- Track
- Automate
- Retarget
- Experiment
24. Use live chat for faster engagement and sales growth
Did you know that, according to a 2018 report by Business Wire, 75% of customers prefer live chat support and that, according to LTVPlus, 79% of businesses have seen huge sales, revenue, and customer loyalty growth after implementing live chat?
This data underscores the importance of adding a live chat feature to your Shopify store.
Fortunately, you can easily add a live chat feature using a Shopify app like WillDesk Live Chat.
No matter which live chat solution you use, here are important tips on using live chat effectively as a Shopify store owner:
- Create a 'chat' button at the bottom of each page in your store so that customers can easily access it across all your pages.
- Ensure all important information about your business is easily accessible from within the live chat.
- Provide live chat support 24/7 so you are always available for any questions or concerns.
25. Don’t rely only on Google Ads for traffic and sales
Google Ads is a great way to drive traffic to your ecommerce store and generate sales, but there are more ways to improve your traffic and sales.
For example, you could also use Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, and even Pinterest ads.
Additionally, consider using effective SEO strategies to rank higher on search engines for your keywords. That way, you will take advantage of organic and free traffic.
26. Enable a search box on your Shopify store
A search box is the easiest way to make your products discoverable enough to increase your conversion rates and sales, primarily if you sell an ecommerce product or service that buyers can search for using keywords.
Here is an example:
The easiest and most popular way to implement a search box is to use a plugin such as the Smart search bar and filters.
You can also use a custom-built code solution that allows users to search products, services, categories, and subcategories in one click.
However, this option requires a bit of Shopify theme code tinkering, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
27. Test and experiment with A/B testing tools
A/B testing allows you to test different variations of your store, such as headlines and copy, colors, and images. You can run these tests manually or automatically, depending on your tool of choice.
For example, Optimizely lets you set up automated A/B tests at the click of a button.
A/B test results will give you insight into which version of your store is performing best.
You can even see how users interact with your site and analyze changes in user behavior over time.
28. Run omnichannel marketing and advertising campaigns
Consider running omnichannel advertising campaigns to increase your store sales and conversion rates.
Omnichannel marketing is a multi-channel marketing approach that gives customers a seamless shopping experience irrespective of which platform or device they use.
For example, you can run an omnichannel marketing campaign that targets different audiences using display ads, search ads, social media campaigns, email marketing, and more.
Multi-channel marketing allows you to target people based on gender, age, location, interests, and other factors that could help ensure you target the right audience at the right time.
Conclusion
There you have it: a list of 28 Shopify store tips you can use to create a great ecommerce store in 2024.
In parting, remember that experimentation is your best friend: a tip that may work well for your best friend’s store may not work as well for yours. On the other hand, one that works well for your store may not work well for your friend.
The most important thing is to take action on these tips and implement the ones you haven’t tried yet, then track everything as if your success depends on it because it does.
Remember also that the ecommerce industry is constantly changing; thus, keep learning, experimenting, tracking, tweaking, and keeping what works for you.
Leave a comment if you found this article helpful or learned something from it. Have a rocking day, and remember: keep learning, experimenting, and growing.
Want to learn more about Shopify?
Ready to move your Shopify store to the next level? Check out the articles below:
- How Do You Track Your Profit in Shopify? (7 Apps & Tips)
- The 16 Best Shopify Apps for Successful Dropshipping Stores
- The 14 Best Free Shopify Apps to Install To Save Money in (2024)
Plus, don’t forget to check out our in-depth how to start a Shopify store guide here.
