Starting an online business is easier than ever before, thanks to Shopify. To use this platform, you don’t have to have a tech background or be tech-savvy.
With Shopify, you can easily create, design, and run an eCommerce store. You don’t have to learn how to code or hire a professional web developer (who is likely out of your price range).
The best part about this is that anyone can launch their own eCommerce store with a small investment and a few clicks.
The platform allows you to build and host online stores while creating something attractive, fun, and functional. It also offers the necessary tools to start, run, and continue to grow your new eCommerce business.
However, there is a catch (like with most things).
While Shopify is a smart platform for establishing and running a business, you may notice your sales aren’t growing as they should. In fact, many entrepreneurs have amazing products and a strong marketing strategy but still fail.
Many of these failures occur because of common design mistakes with your Shopify store. Unfortunately, these mistakes can have a huge impact on total sales.
If you find it difficult to achieve your Shopify conversion goals, you need to look at the design of your site. Here, you can find some of the most common Shopify design mistakes that are impacting your conversions and how to fix them.
1. Failing to Create a Responsive Design
Not having a responsive design is a common and detrimental design mistake that many new Shopify users make. They choose a theme, customize it for desktop users, and don’t even consider their mobile users.
You must create responsive Shopify stores that work properly on all screen sizes. No longer do people just use their phones to text and call. They are devices that people have with them all the time to access the internet and engage in other activities.
It is estimated that mobile devices now generate about half of all internet traffic. If you don’t take time to optimize your Shopify eCommerce site for your mobile visitors, you are losing a huge part of your possible audience for your website. Because of this, you must choose a mobile-responsive theme.
If you choose to customize the theme’s design, CTAs, and navigation, make sure you optimize it for mobile devices, too.
2. Not Checking the Speed of Your Website
It is estimated that around 53% of people abandon a mobile site if it takes over three seconds to load. This is all it takes to lose a potential new customer.
If your website loads slowly, it can be a huge turnoff for potential customers. Most will lose interest and go elsewhere – usually to a site that loads faster. This is one of the main reasons you should always ensure your site is as fast and optimized as possible.
There are a few things that can impact how fast your website loads. Because of this, you must optimize all the elements of your Shopify store to help increase speed and performance. One way to do this is to conduct a site speed test to ensure that your site is not too slow.
Some things you can do to improve your site’s speed include:
- Reduce your redirects
- Compress your images
- Remove broken links
- Improve your hosting
- Embed videos
Now is the time to take steps to ensure your website moves along as quickly as possible. This will help keep people on your site and encourage them to return in the future.
3. Not Including an Option to Search the Site
When you visit large eCommerce stores like eBay, Amazon, and others, you will see they all have a site search option available on the main menu. Have you ever wondered why?
This option makes it easy for your visitors to quickly look for the products they want without having to click on each product page.
If you are new to Shopify and you don’t pay attention to this feature, you may lose more customers because they can’t easily and quickly search for what they want. All you must do to fix the issue is include a site search option.
Make sure the site search option is included on the main menu so that everyone can see it.
You will find that most Shopify themes include this site search built-in; however, if you want to include an advanced search option, there are several plugins to consider.
4. Not Highlighting the Selling Points on Your Product Page
Your customers need sufficient information to decide what they want to buy. This is especially true if they can’t see the item in person.
Be sure your product pages have detailed descriptions and high-quality pictures. This will help your customers visualize how the product looks in real life. The images need to be appealing and attractive to draw the customer in and encourage them to make a purchase.
When writing your product description, be sure to include the key benefits of the item. You can encourage a potential customer to buy by listing the key benefits and features. You can also use AI copywriting software to help you create persuasive bullet points that can capture your customer’s attention.
Another tip is to use videos to help engage your visitors who may be hesitant to make a purchase. With videos, ensure they are embedded, which will help to drive customer interest and excite them. Also, they help show how a product works in the real world.
5. Using Low-Quality Images
What is the point of having an online store if you don’t use high-resolution images?
Unlike brick-and-mortar stores, customers can’t hold, try on, feel, or touch the product from your eCommerce store. Because of this, your website’s images need to depict what you are trying to sell clearly.
If you upload blurry or low-quality images, it may be detrimental to store conversions. If you do, it will be hard for people visiting your site to determine if the product they are interested in will meet their expectations.
Be sure you upload high-resolution, clear images on your Shopify store. Also, upload photos of your products from a few angles to give your customers a better idea of the items.
Use good lighting and a clear background. If you aren’t good at taking photos, then hire someone to do this for you.
Besides low-quality images, you need to consider the product descriptions carefully. If they aren’t written well, are descriptive, and provide a good idea of what you offer, it can ruin the effectiveness of your website.
6. Insufficient and Improper Product Descriptions
Your images are your products. Your product descriptions serve as your sales rep for your eCommerce store.
Writing quality, interesting product descriptions will help convince your customer to select the “buy now” button. However, some store owners overlook how important good product descriptions are. Rather than creating new product copy, they just copy or recreate what is offered by the original manufacturers.
Images provide a potential buyer with information about the colors and appearance of your products. Your product description will highlight the most important details, including benefits, texture, size, and weight.
You can use these tips to write quality and convincing product copy:
- Use a conversational and friendly tone while avoiding the use of technical or complex words.
- Don’t use the descriptions offered by suppliers or manufacturers, as these are typically flat, bland, and used by many people.
- Describe all the specifications of what you are trying to sell.
- Use headings and bullet points to help increase the readability of your product descriptions.
- Include keywords in the description to help improve SEO.
7. Lack of Customer Testimonials and Reviews
You may wonder how important customer reviews really are for eCommerce stores.
It has been found that 72% of shoppers will act after reading a positive review. Also, customers will spend up to 31% more at a business with excellent reviews on its page.
You are missing a persuasive tool if you do not have customer testimonials and reviews on your Shopify product pages. People want to read reviews from other shoppers who have bought the item before. It also helps to build trust and help customers make informed decisions.
You also need to encourage your customers to leave a review after they buy something and incentivize positive reviews by giving them discounts or coupons. If you get negative reviews, leave a professional response that explains how you will fix the situation.
Improve Shopify Conversions by Avoiding These Mistakes
To get more sales and conversions from your Shopify store, you need to avoid the mistakes found here. Each of these can be a huge issue for your store, resulting in lost sales and profits.
For help creating effective product descriptions and ensuring more conversions are made, contact us at Small Business SEO. We will help you get the results desired for your eCommerce store. We can review what you have now, and find ways to enhance and improve it.