The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the business landscape in many ways. For one, it changed user habits to favor online shopping. Surveys show that even after the danger has passed, people will still partake in online shopping due to the convenience and wider product selection it offers. Furthermore, the pandemic has exposed the gaping vulnerabilities of an exclusively offline business model. When physical restrictions were placed on brick-and-mortar stores, many businesses that relied largely on the revenue brought in by their offline sales experienced a big decline in their profits. Meanwhile, businesses that had a strong eCommerce platform weren’t as affected and even experienced a surge in traffic during this time.
This goes to show that if you want your business to succeed in the coming years, you need to incorporate eCommerce into your business model. Thankfully, there are many online eCommerce platforms to choose from if you’re not ready to commit to setting up an independent website or hiring a full digital marketing team, and one of those websites is Shopify.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a platform that hosts various eCommerce sites for businesses around the world. Here, you can create a website where you can sell your products. Using Shopify offers many benefits:
- Easy to use. With Shopify, you don’t have to worry about the technical aspect of developing a website. The user interface is intuitive and there are many attractive Shopify web design templates for you to choose from.
- Secure. When developing your independent website, you have to ensure your site security certificates and software are updated. Meanwhile, Shopify is the one that takes care of site security for you.
- Reliable. When choosing a web host server, you need one that can guarantee that your site will be live all the time and loads fast. Since it’s such a big company, Shopify has the necessary infrastructure to ensure that your website is quick and always up and running. They also provide 24/7 tech support in case you encounter problems on your site.
- Mobile-friendly. Websites created through Shopify are automatically set to be mobile-friendly. They are also accessible through Android or iOS apps, making them more convenient for mobile shoppers.
- More payment options. One of the big challenges for online retailers is setting up secure payment channels. With Shopify, your store can accept various payment options.
Shopify is also not that expensive, with the cheapest package costing US$ 29 per month. They also collect a fee of 0.5% to 2% from every sale, which is cheaper than most eCommerce platforms.
How can you maximize your profits on Shopify?
Starting a website on Shopify doesn’t mean that customers will immediately start pouring in. You also need to work on several aspects of your eCommerce site and digital marketing strategy to ensure that you get a steady revenue stream. One of the ways you can get more revenue is by improving your conversion rate.
Conversion rate refers to the percentage of customers to the number of site visitors. A 1% conversion rate means that for every 100 site visitors, you get 1 paying customer. With a higher conversion rate, you get more revenue for the same number of site visitors. To increase your conversion rate, here are a few things you need to consider.
1. Optimize your site for conversion
While Shopify web design themes make it easy for you to build an attractive and fast website, you still need to do some work to ensure your site is primed for conversion. In online shopping, many steps could lead to your user abandoning the purchase, if you notice any of these issues on your site, you may need to make some improvements:
- Messy site layout. 38% of people stop browsing a website if the site looks messy or unattractive. Online shopping is a largely visual experience, so choose a design and layout that makes browsing pleasant. Add margins and negative space so users have somewhere their eyes can rest.
- Complex navigation. As much as possible, users want a smooth and convenient browsing experience when shopping online. If your product catalog is hard to sift through, or if your links aren’t leading to the pages they’re supposed to, don’t expect a user to continue shopping on your site. To improve user navigation, categorize your products so users can easily get to the items they want to buy. For example, fashion brands should classify their products into Men, Women, and Kids, and classify them even further than that to tops, bottoms, shoes, etc. Ensure your links are functioning correctly.
2. Improve your product pages
Your product pages are where your potential customers expect to learn more about the product. It should include answers to whatever questions your customer may have. For example, clothing items should include a size chart so users know what size they should order. It should also include information on the material in case a user has allergies or wants to purchase clothes for specific seasons. Photos and/or videos of the product should also be included so users know what the product looks like from all angles. If your product page doesn’t offer any helpful information or photos, people might be discouraged from buying.
3. Show off coupon codes
Shopify gives sellers the option to provide their users with coupon codes for discounts and free shipping. However, your users won’t know these codes are available unless you show them off. You can include them in the homepage carousel or a popup. These coupons might just be what entices a user to purchase something.
Anytime you want to change your Shopify web design, even if it’s as simple as changing the font or site layout, use A/B testing to determine which gives the best results. A/B testing is helpful when you’re not sure how the change or addition of certain site elements can affect your conversion rate. With the data gathered from A/B testing, you can slowly work your way towards an eCommerce website that’s primed for conversion. By relying on data to make business decisions, you take fewer risks.