It has never been easier or more convenient to shop from the comfort of your own home. In the last ten years, eCommerce has become an important and necessary part of retailing around the world. A report by Statista says that 2.14 billion people will use eCommerce to buy goods or services in 2023. This is because digitalization is never-ending and modern life moves quickly.
Still, as a seller or dropshipper, it can be very hard to set up an online store for your own business. Especially if you are just starting out and have to start from scratch. Also, using Shopify is one of the easiest ways to design a website.
As you know, Shopify is an online eCommerce platform that lets store owners set up both dropshipping and traditional eCommerce stores. Both new and experienced retailers use Shopify equally often. This eCommerce platform is the third most popular. It has more than 500,000 stores that have made more than $40 billion in sales between them. Because of this, many suppliers choose to work with the platform so they can offer their clients easy integration, either through a plugin or, like fashion supplier dropship-empire, through a Shopify App.
One of the most important things to remember is that if you want your online business to do well, your Shopify web design must give your customers a great experience. This process will not go in a straight line, but here are some things you can do to make it easier.
Choose a theme that fits your style best.
First impressions are essential. This means that making sure your online store has the right tone and atmosphere will make a big difference in the UX of your shoppers. Shopify gives their clients a lot of ready-to-use templates and the best Shopify themes when it comes to web design. You can choose from dozens of free themes or pay between $140 and $180 for one. When choosing a theme, you should think about what kind of atmosphere you want to make.
Also, how do you want your products to be shown off? How do you want your images to be laid out? What font styles and sizes do you want? If you get stuck, you can get ideas from businesses that are like yours and make them your own. You can always hire a professional designer if your budget is bigger. And remember, “you do you” no matter what you decide.
Keep it simple and clean.
When you look at the themes and their features, you might feel like you have to use a lot of them. But keep the following in mind. Instead of making the user’s experience better, they could make things worse. If your website is very busy, it will be easy for potential customers to get distracted and feel like there is too much information.
This is also called “cognitive overload” among designers. UX expert and author of the book Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug, says that people don’t like complicated designs and want a smooth experience.
Don’t scatter – categorize!
Categorization is another important part of making the best Shopify web design. When making an online store, it shouldn’t be hard to find your way around. Even more so when looking for specific items. It’s important to put your products into specific categories and, if needed, subcategories, so that your website looks neat and is easy to navigate. This will make your site not only look good, but also work well and be easy to use. Give your customers a way to filter so they can find what they’re looking for faster and in less time. You can also make a section for both your best-selling items and your sales. A good shop will have things for most shoppers, even those who don’t know as much about technology.
The best policy is to be honest.
This tip may seem like a no-brainer or it may come as a shock. A lot of store owners don’t realize how important it is to have information about their products. Having a clear and short description of a product is helpful. Customers know what to expect, which cuts down on the time they have to spend asking your customer service for more information. Also, be clear about the total cost of the product, including shipping, taxes, fees, etc., as well as the return policy and how much that will cost. About 18% of customers have said that unexpected extra costs caused them to leave their shopping carts during checkout.
Offer deals and tell everyone about them.
How do you plan to get more people to buy from you? What makes your online store different from others? What makes your shop better than the others? Making a marketing plan is important, and there are a few steps you need to take to keep potential customers from leaving your online store. One thing you can do is put short headlines or even sub-headlines on your home page that describe what your products are good for. Most of the time, this is done in a bigger font or a different color to make it stand out. You can also mention things like “special discount” or “weekly deals.”
Make pictures that stand out.
No matter what you’re selling or what you’re dropshipping, the way you show what you’re selling should be appealing. A thing that looks nice will never be forgotten. When making your campaign, try to set a scene, almost like a story. Put products in specific settings and use fashion image editing apps. This way, the shopper can not only see how big the product is, but also see how it could be used in their lives.
Improve the speed at which the website loads.
One thing is for sure: we don’t lack online shopping sites in this day and age. And one of the main reasons we shop online is to save time and make it easier. Even a one-second delay can make a customer 16% less happy. Also, statistics show that a website that makes a profit of about $50,000 will probably lose around $1 million in a year because pages take too long to load. Try to avoid widgets and carousel menus that aren’t necessary if you want those clicks to turn into sales. This is because they will slow down the time it takes for your page to load. Check out Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool to learn more about how to speed up the time it takes for your page to load.
Make it easy and simple to check out.
Nothing is more annoying than having everything you need and going to check out, only to find that there are a lot of steps you don’t need to take to finish your shopping. So, if you want to make the Shopify web design even better, give your customers two options. One could be for people to sign up for an account, and the other could be for people to shop as guests. Also, don’t forget to show your payment options in a clearer and more direct way. Baymard Institute’s large-scale checkout tests have shown that a web store’s conversion rate can go up by up to 35.26% just by making the checkout process better for customers.
Test, test, test!
Before you make your web shop public, make sure to test it and see how everything looks on both a desktop computer and a mobile device, as well as on different operating systems. A/B testing, which is also called split testing by designers and software engineers, will improve the UX in the best way possible. With A/B testing, you compare two screens by watching how people act on each one. The comparison is made in the same way, with the same amount of traffic, at the same time, etc.
Testimonials are a good way to build trust.
It’s important to leave room for reviews from happy customers, as this builds trust and gives people peace of mind. One of the benefits of making the best Shopify web design is that the platform already has a secure checkout (SSL) for shipping, and shoppers can also leave reviews. Up to 19% of people who shop online have left a site without buying anything because there were no reviews.
Schema markup lets you add ratings to search results and link to your store’s official social media accounts, where you can upload or share photos of customers. This way, you not only build your own community but also give yourself peace of mind.
In a few words
All things considered, getting the perfect Shopify web design will not be a simple or straight-forward process. Still, it’s not impossible to do either. But the Shopify web design is not the end of your work. Even after your store is set up and ready to go, you will probably need to make more changes and improvements. This will give your customers the best experience they can get.
Besides following these tips, you should always do a lot of research so you can make decisions based on facts. All of the above can still be different depending on the audience. There is no one right way to do design, but one thing is certain: there are a lot of ways to do it. With these 10 tips and a lot of enthusiasm and drive, you can do great things.