Essential tips for running a successful Shopify store

Shopify has helped millions of people turn their small ideas into big successes. 

Whether you’re just starting out—or already checking off major milestones—there are a few best practices and insider tips that will help take your ecommerce store to the next level. 

Here’s how to make your Shopify experience seamless for your customers and profitable for your business. 

Prioritize User Experience (UX)

The most important feature of a successful Shopify store is that if someone wants to buy your product, it’s easy for them to do so. Online customers come from all walks of life; some may not have much experience with technology, or even have a disability that prevents them from accessing the content on your page. With this in mind, it’s essential that your Shopify store is both user-friendly and accessible. This can be achieved by:

1. Streamlining Navigation

Ensure that your store’s menu is organized into simple, clear sections that make it easy for users to find products.

2. Adding Search Bars

A prominent search bar should always live at the top of your site. This enables users to quickly search for the product they want to purchase rather than sifting through categories. If your store has a wide variety of products, it’s a good idea to also include a filter function to help users easily locate what they want to buy. 

3. Design Inclusively

In a nutshell, digital accessibility relies on clarity and consistency. Navigation cues should always be in the same format and location on each page. To meet legal accessibility standards, web pages should always have a color contrast of 4.5:1 or higher. Lastly, links should always be clearly identifiable. Using clear language in links (such as “click here” or “add to cart”) ensures customers using screen readers or other accessible devices will be able to shop smoothly.

Learn more about best digital accessibility practices here.

Optimize your Mobile Page

Since over half of online shopping is done on mobile devices, it’s essential that your mobile page is as seamless and functional as your web version.

1. Avoid Common Mobile Design Errors 

When transitioning a web page to a mobile format, make sure you keep your eye on the size of the images and text. If either of these are too large, or text is broken up, it’s a huge barrier for your customer’s experience and will almost certainly lead to them elsewhere.

2. Streamline, Streamline, Streamline

Prioritize reducing the amount of “taps” a user has to do in order to purchase your product. Put simply, every tap you require is another opportunity for your customer to change their mind and leave your shop. The easier it is to purchase your product, the more likely it is to be purchased.

Block PO Box Addresses

Regardless of what stage your ecommerce business is in, it’s essential to have well-managed shipping logistics. A simple hack for optimizing this area is to automatically block PO addresses from your forms.

1. Why PO Boxes Harm your Store

It’s not common knowledge, but the majority of North American shipping carriers like FedEx, UPS and DHL do not deliver to PO boxes. This means that if someone purchases your product and requests delivery to a PO box, you will have to deal with reallocating the package or processing a return - an obvious waste of time and money, that, if multiplied, can seriously harm your business. PO boxes are also far more likely to be used for fraud seeing as they are untraceable.

2. How To Block PO Boxes

Thankfully, there’s an app that will take care of it for you. Once downloaded, Ultimate PO Box Blocker for Shopify will automatically flag and block PO addresses from being entered in your orders. It’s fast, easy, and will likely save you tons of valuable time and energy (in addition to protecting your brand’s image).

Make Checkout Easy

It’s easy to get swept up in the minor details when designing a web page, but you always have to keep the main goal in mind: selling your product. This means that the checkout process should be as user-friendly and intuitive as possible.

1. Remove Barriers

If a customer has to make an account to purchase something from your store, it’s very likely that they won’t bother. Always ensure you have a guest checkout function. (You can always include the option for creating an account during the checkout process.)

2. Have Clear Progress Indicators

Whether your customer is filling out their personal information, shipping details or payment details, it should be crystal clear where they are in the process (especially if these sections are on different pages!). This will prevent confusion or frustration.

3. Enable Autofill

Shopify has a function that allows users to automatically fill in their shipping and payment info. It’s an easy opportunity to streamline the most important section of your ecommerce store, so don’t hesitate to ensure it’s enabled.

Always Use Shopify’s Data

The Shopify platform can provide you plenty of insight into your customers’ purchasing behavior. Why not use it to your advantage? This data can present your ecommerce business with countless opportunities for optimization and better sales.

1. Leverage Info from Abandoned Carts

If one of your products tends to be “abandoned” in carts more than others, it presents an opportunity to figure out why it’s happening. Is there an issue with pricing, shipping, or even branding? Access this data by setting up abandoned cart emails and reviewing the shopping carts of the customers receiving them. Patterns are your friend!

2. Pay Attention to Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) Metrics

Shopify will track your customer’s purchase history and total spend. This will help you identify the people adding the most value to your business, or those most likely to re-purchase products if offered a special incentive.

In sum

There are countless ways to optimize your Shopify page, but they all follow the same basic principles: be clear, be consistent, use your data, and make purchasing your products as easy as possible. If you keep these fundamentals in mind, your ecommerce store is bound to be a success.

Good luck!