The Traits of Successful Shopify Stores
The eCommerce industry is booming worldwide. South Africa is experiencing its eCommerce boom, and US eCommerce sales are expected to reach over $ 1 trillion in the USA by the end of 2021. It’s no doubt that successful Shopify stores will share in some of this profit, too.
So, the challenge of standing out from millions of other businesses couldn’t be more prevalent. How can you create a store that helps you cash in on the massive momentum of eCommerce?
We’re looking at some of the most successful Shopify stores’ common characteristics to learn about what to do and avoid.
1. Successful stores offer a great customer experience.
When users visit your Shopify store, it’s a top priority to ensure you are providing an excellent customer experience.
While you may not have a physical store to tidy up, your website should be your focal point when thinking of improving how your customers interact with your stores.
Things like slow page loading speeds, too many pop-ups, disorganized information or bad imagery could cause others to leave your store without making a purchase.
It’s estimated that up to 80 per cent of web visitors leave due to a bad customer experience; most top Shopify stores have figured this out and update their websites regularly.
It has been shown that up to 80 per cent of visitors will leave an online store due to poor customer experience.
Insider tips to improve your customer experience
The best way to avoid having a bad customer experience is to sit down and use your website yourself. Try to search for a specific item, and navigate through every category or web page. Try to add an item to your cart and work through the checkout process.
Once completed, you should ask yourself some questions:
- Were there any pop-ups that may annoy customers and cause them to leave your online store rather than helping them out?
- Is it quick and straightforward to find products or services on your website?
- When looking at an individual product, is there enough relevant information about the product, e.g. specifications, dimensions, images and reviews?
- Does the ‘add to cart feature work appropriately?
- Is the checkout process quick, simple and transparent, e.g. without hidden shipping or extra tax costs that could cause people to leave your store?
Depending on your responses to the above questions, you may need to sit down and take the time to rectify anything you spotted as a potential red flag during your website’s customer journey.
Remember that online shoppers are using your store for convenience and to save some time. Therefore, things should be as simple as possible. With many other eCommerce shops in your marketing niche, they are likely to leave your store and shop with a competitor instead.
2. Successful Shopify stores don’t have any hidden costs.
Your customers will expect a painless checkout experience without any extra or hidden costs. Customers are likely to turn away when they notice unexpected fees at checkout.
The way to ensure you are delivering a frictionless experience is to ensure you are transparent about your shipping costs on your product page or within your website’s shipping and delivery policy.
Insider tips to improve your communication
Ensuring your delivery costs are communicating or offering free shipping and stipulating the conditions needed for this is part of what makes a top Shopify store successful.
3. Successful stores offer high-quality product pages.
Most customers will research a product before buying it. One of the best ways to help them along this journey is to write clearly and provide as much information as possible. Your product description should be concise and provide correct specifications.
In doing so, you’re likely to gain the trust of your potential customers. Top-quality product pages is an area where top Shopify stores shine.
An insider tip to improve your product pages
Ensure your images are of high-quality. Your descriptions are apt and well-written. Your sizing charts are provided if you are selling apparel, and you include customer reviews within your product page.
By providing this information, your customers can make an informed decision when purchasing with you.
4. Successful Shopify stores are using Social Proof.
Social proof is one of the most overlooked elements within eCommerce websites. However, it’s crucial to your website’s success.
Using reviews from other customers can encourage potential customers to follow their footprints and take the plunge to buy your products.
Don’t forget that you can also use user-generated content that you may receive on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more.
Insider tip for acquiring social proof
Luckily, it’s pretty easy to add a review system to your Shopify store. One of the simplest methods is to install a review plugin in your store.
You can find a lot of plugins by looking at the Shopify App Store’s Review section.
By using customer reviews, your prospective customers will be persuaded by glowing reviews that previous customers have used.
5. Successful Shopify stores are leveraging top-notch email marketing
Some of the top Shopify stores understand that you can expect better results by using other forms of marketing, like email marketing.
Regularly sending marketing or updating emails to your customers is wise to keep them updated about product releases and customer sales. Email marketing can also help you stay top of mind and potentially recover abandoned carts.
Insider tip for improving email marketing
It would help if you established a set routine for releasing different kinds of emails. For example, you may choose to send weekly updates or monthly newsletters. Having a set schedule holds you accountable to deliver the latest updates to your audience.
Conclusion
There are many key traits shared by successful Shopify stores, including a great customer experience, email marketing, social proof, quality product descriptions and being upfront about costs.
Try out some (or all) of our insider tips for your eCommerce store today.
