How can I improve my online store for profitability?

[AMStore2023]

Hi Everyone.

Could someone give me a feedback of my shop, things to be done to make it profitable and an estimation of the cost to make it profitable?

Thank you

alternativesmatter.com

[Greta · Accepted solution]

Hey there, @AMStore2023!

Thanks for reaching out, I'm happy to share some feedback on your store. You've done a great job so far, and I love the products you've chosen! Here are some tips to make your store even better:

About Us page

It's great that you have an About Us page on your store as it's useful for building trust with your customers and sharing your story. I did notice that there were some editing errors, such as "[Your Name]", and the quotation marks at the beginning of the paragraph. If you're looking for some inspiration, I recommend checking out this blog post with tips and examples of great About Us pages! 

Discount

There is a discount mentioned in the header of your store (Enjoy our 50% welcome gift on €100 purchases), which is another great way to entice customers to make a purchase. However, it isn't clear whether the discount is for 50% off your whole order or 50% off a certain welcome gift. Additionally, I tried adding over €100 to my cart and there wasn't any automatic discount applied. I recommend adding clear instructions and ensuring the discount will automatically apply (or changing it to a discount code and including that in the header). You can check out our help document on discounts for more information!

Favicon

An easy way to add to your brand identity is by using a favicon. A favicon is the icon on a browser tab, as shown here:

People will typically make their favicon their logo, or an image that is related to their business (in your case, maybe a jewel emoji!). You can check out this help document for the steps for adding one to your store. 

In general, I recommend reading over our customer trust checklist to ensure you're making the best first impression on your customers, which will lead to more sales. 

Please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with! 

[AMStore2023 · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much for your feedback and tips.I totally understand the importance of the first good impression, considering that, from my experiences I've learned that there is not a second change to make a good first impression.Once again, thank you so much.Alternatives Matter

[Gojiberry-Amee · Accepted solution]

Hi AMStore2023, 

This is Amee from Gojiberry - Shopify Survey & Feedback App. 

I took a look at your store and have a few suggestions that will help increase conversion rate: 

1. Call to action button. Add an add-to-cart button or any call-to-action button underneath each product. 
2.  Adding a blog. Adding a blog about lifestyle or home decor might help you draw in the right audience. 
3. About us, mission, vision. These 3 sections all seem the same. I think customers can resonate more if you can do some storytelling and a bit more about who you are, and why you want to do this. etc. Or even as a company, when did you start, how many of you are working on this, how's your journey like? 
4. Fix Top Navigation. While just having "home" looks clean and stylish, I would still include catalog and about us on the top navi. 
5. Ask your customers! (Most effective for increasing conversion) Ask where your converting customers are coming from. You can easily do so with a post-purchase survey app, and reward your customers with coupons/points to keep them coming back again. Once you find out your strongest marketing channel, focus more effort and money on that. 

Hope this helps! 

Amee | Gojiberry Team 

[PageFly-Kate · Accepted solution]

Hi @AMStore2023,

This is Kate from PageFly - Shopify Landing Page Builder App. 

Your new store looks fantastic, and it's evident that you've put in a lot of effort. I'd be delighted to provide some suggestions for your store:

Homepage:

1.  Add favicon to your store

It makes your store more recognizable. Customers will be able to spot your store's favicon in their browser tabs and bookmark lists, making it easier for them to find your store again in the future.

2. Make sticky announcement bar

A sticky announcement bar is a great way to draw attention to a special offer or event. You can use the bar to highlight the details of the offer:  50% welcome gift, and you can also include a link to a landing page where visitors can learn more.

Sticky announcement bars are always visible, even as the user scrolls down the page. This ensures that your message is seen by everyone who visits your site.

3.  Add Christmas Promotion banner

I noticed that you have a lovely Christmas collection featured on your homepage. To further boost sales for this upcoming holiday event, I recommend creating a captivating promotion banner that highlights your Christmas offerings. This banner can be prominently displayed on your homepage and other key pages to effectively capture the attention of your potential customers and entice them to explore your Christmas collection.

Plan a variety of promotions: Create a mix of enticing deals that appeal to a wide range of customers. Consider offering discounts on specific items, Buy One Get One (BOGO) deals, or exclusive bundles.

You can check this image for reference:

Product Page:

1 . Add additional product images that show the product with a model

Use models in product presentations to:

• Increase engagement: People are drawn to faces and relatable experiences, so seeing a model using the product can make it more appealing to potential customers.
• Showcase product use: Models can help to demonstrate the product's features and benefits in a way that is both informative and visually appealing.

You can check this image for reference:

2.  Adjust Product list section

To boost your store's CRO, you can implement a section titled "You may also like" to showcase related products to your customers.

These are some suggestions for improving the design. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

Best regards,

Kate | PageFly Team

[Greta · Accepted solution]

Hey there, @AMStore2023!

Thanks for reaching out, I'm happy to share some feedback on your store. You've done a great job so far, and I love the products you've chosen! Here are some tips to make your store even better:

About Us page

It's great that you have an About Us page on your store as it's useful for building trust with your customers and sharing your story. I did notice that there were some editing errors, such as "[Your Name]", and the quotation marks at the beginning of the paragraph. If you're looking for some inspiration, I recommend checking out this blog post with tips and examples of great About Us pages! 

Discount

There is a discount mentioned in the header of your store (Enjoy our 50% welcome gift on €100 purchases), which is another great way to entice customers to make a purchase. However, it isn't clear whether the discount is for 50% off your whole order or 50% off a certain welcome gift. Additionally, I tried adding over €100 to my cart and there wasn't any automatic discount applied. I recommend adding clear instructions and ensuring the discount will automatically apply (or changing it to a discount code and including that in the header). You can check out our help document on discounts for more information!

Favicon

An easy way to add to your brand identity is by using a favicon. A favicon is the icon on a browser tab, as shown here:

People will typically make their favicon their logo, or an image that is related to their business (in your case, maybe a jewel emoji!). You can check out this help document for the steps for adding one to your store. 

In general, I recommend reading over our customer trust checklist to ensure you're making the best first impression on your customers, which will lead to more sales. 

Please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with! 

[AMStore2023 · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much for your feedback and tips.I totally understand the importance of the first good impression, considering that, from my experiences I've learned that there is not a second change to make a good first impression.Once again, thank you so much.Alternatives Matter

[Gojiberry-Amee · Accepted solution]

Hi AMStore2023, 

This is Amee from Gojiberry - Shopify Survey & Feedback App. 

I took a look at your store and have a few suggestions that will help increase conversion rate: 

1. Call to action button. Add an add-to-cart button or any call-to-action button underneath each product. 
2.  Adding a blog. Adding a blog about lifestyle or home decor might help you draw in the right audience. 
3. About us, mission, vision. These 3 sections all seem the same. I think customers can resonate more if you can do some storytelling and a bit more about who you are, and why you want to do this. etc. Or even as a company, when did you start, how many of you are working on this, how's your journey like? 
4. Fix Top Navigation. While just having "home" looks clean and stylish, I would still include catalog and about us on the top navi. 
5. Ask your customers! (Most effective for increasing conversion) Ask where your converting customers are coming from. You can easily do so with a post-purchase survey app, and reward your customers with coupons/points to keep them coming back again. Once you find out your strongest marketing channel, focus more effort and money on that. 

Hope this helps! 

Amee | Gojiberry Team 

[PageFly-Kate · Accepted solution]

Hi @AMStore2023,

This is Kate from PageFly - Shopify Landing Page Builder App. 

Your new store looks fantastic, and it's evident that you've put in a lot of effort. I'd be delighted to provide some suggestions for your store:

Homepage:

1.  Add favicon to your store

It makes your store more recognizable. Customers will be able to spot your store's favicon in their browser tabs and bookmark lists, making it easier for them to find your store again in the future.

2. Make sticky announcement bar

A sticky announcement bar is a great way to draw attention to a special offer or event. You can use the bar to highlight the details of the offer:  50% welcome gift, and you can also include a link to a landing page where visitors can learn more.

Sticky announcement bars are always visible, even as the user scrolls down the page. This ensures that your message is seen by everyone who visits your site.

3.  Add Christmas Promotion banner

I noticed that you have a lovely Christmas collection featured on your homepage. To further boost sales for this upcoming holiday event, I recommend creating a captivating promotion banner that highlights your Christmas offerings. This banner can be prominently displayed on your homepage and other key pages to effectively capture the attention of your potential customers and entice them to explore your Christmas collection.

Plan a variety of promotions: Create a mix of enticing deals that appeal to a wide range of customers. Consider offering discounts on specific items, Buy One Get One (BOGO) deals, or exclusive bundles.

You can check this image for reference:

Product Page:

1 . Add additional product images that show the product with a model

Use models in product presentations to:

• Increase engagement: People are drawn to faces and relatable experiences, so seeing a model using the product can make it more appealing to potential customers.
• Showcase product use: Models can help to demonstrate the product's features and benefits in a way that is both informative and visually appealing.

You can check this image for reference:

2.  Adjust Product list section

To boost your store's CRO, you can implement a section titled "You may also like" to showcase related products to your customers.

These are some suggestions for improving the design. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

Best regards,

Kate | PageFly Team

[nafio_nabi · Accepted solution]

Hi @AMStore2023,

Congratulations on the launch of alternativesmatter.com. The most important thing is to launch, and you have done that. Here are my feedback to enhance your Shopify store:

1. My first feedback is to set some goals for alternativesmatter.com. Your goals should focus on three key areas: how to engage visitors? how to convert those visitors to customers?, and how to retain those customers? After analyzing your Shopify store, I can see that it is hastily done: many pages are incomplete, and has many design flaws. The reason for this is most probably because alternativesmatter.com wasn’t built with the goal to engage, convert, and retain customers.

2. My second feedback is regarding your homepage:

• Redo your top-level navigation:
• Remove the utility navigation bar. This is the navigation bar with language selector. If multi-language support is necessary add the button in the footer.
• Your logo isn’t legible. So kindly resize it so that it is easy to read and understand.
• Remove the HOME navigation link. Then add the following navigation links in this order: Bestsellers, Christmas, Jewellery Lights, Winter Essentials, About (Dropdown with Our Story and Contact Us). Here is an example:

• Make adjustments to image banner section:
• The second image carousel, the one with the Winter Collection. It's background colour doesn't contrast well with the body background colour. Change it’s background colour from white to some other colour.
• Add image carousels for other two collection: Christmas and Lights.
• Don’t make the whole image carousel clickable. Instead consider adding text with buttons. Here is an example:

• Make adjustments to rich text section:
• Change title text ‘Our Mission’ and paragraph text to something more clear, concise, and descriptive. Your goal should be to communicate value to your target customers. Here is an example:

• Consider adding one unique selling proposition section:
• Unique selling proposition sections help you stand out and stand apart from competition. So add one unique selling proposition section with three to four points of what makes you unique. Here is are some examples:

• Consider adding one confidence booster section:
• Confidence booster section helps you build trust with customers. So add one confidence booster section with three to four points: returns, shippings, secure payment, technical certification. Here are some examples:

• Make adjustments to footer navigation:
• Add a column with the header Shop which has the following navigation links: Bestsellers, Christmas, Jewellery Lights, Winter Essentials.
• Under Terms & Policies column add a Shipping navigation link.
• Under About Us column add a Reviews navigation link. This should link to all Reviews page. It’s good for SEO.
• Here are some examples of a good footer:

3. My third feedback is regarding design principles:

• The current colour scheme of alternativesmatter.com is black and white. I would recommend choosing a colour scheme that’s more exciting and that accurately reflects your brand.
• The current Typograph/fonts of alternativesmatter.com is very basic. I would I would recommend choosing a Typograph/fonts pair that creates interest amongst your customers. Some good Typograph/fonts are Lato, Roboto, and Raleway.
• The current Layout of certain pages of alternativesmatter.com is not optimized for engagement and conversion. Unfortunately, I can’t make a recommendation about proper layout as it is too broad and descriptive for one post.

4. My fourth feedback is regarding content writing:

• Redo website copy and product description:
• The current website copy and product descriptions of alternativesmatter.com is very basic and does not entice emotion. Good copywriting is crucial for communicating value and ultimately conversion. Unfortunately, I can’t make a recommendation about copywriting as it is too broad and descriptive for one post.

5. My fifth feedback is regarding app integration:

• Product ratings and reviews are a must for any ecommerce site as it greatly influences conversion. I would recommend you install a good ratings and reviews Shopify app. I have personally used Judge.me Product Reviews. It is really good. However, some other options are stamped, and Yotpo. Here is are some examples product ratings and reviews:

6. My sixth feedback is to get inspiration from other Shopify stores:

• There is no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to designing and developing Shopify stores. You can check out good Shopify stores for inspiration and copy what they are doing. I am sharing a Shopify store that I recently designed and developed. I would encourage you to see it to get a general idea of what a complete and custom Shopify store, that is optimised for engagement, conversion, and retention, looks like. Here is the link to the store:
  • Password: peltod
  • URL: https://neutral-blender.myshopify.com/

Hope that helped. If you have any further questions do let me know.

Warm Regards,

Nafio Nabi