I have recently started my store and sent my email list and some traffic from Instagram but still no sales. I have been working on the design a lot but not even more than a few clicks on the add to cart button. I am contemplating what my son has said to me (he is a former employee of Shopify and has his own company advising customers on improving and setting up their sites), that he thinks I should start with a paid theme and go from there. My site is here: shop.astroimagery.com and I am thinking of making many changes especially to the home page. My question is: should I pay for a good converting theme or go with something like Horizon? So far, I have used Tinker and coded a lot to make it work. Would starting with a paid theme help turn visitors into customers? Any advice on changes or strategy I should try?
Same question just earlier today – Why Premium theme is needful – no, paid theme is not necessary.
Most themes from theme store convert the same.
Tinker shares the same theme code with Horizon and other themes from the “family”.
Your images need to be sharp, and selection of colors does not work for me*.
Honestly, a paid theme won’t fix the core issue.
Your pain point isn’t design, it’s that visitors aren’t convinced enough to click “add to cart.” That usually means unclear value, weak trust (no strong proof/reviews), or the product page isn’t answering key questions.
Themes like Horizon can help structure, but they won’t create demand.
Fix = clearer offer, stronger visuals, real proof, and tighter messaging.
Quick questions so I can pinpoint it:
What’s your main product?
Do you have reviews/testimonials yet?
Where is most of your traffic coming from?
Your lack of sales is not a theme problem it is a traffic quality, offer clarity, and trust issue. A paid theme will not fix low intent visitors, weak positioning, or missing credibility signals. Focus first on attracting buyers who actually want your product, clearly communicating your value within seconds, and building trust through proof, before you consider redesigning your store.
Hi @Astroimagery,
The theme matters, but it is usually not the only reason a new store is not getting sales.
Before changing themes, I would check:
1. Is the product offer clear?
2. Does the product page answer the main buying questions?
3. Is the store easy to use on mobile?
4. Are images, descriptions, variants, and pricing complete?
5. Are shipping, returns, and trust details easy to find?
6. Are there any slow scripts or apps affecting the experience?
A premium theme can help with design, but it will not fix unclear product positioning, missing content, slow pages, or checkout friction.
My suggestion would be to improve the current theme first, test the full customer journey, and only change themes if the current one is clearly limiting you.
If you share your store URL and what you have already tested, people here can give more specific feedback.
As part of a pre-launch or pre-traffic checklist, Checkpoint: Store Scanner can help check store health issues like slow scripts, leftover app code, product content gaps, large files, and discount problems.
Hey there,
Try to increase the perceived value it needs a lot of improvement.
Here are some key things to work on:
* Improve visual quality (better images, videos, cleaner design)
* Add strong social proof (reviews with photos/videos, UGC)
* Rewrite product description to focus on benefits, not features
* Reduce risk (money-back guarantee, trust icons, clear shipping, easy returns)
* Use price anchoring (compare-at price, bundles, discounts)
* Add real urgency/scarcity (low stock, limited-time offers)
* Strengthen branding (consistent look, tone, identity)
* Polish small details (trust badges, button copy, mobile UX, speed)
Hope this helps
Cheers
@Astroimagery Appreciate, you have try many things of your own, but still unable to get customer/sales.
“ it’s 100% true, you can chose the paid theme, if you want to save your time and invest time in the right place for find the customer,
It will work. “
Think like a customer and optimise your store like that.
If your are running ads on the Meta and google platform, then smartly choose the target audience and creative..
Probably not as important as investing many times more in product research, sourcing, testing, verification, and marketing…
But then again, if you can afford all that, a couple hundred for a well-developed professional theme now seems so insignificant that it becomes much more advantageous to do it rather than pour months or years into asking people online how to do something.
Hey @Astroimagery
It doesn’t matter weather you use purchased theme, free theme or custom built. Definitely paid theme can help, but it won’t fix the real issue if visitors aren’t convinced to buy.
Right now your problem sounds more like conversion fundamentals than design polish. Even if you buy a theme it won’t be 100% as per your product requirements.
You can start with your products, right now your website looks like a Blog/Educational Site, some monetization it’s not a pure product store.
#1 If you need that way start creating stories,
-> Write articles/Solve problems
→ Build Trust
→ Sell
#2 If you want a pure-ecommerce store, you need to keep in mind how customer buy
-> What is this?
→ Why should I care?
→ Why should I trust this?
→ Why should I buy now?
Now you can create your own theme, purchase paid or free theme.
Thanks
Akshay
Paid theme is rarely the reason first sales don’t happen. Tinker/Horizon are already capable enough. Your real bottleneck is conversion flow.
Fix this first:
-
Above the fold: clearly say what makes your product worth buying in 3 seconds.
-
Product page: answer size, material, shipping time, returns, guarantee, FAQs.
-
Trust: add real reviews, customer photos, contact details, policies.
-
Visuals: sharp lifestyle images + short demo video.
-
Mobile: fast load, sticky Add to Cart, easy navigation.
-
Traffic quality: send targeted buyers, not random clicks.
If visitors come but no add-to-cart, it’s offer/message trust issue. If add-to-cart happens but no checkout, it’s friction/pricing/shipping issue. Check analytics funnel before buying any theme.
My honest answer: optimize current store first, then change theme only if current one limits speed, UX, or layout flexibility.
Most of the time a paid theme is not what turns traffic into sales, especially at the stage you are at. The real issue is usually message clarity, trust signals and whether people immediately understand why they should buy from you within the first few seconds.
If you are getting clicks but almost no add to carts, focus first on product value, stronger images, clear shipping and return info and social proof.
If add to carts happens bit no t complete checkout check your pricing, offer.
A theme like Horizon or even a free setup is already enough, optimize the funnel first then only upgrade theme if layout or speed is limiting you.
Choice of theme is pretty important if you do not want app stacks, and are not well-versed in coding I would say.
What you need to do is look for features in the theme that you want.
- Trust signal
- Slide Cart
- In-store pickups
- Lookbooks
- Color swatches
- Mega menu
- Enhanced search
- Combined listing
- Collection page navigation
For example, if I want to open a clothing store, I would go for themes that have a kickass Lookbook feature.
So look into your store first, look for features in themes, and choose the best for your store.
honestly the theme is like 5% of the equation right now. i’ve seen stores on Dawn (free) convert better than stores running $400 themes, because the actual product pages were dialed in.
what’s more likely killing your conversions is the product page itself. for art/photography prints specifically, people need to see the print in context. a flat image of a nebula doesn’t sell the same as that print mocked up on a living room wall. also check your pricing presentation, shipping info visibility, and whether your add to cart is above the fold on mobile. those things move the needle way more than switching themes.
- You use Judgeme. This means you moderate your own reviews. This immeditately kills any possibility of people trusting your reviews! Imagine if Amazon did this. It would be a reputational suicide. Then, why are you doing this to yourself? Because everyone else does? Would you, as a customer, trust a seller who moderates their own reviews? Of course not. No wonder why Shopify has such dismal conversion rates compared to Amazon. Don’t be like everyone else.
- You have no Role Credits. No “skin in the game” of any kind. What happens if I buy from you and regret my purchase? Where is my assurance you’re not trying to scam me? Anyone. And I mean ANYONE can copy/paste your entire website (HTML, TEXT, Images, CSS) in minutes into their own domain. How do I know your website is even real? You don’t have a recognizable brand that would be damaged if you sold bad products (no skin in the game). You have no Role Credits to people who created your product, who stake their professional reputation on its quality (no skin in the game). You ask people to risk sending you money without giving any real assurances. WHY would anyone trust you? Because your website looks pretty? Because your images are nice? Because you wrote something on your page? Again, it takes five minutes and zero dollars for me to copy your entire site. Think about this. How trustworthy can your content possibly be? Then, why everyone is so obsessed with their websites? No one gives a s**t about what it looks like or what YOU put there.
So, what do you do to fix this? You offer Feedback Rebates (google it) and Role Credits. You show people that you have skin in the game, that you care about their after-purchase experience, not just the sale. Stake your reputation on the after-purchase autocome. Really. It won’t cost you a penny and provide immediate proof of review authenticity and your intentions (skin in the game). You cannot fake it, even if you tried. That is what creates trust, not anything YOU say about your product.
Why does that matter? Because your website visitors will be able to trust you when they land on your website. You can have the ugliest website in the world and people will still buy if you give them ANY real reason to trust you. You will have no competition. No one on Shopify does this or has any skin in the game. Everyone is doing what everyone else is doing without thinking for even a minute. Conversions is a solved problem. Try this. You won’t ever go back and your customers will love you.
I found your reply interesting and you do have major points. Trust is a big issue! But on researching it seems that this kind of deal may contravene rules of offering incentives for reviews which could be damaging to any website or brand. I was also surprised to see that the only app on shopify that comes up for this has only 2 reviews from 2021.
Yes, that app was live for a short while, got a bunch of reviews but the platform behind it decided to take it off the app store. Shopify was charging 20% commission at the time, so it didn’t make much financial sense to keep the app there. Now, Shopify has removed commission and the app is back in the store, but most of the original reviews got pruned because those stores are no longer on Shopify and there hasn’t been new installs because the app was not in the app store for so long.
To your other point, a Feedback Rebate is a sale incentive, NOT a review incentive. This is a common point of confusion, so I’ll elaborate.
Review Incentives are regulated by FCC and highly unethical, even when properly disclosed. Almost every reviews app has this feature, which quite literally reduces sales, destroys profit margins, and biases reviews (making them unusable and untrustworthy). The seller (and the customer) lose at every step.
Imagine you just received a product you bought, opened the package, and surprise! there is a “gift” inside. It’s a QR code on a “thank you” card that says, “scan the code, leave a review, and get $5 cashback”. First, you had no idea you’d get it before you bought this product. You feel obligated to reciprocate this “gift” by leaving a better review than the product deserves. You know it biases reviews. You trusted those reviews when you were trying to decide to buy this or some other product. Now, you feel like a fool. You’re worried. You’re looking at the product. What the f**k did I just buy?! The seller didn’t disclose that they bribe their customers for reviews (no one does). They are clearly doing something unethical and illegal. Wow, what a “great” way to make a first impression on a new customer.
Second, it’s not even a “gift”, it’s a THREAT. Why? Because if you leave a 1-star review, you may still someday decide to buy something else from this company in the future. Do you think you’ll ever get these kinds of offers again from them? Of course not. You’d be lucky if they didn’t retaliate. What would stop them from sending you a broken product to teach you a lesson next time? Oh, you think they wouldn’t do that because you’d leave a bad review? Think again. They moderate their own reviews. Remember? They clearly have no moral or ethical standards. They’ll just delete your 1-star review. You have zero leverage here. You have something to lose. They don’t. You can get hurt. They cannot. They have no skin in the game. It’s not safe to leave an honest review.
Review Incentives don’t make any financial sense for the seller either.
Imagine your customer is trying to decide whether to buy from you or your competitor. You already know you’ll offer them cashback for their review after the sale. But, right at this crucial moment, you’re HIDING that fact! You literally make your product more expensive and make it less likely for people to buy from you. If they only knew they’d get guaranteed cashback after the sale for their HONEST review, they’d trust you more and be more likely to buy from you instead of your competitor.
How is that different from a Review Incentive? Because you offer it BEFORE, not after, the sale. People get it for buying your product (and NOT buying someone else’s product). A rebate is fully reciprocated at the time of purchase. As a customer, you don’t owe anything to the seller. If anything, the seller is the one who owes you a good product. You could have bought another product. The seller offered you a cashback deal so that you buy their product and not their competitor’s product. It’s not a gift or a bribe. It’s a sale incentive, just like any other “% OFF” sale discount. You did the seller a big favor by buying their product, trusting them, and spending your money. Sale Incentives don’t bias reviews because no one leaves a 5-star review for a bad product just because they got it “On Sale”.
This makes a Feedback Rebate a strong trust signal in and of itself. That’s because no seller, in their right mind, would ever offer a Feedback Rebate on a product they believe their customers will regret buying. That’s the skin in the game! If the product is bad or overpriced, the seller will quickly get a ton of bad reviews and customers know this even before they buy. That’s why they can trust the seller.
They can also trust the reviews. They know exactly how the seller got their reviews. No one can leave a review without buying the product first. There isn’t even a review form. People can click on customer names and see their own profile pages and the timeline of their reviews. These are real people’s profiles. The seller cannot break into someone’s account and start deleting reviews they don’t like. It’s not possible. The seller clearly cannot moderate their own reviews, which makes them even more trustworthy.
When you’re looking at the product with a Feedback Rebate and reviews, you know that thousands of people, just like you, visited this website and were offered this same cashback deal BEFORE they bought. It wasn’t a gift, so they never felt a need to reciprocate. It wasn’t a threat either, because the seller cannot retaliate. The seller doesn’t even know who is looking at the product page. They cannot pick-and-choose “good” customers to make this offer to because the rebate is offered BEFORE, not after the sale. Everyone automatically gets the rebate for purchasing the product no matter what reviews they’ve left in the past. That’s how you know those are honest reviews.
Customers get this right away. You can literally double your conversions the moment you offer a Feedback Rebate. Tragically, many sellers confuse it with Review Incentives and ignore it. The two couldn’t be more different. One is an awful, unethical and expensive, and the other is honest, effective, and practically free (replaces an existing “% OFF” sale discount).
The traffic-without-add-to-cart pattern usually points to one thing: visitors can see what you’re selling but can’t immediately tell why they should buy it from you specifically.
For astrophotography prints, that gap tends to be on the product page itself. Does each product answer: what makes this image technically exceptional, what size looks best in a home, and what does the print quality actually feel like? Those three questions are what stops a browser from becoming a buyer, and they’re invisible to you because you already know the answers.
Theme choice matters far less than that. Horizon is solid. Spend the time on copy and one or two customer photos of prints in a real space before touching the theme.
Despite my son’s advice (he is a former Shopify employee who has his own company advising clients on Shopify setup etc.), I decided to switch to Horizon theme from Tinker which required A LOT of tinkering! I think my site is cleaner now and am working to address the many issues and to make my first actual sales. Take a look and tell me if I am moving in the right direction.
Hey @Astroimagery,
I hope you are doing well.
Building a Shopify store is one of the main important thing to start selling. It’s not that it can be done in a day or a week. It’s required a lot of efforts and proper strategies. Without proper context your online shop will be useless.
Using free theme is a option when you don’t have enough budget to spend. But if you budget then don’t overthink before purchasing it.
Purchasing paid theme is not enough, it’s also way more important to choose the best theme that suits with your brand category. That say, you need to focus on your customers need and then you need to choose the theme according to it.
Adding interactive sections or the product blocks increase the conversion rate. You can use the Section Store or Section Kit shopify apps to enhance your store visibility via built in sections.
Adding upsell, cross sell, offer discounts is another way to increase the CRO.
Are you aware that those themes share exactly the same theme code (except for some default settings, which can be changed)?
Ask your son about this.
All themes from Horizon “family” share the same liquid/css/javascript code.