One Year, Zero Sales – Need Honest & Actionable Advice

Store Feedback
1

Hi everyone,

I run a custom keepsake jewelry store on Shopify—pieces that capture meaningful moments like handwriting, fingerprints, and other personal engravings. It’s been a year since I launched, and I’ve had zero sales. I built the entire website myself, poured my heart into it, and hired an SEO specialist from the start. Sadly, after months of work, nothing changed, and I ended that collaboration in April.

Since then, I’ve been getting constant messages from people—many claiming to be from Fiverr—promising they can boost my sales and conversion rate. Some even offer to work for free at first and get paid only if I’m happy with the results. Part of me wants to try, but part of me worries it’s a scam or just empty promises.

At this point, my motivation is low, and I don’t have much energy left to keep pushing without seeing results. I’m still willing to fight for my store, but I don’t want to waste more time or money going in the wrong direction.

If you’ve been in a similar situation—or have concrete, proven suggestions for:

  1. How to realistically drive my first sales
  2. How to identify trustworthy people to work with
    …I would truly appreciate your guidance.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

2

Sorry I left the link to my shop out. chaptersofjoy.com

1 Like
3

Hi @C-O-J

Sorry to hear you put so much work into it and that it did not pay out yet. I would say you need to be patient but for a year think you have been enough.

For emails and Fiver, try to skip that, most of that are scams and shady developers. There are some honest one on Fiver but I think it is a lottery like 50%-50%. Best if they have a lot real reviews and that they do not find you but you find them.
You can check also Hire Shopify Experts, Developers, Designers & Freelancers Shopify partners directory. Or check some of long time users here that offer their services, just to name a few @Moeed , @PaulNewton, @tim_1 or a few others that joined for a long time and helped community a lot.

First tip I have you to go through a lot of similar topics:
https://community.shopify.com/search?q=%22no%20sales%22

You are not first nor the last who does not get sales. So read, research as there are some good advice that you can use on your own store. And those advises do repeat.

But to get back to your store, I can give you same feedback but can not claim it will get sales but it should help.

In general it looks OK, good structure with collections, bit minimal design but I have noticed a few things:

  • You have good images but very little text, very little content to explain more, tell a story, guide customers, and you said you did a SEO but for SEO you do need a lot more text. Edit* Saw a bit later “Keepsake Chronicles menu” and all blog posts, you can use parts of text from some articles on homepage, collection, product page, think it would look good.
  • And that bit of text you have, it is very small. Not titles but regular text, like product description, which is important all is just 12.5px which is close to unreadable. And you want to cover all ages
  • Dawn is OK theme but it does not have features that would make you store " The Ultimate luxury" and think year with it showed that. You have must seen a lot of good jewelry stores and you should pick up a good things they have done.
  • For example those collections on homepage, I bet if you had some tool that tracks clicks, like HotJar you would see that most of your uses will click image first, but image do not have a link and then they have to click smaller link on name of collection. That can annoy some.
  • on homepage you have one image of women and child and that is good, think you need to show more people, more smiles more emotions, so customers can relate, connect. What works best is user generated content, like short videos, reviews.
  • Product page needs more sections, like customer reassurance icons as a section with text( not links you have that lead of the page, some reviews app, maybe some product video, and some image/text sections. You can i think offer a different bundles, and sell more, with some discount. People love discounts.
  • Also " How to Upload Your JOY" is good but again to get more connection maybe make a video of exactly how whole process is going, what could go wrong and how to overcome any issues.
  • You collection pages do not have description, and there is a chance for good SEO, lot of keywords but also explain exactly what your products for that collection are. Missed opportunity.
  • Now I saw “Our story” and that is what you need to show more, great text, everyone will love that. It is honest and very relatable. And when people find connection they will buy your products. It could be designed a bit different, a few more images but core is there.
  • To me, one important part, that increase trustworthiness, is contact information, and I could find just an email. It is good it is domain email but I expect more. Business name , address, phone, registration number…
    *Saw Instagram and a lot of post and that is good, you built a good base there, maybe expand to TikTok and YouTube Shorts and continue to post.

Sorry this maybe too long and a lot of text but hope at least something can help you out. I really wish you best of luck and that you start getting more and more orders.

1 Like
5

Hello @C-O-J , Sales generally depend upon the SEO, store speed, and design. Your design seems good as per the services you offered, and your SEO score is also high, but the main issue came in the speed, as from the testing of the Google Page Insights Report, below are the results for mobile view -

Shopify_06_August
Shopify_06_August1607×769 66.9 KB

Speed plays a vital role in any online business to grow as unoptimized stores make users spend more time. As you can see, the overall performance score is not good and needs a big change. Below are the advanced techniques that you can follow to fix the same-

  • LCP Fix- Your store is facing a High LCP issue, and image delivery could have been done better to reduce it. You can reduce the download time of images by using responsive images for your store, as some image files are larger than they need to be for their displayed dimensions.

  • Document Request Latency - Your first network request is the most important. Reduce its latency by avoiding redirects, ensuring a fast server response, and enabling text compression. Ensure that all URLs are consistent to avoid unnecessary redirects.

  • Use efficient cache lifetimes- A long cache lifetime can speed up repeat visits to your page. Like the below-mentioned example -

<head>

  <!-- Add Cache-Control to CSS files -->

  <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ 'theme.css' | asset_url }}" media="all" />

  <meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="public, max-age=31536000" />

  

  <!-- Add Cache-Control to JS files -->

  <script src="{{ 'theme.js' | asset_url }}"></script>

  <meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="public, max-age=31536000" />

</head>

Alternatively, if you wanted a quick and automated solution for optimizing store, I recommend trying Website Speedy - Shopify app, which is best for optimizing images, handling too many HTTP requests, etc. It comes with a 14-day free trial, so test for your store and see the results.

(Disclaimer: We are the developers of this app and are happy to answer any questions you have.)

6

Hello @C-O-J

It’s been a long time since we met in this community, and I’m happy to see you are back now! I notice you are seeking honest and actionable advice to boost store sales and increase the conversion. It is great to know here that you still manage to make store more efficient with all the efforts and I will definitely help you with my best.

Here I list some advice and practical feedback after checking your store and SEO performance, you can take a look and use them wisely in the further progress of store:

  1. About announcement bar on the top of the homepage. Firstly, I really like your store design and interaction you worked when I firstly access your store, it makes me feel very comfortable and easy to react. There is only a very small tip for your homepage, which is to optimize your announcement by reducing the width, as it seems like taking up too much space when I firstly notice it. It is fine to enlarge the size of characters inside announcement bar also, both available, and it is up to you honestly.

    image
    image1750×847 56.8 KB

  2. Length of Meta Description. I can feel that you must put so much effort on store SEO optimization, as when I search your store on Google, it has a very clear structure and the necessary elements are displaying in the search results properly. Good job! It will be better for your store if you can shorten the length of meta description on some web pages, as they are too long to display completely and will prevent some customers from getting what you sell and the main idea of page in detail. The recommended length of Meta Description should be between 100-200 characters. You can also double-check by using our APP feature-Content Optimization to see if meet this length, and it is available also for you to see the real preview page meanwhile after editing.

    image
    image1355×750 44.7 KB

  3. Alt text missing on some product images. You can regard Alt text as one of the contents displayed for search engines like Google to read and index. If without alt text, Google may feel confused about what it is and mix the images with other contents together on the website and as a result, you may not get the results you want eventually. By optimizing this part, you can choose to access related image from Shopify admin page and add it in the option of Alt text directly or use SEOAnt to edit the missing ones together in one page, the data will be synced on Shopify end meanwhile. You can choose what you like to make further steps. Here I list some image URLs as examples below for your reference:
    https://chaptersofjoy.com/cdn/shop/files/IMG_0513.jpg?v=1743262812&width=3840
    https://chaptersofjoy.com/cdn/shop/files/Footprint2.jpg?v=1743359307&width=3200
    https://chaptersofjoy.com/cdn/shop/files/743afdccf0009d48ec6e661de3933476_3e8e3235-dd5d-4f9c-8762-6d33af8c440a.jpg?v=1737772607&width=3200

7

Hi @C-O-J ,

There are 2 quick questions?
1.) Do you run paid ads? Because many of the store owners get at least a little bit of sales if they run ads on Google or Facebook, or Instagram.
2.) Did you ask the SEO guy who was hired by you to rank on ChatGPT?

Even SEO can help to rank the website, but when I searched the website, the website is ranking on Google, but when I search for the product, it is not getting ranked.

8

hi. i also went through your store, and have several suggestions:

  1. as others have also suggested, your website can improve a lot. as of now, I didn’t get that premium feel by scrolling through it. as you have a jewellery store, the design must match the elegance of your products. maybe try going ahead with a different theme such as Opal or Grace (if you have the budget.)
  2. additionally, when I viewed your home page, I felt the headers could have been better. and instead of 3, you can just go ahead with 1. in fact, the header which says “sign up today and save 10% on your first offer” is great. keep that as the only one.
  3. font weight was also an issue. i had difficulties reading content on your website. so would your potential customers. ensure that text is clearly visible.
  4. certain images of jewellery on your home page were slightly blurry. if you want to add some, ensure those are in HD quality, as it can influence a user’s decision.
  5. you can also add testimonials or reviews of happy customers on your home page. social proof can be crucial to build trust with new website visitors and convert them into customers.
  6. you can also add an faq section and answer some of the most common questions regarding your products, their return windows, etc.
  7. and as some other members also suggested, focus on improving your website content, and topical authority (via SEO)

these were some suggestions that might be useful. take that as constructive feedback.

good luck : )

9

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to write such a detailed and thoughtful reply. I truly appreciate the honesty and the effort you put into going through my store and giving me constructive suggestions. It means a lot to me, especially at this stage when I’m feeling quite stuck.

I wanted to ask a few follow-up questions based on your feedback:

  • Since I haven’t had customers yet, I can’t collect real testimonials. What else could I do in the meantime to build trust and credibility on my store?
  • You mentioned my text size is small — what font size would you recommend for product descriptions and general text so it’s easier to read for all ages?

Thanks again for your generous advice and encouragement. I truly value your help.

10

Thank you for taking the time to review my store’s performance and share these detailed insights. I really appreciate you pointing out the speed issues and giving me clear, actionable steps to work on.

I’ll look into the suggestions you mentioned, including the LCP fix, optimizing image delivery, and reducing request latency. I’ll also try the Website Speedy app and see how it impacts my store’s performance.

Once I’ve made some of these changes, I’ll definitely reach out for more advice on further improvements.

Thanks again for your guidance — it’s very helpful for me at this stage.

11

It’s lovely to hear from you again, and thank you so much for taking the time to review my store and share such practical, detailed advice. I truly appreciate the encouragement and the clear steps you’ve suggested.

I’ll work on optimizing the announcement bar size, reviewing and shortening the meta descriptions to the recommended length, and making sure all product images have proper alt text. Your examples are very helpful for spotting exactly what I need to fix. Once I’ve implemented these changes, I’ll reach out again for more feedback to ensure I’m heading in the right direction.

Thanks again for your continued support and guidance — it really means a lot.

1 Like
12

Thank you for your questions.

  • Yes, I have run paid ads on Facebook and Instagram before, but unfortunately, they didn’t result in any sales. I’d be interested in hearing if you think a different approach or platform might work better.
  • I didn’t ask the SEO person I worked with about ranking on ChatGPT — that’s actually the first time I’ve heard about doing that. Could you please explain a bit more about how that works?

I appreciate you checking my site’s ranking and pointing out the product search issue. If you have any suggestions on how I can improve my product rankings specifically, I’d love to hear them.

13

Thank you for your helpful and honest feedback. I appreciate your suggestions and will work on improving the headers, font, image quality, and adding an FAQ section. Right now, my budget is tight, so switching to a new theme will have to wait. Also, I don’t have any customer testimonials yet—do you have ideas on how to build trust without them?

I’m not sure how to handle SEO well. Could you recommend someone trustworthy who could help?

Thanks again for the encouragement and the time you took to guide me. It really helps me see where I can make meaningful improvements.

14

Well you are doing a lot already: great about us, part wit Our Story and Philosophy, but repeat some paragraphs on home and product page. Good images, blog, social links. But you could also add Instagram or Facebook feed on your homepage. Similar to 3 icons on product page you could add section with icons on homepage: Fast delivery, Secure checkout, Support, Quality text and choose icons. Get some feedback from family and friends, maybe too soon but also think of giving some products for free to some small/medium “influencer” or offer 5-10% discount on next order if customer leave a review.

For font size, depends on font but some practice is for body font, so base to be 16px and you can set headings and title from 24, 32,48px depends on case, design,font choice.

15

Wow, @C-O-J I’m so happy to receive such pleasant and vivid response from you and I feel quite honored to know my advice mean a lot on your end. Please keep up the good work, and I’m here to support and guide you again if you need further optimization ideas.

Have a great day and wish you all the best!

16

For identifying trustworthy people to work with, it’s more about the process and platform. I don’t know too much about Fiverr and their system there since I haven’t worked there or hired from there before but as for Upwork, there’s a system in place to protect funds in order to make sure your money is in safe hands pending a good job done so it’s a good option. Plus there are a lot of skilled certified Shopify professionals on there. You can see from their history and ratings if they’re someone you’d like to work with

18

Hello, @C-O-J
Chapters of Joy has a beautifully heartfelt and elegant design that matches the emotional value of your keepsakes and personalized jewelry. The use of soft colors, meaningful product names, and heartfelt product collections creates a strong emotional connection. But to help boost conversions and grow your sales, here are a few suggestions to consider:

1. Build More Trust with Reviews and Policies

Customers are more likely to purchase when they trust the store. You should add product reviews using a tool like ShopReviews ‑ Product Reviews - ShopReviews - Boost your sales with product reviews | Shopify App Store, which makes collecting and displaying real customer feedback seamless. Also include essential policy pages like Returns, Shipping, and Privacy Policy clearly in the footer. An “About Us” page with your brand’s personal story can also increase trust and connection.

2. Optimize for Simplicity and Mobile Usability

Your site is already warm and inviting, but make sure it stays mobile-friendly, loads fast, and keeps the focus on your products. Use:

High-quality product images (you already do this well)
Clear and prominent “Add to Cart” buttons
Short, benefit-driven product descriptions that highlight the emotional value or story behind each item

3. Add Sales-Boosting Incentives

Encourage more first-time purchases with:

Pop-ups offering 10% off or free shipping on the first order
Email collection for newsletters or gifting guides
Exit-intent popups to recover abandoning visitors
Bundle offers, like “Buy 2, Get 10% Off” or “Free gift with orders above ₹1,999” to boost cart value

If you’re also selling on Etsy, consider using an app like Etsy Integration ‑ ShopList - ShopList - seamless integration between Shopify and Etsy | Shopify App Store . It lets you sync your products and orders between Shopify and Etsy automatically, saving time and helping you manage inventory more efficiently—perfect for handmade or customized products like yours.

19

Hi @C-O-J ,

I have seen your Shopify website https://chaptersofjoy.com/ and I have found some issues which are reducing the chances for sales.

1- Your images is not not linked with page url, Apply it.

2- At the top add email and phone number, So any user contact you immediately.

3- Make “Sign Up Today and Save 10% on Your First Order!” in Bold and different color, So client can attract.

20

There’s no way to snap your fingers and make a website popular among billions already online. Nowadays, it boils down to many factors. While your store is small, create an AHREFS account ( Site Explorer by Ahrefs: Competitive Analysis Tool For SEO ). It can be pricy when you have many pages and links, but invaluable for tracking down some of the issues already mentioned.

Traffic
Not all traffic is good traffic. Typically, about half of your visits are from bots. Some have good intentions; others don’t. Shopify breaks down your sessions. An app called StoreView will show you the customer path. I recently had the problem of a proliferation of site visits approaching 750K in 30 days without conversion. I had to install an app to block bots, VPN, and entire countries.

Marketing
Consumers don’t buy specs, they buy experiences. Top brands depict people enjoying their product, rather than it sitting in a box.

Brand
This includes the logo and the value of the brand. Regarding your logo, “Chapters of” is minuscule. “Joy” is stylish but might be more legible if the left part of the “J” were flush with the tail of the “Y”. It’s worth looking at a comparison.

The brand value is a name that consumers recognize. That can only happen if it’s talked about in places other than your website.

Legibility
I already mentioned part of your logo. For the rest of the website, my first impression was, “Wow, you need good eyes to read this.” Thin gray text on white might feel elegant, but if the message is legible enough for your audience, there’s a no-sell.

Visual appeal
In your price range, images should be evocative. The jewelry must look like it’s worth 3x more than what you’re selling it for. I’m trying to be tactful — the boxes make the product look cheap.

For necklaces, there are many qualities of chains, and the way they look and feel around the neck is important. Take a look at flat snake chains as a comparison. You might consider having a more premium chain as an upgrade option.

Identify what sells
Visit the sites that sell tons of jewelry. Take notes on how they photograph and describe their products. It’s better to narrow down a half dozen great products with customizable options than offer dozens of products, some not in demand.

Social media
I mentioned marketing and branding. Blog like crazy — at least every week. Post links on every one of your social media accounts. People will tell you it’s YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram. Most of my social media inbound traffic comes from Pinterest. Choose what’s comfortable for you. Some sites can automate the publishing of your blogs to your social media accounts.

Focus groups
Talk to people who will give honest feedback. If you can’t listen objectively, have someone else conduct a focus group for you. Develop a questionnaire: Get feedback on the logo, what feeling the name conveys; let them hold the jewelry and ask how much they think it’s worth. Would they buy it? If so, for whom? If not, why not? Get feedback on the website. Pay a dozen participants 50 bucks and feed them lunch in a rented conference room. You’ll spend under a thousand bucks.

21

Never ever ever EVER respond to those emails. They are scammers. For your actual business and it’s lack of sales, I have a slightly less complicated approach to these guys. SEO is great and all, but if no one knows if you’re legit, no one will send you a hundred bucks… Sorry for being blunt. But it’s about building your brand. I suggest the following:

  1. Create a Facebook Page for your business

  2. Follow Ben Heath on Youtube, he knows practically everything about advertising on facebook.

  3. Gain likes and follows by running ads that specifically invite people to like your page (another thing I learn from watching his videos)

  4. Start LOCALLY. Get a P.O.S. device and go to trade shows, antique shows, flea and Sunday Markets. Use some capital to build some stock and run some local ads. Hand out flyers and business cards with a QR code that gives them a discount.

  5. Do some giveaways with friends and family, on the condition that you receive remarks, reviews, or referrals. Make it legit buy doing the order though Shopify P.O.S. so the reviews are legit.

    Hope this simpleton view helps

22

One point not covered here – do you have visitors?
Did you have visitors when your SEO person was working for you?

If you have a lot of visitors, but no sales, then there is a problem with your product info/prices/trust issues.

If you do not have visitors then you need to concentrate on getting them first. This is where you concentrate on SEO, social accounts (and links to your site from there).
Reconsider who may be interested in your products and concentrate on those people.

How many visitors you have from paid ads?

Compare yourself with your competitors – their SERP positions, social accounts, offerings, prices and try to understand where you can be better then them.