June 30, 2023
Shopify Development and Ecommerce Website Design: Conversions, Integrations and CX
Consumers naturally now turn to the internet to discover and engage with brands. As such websites have become a vital touchpoint often serving as the initial point of contact through search engines. Join us as we explore Shopify, the fastest growing hosted ecommerce platform, can support optimum performance with conversions, integrations and customer experience (CX).
In this digital age, a strong online presence is critical for businesses of all sizes, particularly ecommerce businesses. In 2021, ecommerce accounted for nearly 19 percent of retail sales worldwide. Forecasts indicate that by 2026, the online segment will make up close to a quarter of total global retail sales.
As consumers naturally now turn to the internet to discover and engage with brands, websites have become a vital touchpoint, often serving as the initial point of contact through search engines. Consequently, investing in ecommerce website design and development has become one of the most effective ways for businesses to thrive in a digital landscape. Failure to get this right can be the difference between success and failure. In a survey of 500 retail consumers, half said that website design is important to a business’s overall brand. Another showed that the highest ecommerce conversion rates occur on pages with load times between 0-2 seconds. Ensuring smart web design and development will increase the usability, speed and efficacy of your site. In this blog, we’ll cover the key areas your business must get right if you want success on one of the most important ecommerce channels today. We’ll cover the significance of optimising websites for conversions, the effortless enhancements possible through integrations, the considerations when choosing and developing on a host platform, and the enduring value of blogging in driving engagement and improving the customer experience.
Shopify vs WooCommerce
When it comes to website hosting, selecting a platform that aligns with your business’s current needs and future growth is paramount. Factors such as ease of use, customisation options and scalability play a crucial role in optimising and maintaining your website over time. There is an age-old debate between Shopify and WooCommerce, two prominent ecommerce platforms renowned for their online store management capabilities, each offering distinct solutions. Shopify, as a comprehensive built-in platform, provides businesses with a robust foundation for their online presence. Its user-friendly interface simplifies website management, making it an attractive choice for those seeking convenience and efficiency.
On the other hand, WooCommerce offers unparalleled flexibility and customisation, allowing businesses to tailor their online stores to their exact specifications. While both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, the best choice depends on the unique requirements of your business. But with roughly 4.5 million businesses using Shopify development to unlock their website potential, the largest platform on Earth is what we’ll be looking at today. It features 2,200 apps on the marketplace and a plethora of different styles to suit any business or product. By hosting securities and payments, Shopify handles all technical aspects. It’s the number one choice for resource-light businesses who simply want an all-in-one package for their ecommerce store, or who are beginning their ecommerce journey. It cannot be ignored for ecommerce businesses that want to grow and meet new levels of potential.
Integrations: your ‘no-code’ best friend
Enhancing your ecommerce web development doesn’t always require intricate coding or custom designs. Embracing ecommerce integrations offers a straightforward path to elevate your potential customers’ experience through automation and personalisation. Two platforms that excel in optimising the customer journey are Shopify and Klaviyo. Shopify is a leading ecommerce platform that allows business owners to build and manage their website and product pages with ease, while Klaviyo is an email automation platform specialising in targeted and personalised email marketing campaigns. By integrating Shopify and Klaviyo, businesses can sync their ecommerce website customer data to deliver highly targeted email campaigns that can boost engagement and sales. From segmentation to behaviour-based email automation and workflows, this integration empowers businesses to leverage valuable customer insights. By harnessing the power of these platforms, businesses can curate tailored email experiences that resonate with individual customers, resulting in increased conversions and customer loyalty. With automation and personalisation at their fingertips, businesses can enhance their ecommerce web development and deliver exceptional customer experiences with ease.
Design with accessibility in mind
In the ever-evolving realm of web design, it is paramount to weave accessibility into the fabric of your website. But what exactly does accessibility mean in the context of web design? Simply put, it is the art of crafting digital experiences that cater to all individuals, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
Why is it crucial to have an accessible website?
The advantages are manifold. An accessible website broadens your reach and fosters inclusivity. By ensuring that your site can be easily accessed and navigated by people with disabilities, such as visual impairments, hearing loss, or motor disabilities, you tap into a vast audience that may have otherwise been left behind. Not only does this reflect a commitment to equal access, it also represents a significant business opportunity. An inaccessible site alienates potential customers and limits their engagement. It breeds frustration, exclusion and missed business prospects. Additionally, overlooking accessibility requirements can expose your business to legal consequences, as many countries now have laws mandating equal access to digital content. An accessible website enhances the user experience for everyone. By implementing accessible design principles, you create a seamless browsing experience. Clear navigation, legible content and intuitive interfaces make it effortless for all visitors to find information, complete transactions and engage with your content. If those reasons weren’t enough, accessibility is actually something search engines look for when ranking your site. Accurate image descriptions on your blog, for example, will not only help the visually impaired, but also help your site rank higher on Google, making accessibility a no-brainer for businesses when designing a website on Shopify.
Optimise for Conversions
Business owners who neglect the essential steps to optimise their ecommerce sites may find themselves disheartened by stagnant or declining sales. While ecommerce websites serve as powerful platforms for selling products and services, they must be strategically built to convert. Many factors can hinder your ecommerce website’s ability to convert visitors into customers. Limited call-to-actions, lacking prompts such as “get 15% off” and a failure to attract the right target audience are among them. However, it is often the less obvious web development issues that have a significant impact on ecommerce conversions. Visitors can become frustrated by sluggish site speeds caused by complex coding and large media files. Additionally, poorly designed product pages with low-quality images and unclear descriptions fail to convince potential customers. Investing in high-quality ecommerce website development becomes crucial if you’re to overcome these hurdles. By improving site speed, showcasing captivating high-resolution images and providing compelling content, businesses can create a seamless browsing experience that entices customers to make a purchase.
Set Up a Blog on Shopify
While some may claim that blogs are relics of the past in terms of marketing, this notion couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to ecommerce websites. Blogs play an integral role in the marketing process, serving as a cornerstone for ecommerce website SEO and acting as a vehicle to reach new customers through captivating and informative content. By considering blogs in the development and design stage of your site’s web build, businesses can drive engagement, build brand awareness and increase website traffic. One key advantage of blogs is the ability to provide in-depth details and context to products, surpassing the limitations of website development merely on product pages. This allows businesses to incorporate strategic call-to-actions for newsletters and other marketing initiatives, amplifying the impact of their content. Whether you’re setting up a blog on Shopify or any other website hosting platform, the potential for leveraging blog content is immense. By utilising blogs, businesses can promote their products and services across social media platforms, collaborate with industry experts and enrich their email newsletter content. This multifaceted approach also enhances the overall customer experience by providing valuable and relevant content. Engaging blog posts not only attract new visitors, but keep them coming back for more too, in turn fostering a sense of loyalty and establishing your brand as a trusted source of information and expertise. Learn more about how you can set up a blog and create content for Shopify here.
Shopify design and development
Successful ecommerce website development and design is a journey that requires ongoing attention and dedication to various factors. By focusing on enhancing the technical features of your website along with delivering valuable content, you can significantly improve the customer experience and drive conversions. Moreover, integrating your website’s data with powerful platforms offers a treasure trove of opportunities. Unleash the power of continuous development and optimisation, and watch your ecommerce website flourish in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Learning From Industry Leaders: Missy Empire, a Manchester Fashion Ecommerce Brand
Missy Empire, a prominent fashion brand based in Manchester, has achieved remarkable growth by leveraging the power of Shopify.
Founders Ash and Ish Siddique drew upon their 15 years of experience in Manchester’s fashion district within the manufacturing trade and launched their own brand, Missy Empire, in 2015. Today, the Missy Empire website is built on Shopify and attracts over 220k visitors per month.
Missy Empire’s adoption of Shopify reflects a trend across fashion retailers following the boom in online shopping during and post-pandemic. One report by Wunderman Thompson Commerce highlighted that online spending had doubled through direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels, from 7% in 2022 to 14% in 2023.
The fashion industry, in particular, has reaped the benefits of the rising shopping channels for consumers and the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model. In light of this, Shopify’s robust platform has continued to enable Missy Empire to thrive and potentially contributed to it surpassing its competitors in an ever-expanding market. A key aspect of Shopify’s optimisation is its ability to eliminate “zero results” pages on the Missy Empire website. When users encounter such pages on other ecommerce platforms, they are more likely to exit their session, resulting in lost revenues. However, Shopify empowers Missy Empire to strategically “re-merchandise” users by showcasing popular products and searches, thereby re-engaging them and guiding them toward products they may like. This seamless integration enables users to discover unexpected items and initiate new transactions, avoiding disappointment and driving greater success.