Having an online store is a great way to reach more customers, but it can be difficult to design a website that meets the needs of your customers. Unfortunately, many website owners’ Shopify mistakes can cost them sales. In this article, we’ll take a look at the three biggest Shopify mistakes and how you can avoid them to maximize your sales potential. We’ll also discuss some ecommerce website design tips that will help you create an attractive and effective website for your business.
Mistake #1 – Poorly Designed Home Page Layout
Designing a home page layout can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. By following a few simple tips, you can easily create an engaging and attractive home page layout that will draw visitors in and make them want to stay.
One of the most common mistakes people make when designing their home page is failing to consider the user experience. A poorly designed home page layout can lead to visitors leaving your site quickly and never coming back. A good Shopify & eCommerce website home page needs to include:
- At the very top of your home page, include a “Hero Section” with a Catchy heading that sells your product, a sentence or two that describes the product in slightly more depth, and a call to action to purchase your product.
- After the home section, make it easy to find and purchase your products with a dedicated product slider or a list of your most popular product categories. People expect to see your products up front. On our own client sites, we measure how quickly it takes people to leave and how long it takes them to leave your site. If your products are not at the top of your home page, you will lose about 50% of your potential customers!
Mistake #2 – Not Optimizing for Mobile Devices
With the increasing number of people using their mobile devices to shop online, it is essential for ecommerce stores to optimize their websites for mobile devices. Mobile optimization is not just about making sure that your website looks good on a small screen; it also involves making sure that your website loads quickly and functions properly on mobile devices.
This one is a bit tricky, because some industries have more desktop than mobile traffic. But in almost all eCommerce stores We have seen, you have more mobile than desktop traffic.
If you’re running an ecommerce store on Shopify, you need to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile users. Sometimes that means sacrificing a desktop design to make your mobile traffic better… especially if you are using a free theme. But its worth it to capture those flaky mobile visitors!
Additionally, you should use the latest mobile optimization tips and techniques such as image compression and caching to ensure that your site runs smoothly and quickly on mobile devices. Our internal data shows that when users can’t load a website in at least 5 seconds, they leave and never return…
Mistake #3 – Ignoring User Experience and Usability
User experience and usability are two of the most important aspects of any ecommerce store. If your store isn’t user-friendly, customers won’t be able to find what they are looking for, and you won’t be able to make sales. Ignoring user experience and usability best practices for your Shopify store can have disastrous consequences.
It is important to understand the importance of user experience and usability when designing an ecommerce store on Shopify. Make sure to include headers over important content, use Alt Text to describe your images when you upload them, and don’t – I repeat – DONT upload an image in 4k. Its not necessary and slows down your website a ton. The average user will appreciate a 1080p image on either their phone or desktop and Shopify recommends 2048×2048 for product images.
When you ignore the speed and usability of your site, you risk losing valuable customers. By keeping your site fast, simple, and cleanly designed, you are guaranteed to get more sales in 2023.
Let us know if you tried any of these tips and if they helped improve your site!
Our team at Big Red Jelly is expert at creating and optimizing websites to improve your online presence. If you’re looking for someone to help build or rebuild a site that will serve your business, get a quote today!
By Preston Vawdrey
