We’ll talk about successful Shopify stores in a moment. But let’s imagine a few things before.
Imagine you have a 1,500-horsepower Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, and you’re running it at 87 octane gasoline. Sure, the fastest production car will move, but it will only run like a Ford Shelby Mustang GT500.
As soon as you hit the steering wheels, you’ll realize something is terribly wrong with your brand new bullock cart. :/ Well, why would this happen? Think! Think! Done thinking? Simply because you’re putting the cart before the horse. It happened only because you missed some crucial tricks miserably.
*Well, I don’t own a Bugatti Chiron, you fool! Your examples are useless as you! I’m not missing any trick in my life.*
Oh sure! Tell this one more time, and I’ll tell you what you’re missing. No, wait, let me start for your own comfort! So you own a Shopify store. Or maybe even the new Shopify 2.0 store. Right? Great! Like other Shopify store owners, you might think you’ve got the richest pair of hands-on Bugatti that will increase your online business’s sales and conversions in mere three seconds.
But as the day progresses, you notice no matter how hard you hit the accelerators and 7-speed dual-clutch, all you have are unsatisfied cash registers and crushed-down egos.
It all happened because you missed on top Shopify stores’ tactics the big players use in the market.
That’s right! The best Shopify stores are not the ones who have the Shopify stores, but who use the right tricks & trends be it digital marketing tricks, or web designing trends, or even eCommerce email marketing tricks on their Shopify stores. So now you know owning a Bugatti is not enough, but sticking to the right tactic makes it the flying machine on the road.
Same with Shopify! You may find yourself closer to an online miracle with Shopify, but it won’t grow if you’re overlooking the top eCommerce strategies that can max out its benefits. But don’t you worry! I have these tricks ready with me.
All I have to do is: disclose! But here’s the bargain, feel free to jump over any section, pause, and implement the trick. There’s no fixed structure that you have to follow.
And yeah! I forgot to mention the source of these tricks are beautiful Shopify stores that are doing wonderful despite having a short history in the industry.
Kylie Cosmetics, YouFoodz, Rebecca Minkoff, MVMT, Nestle, The Hundreds, etc. are some of the great Shopify stores that nail the eCommerce concept. So I’ve taken inspiration from them. And you should too! So should we start? Great. Let’s roll on! We’ll first check out your store’s common nature and traits that make it a big hit!
Seven traits that will make your Shopify store a big hit
Like everything in this world, certain traits make Shopify stores stand out from competitors. I mean… there are more than 800,000 Shopify stores, of which 500,000 are super-active. What are these traits that make you better than half a million stores? Well, let’s check them out.
#1 Customer experience:
Customer experience has to be the critical trait of Shopify stores. Nothing beats it as a primary trait. How do your customers feel throughout the purchase journey? What’s their experience with you? Would they recommend others shopping with you? Customer experience is all about smoothening their buying journey.
#2 Brand appeal:
The trait is self-explanatory. The brands try to attract and invoke buying interest for the consumer. So Shopify stores must please, engage, and stimulate consumers for making decisions. You need to add the element of appeal in your Shopify store marketing.
#3 Social proof:
Social proof = credibility! Why should anyone believe in your store? I mean… anyone can post good content and attractive pictures. But what stands you out among competitors are honest reviews and opinions shared by customers. People prefer recommendations by fellow-social members more than the company’s direct pitching. So this is one good must-have trait for the store.
#4 Product descriptions and specifications:
Nothing annoys customers more than unclear and incomplete copies. The idea of product descriptions and specifications is to compel shoppers for making purchase-decisions. A bad and dull copy can narrow your ROI chances and increase cart abandonment. Then you invest on writing effective blog CTAs and about us pages to reduce cart abadonment. Again, you need good copywriters to make the trait work.
#5 Customer service:
You’ve had your Shopify store. But having it is not enough. Shoppers have to go through a lot of hiccups, and you’ve to give them the water. That’s just the way customer service works. And it’s by far the most crucial trait of a Shopify store. Having a great eCommerce customer service is a must now.
#6 Website load speeds:
Page load speeds are the entry points of Shopify stores. Imagine customers trying to enter your store, but all your store could offer them is a long queue. No customer likes to wait! If you don’t welcome them at entry points, good luck expecting the unachievable.
#7 Abandoned cart recovery:
Customers are never convinced until they’re not convinced. You might jump in the air, thinking they added the product to the cart. But that’s where they abandon the store the most. Nothing is more hurting than missing a customer by one step. Not even those New York Yankees close losses. So get this trait for your Shopify store to get these close converts.
Here’s the catch: don’t think having a few of these traits would make your Shopify store a money-puking ATM. That’s not true. These traits work synergistically. Synergy…what?
Well, it means they work together to have a greater good effect on your store. Missing on any of these would mean cutting on the collective power that could lead to higher sales and revenues. Although I’ll be picking and describing one good trait from these Shopify stores, please don’t assume they haven’t implemented the other tactics. So let’s find them out.
Five successful Shopify stores and their tactics worth stealing
Successful shopify stores #1: SkinnyMe Tea
- Key tactic: Facebook messenger chatbot
- Key trait: Customer experience
I’m pretty sure you’re one of 1.5 billion Facebook visitors. The social media giant sees the biggest footfall every month. Instead of asking customers to leave their leisure on Facebook and migrate to their personal website, SkinnyMe Tea used it as an opportunity to meld themselves in the online container.
The brand smartly integrated Facebook Messenger chatbots with their Shopify stores. Think of this way: what if your customers could browse through your product lists without visiting the store? And not just browse but purchase?
Well, it sounds bizarre impossible. But Facebook Messenger chatbots let you do the unthinkable. These chatbots are smart facebook programs that let businesses sell and attend queries without having to go through direct conversations.
But more than that, people enjoy interacting with companies on messengers than mail or telephones. And it’s even greater when shopping is done at a few clicks. That eventually resolves a big headache as the likes of customer-experience. Plus, not to mention the pick up in sales it gives. Great eCommerce consumer service. Isn’t it?
Please have a look at how SkinnyMe tea nails their Shopify store and shopper-experience with the Facebook messenger chatbot.
So it’s: shop and sell where the customers are. The biggest plus is Shopify stores let businesses integrate Facebook bots quite easily, right on the go. If you’re into Shopify development, having this trait in your store is a must. Brands now can explore the entire Facebook world with it.
Successful shopify stores #2: M2S Bikes
- Key tactic: Cart abandonment cash machine
- Key trait: Cart recovery
Pop-ups work. Hands down. They’re the best-annoying thing ever happened to Shopify customers. I mean… yes, they can get quite annoying if not done correctly, but they can also get best when done strategically. That’s why everyone in the industry keep using exit overlay strategies.
Brands use exit-pop ups to keep their sales registers ringing. If you don’t follow me, you got to see how M2S bikes do this. As a business, you can do it anywhere in your sales funnel; however, most brands put these pop-ups during cart abandonment. And you can have all the necessary details in the world with last-minute incentives.
For example, when the users of M2S bikes didn’t complete the purchase process and tried to step out of the website, the Shopify store popped-up effective CTAs to convert. Who would give up on an immediate 10%? Even if they don’t buy that moment, the powerful call-to-action already did its job.
So the key takeaways are clear: you can build an email list with exit-pop-ups and lucrative offers. M2S bikes made close to $1000 extra per day with a cart abandonment cash machine. The campaign was run for 50 days. And guess what? They had almost made $52,000 with this feature.
Anyway, the message’s crux is: should you need to attract those unconvinced rats who are always ready to desert your set-up, get this vital trait without fail. Everyone likes surprises. Yes, yes, even the ones who say they don’t. It’s like those crumbly-red Leicester cheese that will max out your chances for catching them. And what better example to live your dream of reducing the cart abandonment than checking this website?
Successful shopify stores #3: Haus London
- Key tactic: Clean web designing
- Key trait: Customer-experience
Clutter is a weed of design. I’ve been a designer myself, and this is one of the usual mistakes even the experts make. Gone are those days when stores tried to clutter all the information in a small space. Even the cluttered of the cluttered print media had started to make more sense than these web designs.
Finally, after a long vision-hysteria, brands have realized these weeds need some good rest. HausLondon is a powerful example of a well-balanced design with a minimal and elegant touch.
Selecting typography, sticking with brand colors, placing CTAs, and designing stores may look like ordinary tasks but need critical design-thinking, significantly when you can’t reorganize them repeatedly. Fortunately, Haus does it quite beautifully with their Shopify store.
Here’s what Haus did right with its design:
- The compelling typography. The light color doesn’t overpower the photograph.
- Relevant and clean photograph. The landing page sends the clear message.
- The balanced color palettes give a smooth sense of transition while scrolling.
- Clean designing. No clutter.
So the point is: having a Shopify store is not enough. Your web design should match the minimal industrial standards for quickly engaging the audience and giving them easy roads to proceed with.
The good news is— Shopify is that eCommerce platform that let you make your store from scratch. You simply have to plugin clean and beautifully designed themes, and ta-dah! You’re up and ready for quick conversions. And last but not least: immaculate designing leads to easy decision-making.
Also read:
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Successful shopify stores #4: Taylor Stitch
- Key tactic: Mobile-first shopping
- Key trait: Omni-channel experience
You already know humans have always socialized. The only difference is the socializing that used to happen offline is happening online now. The time average Americans spend on phones is close to 3 hours and 30 minutes.
On the other hand, the desktop is losing the baton to the mobile-internet. So mobile-friendly platforms have gotten a must-have tactic for any business, let alone the Shopify eCommerce. People are not only browsing more on mobiles but shopping too.
Search engine algorithms have made it clear they prefer mobile stores over desktop stores. You’d like to go through how Taylor Stitch savagely killed the mobile-first experience with their app.
Check out these mobile images.
Did you see how Taylor Stitch adopted this trait? Fortunately, Shopify lets you develop and deploy mobile-first shopping stores in a jiffy. I’ve seen friends doing great with desktop sales suddenly scramble because they didn’t update as the technology evolved.
You know it if you’ve put your feet in the online mud once, you’re either evolving or going down the mud. So focus on the omni-channel experience. If you can’t, make your website or app mobile-friendly first. Then think of diversifying your platform.
Successful shopify stores #5: Quad Lock Case
- Key tactic: Product GIF’s and social proof
- Key trait: credibility
Landing pages are often dull and misguiding— balling around shoppers from one page to another. And that ultimately gets irritating and leads to cart abandonment. But what if you send your message loud and clear on the landing page itself. Well, here’s one of the companies that did this smartly.
So instead of compelling visitors from a strong landing copy to product, Quad lock case placed animated product GIFs in action. The move did two things: first, it sent the clear means-end benefit message, and second, it did it without killing the page-load time.
The smartphone mounting company also attached neat and clean social proofs with minimal designing to transfer the brand credibility. When you sell benefits and social proofs, you develop credibility.
No Shopify store can guarantee success unless you have worked on building your credibility. But here’s a way out for this. Develop your Shopify store and integrate all the social proofs with ease. The platform also lets you collect reviews on your products and shopping-experience and flaunt them on the website.
It paves the way for your customers to have a credible interaction and encourage them to have business with you.
You’re the next big thing on Shopify. Have Successful shopify stores yourself!
Well, you know you could be the next big thing with Shopify. Don’t you? If you steal these top tactics from established businesses that don’t have a long history of past with Shopify, you can go for the kill in a few days.
I would recommend not to go for all the tactics at one go if you’re tight on money. Slow progress would do. Pick any one or two traits and apply them to your store. Measure their performance if they do well. Double up the tactics. If they don’t, shut ’em up and experiment with the next segment of tactics.
The message is quite clear: not every tactic would work on you. It’s a trial and error combination where you continuously push your boundaries and find the most effective one. Suppose you can apply all of them in harmony, even better. Stats suggest that they work in harmony much better than using them individually. In case you don’t know where to begin. Trust me. You have us—the Huptech team. Hire a Shopify developer with us and make these traits come alive in a few days.
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Really helpful for eCommerce store owners