No Sales in your Shopify Store - what to do?

It isn't an unusual occurrence to have a slow period of sales, every online store can experience this and it usually points to lower traffic or conversion rate. At times it could be a shift in the target audience affecting the traffic, or the Shopify site might have more abandoned carts than usual. Your product or service is at the center of your business, we will explore how to make them work for you and drive additional sales via the below activities.

Poor Online Store navigation

The Shopify Theme menu is a primary user experience element that users look for when they arrive at your store. If the menu is not easily found, or the entries are not aligned to the categories they are looking for this will create a disinterested visitor and they will bounce off. In addition, the menu needs to stand out, as well as have a bottom footer navigation to cover the lesser important pages that a user might navigate to. Much like a call-to-action, the menu "words" need to be engaging and descriptive to the users' interest.

Niche target audience engagement

Understanding your niche and their target search keywords is crucial to aligning your stores' products, their description, and meta descriptions to the users. This alignment will help your product rank better, as well as you build up content around those keywords, it will drive additional traffic to your store. Starting with a single product, and then a correlated product is a great way to start. Moving on to filling out a category, then a full collection. What you achieve is a slow expansion, but a deliberate set of keywords focused on your target audience. This increase in content volume will help bring up the profile of your site's SEO, all the while aligning yourself better with the target audience.

Mobile Optimization

Having the ability to be Mobile viewable (responsive) for your eCommerce website given that the majority of users are on their smartphones, will significantly impact the user experience. Use a fixed navigation bar (sticky header) for your mobile version rather than the "hamburger" menu which is three dashed lines to open it up. Photography needs to be properly formatted and aligned to the Shopify Theme - while at times the website builder may not align your content every time. Using real product photography in the settings it will be in and users have the best engagement results. Lastly, punchy text to minimize the fluff gets you to the point of who you are and what you do. Your content has to be aligned to search engine keywords, and your value proposition has to communicate well. Have a sticky "Add to cart" or "Buy" on all the product pages - it gives a clear call to action for the user.

Impactful Product Pages

Most product pages in eCommerce are already designed by the Shopify Theme, however, how it is filled can have an impact on the conversion rate. Here are some good practices to follow:

• Include at lead 4 product images at the minimum, and if it is clothing, then a 5th with the sizing guide.

• A search engine-based keyword in the Product Title with a length not to exceed 60 characters long.

• Have a description of the product be thorough, anticipate the questions of users and have them available for their inspection.

• If you have reviews, have star ratings for each product, as ratings heighten the confidence and will increase the number of conversions.

• Have a call-to-action and a maximum of 2 on the product page as described in the previous section on improving your conversion rate with a mobile responsive Shopify theme.

Checkout process flaws

Different eCommerce platforms have different checkout processes and different requirements when it comes to the user experience (UX). Below are key tips to look out for that can ensure a smooth and fluid process to have users go through:

• Payment gateway glitches such as "declines" due to address verification settings or other gateway settings.

• Check other competing Shopify stores on their experience to see if yours is inferior in brand, experience, and data entry.

• Is your payment page laid out correctly, flows easily in information gathering, the verifications of the fields logical, and all content is spelled correctly.

• Avoid putting the user in a position to enter their email address into the system before the total cost of shipping can be assessed - users get annoyed at abandoned cart emails just to find out what the total cost with shipping would be.

• When it comes to selling products, the store owner should experience the transaction page personally to verify the experience and avoid all pain points at this stage of the marketing funnel.

Conclusion

When it comes to raising your conversion and sales, a lot of companies look to social media. Social media sites do a wonderful job in spreading the word but don't increase conversion other than to show how great the products work and the experience of the buyers. Conversion is focused on the Shopify store. Being able to complete the purchase easier for your target market to then share that experience is key for the build-up and ramping of your sales up. Your marketing efforts take time and research to find your target audience, and while you collect them on social media platforms - selling online to new customers is challenging. We hope you see these tips to be helpful and if you need technical assistance on any of the above - feel free to reach out to us at wish@thegenielab.com