8 must-haves in every Shopify store for your successful startup
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
Many people now realize the advantages of starting a business. All thanks to the advancements in technology and the ever-evolving digital tools. It has become so easy to open an online store these days if you have the right ideas and the guts for it. In fact, statistics found that more than 800,000 businesses were less than a year old as of March 2020.
However, starting a business is one thing, but making it a success is quite another. While it is not easy to launch a successful startup, you should not let it deter you from achieving your ultimate dream of becoming your own boss. There are now plenty of opportunities to start your own online business, after all.
The primary consideration lies in your choice of e-commerce platform. It is a huge factor in the success of your business. Shopify is an ideal choice for beginners. It allows you to sell products or services with minimal configurations and is versatile enough to suit both newbies and experienced sellers.
Advantages of using Shopify
- It’s quick and easy to set up. Technical skills are not often required to set up a Shopify store as all the software is offered within the platform itself. It also has a user-friendly and intuitive interface which makes it quick to learn and navigate.
- There is available customer service 24/7. If you have questions or concerns, it’s easy to reach out for help. You also have access to community forums and other helpful guides through the Shopify Help Center.
- Shopify is mobile-friendly. In a world where more and more people use their smartphones to surf the internet, you must choose an e-commerce platform optimized for mobile use. You need your store to work just as well on mobile as it does on desktop.
- You have easy access to marketing and SEO tools. The built-in marketing tools allow you to create landing pages that you can use for your Google Ads campaigns and social media ads. It also has SEO features that let you work on your strategy for ranking in search engines.
Now that you know the benefits of using Shopify, it’s time to understand some of the most important considerations for your Shopify store. You need the following to ensure the success of your startup.
Sales channels
The online world has become such a vast world that users are doing their shopping in multiple channels. An online shop is just one part of a colossal ecosystem in a customers’ journey. Most of them frequent social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. If your only platform is your Shopify shop, you will miss out on plenty of sales opportunities. As they say, it is essential to be where your customers are.
That’s why there is an urgent need for you to pick your sales channel, which you can then add to your Shopify store. Your options include eBay, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping, Messenger, and more. It doesn’t matter whether your customer found you on Google or Instagram. With the power of integration, you can track them on every stage of the sales funnel. You can also keep up with orders, products, and customers, no matter which channel they are in.
Custom domain
If you want your brand to be easily recognized online, you will need to create a custom domain that will set you apart from your competitors while making it memorable for your target market.
You want your name to be short, so it will be easier to remember. You can also choose among several different top-level domains out there, including .store, .shop, .com, .edu, and .net. You can get as creative as possible. The more unique your domain is, the better.
Once it is available, you can register it under your name and business by purchasing the custom domain name. Shopify has a domain registrar, which allows you to access and register the domain directly from the platform.
Checkout process
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
The payment stage is one of the most critical parts of an online business. This is where all the fruits of your labor lead to—your customers are now ready to buy. However, most shops don’t fully realize the importance of making this process as smooth and seamless as possible. There is no use doing all you can do to drive traffic to your store, only for your prospects to find no option to complete a purchase. Just like that, all your efforts will go to waste.
When your visitors explore your shop and choose products to add to their carts, your primary concern is to make the process faultless by removing all the friction before they get to checkout. If the process takes one step too many, there’s a high chance that your potential customer will abandon their carts.
Here are some of the most vital considerations when testing your checkout and payment process:
- Customers should see the shipping rates during checkout.
- It should be easy to apply discount codes in the cart.
- Customers should have the option to edit what they add to the carts.
- Standard payment methods must be available, including PayPal, debit cards, credit cards, and more.
- Customers should be able to track their order’s status.
- The system must automatically send an email to confirm that the order successfully went through.
- Shopping policies and disclaimers must be clearly stated. This includes identifying who will pay for duties and taxes.
Pages and resources
Your Shopify store should not only be limited to products that you offer. Customers need to learn about your company, especially when they’re trying to gauge if they can trust you. That is why you should have the following pages on top of your shopping page:
- Home page
- About page
- Contact page
- FAQ page
These pages help provide your potential customers with the information they need to establish your brand’s reliability.
Email notifications
Customers want updates on their orders. As an online seller, you must ensure that your email notification settings are set up correctly and effectively. Automated emails are a must if you want to retain the trust of your customers.
Consider setting up an email for the following: welcome email when they first bought from you, e-receipts, abandoned cart notifications, order confirmation, and shipping notifications.
Optimized images
You want your site to work fast. Any delay can mean abandonment from your potential customers. If your Shopify site uses many images, you’ll find the site’s user experience and performance slowing down. Sites that are too slow to load can hurt conversion rates.
To avoid this, you need to ensure that images are optimized. Adjusting your image size without compromising quality is key to this. You should also choose the correct file type. Thumbnails should be clear but not too large in file size that they can eat away at your storage space and affect the site’s speed.
Analytics tools
Every business owner would want to know how their visitors and customers behave. You can obtain these insights using analytics tools. Shopify has its own built-in analytics reporting. Third-party tools are also easily integrated, with the likes of Google Analytics and SE Ranking. The key here is choosing the right tools that will allow you to analyze the data at your disposal and apply your findings for the betterment of your business.
Contact options
Having a ready option for your customers to get in touch with you is an advantage. Customers want to be able to reach out to a shop whenever they have questions or concerns. This requires more than just a contact page. You want something that gives your customers multiple options.
You can include your phone number, business address, and a live chat. The latter is such a helpful tool that allows you to communicate with your customers in real-time. You may consider putting up a chatbot that can answer questions 24/7 or a real person or persons who can work in different shifts.
Customer support can do wonders for your conversion rate. This will give your customers a direct line to your service, allowing you to solve disputes and concerns in no time. It can also help you retain customers and appeal to their loyalty.
Wrap up
Starting an online business using Shopify is a daunting yet exciting experience. There is so much to consider to turn your brilliant business idea into success. Knowing these must-haves can make a world of difference to your startup. These are essentials and should not be forgotten.
