What are Shopify Sections and How They Can Boost User Engagement?
Over the years, Shopify has constantly introduced new and helpful features that enable you to customize the look and feel of your website that match your brand identity. During Shopify Unite in 2021, the company announced their biggest update ever by introducing Shopify 2.0. A great part of the update was new themes that allow adding and customizing sections on every page rather than just a homepage.
While creating visually appealing and impactful Shopify store, it is important to know how to prioritize content efficiently. This requires a deep understanding of the Shopify sections that allow you to include many customization options in your online store and display your content in more engaging ways. Adding a new custom section in your store is an excellent way to upgrade your site without major time and money investment. Let’s learn more about Shopify sections and how they can benefit your business?
What are Shopify Sections?
Initially launched in 2016, sections are fully customizable components in Shopify templates that can be added, removed or rearranged to achieve desired page layouts. They make Shopify themes more modular, giving developers a greater control over individual component of the theme, without making any changes to the source code. It doesn’t require as much time and efforts as a full website design.
There are two types of sections in Shopify: static and dynamic. Static sections make up the header and footer of the website and resides in the theme’s layout files. While dynamic sections are the building blocks that can be added to the webpages and customized as necessary.
Merchants can edit complex themes with simple drag and drop components in the sections using Shopify theme editor. Previously this was possible only with the help of Shopify expert. There are still limitations on using sections developed by a theme designer. Some sections, such as header and footer cannot be deleted, but you can still edit them.
What you can edit or update in the sections depend on what is included in the theme. This could be anything from product galleries, slideshows, customer reviews and sitemaps to images and images with text overlay. You can arrange them in your desired order without having to worry about losing its responsiveness and aesthetics.
How Shopify Sections can be Helpful?
Enhance your storefront using the theme editor
Sections in Shopify can help you enhance the look of your e-commerce store using the theme editor. You can change fonts and colors in each section to match the store’s overall aesthetics. Furthermore, you can add numerous types of contents, such as videos, text, images or a combination of all.
Dynamic Shopiy sections can be added to any page, including multiple product pages or landing pages. You can use a combination of various sections to achieve the desired feel of the pages. They can be rearranged, customized, added or removed right from the theme editor. There is no coding experience needed. However, customization majorly depends on the type of theme you have installed.
Access to multiple layout options
Although Shopify offers a range of themes to display products and information in an appealing way, the problem happens when more merchants opt for the same theme. Often, they cannot add content they wish to display because of lack of options. Shopify sections allow you to restructure the page, present your products and services in unique ways and add appealing call-to-actions. Hence, sections not only improve the page layouts, but also allow you to convey your brand message the way you want.
Merchants are now no longer limited to the options provided by the standard layout of the theme. They can completely revamp their store using different layout options and make it stand out, without changing even a single line of code.
Speed up page load time
Shopify offers tons of third-party apps that can help you add new features and customize your store’s appearance. However, adding third-party apps may reduce page load speed and server response time. In addition, they may not be optimized to match your unique needs. But, with Shopify sections, you can update your store look and feel right from your theme editor.
There is no interference from third-party apps in the loading process, which means every customizable section of your website is loaded by Shopify. Since the sections are hosted on Shopify, the script is fine-tuned to match your requirements. Hence, sections enable your website to deliver greater performance and faster page speeds. Moreover, search engines prioritize websites that load fast, giving you a competitive advantage.
Require less time and efforts to upgrade
Shopify sections enable you to add custom blocks to your website with little effort and time involved. There are no complex codes to deal with. Just a few drags and drops, and your layout is ready in minutes. Moreover, the changes you make to the sections can be updated and adjusted anytime you like.
You can add sections on the desired pages for a specific time without losing your original settings. This is particularly helpful for merchants who wish to launch discount offers for limited time during holidays or seasonal sale. Unlike website redesign, these updates don’t require much technical knowledge and can be managed very easily. Any business owner can set up an e-commerce store with Shopify and customize it using sections.
Conclusion
Creating a Shopify online store opens up countless new business opportunities. But, owing to the rising competition, it is essential to make your business stand out. One way to achieve this is by choosing a custom Shopify theme for your store. Custom Shopify themes come with custom-built sections, offering a range of customization options that will not only help you enhance the look of your website, but increase customer engagement and bring more conversions. If you wish to reap benefits of a custom theme, we suggest that you hire professional Shopify theme developers who can help you integrate the best suitable features into your storefront.
