E-commerce industry is blooming at a faster pace, and more customers are shopping online than ever. Hence, if you don’t have an e-commerce store, then there has never been a better time to start one than now. Shopify emerged as one of the best platforms to build a robust e-commerce store. One reason why many online store owners love Shopify is the flexibility it offers with plenty of Shopify themes.
A Shopify theme is a template that defines how your store will look and feel to the users. Themes come with different layout and styling options that can be customized according to your needs. It is crucial to have a good store design that reflects your brand identity and keep your shoppers engaged for longer. Furthermore, a theme can have a significant impact on the performance of your e-commerce store in terms of customer experience, trustworthiness and conversion rates. Therefore, it is imperative to choose a theme that would suit your store without a wrinkle.
In this post, we will guide you on how to pick the perfect theme for your Shopify store.
#1 Prepare a list of key features and functions you want
Before you start finding a perfect theme for your Shopify store, list down all the primary features and functions you would want in your store. Whether you want video player, forms, blog, landing pages, cart drawer, large catalog size, email pop-up or new product highlight section, having a list of required features in hand will help you find the right theme more easily.
If you see a theme that has one feature you want, but have five other features missing, then move on. Look for a theme that offers more features, and get remaining missing features added with the help of a Shopify developer.
#2 Research your competitors
If you are not sure what do you want in your theme, it doesn’t harm to get inspiration from your competitors to get an idea about what you can add to your store. Learn about what theme they are using, what elements they have included in their storefront, what color combinations look best and what elements are distracting.
Learning about features and elements will help you choose a suitable theme for your store. Moreover, you can identify missing critical features in your competitor’s website and implement those to get a competitive edge.
#3 See whether it is mobile-friendly and light-weight
Another important thing to consider while picking a Shopify theme is to check the mobile view of the theme. That is because the number of mobile users is growing every day, so there are high chances that most of the website traffic will come from mobile. If you fail to deliver a great mobile experience, you may lose a potential sale. Therefore, ensure the theme you choose make your website easy to access from the mobile device.
Website speed is also crucial to its success. It can directly impact bounce rate, conversions and search rankings. Many Shopify themes come with fancy features, which may look attractive, but they slow down the speed of your website. So, look for themes that are lightweight, meaning they are not loaded with unnecessary elements, and focus more on performance.
#4 Inbuilt SEO features
SEO-friendliness is another important factor to consider while choosing the right Shopify theme. A beautifully designed site is of no use if it doesn’t rank in search engines. When your Shopify store has an SEO-optimized theme, it means it follows the best SEO practices to help you increase search engine rankings. SEO-friendly themes welcome more organic traffic to your website and boost conversions. Shopify offers a number of themes that are SEO-friendly right out-of-the-box.
When looking for the right Shopify theme that helps your store get discovered organically on Google and other leading search engines, make sure it is compatible with all devices, have clear navigation, support rich snippets and loads quickly.
#5 A great theme design and aesthetics
Attracting and retaining customers is a key to building a successful Shopify store. You can attract prospective customers to your site using SEO best practices, but retaining them is all about delivering a great experience. If your website is not attractive or interesting, then visitors may not stay on your store for long and may quit using your site.
A good theme contains many elements, such as matching color palettes, appealing user interface, proper background, readable font style and font color and so on. As your customers can’t really feel your products, they depend on visuals to experience them. So, if you succeed in grabbing their attention, they are more likely to buy from you.
#6 Shortlist based on your budget
Shopify themes are available at varying price points, ranging from zero to $250. Before you decide to buy a theme, determine what features you need and how much you are willing to spend on them. As with everything else in life, you get what you pay for, and it goes same with Shopify themes. Hence, differentiate between must-have and nice-to-have features.
Free themes are good, but if you are looking for a theme that offers a greater level of customization and features, then go for the premium ones. Since premium themes are designed to expand your store functionalities, there are good chances that you will find most of the features in your theme.
Choosing the Right Shopify Theme
With so many factors to consider, it can be overwhelming to choose the right theme for your Shopify store. You want all the necessary features and convey your brand message, and at the same time you want to ensure it fits in your budget and can be customized the way you want. At Island Wizards, we help you go through this theme selection process and offer theme customization service that will not only suit your store, but also make your shoppers fall in love with your brand.
