Shopify store redesign: how to do it right

The internet is constantly evolving, and this is especially true in e-commerce. Shopify, an e-commerce platform, has experienced significant growth in recent years. For e-merchants, having a website that doesn't work can have very detrimental repercussions on their business, and even more so if they are not present in physical stores. In this case, they need to redesign their Shopify store to ensure they remain at the top in product sales.

You own an e-commerce store and have decided to entrust the project to a Shopify agency specializing in redesign, but you're not sure how to proceed. Or you have an online store on another CMS and want to migrate to Shopify. You've come to the right place. Although Shopify is known for being an easy-to-use platform, redesign can be a complex process. Here we explain how to redesign a Shopify store for success.

When to redesign your Shopify store?

Generally, brand evolution, natural referencing (SEO), and obsolescence are the reasons why a Shopify store is no longer performing. But there can be many other reasons. Here are the main cases in which a Shopify store redesign should be carried out.

• The Shopify store is starting to look dated and is no longer up-to-date in terms of web design, navigation, functionalities, and applications.
• The brand image has evolved, and the design is no longer aligned.
• The product has evolved.
• The number of visitors is not satisfactory, and sales are low.
• The Shopify store is not "responsive," meaning it is not adapted to all digital devices (tablets or smartphones).
• The site is slow and takes a long time to load, leading to customer loss.

Key steps for a successful Shopify store redesign

Now that we've decided to carry out a Shopify store redesign, what are the steps to ensure its success? The important thing is to carry out a redesign that addresses the problems of target customers. Here are the steps to follow.

Perform an audit and define needs

Before embarking on the specifications, it is essential to conduct an audit of the Shopify store. Without this, not all problems to be solved will be analyzed, and some points for improvement will be missed. To identify the solutions to be provided, it is advisable to browse the website, taking notes and carefully exploring each page of each section. Specifically, one should point out:

• high-conversion pages;
• high-traffic pages;
• duplicate content;
• broken links;
• any inconsistent or overly complex tree structure;
• etc.

This step helps identify the strengths and weaknesses of the website to determine which pages need to be reworked or archived. Depending on the needs and the current state of the website, the redesign can be partial or complete.

Define objectives

The second step is to define the objectives to be achieved following the website redesign. For a successful marketing strategy, the structure of the Shopify store must comply with these objectives. Before proceeding with a redesign, a business must review these objectives, as they will not be the same as when it was established.

Is the objective:

• to increase the conversion rate;
• to improve natural referencing so that it is more visible on search engines (Google, Bing, etc.);
• to maximize loading time to make it more efficient;
• or to improve the user experience on mobile?

By drawing up a list of these objectives, ideally quantified, it will be easier to determine the priorities of the redesign project. For example, it might involve focusing on creating a blog to regularly add content and work on SEO, or reworking product descriptions.

Find your persona

The secret to a successful Shopify store also lies in developing a persona. The goal is for the new site to attract the target audience. It is therefore important to know what type of customer you are addressing. To define it as accurately as possible, one can draw a profile and detail:

• their age;
• their profession;
• their location;
• their objectives;
• the objections they might raise to commercial proposals;
• the state of the competition: can they find another solution, a similar product?

By taking these elements into account, one can adapt the way the online store is designed and how products are communicated to reach the ideal customer.

Test as much as possible

The testing phase of the Shopify store should not be neglected. Before launch, it is imperative to test the new theme from A to Z to identify any bugs and errors. It is advisable to check every link, every page, and ensure that the user experience is optimal on all digital devices. In addition, the new Shopify store theme will certainly include new functionalities and applications: it is therefore important to educate the teams who will have to use them to ensure proper operation.

Areas to work on during a Shopify store redesign

During a visual redesign, we focus on web design, theme, logo, and functionalities. As for structural redesign, it corresponds notably to a major change in the tree structure and generally implies a change of CMS. Here are the main points worked on during a redesign.

1. Wireframing, which corresponds to the creation of a mockup.
2. HTML/CSS/JS integration, which consists of transforming a mockup into a web page.
3. Development, which is the integration of the website into a CMS, and to which various functionalities and applications are added.
4. Content integration, i.e., adding images and textual content.
5. Referencing, which requires researching the right keywords to optimize the various tags and content. The site must be adapted to Google's current algorithm to maintain a good SEO score.

Who to redesign a Shopify store with?

Depending on the complexity of the redesign, it may be wise to call on a web professional. This is where Shopify experts come into play. By choosing to work with a Shopify agency, businesses remove a huge workload and can focus on their core business, with complete peace of mind. Indeed, certified Shopify agencies know the platform inside out. Being certified notably requires having already worked on a minimum of 5 Shopify stores.

They can support a business throughout the project: from website evaluation to its maintenance, including all analysis and implementation of the marketing strategy. In the range of services offered by a Shopify agency, one can notably find:

• assistance in choosing the domain;
• a proposal for a graphic charter;
• advice on communication strategy;
• advice on natural referencing.

Depending on the client's needs, the price of a Shopify store redesign can vary. Generally, this price ranges from €2,500 to €10,000 for a graphic redesign, and from €10,000 to €20,000 for a complete redesign of the e-commerce site. Here are our Shopify redesign services.