One of Shopify’s top selling points is their beautiful and intuitive drag and drop website themes. They frequently market themselves as a DIY website builder. While we live in an increasingly DIY world, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Here are the top 5 reasons Shopify themes can fall short when it comes to having an e-commerce website that converts at the highest possible rate.

#1 I Website Branding

You can add your own logo and change the colors of Shopify themes, but you can’t brand the design. Engaging with a professional Shopify developer ensures that your website and landing pages are in 100% line with your brand guidelines. Shopify developers consider your primary demographic and analyze your competitors, then design a site that visually engages your consumers in a much more unique way than an out of the box Shopify theme can. Most importantly, your website will be completely aligned to you, your brand, and your vision for your company.

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#2 I E-Commerce Customizations

While ready-made themes have an impressive range of customizable options and apps that can be added — your options are still limited. There are a variety of website and e-commerce trends that you likely won’t be able to capitalize on using standard Shopify templates.

This includes:

·     Conversational commerce

·     Augmented reality tools

·     Search by zip code integrations

·     Advanced customer accounts

·     Shopping cart and checkout customizations

·     Advanced mobile-specific designs

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#3 I Online Shopping Customer Journey

There are certain best practices that a designer implements to improve the user experience and guide the customer journey through your Shopify site. For example, a templated theme allows you to create a custom menu with drop downs, but you may need a more advanced menu for the best possible user experience. Also, how consumers browse on mobile vs. desktop is different, and your developer will appropriately guide the customer journey to be fluent no matter the device or platform. Custom Shopify website designs optimize pages for upselling, and simplify the ordering process.

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#4 I Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical piece of having a successful website. Some ready-made themes do a better job with SEO than others, but optimizing your site for search engines is a highly technical skill that should be left in the hands of a professional who understands how Google's search algorithms work.  

This includes but is not limited to:

·       301 redirects

·       Keyword optimized meta titles and descriptions

·       404 error pages

·       Schema markups

·       Semantic code

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#5 I Time

Most drag and drop website builders make claims that you can “build your website in an hour or less.” This is mostly true if you don’t need to make many modifications to the existing template but it doesn't take into account the learning curve on a complex platform like Shopify.

While your goal may be to save money with DIY website design, getting your website to precisely look the way you want can take a significant amount of time—and time is money. Once complete, your site may not be branded, SEO optimized, mobile responsive, or intuitive to navigate.

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Looking For a Custom Shopify Website Design?

A custom website will be optimized to drive organic traffic and increase conversions. If your current website doesn’t have the look, feel, or features you desire it’s time for an upgrade. We invite you to reach out to H1 Web Development today. Our team can also develop custom Shopify apps, perform custom integrations, manage your email marketing campaigns, and more!