When you’re running an online commerce business, first impressions matter. You only get one chance to impress a new visitor to your store, and a professional looking storefront is an essential component of success.

One of Shopify’s biggest advantages is the speed at which it allows you to get up and running. But this shouldn’t come at the cost of presenting a sleek, coherent customer experience. Taking a little time to finesse the finer details of your store’s presentation and operation can make a real difference – small tweaks add up to big improvements.

Here are some quick tips you can apply to ensure your Shopify store is looking professional on all fronts.

Many stores choose to launch with a free theme – it’s a great way of getting up and running quickly, with a fairly dependable user experience and clear navigation. But if you’re going for a very popular or generic theme, then at least make some tweaks and customizations to give your brand’s unique personality a chance to shine. 

Without a little fine tuning you risk giving an impression of a less established and trustworthy brand. Your store should stand out for the right reasons, and it doesn’t take a huge amount of effort to elevate a free template into something that feels far more refined. If you’re worried about tinkering behind the scenes, you can find expert help via Shopify’s expert directory.

Consistency is your friend when it comes to making a great impression with your branding. It’s well worth the effort to go through your digital customer touchpoints to make sure that you’ve customized each one with the right fonts, colors and logos. This counts on and offline – and you don’t need to be a talented coder or hire in expert help to get great results here. OrderlyEmails lets you customize your Shopify email templates so that all notifications perfectly match your brand and Shopify store – no need to touch a line of code.

Communication has a huge impact on a customer’s impression of a brand. It’s not just about what you say – when and how you say it matter too. Make sure that when your brand is “talking” you have a defined tone of voice. How you pitch this will have a lot to do with your audience demographic and brand values. Are you playful? Youthful? Refined? Formal? However you sound, keep it consistent. Customize the messaging on the automated Shopify notifications that keep your customers informed about the progress of their order. Curate your social media captioning, replies and interactions to reflect the correct tone.

However beautiful your storefront and however well-implemented your branding, a huge percentage of the digital real estate is taken up by your product photography. When your brand is young, product photography might feel like an area where “good enough” will suffice – but if you’re looking to make a truly professional impression, you must give your customers a clear, compelling view of everything you have on offer. Depending on your vertical, you might also like to investigate 360 degree views. Provide high resolution images to enable clear zooming functionality. Invest in proper styling, too – this can have a big impact on your conversion rates, as products are seen in a more relatable setting.

Ecommerce is built on trust – and although online retail is an everyday occurrence for millions of people around the world, as retailers we should always remember the leap of faith that we ask people to take when they part with their money, hand over their details and pay for goods without seeing them. Display trust badges, customer testimonials, and reviews to build credibility. Clearly communicate your return policy, shipping information, and contact details.

The way that we shop is often seasonal – from huge annual sales such as Black Friday and Singles Day through to annual holidays and celebrations. Taking time to ensure your storefront reflects (or at the very least nods to) time sensitive messaging is a great way of showing that your brand has its finger on the pulse. There are many ways you can achieve this, from custom banners to featured products or curated collections. Make sure that you act quickly to update with new relevant content – don’t allow it to become dated.

Our apps are designed to put the power in your hands with no need to be an expert or feel concerned about getting it “wrong” when it comes to modifying your store’s theme.

Get started by customizing your Shopify email templates – achieve results in minutes.