Do I need a custom Shopify website?
As you start your eCommerce journey (or continue it), you might be asking yourself whether you need a custom Shopify website or not. Over the years we have worked with hundreds of businesses and gathered many different perspectives on this question.
The short answer is, no, not everybody needs a state of the art full custom website.
Ugly, plain sites can convert too
Take a look at the following homepage from Vanman.
This homepage is about as plain Jane as you're going to get. There's no real art direction, the products are shot in an inconsistent manner, there's nothing very exciting about the page at all.
But it converts at over a 5% rate! Way above the industry average.
So what does this tell us about eCommerce? It tells us that having a slick looking custom Shopify website is not the only key to a successful store.
What is Vanman doing right?
Great Product + Word of Mouth Marketing
Vanman has developed a product that people LOVE. What do people do when they love a product? They tell their friends, their dentists, their neighbors.... anybody who will listen. This word of mouth marketing is the most powerful form of marketing out there and is a major part of Vanman's success.
Reviews
Take a quick browse through their site and you will be swallowed up by positive reviews. I'm not kidding, this company has some of the most powerful and supportive reviews I've ever seen with over 10,000 reviews on some products!
I don't know about you but that alone makes me want to purchase. I keep asking myself, why are their fans so emphatic over this product?? It must be legit!
Ease of use
The site is extremely basic which lends itself to easy navigation. You land on the site and you have no problem getting right into their products. In a just a few clicks you can be home free with your new bottle of Vanman's tallow balm.
I see a lot of sites that get this part wrong. They make locating products difficult or tedious which can often result in a lost customer. This is definitely easier when you have a small product catalogue, but nonetheless, Vanmans does this well.
Don't get us wrong...the site is far from perfect
There are a lot of things that Vanmans could be doing better. For one, they need to make it more clear to the customer the amount of reviews they have on a product. In its current state, its very ambiguous and easy to miss. Thats a mistake.
The point of this post is to illustrate the eCommerce success doesn't come down to just a beautiful site. It is a symphony of different components working together to create harmony. From the product, to the marketing, to the branding, the website, they all come together to create success (or failure).
We can create professional themes with quarter of the budget
We understand that not everybody has the budget nor needs the budget for a full custom Shopify website.
At Conspire Agency, we can build you an extremely professional looking website, without going full custom. Leveraging Shopify premium themes, we can get you up and running with a professional website for a quarter of the budget.
If this sounds like you, we'd love to talk and discuss your project totally free. No matter what, we'll provide you with valuable insight into what your next steps should be and what will be the most advantageous for you.