So you’ve picked out your new Shopify theme and published it to your store, but it’s not quite what you need. There are one-off features things you need to do to customize your Shopify theme that can make it more ideally suited to your store's requirements.
What types of things can you do to customize your Shopify theme? Let’s take a look at five quick examples.
1. Tracking and analytics
One of the most essential things for any ecommerce store is to have rock-solid attribution, so you aren’t spending money on expensive and unprofitable channels. That’s simple in theory, but it can become a bit of a headache if you aren’t familiar with some tracking tools. Taking the time to ensure that your Shopify theme is set up with the proper tracking might take some simple but critical customization.
With Google Universal Analytics being sunset in 2023, you should check now and see if you’re still using that legacy analytics tracking system or have already upgraded to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). GA4 is packed with all sorts of neat features specifically designed for ecommerce, but isn’t always the most straightforward to set up. You should work with a Shopify expert to get your analytics instance ready and check that your Shopify theme is up to date. Otherwise, it might not pass the correct info back to your tracking software, and you won’t be making the most of your marketing and conversion goals — aka your business profits.
2. Custom cart features
Do you like how your customers add items to their cart or interact with the cart once items are in it? Does your cart have other functions when they have products in it?
If your answer is no to any of those questions, then you should really look into doing some cart customizations. Features like slide-out or sticky carts can make it easier for customers to see what’s in their cart, and then they can get to the checkout even faster.
Your cart is also prime real estate for increasing your Average Order Value. Product recommendations, upselling, or even bundling are all possible right from the cart. And if your current theme doesn’t offer this functionality, it may be time to customize your Shopify theme to get your customers’ carts ready for increased AOV action.
3. Optimizing your checkout process
Customers should be able to complete their purchase easily on any device they're using – be it desktop or mobile – otherwise, they may give up before completing the purchase. To ensure their checkout process goes as smoothly as possible, you may need to customize certain parts of your Shopify theme to make it as seamless as possible.
Some checkout optimizations, like payment gateways or shipping options, are quick fixes. Unfortunately, others like upsells, post-purchase surveys and referrals, or the checkout extensions offered by apps you already use may take extra consideration and Shopify theme expertise to fine-tune to your needs.
4. Landing page templates
Shoppers who land on your storefront will immediately decide whether they want to keep exploring or if your brand isn’t right for them. The pages you choose to send them to and how those pages look are critical places to customize your Shopify theme so they are getting the most relevant and conversion-optimized experience possible.
Page structure, information hierarchy, the journey they have to follow from that page to order items, and mobile accessibility are just a few customizations to consider. As shoppers' first impression of your brand’s website, how your landing pages present your business is something you should absolutely consider working with a Shopify expert to customize.
5. Page speed optimization
Making sure your store loads quickly is essential for creating a good user experience and preventing potential customers from leaving before exploring your products or services.
You can significantly improve page loading by customizing certain aspects of your Shopify theme, like code optimization, removing leftover bloat from old apps, and image compression. The better your page and site loading speeds, the more likely shoppers will stay on the page longer and eventually convert into paying customers.
6. Search engine optimization
When customizing your Shopify theme, search engine optimization (SEO) should be an important consideration. SEO is a complex topic and requires some technical knowledge but some simple steps can help improve your website's visibility in search results. For example, ensuring that all pages have unique meta descriptions and correctly formatted titles will help ensure that search engines can identify what each page is about.
Additionally, setting up structured data markup on product pages will help search engines better understand what products are being offered on the page, which can help improve rankings for product-related search queries. If you don’t know how to do those things yourself, that’s exactly where a Shopify Expert can lend a hand.
7. Third-party apps
Finally, customizing your Shopify theme may also include integrating third-party apps to ensure it has all the features you want. From email marketing tools to custom size charts to new sales channels, there are thousands of Shopify apps that can help improve the front and back end of your online shop.
Many apps are built with ease-of-setup in mind, but others require a bit of technical know-how to get configured and running properly. At the same time, knowing which apps to use of the many options for any specific need can be a chore, so a Shopify expert can help make recommendations for apps they have both seen and deployed with other successful brands.
The sky is the limit
When you’re wondering how you should customize your Shopify theme, there really is no limit to what you can do. The key is knowing what you can do on your own with the help of some quick Googling or apps, versus what you need expert partners to help launch on your site.
Have your own Shopify theme customization project in mind? Reach out to our team to get a free quote.