Shopify & Ecommerce Ramblings

A blog about building and extending awesome Shopify stores

Troubleshooting a low conversion rate

Troubleshooting a low conversion rate

by Gabi Falanga 4 min read

Your store might have a lot of traffic, but that’s no use if it isn’t converting into sales. There are many reasons this might be happening. We take a look at how to diagnose conversion rate issues and what some of the most common problems are. There are various tools you can use to figure out why your store isn’t converting and once you’ve established what the problems are, you can make changes yourself or employ conversion rate optimization specialists to assist you.

Read More

Creating key pages for your Shopify store

Creating key pages for your Shopify store

by Gabi Falanga 4 min read

There are a few pages that are essential to have when you create an online store, such as the home, about, contact, frequently asked questions (FAQ), and policy pages. These give your customers information about your business, how to get in touch with you, and why they should trust you. These pages might not change much (like product pages do) but it’s important to use them to portray a professional image.

Read More

Foldabox redesign creates front and back-end magic

Foldabox redesign creates front and back-end magic

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

Redesigning a site takes a lot of work. Hines and Quintin Schnehage, the redesign project leader from ShopCreatify, both stressed how important it is to do it for the right reasons. A main goal of this redesign was to make the site more intuitive for customers. It aimed to answer their questions before they even asked them. 

Read More

Keeping customers post-Covid

Keeping customers post-Covid

by Gabi Falanga 5 min read

Online shopping exploded during the coronavirus pandemic as customers started shopping online more. Some stores reported unheard of increases in business. The vaccine rollout in the US might see the return of some semblance of normality. So what will merchants do to retain new customers from the past year? We look at ways to sustain this growth and make sure that short-term customers become long-term ones.

Read More

Improve user experience on your Shopify store

Improve user experience on your Shopify store

by Gabi Falanga 7 min read

User experience, or UX, is an important term for anyone who has a websiteIt considers the user’s journey while on a site and how to make this as easy and intuitive as possible. Luckily, the Shopify platform already includes specific design conventions which make it appealing to users. It is easy enough for merchants to make certain design changes themselves to improve user experience.

Read More

Foldabox can’t contain itself

Foldabox can’t contain itself

by Gabi Falanga 9 min read

A luxury gift box ecommerce store Foldabox has almosttripled its business during the coronavirus pandemic. The store, with a UK and a USA site, has modest beginnings. Nicole Hines, the founder and managing director, launched the company in 2005.

Read More

Dogfooding: Using what you sell

Dogfooding: Using what you sell

by Gabi Falanga 5 min read

There is always room for improvement on any site and ShopCreatify encourages anyone with a website to constantly review their sites. We recently relaunched our own site. Of course we’re on Shopify! We pushed ourselves to the limits of the platform’s content management capabilities and reaffirmed our faith in Shopify.

Read More

Give your store love and boost sales

Give your store love and boost sales

by Gabi Falanga 5 min read

Identifying the pain points on your Shopify site is crucial. Use this time to reflect on areas that hurt business, and what you need to do to fix them. Be in a good position to keep those increased sales numbers!

Read More

We're changing ConversionBoost... "and you'll be shocked when you find out why!"

We're changing ConversionBoost... "and you'll be shocked when you find out why!"

by Ross Allchorn 5 min read

If you didn't already know, ConversionBoost  is  was our productized service for ecommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO). We've decided that that isn't enough anymore though... specifically the productized bit.

Read More

Why you might want to consider a custom designed Shopify theme

Why you might want to consider a custom designed Shopify theme

by Ross Allchorn 7 min read

Not all merchants need a custom theme. For some (maybe you) they really do warrant considering though. There are pros and cons to the different approaches that can be taken to theming. In this article I've tried to cover those factors so you can make the best decision for your business.

Read More

Giving customers the power to buy

Giving customers the power to buy

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

Although sales have been skyrocketing for many online businesses, many households are experiencing reduced incomes and financial worries. Offering financing options on your store will give customers buying power.

Read More

How To Choose A Shopify Expert - A List Of Questions To Ask

How To Choose A Shopify Expert - A List Of Questions To Ask

by Nina Wolf 5 min read

How do you begin to look for help with your Shopify store?  What is a Shopify Expert? Once you have a few potential partners, how do you tell who is going to be the best fit for you and your company?  Here's a list to get you started.

Read More

Automate your emails, save yourself a ton of time.

Automate your emails, save yourself a ton of time.

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

Email automation for strategic gifting season marketing

In the mad rush to get everything done, automation can give you back some time. One simple and effective step is to automate your emails.

Read More

Unprepared - The “Secret Sauce” of Online Stores with Ross Allchorn

Unprepared - The “Secret Sauce” of Online Stores with Ross Allchorn

by Ross Allchorn 1 min read

Chase Clymer, host of Honest Ecommerce, and ShopCreatify's Ross Allchorn discuss Ross’s journey, serendipity as a part of success, their focus on Shopify, working as a remote agency, handling BFCM projects, and more.

Read More

Doing good is good for business

Doing good is good for business

by Gabi Falanga 5 min read

Ronny Sage from ShoppingGives

Doing good is good for your business’s bottom line. More customers are letting their money talk – moving to brands and products that make an impact and align with their values. In 2015, digital marketing expert Ronny Sage founded ShoppingGives for retailers to donate to causes that are important to their customers.

Read More

Adapting ecommerce to cater for customer needs ahead of BFCM

Adapting ecommerce to cater for customer needs ahead of BFCM

by Ross Allchorn 6 min read

Handle with care

Customers are online more than ever, yet facing financial hardship at the same time.  Adapt your store to reflect these developments, and make it easier for your customers to complete a purchase.

Read More

Black Friday preparation

A practical checklist to prepare your Shopify store for BFCM

by Ross Allchorn 6 min read

Black Friday preparation

Getting an early start on Black Friday and Cyber Monday preparations you will ease some of the pressure down the line, but you will also have your website performing exactly the way it needs to in order to maximize your sales conversion opportunities.

Read More

Taking risks and accepting failures: Grip6’s journey to success

Taking risks and accepting failures: Grip6’s journey to success

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

BJ Minson, founder of Grip6 inspecting his product made in USA

Taking risks, accepting failure and doing things himself are all part of Grip6 founder BJ Minson’s recipe for success. The American belt manufacturer, and ShopCreatify client, sold 350,000 belts in 2019. BJ Minson talks belt flaps, Chinese manufacturing, and marketing mess-ups.

Read More

Wolf, ShopCreatify’s newest pack member

Wolf, ShopCreatify’s newest pack member

by Gabi Falanga 6 min read

Nina Wolf and her dog Fergus

Wolf became part of ShopCreatify’s ‘pack’ in June 2020. The experienced marketing manager has joined ShopCreatify in a strategic capacity with a strong focus on sales, marketing and merchant success. She only growls occasionally. Wolf was, until recently, the brand manager at Small Pet Select, a large US ecommerce store that sells quality animal food for small pets. 

Read More

Why you should be focusing on BFCM right now

Why you should be focusing on BFCM right now

by Ross Allchorn 7 min read

Focus on BFCM
Photo by Kevin Ku

BFCM and the subsequent gifting season is the period when many merchants see the lion’s share of their annual sales in the year, and could be the much needed monetary relief that many are relying on. While we cannot predict how things will be for merchants during this holiday season, it does appear that it could be a favorable one for ecommerce again. 

Read More

Unprepared - Ecommerce Podcast Interview

Unprepared - Ecommerce Podcast Interview

by Linda Lynch 1 min read

Chase Clymer, Ross Allchorn

Chase Clymer, host of Honest Ecommerce's interviewed ShopCreatify's Ross Allchorn in a recent podcast. In this episode they discuss how the pandemic has affected Ecommerce in South Africa and around the world, and what merchants should be focusing on during this time. 

While ShopCreatify has a distributed team that spans the world, there are a couple of teammates and customers with Ecommerce stores based in South Africa, giving Ross a unique perspective to offer.

Read More