Why Use a Premium Theme?

Shopify is one of the biggest and most trusted e-commerce platforms.

Currently, according to Hosting Tribunal , Shopify supports over 600,000 businesses from 175 countries, which brought this platform over $1.5 billion in revenue on last years’ Black Friday only.

Why is Shopify Great for Your Business?

For e-commerce businesses, Shopify is one of the best platforms to start with, and there are a few reasons for that:

  • Shopify is easy to manage. Shopify provides all the admin and frontend support, which means that you don’t need to have technical skills or hire someone to do it for you, especially if you have a limited budget.
  • Low entry costs. The Basic Shopify monthly plan costs $29 and has all the features necessary to launch an e-commerce shop, including 24/7 support and unlimited product listings.
  • Accessible extensive toolset. Even with the standard monthly subscription, business owners can still get essential tools for marketing their products and getting regular sales reports. Besides, you get access to the Shopify App Store, which has over 2,400 plugins.

However, even with the advanced Shopify monthly plan and access to every tool on the platform, your sales can still be insignificant and your conversion rates can remain low.

One of the reasons why this happens to e-commerce businesses is choosing the wrong Shopify theme.

How Does Shopify Theme Affect Conversion Rates?

E-commerce conversion rates refer to the number of purchases from the store divided by the total number of visits. An average conversion rate for an e-commerce store on Shopify, according to Little Data , should be at least 1.85%, and 2.8% is the ideal percentage.

The conversion rate includes the number of visits because it takes some users a few visits to complete the purchase. The number of visits is closely connected to the bounce rate, which is the percentage of visits on only one page.

According to Little Data, the optimal bounce rate benchmark for the Shopify eCommerce store is 47.5%. If this percentage is higher, it will negatively impact your conversion rates.

What role do Shopify themes play in the formation of the bounce rate?

The positive first impression of a website matters for the bounce rate. And, 94% of these first impressions are related to design.

Thus, there is a direct link between the theme of your Shopify store, your bounce rates, and conversion rates. The more responsive your store’s theme is, both desktop and mobile versions, the higher your conversion rates will be.

The Impact on Page Load Time

One of the components of responsive Shopify themes is fast load time.

Naturally, if a user visits a slow website, they will immediately leave it, no matter how great the selection of products on this website is.

Websites that take forever to load are also suspicious to online shoppers, as the slow page load speed will also affect the checkout process, which involves a lot of highly sensitive information.

The difference in page load time also affects conversion rates. Angela Baker, a researcher and a content manager at Subjecto says: “Our study has shown that websites that take 2-4 seconds to load have 1.9% conversion rates and those that load in 5-7 seconds have only 0.6% conversion rates.”

What’s the impact of your website’s Shopify theme here?

The size of the Shopify theme that you’re using can affect the page load speed. Moreover, if the pages are overstuffed with content, it takes more network bandwidth to support your website, which also affects the time it takes for your Shopify store to load.

Thus, when choosing a theme, keep in mind that the size of your Shopify theme will directly affect your conversion rates.

The Role in Search Engine Optimization

Yes, the SEO optimization of your store’s Shopify theme affects conversion rates, too. But this effect is indirect.

On the Shopify support page, the question about the effect of changing the Shopify theme on conversion rates is one of the most frequent ones. According to Shopify experts, the change of the theme doesn’t impact the conversion rates directly, but it can impact the engagement rates, the bounce rate, and the SEO of the website.

The Role in Search Engine Optimization

How exactly does your Shopify theme impact SEO?

One of the biggest factors here is the content placement features that your Shopify theme offers. And the less it is stuffed with content, the better it is for SEO and, consequently, your conversion rates.

Speaking about content, the quality of content that you put on your website also matters for SEO. Your Shopify theme should allow integration with Shopify apps to help you effortlessly edit and proofread your content with resources like TopEssayWriting and TrustMyPaper to make your content more readable and scannable.

A good Shopify theme should also allow you to compress photos and other visual content on your website for a faster page load time. This feature also affects the success of your SEO.

Should You Purchase a Premium Shopify Theme?

Now that we covered the main reasons how a Shopify theme affects your conversion rates, let’s take a look at a few reasons, why upgrading to a premium Shopify theme could help increase sales and conversion rates.

  • Improved mobile optimization. Today, more than half of online shoppers purchase items through their mobile devices. That’s why having a mobile-friendly mobile theme for your Shopify store is a must if you want to improve your conversion rates.
  • The wider range of built-in features. These features often include the ongoing Shopify theme support, optimization for large product catalogs, live search, and a quick buy option. These features can greatly impact the engagement rates, which, consequently improve your conversion rates as well.
  • Less expense on paid apps to support your theme. Premium Shopify themes often have all the necessary features built-in, that’s why you don’t have to spend more money on additional paid apps to support your Shopify store.

You can start your eCommerce business on Shopify at the lowest possible cost, as all the Shopify themes are already optimized for SEO. However, you will require additional support of paid Shopify apps to maintain your theme and your website.

Over time, it is definitely worth purchasing a premium Shopify theme to make the management of your website easier and make it more engaging to attract more shoppers.

Over to You

Whether you run a small online shop or a big e-commerce venture, your Shopify eCommerce theme is something you should definitely look into when choosing one, as it has a significant impact on the conversion rates.

Hopefully, our in-depth analysis of the effect of Shopify themes on conversion rates and our tips regarding premium Shopify themes will help you make the right choice of a theme that will drive sales and boost engagement and conversion rates.