How to Succeed Where 90% of Shopify Stores Fail: Detailed Guide

A lot of folks dream about running their own business. For a number of those folks, an online store (Shopify especially) looks like the perfect way to go. Just picture it: a nice online store, packed with products you love, reaching customers all over, you’re your own boss, money rolling in, business growing, the dream feels absolutely within reach thanks to Shopify – because it has allowed anyone with a product idea to get started with selling.

Key Takeaways

• Understand the primary reasons why Shopify businesses fail.
• Learn how to avoid common pitfalls in e-commerce.
• Develop strategies for successful online business management.
• Improve your marketing efforts to reach your target audience.
• Enhance your product research to offer in-demand products.

But here is the hard truth: online selling is tough – succeeding is hard. You’re all too familiar with the stories of people making millions of dollars in sales online on Shopify. But, people often miss the other side of the story: 90% of new Shopify stores don’t make a single sale. This isn’t a random percentage – it means literally hundreds of hours of work, a lot of expenditure, and broken dreams for the new business owner. That should be alarming to anyone. So, why do so many don’t make sales? and how can you ensure your online store doesn’t fall into the same trouble as so many others?

Don’t get freaked out by this blog post! This isn’t meant to frighten you. This is a guide. It will provide you with the knowledge and plans to overcome the tough odds. We will look at exactly why many new Shopify stores struggle to sell. More importantly, we will provide you, the reasonable reader, actionable steps. We will give you a rational plan for the success of your online store. We want to take into consideration the woes of you, the store owner and understanding the problem, and providing the right plan,  your store can be the one that sticks out. You can belong to the top 10%.

II. Why Many Shopify Stores Fail: Common Mistakes to Avoid

If you want to create a nice Shopify store and it not just be a pretty site but actually a store that gets sales, we have to know what the most talked about reason other stores fail are in general, and then learn from them. We just need to see the common mistakes that can lead a store not to make any sales at all. I want to go over the top reasons why Shopify stores are not selling, and what to do to avoid them:

A. The “Build It and They Will Come” Myth

So the biggest mistake made by new online stores is the expectation that just ‘having a nice (but basic) website’ will get customers; especially a built one, but this is a flawed assumption with online sales. If you build it, they won’t just come. To help explain to you visually; opening a Shopify store is like opening a shop in the desert.

Even if you have great products, and a great store that you are proud of, no one can buy from you if no one knows about your store. The internet is vast and has a plethora of other online stores – if you do not have a plan to market your store, you are going to remain hidden from your customers.

The Fix: Market Your Store Actively and in Many Ways

To turn this around, you’ve got to promote your store from day one. You should be thinking about marketing before your store opens. A good marketing plan has multiple ways for customers to find out about your store, visit your store, and ultimately, buy from your store. These include:

• Marketing Before Launch: Generate hype. Get email addresses before your store is launched. Share your products on social media. Put a competition running. Offer early sign-ups a discount.
• Content Marketing: Produce valuable and interesting content. Customers will enjoy it. Blog posts, videos, social posts. It should educate, entertain, or inspire your customers.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Make your website and your product pages easy to find on search engines. This allows your customers to find their way to your store over time.
• Social Media Marketing: Be active on social media platforms. Go where your customers are spending their time. Engage with your followers. Use advertisements to target specific audiences. Utilize social media to show your products in a good light.
• Email Marketing: Email is still one of the best ways to sell products online. Build a rapport with your customers. Send updated emails with news, deals, and special offers. Helps get customers buying from you again.
• Paid Advertising: Consider paid ads, through Google or Facebook, to spread your message to plenty of people quickly and effectively. They can quickly convert specific customers into visitors to your store.

By using multiple ways to market your store, you will get many customers to visit your store. Which will give your business the best opportunity to succeed. Again, opening up a great store is only half of the battle. The other half is getting people to know about it.

B. No Clear Identity: Selling Everything to Everyone

Another reason why Shopify can fail for new shop owners is that there is often no identity. New business owners frequently try to sell every type of product and try to sell to everyone. They think that the more products they list will lead to more customers, but often, they confuse customers instead. For example, if a customer visits a new store that sells pet toys, electronics, and clothes, they won’t know what the store is about. It’s hard to build a brand and have the customer relate to a specific type of customer base. It’s hard to be different from other online stores out there.

The Fix: Find Your Niche, Know Your Customers, and Show What Makes You Special

Usually, to be successful, you need to sell in a specific market, or you need to find a niche of customers. This means you know who your customers are, and to explain what is different about your store (your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP):

• Find Your Niche: A niche is a small part of a larger market. Instead of selling all types of clothing, you could sell only eco-friendly women’s workout clothing, or vintage band T-Shirts. Finding a niche will focus your marketing, it will help you understand your customer’s needs, and it will make you an expert in that area.
• Know Your Customers: Once you have a niche, get to know your ideal customer very well. How old are they? Where do they live? What do they like? What problems do they have? What do they aspire to? The more you know about your customer, the better decisions you will make about your products. You will also be able to craft messages that resonate with them.
• Show Your Unique Selling Proposition: Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is what makes your store different and better than other stores. What would encourage someone to buy from you rather than from another store? Does your store have the best customer support? Do you only use green materials? Do you have special or unique designs? Do you have the best prices? If you present your Unique Selling Proposition clearly, it will help you stand out, and give customers good reason to buy from you.

Focusing on a specific niche and buyer group helps you create a great shopping experience. With a very focused focus, you will attract the right customers. It makes your marketing more effective. It makes your brand more memorable. 

C. Bad Product Choices and Where They Come From

Your products are the most important thing in your Shopify store. Yet many first-time business owners make big mistakes when selecting and acquiring their products that can hinder their success. They often have a low-quality offer. They sell products that too many other shops already sell, which means they’re stuck competing on price or sticking with low margins. Or they simply select products without accounting for profit. Today, consumers are savvy. They want to purchase items of a certain quality. They want good value for their price point. And they often want something special. If your products are not good enough, or if they can find it cheaper somewhere else, it is very hard for your store to sell!

The Fix: Research, Quality, and Special Value

Every really successful Shopify store is selling products that have been chosen well. The product is actually good for the consumer. This means good research. It also means that you have a sense of care about the quality: 

• Do Good Product Research: Don’t just choose products you like. Use tools such as Google Trends. Analyze best-sellers on large websites. See what others are searching for and buying. Look for products that fill a need. Look for products that make others happy. Or, look for products that put a new spin on an old idea.
• Focus on Quality: Regardless of how inexpensive your products are, they need to be good. They need to provide what customers expect. Poor quality produces returns. It produces bad reviews. It produces a tarnished brand. Spend the effort researching suppliers. Get samples. Ensure that what you are selling is what you say it is.
• Make Your Products Special: If you are selling a popular product, how can you make it unique? Can you offer it along with other products? Offer unique designs? Offer amazing options to transform it? Or, offer excellent customer service with it? Think of what you are providing as a package. Do not just think of the product.
• Make Enough Money: Before you pick a product, make sure you calculate how much money you will actually earn. Think of everything: product cost, shipping, advertising, marketing, Shopify fees, and payment fees. Just make sure you are making enough profit to keep the business going and growing.

Remember, the first thing you sell to customers is your product! Take time and energy to select and ultimately sell good products that are needed, wanted and quite clearly stand out. This goes a long way to getting sales and building a business.

D. A Website That Pushes Customers Away: A Bad Shopping Experience

Your Shopify store is your online store. The design and usability are very important because they help you obtain customers and retain them. Many new store owners do not consider their website’s usability enough. They build websites that actually repel visitors. Common errors are bad design, slow loading speed, confusing menus, and not having a mobile responsive site. The bottom line is that in today’s digital world, visitors don’t like to wait for websites to load. They also don’t like to have to figure them out. A negative website experience annoys visitors, and they will not trust your store. This means they will leave before they purchase anything. 

The Fix: Make Your Shopify Store Easy to Use and Good-Looking

If we want to build a Shopify store that generates sales, we need to focus on good design. We want our website to be enjoyable to visit, not a chore. So let’s talk about some things we need to consider to ensure our store obtains and retains customers.

• Keep it Clean and Professional: Opt for a clean, simple design. Most importantly make sure it showcases your products. Make sure you use quality images. Maintain a consistent look everywhere, not too many pop-ups and distractions. Shopify has a good selection of free themes and paid themes that look professional.
• Load Speed: Load speed of your page is very important. The loads of web pages now expected by customers to be instant. If it is slow to load customers will bounce. Reduce your images in size while maintaining stability in quality. Limit the number of apps used and start considering a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to help load your store fast everywhere.
• Easy to Find: Make it simple for customers to find things. The best way to accomplish this is through clear categories. Use clear titles for your clickable category. Include an obvious search bar. Menu organization helps. If you can think of that customer and how to make it easier to find things; the more likely they are going to purchase.
• Mobile Responsiveness: A lot of people are shopping on their phones now. Your Shopify store must be functioning on phones as well as tablets. Test your website across multiple devices to make sure everything looks good and functions.
• Clear Purchase Buttons: You want clear purchase buttons that lead your customers to buy your products like “Add to Cart,” “Buy Now,” and “Checkout” that are clear and easy to find. 
• Simple Checkout: You want to get your customers to check out as quickly and straightforward as possible.  Have less steps, allow people to check out as a guest, and include all of the costs (shipping/taxes) upfront. If there are any issues at this stage, people will bail from their cart.

When you create an easy to use, handsome shop, you make a great first impression, and you earn the trust of potential customers. A well designed shop is not just about looking good, it’s about generating sales. It’s about providing customers with a positive shopping experience.

E. No One Knows You Exist: No Traffic, No Sales

Again, a major problem with new Shopify stores is assuming that customers will come rushing in. It may sound harsh, but they don’t work like that. If you do not create awareness and plan to market your store, then it just stays empty and you will get no click-throughs or sales. So many business owners pour their thoughts and efforts into creating the ultimate store. And then, do not bother thinking about how to get visitors to their store. Again, the internet is a vast ocean, and your store is like a tiny island. You need to build the bridges to get to the island: 

The Fix: Have a Clear and Steady Marketing Plan

To get people to visit your Shopify store, you first need a marketing plan. You need to know where your customers are located and give them a reason to visit. You should use many forms of marketing. You will also need to work to create awareness of your store, to drive traffic to your store, and then to make buying easy:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO helps your shop rank better in search results when someone searches for products like yours. Pick a focus keyword for your product, this is especially important for SEO. Focus on how to make your product pages SEO friendly. Take a look at keywords your customer uses to find your products and link-back to those pages with good quality websites as backlinks. SEO is a longer term strategy for continual free traffic to your store.
• Content Marketing: if you create useful content that helps your customers, they will appreciate it. This could be blog posts, how to content, videos, or images with supporting facts. Content marketing can drive traffic to your store, and also demonstrates your brand may be an expert on product knowledge.
• Social Media Marketing: Find out what social media platforms your customer uses the most, and be active in that platform(s) only. Share interesting content, communicate with your followers, and host contests or giveaways. Or run marketing campaigns and advertisements to get in front of more customers by paid media.
• Email Marketing: Email is one of the best ways to sell things online. Build a list of emails. You can offer a discount, or useful content for an email address. Then use email to communicate with people who are interested. Tell them about new products, sales or special offers. Email marketing encourages people to buy again. 
• Paid Ads: Free marketing is great. But paid ads can bring increased visitors and sales. Paid ads can give you fast results, especially when you are new. Consider using Google Ads or Facebook Ads. Both channels allow you to target the right audience, quickly, with good ads.

Remember, marketing is not a one-time thing. It is something you do all the time. You need to keep making content. You need to keep talking to your audience. And you need to check what works and what does not. By having a good marketing plan, you can make sure your store gets many visitors. This gives your business the chance to succeed.

F. No Trust: Why Customers Do Not Buy

In the online world, trust is everything. If customers do not trust your store, even the best products and websites will not lead to sales. Many new Shopify stores accidentally make customers not trust them. This makes people leave their shopping carts or your website. This can happen for many reasons: your brand does not look professional.

You do not have reviews from other customers. Your rules are unclear. Or your customer service is bad. When a customer feels unsure or suspicious about a store, they are very unlikely to spend their money. They need to feel sure that buying from you is safe. They need to know that the product will be as described. And they need to know that any problems will be fixed quickly.

The Fix: Build Trust by Being Professional and Clear

Trust takes time, effort, and consistency to build. It takes being straightforward, professional, and trying really hard to please customers! Here is how you can grow trust and sell more products on your store on Shopify: 

• Professional Brand Appearance: Your store’s appearance, including your logo, colours, fonts, and overall style show that you are a serious and trustworthy business. A professional brand appearance shows that you are real. Use high quality images showing your products as they really are! 
• Show What Others Say: People are more likely to trust a business that other people said good things about. Show customer reviews and comments prominently on your product pages, and on your home page! Show images or videos of customers using your products. Show positive news articles mentioning your store or product. Show awards or recognition your store or product may have received! 
• Clear Policies: Be transparent. Write shipping policy, return policy, privacy policy, and Terms of Service clearly. They should be very easy to find. Customers want to know what to expect before they make a purchase. Clear policies show that you are interested in fairness.
• Easy Payment Options: Use recognizable payment symbols (like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Shopify Payments) that are easy to find on your website. Use an SSL certificate for your store (Shopify stores are automatically provided with one). SSL certificates help keep customers safe. When customers see a small lock logo in your browser address bar they will know their information is safe.
• Excellent Customer Service: Be quick and efficient in your answer, be as helpful as possible. Provide as many customer contact options as you can (i.e. Email, Chat, Phone Number). Keep your answers accurate and to the point when responding and fixing problems and answering simple questions. You can turn a one-time buyer into a loyal returning customer by providing excellent customer service.
• Create a Good “About Us” Page: Create a reasonable “About Us” page that shares your story as a brand. Explain to customers a little about your team, if applicable. Talk about what your business stands for as a business! This allows your brand to be a little more human and allows customers to connect with you.

III. How to Build a Successful Shopify Store: Your Plan

Now that we’ve outlined the various reasons for many Shopify businesses’ struggles or failures, let’s discuss things you can do. This section is your action plan for getting your Shopify business into the better performing 10%. This isn’t about hacks, it is about building a strong base. It is about utilizing great plans. It is about working on your performance. Let us help you achieve your online business goal.

A. Step 1: The Start – Plan and Research (Before You Build)

The most important thing for a successful Shopify business occurs before any products are listed or layout is determined. This section is 100% about planning. It is about research. And it is about making good decisions. Neglecting these steps is no different than building a house, without a plan. A house will stand for a time, but eventually will fall down. Likewise, an investment of prior time to invest in planning will help eliminate many pain points and wasted cash later on.

Market Research: Find Chances and Understand What People Want

• Find Your Niche: Identify Your Niche: We said before, you fail when you try to sell to everyone. What exact problem can you solve? What wish can you fulfill? You want to find markets that are underserved. You want to identify groups of people who are excited or passionate about something. Or you want to identify emerging trends. Tools like Google Trends or a best-sellers list on a site with lots of traffic can let you see what people are looking for and actually purchasing.
• Check Demand and Competition: Once you have an idea about a niche, see if people are looking to purchase products within that pretty focused category. Are searching for these items. At the same time, take a look at your competitors. Who are your competitors? What are they doing well? Where are their weaknesses? This is not about copying. This is about identifying weaknesses/gaps in the market. This is about identifying how you can provide something better or different to the marketplace.

Competitor Analysis: Learn from the Best (and Worst)

• Look at Successful Competitors: Check Out Successful Competitors: What do they do well? Just look at their website design. Look at the products they sell. Look at their prices. Look at their marketing. Look at their level of customer service. Decide what you could use, or make better.
• Find Competitor Weaknesses: Where do your competitors not excel? Are there consistent complaints about their service or product? Can you offer better service? Can you offer a more unique product? Can you offer better value?

Know Your Customers: Who Are You Selling To?

• Create Customer Profiles: Develop Customer Profiles: Go beyond simply thinking of age and location. What are their likes? What values do they have? What pain points do they have? What are their aspirations? What do they read or watch on the internet? The more you know about your customers, the easier it will be to select products and to write your messaging and marketing to them.
• Understand Their Needs and Wants: What problems are your products helping them solve? How do your products make them feel? Connecting with your customers at a deeper level will gain their loyalty, in addition to getting sales.

Make Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Why Pick You?

• What Makes You Different? What Makes You Unique? In a cluttered market, your USP is your compass point. Is it quality? New products and designs? Great customer service? Being fairly sourced? Best price? Or some unique brand story? Your USP needs to be clear and strong, and should show through everything you do.
• Tell Your Value: After you have defined your USP, communicate it everywhere in your store, from the heading on your main page to the product descriptions, and your marketing messages. It is the primary thing people want, and will base their decision on, to choose you over the other options.

Doing this first step well, will give you clarity for your Shopify store. You will also be ahead of approximately 90%, who jump in without a clear purpose or reason.

B. Step 2: The Store – Building a Website That Sells

Once you’ve prepared your plan, your next step is to build your Shopify store. But building a store is not just about how it looks. It is about creating a seamless, intuitive, and trusted online space that connects visitors with your products and ultimately results in them buying those products. A correctly built store is your best sales asset. It is always on and it represents your brand. It turns interest into dollars.

Pick the Right Design (Theme): Your Store’s Base

• Function Over Looks: Over Aesthetics: Aesthetics are important, but you should choose a design (theme) that has the functionality you need first. Consider your products. Consider how many products you have. Consider how you want customers to feel when they visit your store. Shopify has many free and paid design options. Each serves a different purpose with different functionalities, capabilities, and ease of use.
• Must Work on Phones: Most people now shop on their phones. The design you choose must work across all platforms and all devices, including computers, tablets, and phones. Test it across platforms and devices yourself.
• Can Grow with You: Choose a design that can grow and change with your business. Do not choose a design that will limit you down the road. Or will require costly custom coding and development work to make changes later.

Make It Fast: Every Second Counts

• Optimize Pictures: Optimize Images: Large images that are not optimized slow down your store. Optimize your images where you can, but do not lose quality. Shopify also does a pretty good job of this so it is good to optimize them before uploading.
• Use Fewer Apps and Code: Apps add features to your Shopify store. Too many apps can slow down your store. If you are using apps, make sure you only install the ones you need. Check the speed of your store with your apps regularly. Don’t use code you do not need. 
• Use Browser Caching: Make sure your store is using browser caching. This will speed up your store for returning visitors.

Make It Easy to Use (UX): Guide the Customer

• Easy Menus: User-friendly menus: a user-friendly menu should look simple and clear. Place the categories front and center with clear names. Include an easy-to-notice search that helps customers quickly search for products.
• Clear Product Pages: your product page should function as a mini sales page. Include several good quality images. Show the product from all angles. Show it in use. Provide clear & informative product descriptions that explain the benefits. Show clear pricing. List all purchasing options. Include clear sale buttons (like add to cart) for purchasing. Consider including videos and/or 360 degree views.
• Customer Reviews and Questions:  include customer reviews, and a Q/A section on product pages. This builds trust, and it provides you an opportunity to answer general questions.
• Simple Checkout: Do all you can to make buying as easy and fast as possible. Reduce the number of steps. Allow people to check out as guests. Show all costs (like shipping and taxes) up front. Provide as many trusted ways to pay as possible. Any hiccup in the process could lead to abandonment of their cart.

Write Good Product Descriptions: Sell the Benefits, Not Just Features

• Focus on Benefits: Focus on benefits. Not just features. Talk about how the product helps the customer and solve their problem. How does it make their life better? Use emotional words.
• Tell a Story: If it’s applicable, tell a story about your product. What inspired it? What problem does it help solve? This gives the customers a feeling of connection.
• Good for Search Engines (SEO): Include any important keywords in your product descriptions in a natural way! This will help your products show up in search.
• Use Good Pictures:  Very important. Use professional-looking, high resolution, clear product photos. They are generally going to be the first thing a customer sees. They can make and break a sale.

By taking the time to build your Shopify store using these suggestions, you transform it from just a product into an awesome sales machine designed to convert visitors into customers for life!

C. Step 3: The Launch – Making a Big Start

When you launch your Shopify store, it shouldn’t be a quiet event. It should be a planned event that you can get charged up about. It should create buzz. It should get people to visit your store. It should make those first important sales. The buzz you create now can help your store’s success later. It’s just like opening a new shop in your town. You want it to be exciting. You want a lot of people there.

You want a good first impression. A smart launch can bring you the early money you need. It can start feedback from your customers. It can give you proof your store is worth purchasing from. This proof can help get you more buyers later on.

Build Excitement Before You Open: Get people excited before your store is fully ready.

• “Coming Soon” Page: “Coming Soon” Page: Create a coming soon page on your Shopify site. This page should be more than just saying you are coming. Put your logo on it. Write a catchy message about what is coming. More importantly, have a way for people to sign up with their email. This way you are able to have a list of customers that might be interested in your offerings BEFORE you even sell anything.
• Offer a Treat for Early Sign-ups: Give people a reason to sign-up early to your email list. Maybe it is a special discount when you open. Maybe it is a free gift with their first purchase. Maybe it is a chance to see the store before anyone else.
• Use Social Media: Start building your social media presence early. Show your product in good pictures and videos. Share behind-the-scenes peeks at your brand. Countdown to your launch day. Chat with potential customers. Start building a community around your brand.

Launch Day Deals: Make an Offer People Cannot Refuse

• Special Deals for Early Supporters: Special Offers for Early Supporters: Make sure you give the special offer you promised early email subscribers and followers. This gets sales right away. It’s also a chance to treat early supporters special.
• Limited-Time Offers: Give something that lasts only a short time. It could be a discount for a few hours. It could be free shipping for the first day. Or a special package deal. The idea is to get people to buy, and buy right away.
• Work with Influencers: Think about working with small influencers in your niche for your launch day. This can help you reach more people interested in your products, and to make your new store feel more trustworthy.

After Launch: Keep the Energy Going

• Tell Everyone You Are Open: On launch day tell the world that your store is sweeping the web. Spread the word using: email marketing, social media posts, and any other communication modalities you have been activating when growing your store.
• Run Targeted Ads: You might consider running a small ad campaign on Facebook or Instagram. Ads are a great strategy to drive early visitors to your store. Remember the customers you found through your research and focus your new daily campaigns on those.
• Get and Show Customer Proof: As you get your first orders, ask them to leave reviews and share any images or videos of customers using your products on your social feeds. Early proof is an important factor for new visitors to trust you.

If you plan your launch to be a marketing event, you can better launch from the point of a quietly beginning initiative to a harder push for growth. A launch done well gets more of that valued first sale reward and builds loyal customers. Additionally, it presents brand awareness to prospects that will help your store reach customers long after the launch excitement has faded.

D. Step 4: The Growth Engine – Getting Constant Visitors and Sales

Opening your Shopify store is only the first part of the journey. The real challenge of an online business is being able to access new visitors, convert them to sales, and have them buy again. In this step, you will focus on building and optimizing your store’s ‘growth engine.’ This includes consistent and recurrent marketing and sales actions that create predictable cash flow. You are not launching one-off campaigns; you’re developing sustainable ways to generate visits and sales every day.

Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Your Free Visitor Powerhouse

• Keyword Research is Key: Keyword Research is Important: Always discover the name your customers use to search for items similar to what you sell. Use the free tools like Google Keyword Planner. Find keywords and phrases that many people search. Find words with low competition. 
• Make Your Pages SEO-Friendly: Use keyword phrases in your product titles. Use keywords in your descriptions. Use keywords in your picture’s names. Use keywords in mini-descriptions. Ensure your written content is unique, useful, and interesting. Use headings (like large titles and small titles) to make content easier to read. Organization for Seo.
• Technical SEO: Identify simple web addresses for your Shopify store. Have a sitemap (a web page that lists all your pages for the search engines). Make sure your store looks and works well on smartphones. Check your page speed often. Keep checking for broken links and errors. Your Shopify store takes care of the technical stuff, but you need to check at least once a week. 
• Content Plan for SEO: Create a blog on your Shopify store. Write good / useful articles to go with your products. Write new articles often. Include keywords in your articles. Answer your customers’ questions. Help your customers / users. Free visitors to your website. Shows the customer that your brand is a thought leader in your category. 

Content Marketing: Teach, Engage, and Sell

• More Than Just Blogs: Blog, Blog, Blog: The term “content marketing” does not mean blog content exclusively. What about how-to videos? What about helpful graphics with stats? What about a buyer’s guide? Or even a podcast about your products? Content of all kinds will help you reach a bigger audience.
• Content That Gives Value: Work to provide true value to your audience. Fix their problems. Make them laugh. Inspire them. When you provide true value every single time, people will trust you. They will become loyal to you. This will make it more likely for them to purchase from you.
• Share Your Content: Don’t simply create your content. Share it. Share your blog posts on your social media. Share it in your email newsletters. Change your content to utilize here and there on all platforms.

Social Media Marketing: Build a Community and Get People Involved

• Pick the Right Platforms: Choose The Right Platforms: Use your time on the social media sites where your customers are. Don’t try to be all things everywhere.
• Post Regularly:  Post new content as much as possible. Mix promotional posts with helpful and entertaining content. Use good images and interesting language.
• Talk to Your Community: Respond to comments, messages, and mentions in a timely manner. Ask questions, run polls, and invite customers to share their images or videos using your products. You want them to feel like part of your community because it inspires brand loyalty.
• Social Shopping Features:  Use Shopify’s access to features on Instagram Shopping and Facebook Shop. This allows customers to find and purchase products directly from your social media pages.

Email Marketing: Your Best Sales Tool

• Grow Your List: Grow Your List: Use it to always be adding email addresses. Free gifts, pop-ups, special offers when someone is about to leave the site, free guides, the options are limitless.
• Segment Your List: Segment your email list based on customer behavior. Are they a new subscriber? A person who left items in their cart? An old buyer? This will allow you to send emails that are relevant.
• Automated Emails: Create a series of automated emails. A welcome email. An email about abandoned carts. A follow-up after a purchase. An email to get a past customer back. Automated emails are very effective in making sales and encouraging repeat purchases.
• Regular Newsletters and Deals: Send regular emails that announce products. Send regular emails that have sales. Send regular emails that have discount codes. Send regular emails content that is valuable. Don’t just sell! Provide value.

Paid Advertising: Make Your Growth Faster

• Choosing the Right Platform: Choose ad platforms that work for your customers and your goals. For example, Google Ads for people searching. Facebook/Instagram Ads for a target audience (influencer marketing). Pinterest Ads if your social focus is visual discovery.
• Targeting: Use the best targeting methods available using all these platforms. This will help you reach your perfect customer. Use info like age, interests and their online behavior.
• Good Ads: Create good ads (images/images). And have a copy that appeals to consumers and makes them want to buy. Show what makes your product unique. Tell them what to do (like “Shop Now”).
• Test and Improve: Always test every different ad content. Test headlines. Test copy. Test targeting. This will lead to better results for your ads. It should make you spend less too. Keep a close eye on your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

By putting the work in to properly execute these growth plans, your Shopify store will not only be consistently generating traffic through this advertising strategy, it will be converting that traffic into loyal repeat customers and providing a strategy that will allow your store to thrive for a long time.

Conclusion

So, here’s the deal: to succeed with your Shopify store, you need a plan, marketing to meet your store goals, and a solid understanding of your target audience. Provided that you avoid common pitfalls and follow the tips in this guide, I guarantee you will improve your chances of making sales on repeat. 

Always be looking for ways to improve your store, whether improving your design, improving product pages, or improving your product ads. 

It’s important to be flexible and adaptable so be prepared to change your approaches if need be. If you keep your goals in mind, while still adapting and being flexible, I guarantee you will push through and continue to grow your store. 

The real secret to being successful with Shopify is having an understanding of what the customers need, and letting that need or want dictate the value to be provided. if your products, message, and service align with that need or want, you will build both loyalty and trust. Use the above tips actionably to turn online visitors into repeat customers and really pave the way for long-term success in your Shopify store.

FAQ

What are the most common reasons why Shopify stores fail?

Shopify stores usually fail because the owners didn’t do enough market research, didn’t choose the right products, and failed to market well. Sometimes they have extremely high hopes and tight timelines.

How can I conduct thorough market research for my Shopify store?

More focused market research includes checking your competitors thoroughly. Also, develop customer profiles to get into the mind of the end-user.

What are some effective marketing tactics to prevent Shopify store failures?

Good marketing set includes social media and email marketing. They should also engage in ads for pay, like Facebook, and face tracking ads, like Google Shopping. You will often get a good return on paid ads.

How can I optimize my Shopify store for conversions?

To increase sales and make more money, select a theme that enhances your niche, creating a streamlined website as easy to navigate as possible, and a product page that captures attention, engaging users and looking good on mobile devices.

What are some strategies for acquiring and retaining customers?

In order to keep customers, create a working sales funnel. You could rely on loyalty programs or provide people with information on customer comments. Make sure that some of your customers are still engaged, even after they click ‘purchase’. 

How can I manage my Shopify store’s finances effectively?

When managing your finances, you will want to get your cash flow and inventory right. Set your financial expectations smart and want growth. 

What are some common problems that Shopify store owners face, and how can I troubleshoot them?

Some common problems faced by owners are cart abandonment, or having many customers visiting and making no sales. If you want to address cart abandonment, figure out the basic reasons for it, and adjust what you are doing when you sell. 

How can I scale my Shopify business successfully?

If you want to successfully grow your business, you’ll want to consider when and how to add new products. It’s probably time to automate the work, develop a team, and consider selling internationally.