Optimized Ecommerce EP 078 – $3,442,813 In 90 Days On Shopify! How They Did It

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Matthew Stafford | Nov 03, 2021

Welcome to Episode 078 of Optimized Ecommerce – “$3,442,813 In 90 Days On Shopify! How They Did It.” I’m your host, Tanner Larsson, CEO of BGS.

BGS means Build Grow Scale! It is a community that we founded where eCommerce entrepreneurs and physical product sellers come to learn how to take their businesses to the next level.

Here’s just a taste of what we talked about today:

Some of the few myths that are keeping your Shopify store ineffective.

MYTH # 1: Ecommerce stores are designed to make sales.

REALITY: Ecommerce stores were designed as “online catalogs’ to display large quantities of products online. Sales were a secondary concern.

MYTH # 2: Shopify store themes are optimized for conversions.

REALITY: Shopify themes are created by graphic designers as programmers, not conversion experts. They are created first to conform to vendor usability requirements and second to look attractive.

MYTH # 3: That you need to use all the features and options that your theme gives you.

REALITY: Many of the options/features look cool or look like they help, but actually cause distractions and reduce conversions.

The 6 foundational principles of a high converting Shopify store.

The 6 principles each affect a different aspect of your site…

#1: Store Structure

#2: Product Pages

#3: Mobile Usage

#4: Checkout

#5: Performance

#6: Recovery

The ones mentioned above are the core areas of your site that all need to be optimized. When they’re done correctly, they form the foundation of your business and they make it work well. If one of these areas is out, it’s going to start falling apart.

Principle #1: Store structure must be streamlined to eliminate customer confusion and clearly indicate the actions you want them to take in order to maximize revenue.

The 4 ‘Less Is More” rules of store structure.

  • Above the fold is gold
  • 3 clicks to cart
  • 6 or less of the best
  • Use it or lose it

Principle #2: Product pages must be designed in a way that maximizes ‘Add to Carts’, while at the same time answering customer questions and overcoming objections.

7 Key Elements of an effective product page

  • Tangible Photos (Video)
  • Informative Description
  • Detailed Specifications
  • Strong Call To Action
  • Social Proof/Reviews
  • KLT (Know, Like, and Trust) Enhancers
  • Free Shipping Offer

How BGS boosted Sk8laces “Add To Cart” from 3.11% to 14.29%. 

  • Added Customer Testimonials
  • Added Customers Pictures
  • Added Free Shipping offer (bundle)
  • Moved Buy Button Above Fold
  • Added Product Video

Principle #3: The store must be coded to be specifically optimized for mobile traffic needs including layout, function, and conversions.

Why Mobile? 

  • Mobile ecommerce is growing at 42% per year (traditional ecom only 14%).
  • Mobile now accounts for 50.30% of all ecommerce traffic.
  • 80% of Facebook buyer traffic is from mobile users.
  • Mobile buyer AOV grew to $110.80 (Desktop is only $148.08).

Key mobile store elements

  • The entire store needs to be optimized for mobile usability. 
  • No side to side scrolling, everything must be stacked vertically.
  • Simplify mobile layout & remove complex functions. 
  • Reduce or remove site headers. 
  • Streamline entire customer journey (browse to buy)

Principle #4: The biggest wins in improving a Shopify store’s earnings are made in cart and checkout optimization.

Optimizing Shopify checkout

Problems:

  • Can’t optimize checkout, only cart. 
  • Stock Shopify Cart is a conversion KILLER.
  • Causes massive abandonment due to “design over conversion”.

Simple Optimizations: 

  • Style checkout to match site design. 
  • Ditch the “side slide” cart. 
  • Remove the “create account” step. 
  • Create a dedicated mobile cart and checkout. 

Principle #5: For optimal conversions, site load time must be 2 seconds or less.

Store Load Speed

Load time effects:

  • Know, Like, Trust
  • Bounce Rate
  • Conversion Rate
  • Search Engine Rankings
  • Mobile Traffic

A ONE second delay in load-time that means results in the following losses…

  • 16% loss in customer satisfaction
  • 11% loss on page views
  • 7% loss in conversions

Let’s Make it Real…

If a store is making $10,00 per day in sales, and its site load time increased from 2 to 3 seconds…It could lose upwards of $255,00 over the course of a year.

Amazon reports that for every 1 second of speed improvement on their store they see conversions increase by 2%!

How BGS reduced Kitchen Brite’s load time from 16.02 seconds to 1.87 seconds

What BGS Did:

  • Optimized all images
  • Removed old Apps
  • Compressed and streamlined site code

Principle #6: Automated browser & buyer recovery is key to maximum return on investment.

According to experts, the value of abandoned carts were $4,000,000,000,000 last year. Between 30% to 60% of that is recoverable!

The easiest type of automated recovery to use is email recovery.

Favorite Abandonment Apps:

  • Klaviyo
  • CartHook

Automated recovery campaigns are dollar for dollar the best marketing you can invest in.

We also discussed a few other fun topics, including:

  • The benefits of applying the 6 principles to your Shopify store.
  • Ways to successfully implement the 6 principles into your business.
  • The 6 standards to consider when looking for a good mentor or coach.

But you’ll have to watch or listen to the episode to hear about those!

How To Stay Connected With Tanner Larsson

Want to stay connected with Tanner? Please check out their social profiles below.

Resources

Also, Tanner mentioned the following items on the show. You can find that on:

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