By Hana Drdla, Shopify web developer and co-founder of Luna Templates, offering customizable Shopify sections to elevate your web design. You can follow along on Instagram @hanerdoo and @lunatemplates

Do you know the feeling of clicking on an app icon on your phone, and realizing that you meant to open a different app? The icons were just so similar that your mind didn’t distinguish the difference between them.

Websites are a little like that too. Many template-based websites look extremely similar. So similar that you might even mistake one for another when you’re browsing, or you leave the website with no special memory of it at all.

Unmemorable websites? Not good for getting customers to return to your e-commerce shop. Let’s go through 5 ways to make sure that when customers come to your website, they’re remembering the experience and want to return again and again.

1. Strong branding

   Make sure you’ve invested in your branding. Using consistent colours, fonts, textures and imagery will allow you to create a strong and cohesive look across your entire website. You’ll be remembered for having a certain aesthetic and be recognizable at a glance. What will be known as “your style” can be carried through to your packaging, social media and more.

2. Sell the lifestyle

   Oftentimes it’s not about selling the actual product, but it’s about how you sell the lifestyle of owning that product. You will always have other brands selling the same thing as you, so how will you speak to your target audience uniquely? 

   Here’s where great imagery is important. A restaurant has not only pictures of the food, but of the decor and atmosphere. A hot sauce has not only images of the product, but of how this product fits into one’s life. Is it on a wood cutting board in the middle of a busy table, is it in a lunchbox, or next to the barbque? Help customers imagine the product and how that product would impact their lives.

3. Unique web design

   Remember what I was saying about apps looking alike? You want to avoid that on your website too. Strong branding and imagery is an excellent start to making sure you have a distinct and recognizable look to your brand. Now let’s talk about the layout.
   
   There are certainly best practices for e-commerce that suggest including certain elements that perform well. For example, designing with a hero image, press features and customer testimonials. But templates can once again have websites looking pretty similar to one another. Subconsciously, these layouts won’t be distinguishable from each other, just like the app icons.
   
   Here’s where you’ll need to get creative. Consider mixing and matching the sections from your template with custom section templates like those from Luna Templates. Using these templates will allow you new section combinations that other websites won’t have, ultimately giving you a website that stands out from the rest. Plus, these templates are super easy to install and have a ton of customization features.

4. Provide value

   By extending your shop’s offerings beyond selling, and providing your customers value, they’ll remember you better.
   
   Some ways to provide value:
   
   Blog posts: Write interesting and helpful blog posts related to your industry or brand values. These can help you build trust with customers, help them make a better purchasing decision on your site, and ultimately leads to more loyal customers. Choose blog post titles that are searchable topics so that people are more likely to come across your article. A bonus for you is that the more time people spend on your website reading the article, the better of a signal it sends to Google, thereby improving your SEO.
   
   Recipes: Show how to use your product in different ways. Customers will keep these bookmarked and keep coming back (which is also great for SEO!). Recipes also makes customers excited to try out your product and make the justification to buy.
   
   Style guides: Show the best ways to style your product and offer tutorials on how to get a certain look. For example, a nail polish brand could post a tutorial on how to do the latest nail trend. A brand selling scarves could show 10 ways to style the scarf.
   
   Remember to try to offer something before expecting something in return, and this will keep you top of mind when customers are ready to make a purchase. 

   
   One of the best ways to promote and give easy access to these resources is by using a Links page on Instagram. It’s crucial to make this links page on your actual website rather than using a third-party tool like Linktree so that you’re getting all the SEO benefits of that click. If you’re on Shopify, you can do this using the Luna Themes Links Page.

5. Think like your customer

   You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to find the right product for them, and to explore new products:

   
   Product Organization

   As a store owner, you may view your products in a different way than a customer. For example, from your perspective, you may have your products organized by the vendor, or by brand. Whereas customers prefer to first search by category, and then by brand. Make sure your main navigation speaks to the way that your customers think. Then use filtering tools to help them narrow down by tags, brand or price. Organize products the way customers want to explore!
   
   Something that pains me to see on a homepage is to see product collections or categories listed, rather than the products themselves. I think it’s a lost opportunity where instead, you could show customers products they might be interested in. Don’t give customers an extra step to do by requiring them to click into a certain category before viewing any products at all, thereby also trapping them in that category. Instead, list “New Arrivals” or “Best Sellers” on the homepage so that they can explore from there.

   Upsells

   Once a customer is interested in purchasing one product, it’s time to encourage them to add something else to cart. One strategy I love is adding a “Goes with” product recommendation on the product page, to suggest a second product that compliments the one the customer is already interested in. With just one click, they can add that second product to cart too, thereby potentially doubling the sale.  Another option is to use Upsell apps on the cart page. Imagine when standing in line at a store, and you grab something small being sold near the checkout section. The same strategy applies to e-commerce. This will allow you to help customers shop faster, and raise your average order value.

   Make it fun

   Use a fun quiz help customers find the right product. Ask them questions to understand their needs, and then recommend the best product in your store for them. Here’s an example:  Thinx period undies has a “Know Your Flow” quiz to help customers find the right product for them.
   
   These quizzes offer a ton of benefits to you as a store owner.

   • Get to know your customers better by collecting and reviewing their responses. Then use this data to make decisions about your product offerings.

   • Get new interested customer emails by offering the quiz results by email.

   • Happier customers! By buying the right product for them, you’re less likely to have returns and exchanges.

Conclusion

Make forgettable websites a thing of the past by implementing some of the tips above. You’re guaranteed to help your customers understand your products or offering, and give them a better shopping experience overall.

If you’d like to learn more about web design on Shopify, check out the Luna Templates blog. We have free resources, tutorials and workshops being added every week and even a Facebook community where web designers can chat and support each other on Shopify.