How to Get Sales on Shopify: 5 Tips for Selling Fast

About 80% of ecommerce businesses fail within the first 18 months. For many Shopify store owners, the dream of running a successful online shop can quickly become frustrating when sales don’t come as expected.

You’ve put in the work—designed a sleek store, added great products, and even promoted it—but the results aren’t matching the effort.

Getting sales on Shopify isn’t just about having a beautiful storefront. You must understand what motivates your customers, build trust, and optimize every step of their journey.

This article reveals proven strategies you can implement today to get sales on Shopify.

Why Your Shopify Store is Not Getting Sales

Here are factors that could be preventing your Shopify store from getting sales:

Poor Website Design and Navigation

A clunky, unattractive, or difficult-to-navigate website can turn potential customers away. If visitors struggle to find what they’re looking for or the layout doesn’t inspire trust, they’re unlikely to purchase.

Slow Website Loading Times

Speed matters in e-commerce. If your Shopify store is sluggish, you could be losing customers before they even get a chance to browse your products.

Lack of Trust Signals

Online shoppers need to feel confident in your store. A lack of trust signals—like secure payment badges, return policies, or customer reviews—can create doubt in the minds of your visitors, leading them to abandon their carts or leave without purchasing.

Ineffective Marketing Strategies

Even the best products won’t sell if nobody knows about them. Without effective marketing strategies like social media promotions, email campaigns, or search engine optimization (SEO), your store may struggle to attract traffic and convert visitors into buyers.

Uncompetitive Pricing

If your prices are too high compared to competitors or don’t reflect the perceived value of your products, customers may decide to shop elsewhere.

Lack of Targeted Traffic

If your store isn’t attracting the right audience—people genuinely interested in your products—your conversion rates will remain low. Effective targeting will help you reach customers who are ready to buy.

How Do You Get Sales on Shopify?

Getting sales on Shopify involves more than just setting up an online store. You must be strategic in your planning, execution, and optimization. Here are five actionable tips to help you attract customers and get sales on Shopify:

#1 Improve Website Performance

Website performance is one of the most important factors influencing your Shopify store’s ability to convert visitors into customers.

Studies reveal that 53% of users abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, meaning that a slow-loading Shopify store can hinder your sales potential. Most Shopify stores rely on high-quality visuals to showcase their products, but these images and videos can be data-heavy and slow down site performance.

To turn visitors into buyers, you need a store that loads quickly, runs smoothly, and delivers an exceptional user experience. This is where media optimization platforms like SpeedSize come in.

A great example of this is Clarendon Fine Art, a prestigious art gallery that depended on high-quality visuals to showcase its artwork.

However, their large media files resulted in slow load times, negatively impacting user experience and sales.

SpeedSize’s AI media optimization technology helped them reduce load speed from approximately 4.5 to seconds 1.7 seconds and the improved LCP from 4 – 5 seconds to 1.87 seconds. As a result, the Shopify website now performs more than 2.5 times faster.

This enhancement led to a smoother browsing experience, higher engagement, and increased conversions.

Beyond faster load times, optimizing your website performance also improves your search engine rankings. Google uses page speed as a ranking factor, meaning faster sites are more likely to appear at the top of search results and attract more organic traffic.

These tips can enhance your Shopify store performance:

  • Use SpeedSize to optimize all media files for faster loading without losing quality.
  • Choose Shopify themes known for speed and performance.
  • Use caching and a content delivery network (CDN) to ensure quick delivery of your site’s content to users globally.
  • With over 60% of e-commerce traffic coming from mobile, ensure your site is responsive and mobile-friendly.

 

#2 Share Customer Reviews

Studies show that 93% of consumers say online reviews influence their purchase decisions, and 57% of shoppers will only buy from a business with four or more stars. These numbers highlight how important it is to share positive reviews and testimonials on your Shopify store.

Here’s how customer reviews can help:

  • Reviews provide social proof, showing potential buyers that others have had a good experience with your product. For instance, displaying testimonials from satisfied customers, especially with photos or videos, makes your brand more relatable and credible.
  • A product page with customer reviews is 270% more likely to convert than one without, according to Medill Spiegel Research Center. Even a single review can make a significant difference in nudging hesitant buyers to purchase.
  • Customer reviews often include keywords relevant to your products. These organic mentions help your Shopify store rank higher in search engine results.

You can encourage customer reviews by:

  • Sending automated emails or messages asking customers to leave a review. Offering a small incentive like a discount code can increase participation.
  • Placing top reviews prominently on product pages, your homepage, or in email campaigns to maximize their visibility.
  • Using Shopify apps like Judge.me, Loox, or Yotpo to collect and display customer reviews, including photo or video testimonials.

 

#3 Use Upsells and Cross-Sells

Upselling and cross-selling increase sales and average order value (AOV) in e-commerce.

Upselling and cross-selling can increase online sales by 10-30% on average. In addition, 70-95% of revenue from e-commerce businesses often comes from upselling and cross-selling strategies.

By strategically recommending products, you can guide customers toward higher-value purchases or complementary items. This improves their shopping experience while driving more revenue.

Here are tips for effective upsells and cross-sells on Shopify:

  • Use Shopify apps like Bold Upsell or ReConvert to show recommendations on product pages, in the cart, or during checkout. Timing is important—offering upgrades or complementary items too early or too late might lead to customer fatigue or missed opportunities.
  • When suggesting an upsell, focus on the additional benefits customers will receive. For example, “Upgrade to premium for an extra 30% storage space and 1-year free warranty.”
  • Create bundles to simplify the decision-making process. For example, a “Complete Coffee Lovers Kit” could include a coffee machine, grinder, and beans at a discounted rate compared to purchasing each item separately.
  • Offer exclusive discounts for cross-sold items. For example, “Get 20% off this leather wallet when you purchase our premium laptop bag.” This strategy increases perceived value and encourages customers to add more to their carts.
  • Use Shopify’s AI-powered product recommendations to show upsells and cross-sells based on a customer’s browsing and purchase history, improving relevance and conversion rates.

For instance, Amazon attributes 35% of its revenue to upselling and cross-selling. They have set the gold standard for this strategy by suggesting “Frequently Bought Together” items or “Customers Who Bought This Also Bought.”

 

#4 Write Blog Content

One of the most effective ways to drive traffic and get sales on Shopify is by writing high-quality blog content. A well-written blog engages potential customers, showcases your expertise, and improves your store’s search engine ranking.

Blogging allows you to answer common questions, provide value, and build trust with your audience. Studies show that businesses that prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to achieve a positive return on investment (ROI) than those that don’t.

In addition, companies that publish regular blog posts receive 67% more leads than those that don’t.

Here’s how to create effective blog content for Shopify:

  • Write content that addresses the interests, challenges, and needs of your ideal customer. For instance, if you sell eco-friendly clothing, blog topics like “5 Ways to Build a Sustainable Wardrobe” or “Why Organic Fabrics Matter” can resonate with your audience.
  • Research relevant keywords your customers search for and include them naturally in your blog. This improves your SEO and helps your store rank higher in search results. According to HubSpot, 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results, so ranking high is important.
  • Use your blog posts to guide readers toward purchasing. For example, if you’re writing a guide about skincare, you can include links to your products with CTAs like “Shop Our Best-Selling Moisturizer.”
  • Share your blog content on social media, email newsletters, and other marketing channels. Blog posts with compelling headlines and visuals are twice as likely to be shared, boosting your reach and potential sales.

Blogging not only drives organic traffic to your store but also nurtures trust and loyalty among your audience. A study by Demand Metric found that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing while generating three times as many leads.

You can convert casual readers into loyal customers by consistently publishing valuable and relevant content.

Analytics tools like Google Analytics can be used to track which blog posts drive the most traffic and conversions. Optimize your content strategy based on these insights to maximize your Shopify sales.

 

#5 Set Up Retargeting Ads

Retargeting ads convert visitors who didn’t purchase their first visit to your Shopify store. These ads focus on individuals who have interacted with your site but left without completing a purchase, reminding them of the products they viewed or added to their cart.

According to Criteo, visitors retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert into customers. This statistic demonstrates how effective retargeting can be in closing sales by keeping your products top-of-mind.

With retargeting ads, you can serve personalized ads to your store visitors across different platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, or Google Display Network. This helps you reach an audience with a higher likelihood of converting.

Here are tips for setting up successful retargeting ads on Shopify:

  • Use Shopify’s built-in tools or third-party apps to create different segments based on user behavior, such as abandoned cart shoppers or product page viewers.
  • Use dynamic ads to automatically show the products visitors viewed or added to their cart, making them more relevant and engaging.
  • Provide a discount or limited-time offer to encourage those on the fence to purchase. Monitor your retargeting campaign’s performance and adjust your strategy based on metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Wrapping Up

Increasing sales on Shopify requires a combination of strategies, from enhancing website performance and using upsells to showcasing customer reviews and creating engaging blog content.

One of the most impactful ways to drive conversions is by optimizing your website’s media performance. A fast-loading, seamless shopping experience keeps visitors engaged and encourages them to complete their purchases.

Media optimization tools like SpeedSize can significantly improve your store’s load times by compressing images, videos, and other media without compromising quality.

With 90-99% smaller file sizes, your Shopify store loads instantly, thereby reducing bounce rates and increasing conversions. Faster load speeds mean happier customers, fewer abandoned carts, and more sales

Related Insights

Need an answer to a problem? Take a look at our insights section to find advice, guidance and recommendations across a range of e-commerce topics – from conversion to retention and loyalty, from systems integration to remarketing.

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