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Aug 29, 2024

The Best Converting Shopify Themes for Your Online Store

Shopify themes are website templates for which your online store will be built, in terms of both design and function.

But depending on the Shopify theme you use, you can also increase your conversions and improve your bottom line.

This guide goes through some of the best converting Shopify themes you can leverage for your online business.

These themes may take some getting used to, especially for beginning Shopify merchants. But once you’ve mastered the customization settings for each of these themes, you can build potent, high-converting websites and landing pages that will fatten your next quarterly report.

What Makes High Converting Shopify Themes?

Some of the most crucial and integral elements of a high-converting Shopify theme include speed, customizability, and added features.

Keep these in mind, and you may find some high converting Shopify themes—ones that aren’t in this guide—as you look for them yourself.

Speed

Shine Theme Demo Store - Google PageSpeed Insights Performance Score

Theme speed is one of the most imperative assets of high converting Shopify themes. The faster your site loads, the smaller the chance of visitors bouncing off the site.

The faster your site loads, the smaller the chance of visitors bouncing off the site.

In today’s blazing-fast digital world, people want things instantly. Your site should provide a quick and snappy browsing experience; otherwise, you risk losing your potential customers to faster-loading competitors that can provide a better and snappier online experience.

High converting Shopify themes should have optimized code, minimized plug-ins, and automatically compress image files into high-quality yet smaller file sizes, ensuring fast loading times that keep visitors engaged.

Customizability

Blum Theme Demo Stores

A theme’s customizability lets merchants really make the Shopify site their own.

The better customizability a Shopify theme has, the more tailored and on-brand merchants can make their store. This better customization results in a more unique and refined online experience for site visitors.

Furthermore, better customization options also allow merchants to reinforce branding more. This, in turn, leads to better brand awareness, brand affinity, and customer loyalty.

Features

Electro Theme Demo Store - Testimonials Section

Converting features can move potential customers into purchases and desired marketing actions, such as downloading a lead magnet and filling out a newsletter form.

Some of these features may push conversions, upsell and cross-sell customers on other products, and improve the business’ marketing opportunities.

But note that with premium features, you may expect to pay premium tags as well.

Common Converting Features Found in Shopify Themes

Listed below are some common conversion features that can be found across multiple Shopify themes.

Testimonials Sections

Blum Theme Demo Store - Testimonials Section

Testimonials sections allow merchants to display customer feedback on desired pages, such as product pages and home pages.

These testimonials typically come with star ratings and image icons, making the testimonials more evident and engaging.

Some testimonial sections may even marquee reviews from one end of the screen to the other, making products and brands seem as if they get lots of reviews.

Having testimonials on your site can leverage social proof and nudge conversions from otherwise hesitant leads.

Video Banners

Blum Theme Demo Website Scroll

Video banners can nudge conversions by providing clarity on things that may be difficult to comprehend through text.

Also, video banners can engage site visitors with their moving aspects, prompting them to stay around longer.

While they may not directly result in a conversion, video banners are common theme features that can improve the online brand experience and, in turn, improve customer confidence.

Countdown Timers

Shine Countdown Timer Banner Section

Countdown timers count down the remaining days, hours, and seconds for a promo.

This can incite the fear of missing out (FOMO) among the more emotionally driven site visitors.

Seeing the seconds tick down invokes urgency and sends the message that “there won’t be another promo like this again” and “this is your only chance to avail of this.”

Countdown timers may not just be limited to promos and discounts.

You may use countdown timers to increase your lead magnet downloads too.

Cart Upsells & Cross-Sells

Blum Theme Mondo Demo Store Cart Progress Bar

Cart upsells and cross-sells help with product discovery and conversions.

If a potential customer is on their cart page and is about to checkout a pair of shoes, these cart features may cross-sell a pair of socks, some shoe cream, or both.

Another common upsell/cross-sell feature is a cart progress bar. This displays to customers how much more they need to spend before they can avail of a discount or free shipping.

This, in turn, nudges customers to spend more, improving the CLV of each customer.

Pop-Ups

Concept Theme - Pop-up Sign-up

Pop-ups take on various shapes and forms.

You have fullscreen pop-ups, lightbox pop-ups, and even pop-ups that appear on the corner of the screen.

Pop-ups’ content and configurations can be customized to cater to various CTAs. For example, you want more people to avail of a discount or perhaps share their email to acquire something.

Some pop-ups share relevant information, such as pop-ups that inform new site visitors of every product purchase that occurs.

Newsletter and Forms

Blum Theme - Demo Store - Newsletter Section

These pop-ups gather customer email information, compiling them into an email list and improving merchants’ marketing opportunities.

Whenever leads fill out a newsletter sign-up form (or any kind of form asking for email information), they may be “warmed up” through email marketing efforts. Provided that they give their consent, of course.

Newsletters and contact information forms let merchants leverage the converting power of email marketing, sending signed-up leads limited-time promos, discounts, and cart-abandonment emails, among others.

Quick read: A Complete Guide to Improving the Shopify Speed Score

Best Shopify Themes for Conversion

Now that you know what makes a high-converting theme, here are some of our picks for high-converting themes that you can use immediately for your Shopify store.

Shine

Shine Theme Scroll

Shine is an affordable yet feature-packed theme that merchants can leverage to create an engaging, converting, and on-brand Shopify store. As one of the best Shopify themes for conversion, it offers various features designed to boost engagement and sales.

Some of its conversion features include a testimonials section, a full-screen banner to which you may add a video, and a countdown timer, among other engaging features.

It has a slider Before/After section that lets visitors see and appreciate changes between photos, regardless of how small.

It has a text hotspots section that allows visitors to learn more about an otherwise complex item, such as a uniquely woven dress or a tech product.

Shine is an excellent theme for beauty and apparel brands. But its stellar customizability makes it a great choice, regardless of which industry you’re in, solidifying its place among the best Shopify themes for conversion.

As for its speed, Shine’s demo stores boast excellent scores on Google’s PageSpeed Insights. It has a performance score of 80 for mobile and 95 for desktop.

Do note, though, that if you wish to replicate these scores for your store, you must minimize your plug-ins and third-party apps.

Don’t worry much about optimizing your images since Shine automatically does this for you. We still suggest compressing and reducing image resolution, though.

Blum

Blum Theme Demo Website Scroll

Blum is another affordable and feature-packed theme on this list.

One noticeable, standout feature is Blum’s design.

It has shapes and image layouts that provide a contemporary flair to any website. This makes it an excellent choice for apparel and home decor stores, but just like Shine, its customizability makes it a great choice for any industry.

Blum has a full-screen banner to which merchants can add videos, providing immediate visitor engagement on the first fold.

The theme also has running text that runs from one side of the screen to the other. Merchants may use this feature to highlight promos and limited-time offers.

Merchants can add testimonials using Blum. How Blum’s testimonials are set up is that customers’ images are provided prominent space on the site, making the testimonials section bolder, more legitimate, and more authoritative.

Blum’s PageSpeed Insights scores are still relatively high, but not as high as Shine’s. Its demo store scores 68 on mobile and 92 on desktop, which still makes it one of the best Shopify themes for conversion in terms of performance.

Eurus

Eurus Theme Demo Store Scroll Through

Eurus is considered one of the highest converting Shopify themes in the mid-priced category, offering nearly 40 sections to choose from that cater to diverse merchandising needs.

Some notable sections include:

  • A flash sale section that provides prominent page space to highlight a limited-time offer or sale. This section also comes with its own countdown timer and CTA button, making it a key feature often found in top converting Shopify themes.
  • A shop the look section that highlights an outfit that site visitors might want to wear. Merchants may place hotspots on the pieces of clothing found on the image that, when visitors mouse over, display the particular Shopify product featured on the image.
  • A product bundles section. This displays featured products that, when visitors add three or more of them to their cart, would be eligible for a discount. Hence, this section lets customers create their own bundles.

Eurus lets site visitors switch between dark and light modes, which can benefit those who like a dark, minimally-lit look.

Merchants may also change the site’s color scheme for each mode, ensuring a consistent, on-brand look regardless of whether visitors use dark or light mode.

Eurus’ customization may be advanced for newer users. Luckily, Eurus has five distinct theme style templates to choose from, each with its own look and feel, further positioning it among top converting Shopify themes.

Concept

Concept Theme - Demo Store - Scroll Through

Concept shares shelf space with Eurus as one of the highest converting Shopify themes, priced at $250 and also containing nearly 40 sections.
Right out of the box, Concept offers modern and engaging animations that enhance the website experience, making it a standout choice among the highest converting Shopify themes.

In addition to the typical header, template, and footer group, Concept has an overlay group where merchants may add and edit overlaid sections, such as pop-ups and pop-up banners.

Concept’s default configuration already includes a newsletter pop-up, a cookie banner, and a mobile dock for mobile devices. These additions make a site look and feel more premium and professional, aligning it with top converting Shopify themes.

Some of its converting sections include an email sign-up popup, various image and text sections with different layouts, customizable scrolling text, and a countdown banner, among other features.

The Concept Shopify theme is also excellent for conveying brand identity and values with its various media and text layouts. Just be sure you have decent photos to boot.

Best Free Converting Shopify Theme

There’s also a free alternative if you do not want to pay for a theme just yet. If you're looking for the best free converting Shopify theme, you'll find several excellent options available.

Best free converting Shopify themes are an excellent choice for beginners, introducing them to Shopify theme customization and launching their skillset into more premium themes.

Since these themes are free, they are some of the most popular Shopify themes in the theme store.
Best free converting Shopify theme options, such as Dawn, provide enough customizability to make every store look unique, despite being widely used.

Dawn

Dawn Theme Demo Store Scroll Through

Dawn is the starting theme all Shopify users have access to once they sign up for the platform.

Despite practically every Shopify user having access to Dawn, this theme still has enough customizability that every Dawn-wielding store can look different and decipherable from each other.

Just note, though, that how your Dawn store will look depends largely on the quality of your brand’s media assets. So, make sure to take excellent product and lifestyle photos.

When it comes to conversions, Dawn is as basic as it gets.

You have your email signup form and some standard cross-sells on your product pages.

But there are some Shopify apps you can use to make your Dawn-powered store more engaging and converting.

Use Shopify Apps

If you're using a free theme, you likely won't have the same level of functionality and customization options that paid themes have.

These free apps should help free theme users bring out the converting power of their Shopify store.

Judge Testimonials App

Judge Product Reviews - Shopify App Store Listing

The Judge testimonials app is one of the most popular conversion apps on the Shopify theme store.

It has a free plan that provides plenty of social proof functionality for merchants.

Judge lets merchants display customer testimonials on their site, potentially improving conversions and brand trust.

Dawn doesn’t have a testimonials section, so if you’re dedicated to spending $0 for your Shopify theme, consider leveraging Judge’s free plan as well.

PageFly drag-and-drop Page Builder

Pagefly Page Builder Demonstration

Drag-and-drop builders give Dawn-wielding merchants premium-level customization for their stores.

These drag-and-drop builders are easy to use and allow merchants to level up their customization beyond what their theme, in this case, Dawn, allows for.

PageFly is one such drag-and-drop builder.

It’s the most popular drag-and-drop page builder on the Shopify theme store and offers a free plan for all Shopify users.

This free plan is perfect for merchants who want to spend as little as possible building a converting store.

Cross-selling Apps

Selleasy Shopify App Store Listing

Dawn doesn’t have a cart progress bar. Plus, its cross-sell function is limited to just the product page.

Cross-selling and upselling apps, such as ReConvert and Selleasy, can help increase each customer’s value to your store.

Having these cross-selling apps in place will help with product discovery and conversions, as well as add to your store’s online experience.

The popular cross-selling apps, such as ReConvert and Selleasy, are compatible with Dawn. They also have free plans to help you get started.

FAQs

What are the top converting Shopify themes?

The top converting Shopify themes include options like Blum and Electro, which are specifically designed to maximize conversions. Blum offers a modern design with customizable features, while Electro is known for its fast loading speeds, making it ideal for high-traffic stores that need to keep visitors engaged.

How can I create a highly converting Shopify store?

To create a highly converting Shopify store, start by choosing a theme like Electro, which is optimized for fast loading speeds—a crucial factor in retaining visitors and reducing bounce rates. Focus on adding conversion-focused features like pop-ups, product bundles, and social proof elements. Additionally, ensure your site is easy to navigate with clear calls to action and high-quality product images.

Which are the highest converting Shopify themes for maximizing sales?

The highest converting Shopify theme for maximizing sales is Electro. Known for its exceptional loading speeds and performance, Electro is ideal for high-traffic stores that need to retain visitors and drive conversions efficiently. Its speed and optimized design elements make it a top choice for merchants focused on maximizing their sales.

Can you earn money by selling Shopify themes?

Yes, you can earn money by selling Shopify themes like Blum or Shine. These themes are designed to address specific merchant needs, offering unique features that help improve conversions. Successful theme developers often find a profitable market in the Shopify Theme Store or through direct sales.

Is it realistic to make money with a Shopify store?

Yes, it is realistic to make money with a Shopify store. Many successful merchants have built profitable businesses by focusing on niche markets, using effective marketing strategies, and leveraging high-converting themes to enhance their store's appeal and functionality. However, success requires ongoing effort, dedication, and continuous optimization.

Conclusion

Shopify stores should consider high-converting Shopify themes as potential assets to their ecommerce website. Not only can the right Shopify themes make an ecommerce store look great, but they can also drive conversions from both customers and new site visitors.

Free themes, such as Dawn, may not have the same customization options and advanced features as a premium theme. However, leveraging free apps can help improve the store design and increase engagement and conversions from the target audience.

By improving your store's conversion rates, you can meet your digital marketing goals much quicker and fatten your bottom line. Give the best-converting Shopify themes a whirl and skyrocket your ecommerce store now.

Explore further: How to Create Unique Websites with Custom Shopify Themes

SalesHunterThemes

Experienced Shopify theme developer specializing in high-performance, mobile-first themes for key commerce niches.

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