Why Most Shopify Sites Don’t Convert

Posted on April 28, 2025April 28, 2026 by Splash Creative

There’s a gap between a Shopify site that looks good and one that actually sells. Most brands we encounter have invested real money in design and photography, and their site is genuinely attractive. But their conversion rate is sitting at 1.2% when it should be 3% or higher.

The problem is almost never the visual design. It’s the experience design underneath it.

Product pages are doing too much and not enough at the same time. Long pages packed with features, lifestyle images, and tab after tab of information — but no clear, singular call to action that pulls a shopper toward the add-to-cart button. The page tries to serve every possible objection without building momentum toward a decision. Meanwhile, the one thing that would actually move a shopper — social proof in context, right next to the price — is buried at the bottom.

The cart experience creates friction instead of removing it. A drawer cart that closes on its own, a checkout button that’s hard to find, upsell widgets that interrupt the flow rather than enhance it. Every point of friction between “add to cart” and “place order” is an opportunity for abandonment. The Shopify checkout is excellent once you reach it. The problem is the path to get there.

Mobile is an afterthought. Well over 60% of Shopify traffic is mobile for most brands, and yet product pages are frequently designed desktop-first and compressed down. Variant selectors that are too small to tap, images that don’t swipe intuitively, sticky add-to-cart bars that overlap content. A site can look great on a desktop preview and be a genuine obstacle on an iPhone.

Speed is underestimated. Page load time is not a technical detail — it’s a conversion variable. Every additional second of load time on mobile corresponds to a measurable drop in conversion rate. Unoptimized images, third-party app bloat, and poorly loaded custom fonts all contribute. We audit speed before any redesign work, and the fixes alone often move the needle.

Trust signals are absent or misplaced. Guarantees, return policies, security badges, and reviews are not just nice to have — they are objection handlers. Where you place them matters as much as whether they exist. A return policy mentioned only in the footer is not a conversion tool. The same policy in a single line near the price is.

Conversion rate optimization on Shopify is not about making your site look more impressive. It’s about removing the invisible barriers between a shopper who’s interested and a customer who has bought.

What a Klaviyo Audit Actually Reveals

Posted on April 7, 2025April 28, 2026 by Splash Creative

Most e-commerce brands know they should be doing more with email. What they don’t realize is how much they’re already leaving on the table with the setup they have.

When we run a Klaviyo audit for a client, we’re not looking for whether they have a welcome series or an abandoned cart flow. Every brand has those. We’re looking at whether those flows actually work — and more specifically, why they don’t.

The flows are live but unoptimized. A welcome series that was set up two years ago and never touched is a welcome series that no longer reflects your brand, your offer, or your customer. We regularly find flows with broken discount codes, outdated product references, and subject lines that were never A/B tested. The automation is running, but it’s running on fumes.

Segmentation is either missing or wrong. Broad sends to the full list are one of the fastest ways to tank deliverability and churn subscribers. We audit segment definitions closely — how they’re built, whether they exclude unengaged contacts, and whether the logic actually matches the intended audience. Sloppy segments mean your best customers are getting the same email as someone who opened once eight months ago.

Revenue attribution is being double-counted or misread. Klaviyo’s default attribution window is generous. A lot of brands look at their email revenue number and feel good about it without realizing that a significant portion of those “email conversions” would have happened anyway. We look at multi-touch attribution, assisted conversions, and what the data looks like with a tighter window applied.

Key flows are missing entirely. Browse abandonment, post-purchase sequences beyond the first order confirmation, sunset flows for disengaged subscribers, VIP tracks for high-LTV customers. Most brands have maybe three or four flows live when they could have ten or twelve doing real work.

The sending domain isn’t properly authenticated. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup is foundational. Without it, your emails are more likely to land in spam regardless of how good the content is. We check this in every audit and find issues more often than not.

An audit isn’t about pointing out what’s broken. It’s about building a clear picture of what your email program is capable of — and what it would take to get there. For most brands we work with, the incremental revenue available through email optimization is substantial, and the path to capturing it is clearer than they expected.