“We take the stink out of adolescence naturally.”
Straight from the founder's mouth, no quote sums up 808 Dude better.
Teenage years are full of change. As hormones start to shift and spike, so does the condition of the hair and skin. And to make matters worse, chemical-laden products add fuel to the flame (and inflamed skin).
But one mother decided that she wasn't going to tolerate her teenage son using products with ingredients she could barely pronounce.
She saw a gap in the market for natural, safe and effective products for teens. This is how 808 Dude was born.
Identifying and solving a problem in the marketplace is a great way to approach starting a business. In doing so you can bring real value to the lives of others and build a sustainable brand.
I’ll be reviewing 808 Dude’s Shopify store to see what factors for their success we can learn from and what mistakes to avoid.
And of course, for anyone less than bothered to read words and letters, feel free to check out the video review instead:
808 Dude Shopify Store Review by Team PageFly
The homepage - a decent place to land
I’m a firm believer that every page on your store should be optimized to engage and convert. In a sense, any page can be a landing page as long as your visitor “lands” there. But they’re most often used to sell an ultra-specific product or service.
808 Dude breaks the norm by filling their homepage with some decent, relevant content. It’s long-form, tells a story and lays out the brand values neatly. In other words, this homepage is a fantastic place to “land” as a consumer looking for natural alternatives to skincare products.
Above the fold
The story starts with a hero image and CTA (Call To Action) button which leads you to all their products. Menu navigation is concise, with black font against white background.
My only issue is that they haven’t used the area above the fold to promote a specific product or sale.
In addition, as a copywriter, repeating the word “skin” twice in one sentence puts me in high gear. The caption is fine, but in terms of being readable and memorable, it could be better.
But overall, I like the product design and the graffiti-esque packaging. Skincare for teens should appeal to teens.
Addressing concerns
Directly below are three icons with matching statements about their values as a brand. Animal testing, natural ingredients and country of origin are the top 3 concerns for skincare shoppers.
If you can address these concerns straight away on your own store, you can create more trust around your brand and boost your conversion rate.
A wreckless recommendation?
When inspecting a restaurant menu, the chef's recommendations always catch your attention. After all, they know best which dishes are popular, and which aren’t. A similar principle applies to the best selling products on your Shopify store.
With that being said, 808 Dude could have made this collection more enticing. Adding review star ratings, add to cart button or even a short testimonial snippet underneath can boost conversions.
Instead, we’re left with quite a bit of white space that serves no purpose. If you plan on making a product recommendation on your homepage, try to back it up with some social proof so your visitor is curious enough to click through to the product page.
The blog
Further down we get some article previews from the 808 Dude blog that addresses skin concerns for teens and their moms.
Every eCommerce brand should have a blog of some sort to drive traffic, influence, build credibility and provide value to the community. But I can’t help but feel by displaying 0 comments under each post, they’re giving an impression of low engagement.
Again, 808 Dude could do more to make this blog preview more appealing, with article snippets, attention-grabbing headlines, and stronger images.
Impress with “In The Press”
Any brand that has been featured in the press should always display so on-site to boost credibility and gain the reader's trust.
As an Australian company, 808 Dude has been mentioned on several of the biggest media platforms in the country. They back it up with a statement displaying their commitment to natural skin care products.
Would you trust a brand that’s been featured in magazines and news channels? They must be doing something right to garner so much positive attention. Do as 808 Dude do and wear your press features with pride on your web pages.
The final elements
The homepage ends with a brief brand story and some Instagram content. Both are great elements that help tell the tale of your brand. There’s definitely a small formatting issue with the text veering to the right, but this is likely due to the use of Jumpstart Shopify theme.
Further Reading:
- Shopify Pages: A Definitive Encyclopedia For New Merchants
- Shopify Store Best Practice: Set Up and Analyze Conversion Tracking
- How To Add Google Analytics To Your Shopify Store: A Visualized Guide
- Top 100+ Shopify Stores For Your Inspiration
- How To Grow Your Shopify Store: A 12-chapter Checklist
Conclusion
808 Dude has managed to experience levels of success with a store that, for the most part, doesn’t seem to be optimized to convert as best it could.
Small details can affect the overall impression the visitor has of your brand. I can’t help but feel 808 Dude has a great product, solid branding, yet fall short on store design and engaging content.
Update: we have the collection of 500+ Best Shopify Store examples, you can check at here
https://pagefly.io/blogs/shopify/500-best-shopify-store-examples
