Top Shopify Plus Partners For Website Audit & Optimization

Ellie Ho
Jun 7, 2024
3 min read

Shopify Plus is fast becoming the go-to platform for high-volume enterprise eCommerce stores. It is jam-packed with features that can ease the complexities of selling at a large-scale level, provide stellar shopping experiences, and allow businesses to scale effortlessly.

However, navigating through these comprehensive features and implementing them effectively can be challenging. Not only that, but owners of such complex operations may simply just not have the time to suss it out. This is where Shopify Plus Partners come in.

In this article, we’ll dive into the ways Shopify Plus Partners can help e-merchants optimize their store, and give you our picks of some of the best ones out there.

What Are Shopify Plus Partners?

Shopify Plus Partners are a group of experts whose sole purpose is to help businesses excel. These partners are hand-picked by Shopify as they are extremely knowledgeable of the platform and eCommerce in general. What truly makes them special is that they have access to exclusive resources related to the platform. Hence, Shopify Plus Partners can wield the power to help e-merchants grow and provide excellent experiences to their customers.

There are two types of Shopify Plus Partners; service partners and certified app partners.

shopify plus partners for website audit and optimization

Service partners help Shopify Plus merchants migrate the platform, integrate, build stores, and grow businesses. App partners provide the technology needed to customize and extend a Shopify Plus store’s capabilities. As it stands, Shopify has a directory of 65 app partners and 127 service partners.

Top Read: Top 22 Shopify Apps to Boost BFCM Sales.

How Can Shopify Plus Partners Help with Website Audit and Optimization?

When you reach out to a Shopify Plus service partner for website auditing and optimization, they undertake a rigorous process to analyze your store and provide bespoke solutions to improve it. Precisely how they do this will of course vary, but there will be some common tasks generally involved.

During a website audit, the agencies combine their expert knowledge with powerful tools to give insight into the performance and speed of your store. The aim is to uncover any flaws in the website content, design, usability, and SEO. It’s the first step before giving your store an overhaul to make it function better.

With these insights at hand, they can now begin optimizing your store. This can encompass a broad range of tasks such as store setup, website design, speed optimization, and conversion rate optimization. Not only will these optimizations align with your business’ specific needs, but they will also make use of prime Shopify Plus features in the best way possible. However, it doesn’t stop there. Once your store is in top shape, you’ll still have these agencies by your side to give you ongoing technical support and training.

Top Shopify Plus Partners For Website Audit & Optimization

Let’s take a look at the agencies we feel have got website auditing and optimization down to a tee.

We Make Websites

We Make Websites (WMW) is a highly established agency that is great for international stores as it operates in 16 languages. They’ve spent 10 years putting their expertise into practice and have helped over 500 brands succeed on Shopify. The agency is so proficient that they have an impressive 95% retention rate among their clients.

We Make Websites has a comprehensive roster of optimization services for Shopify Plus merchants. Let’s check them out:

  • Design & UX - The agency places a strong focus on the end-user and building a seamless experience. They also work closely with merchants so that the store meets their specific requirements, and to ensure it’s easy to manage.
  • Performance Enhancement - Using their custom development framework, WMWbuilds bespoke themes for their clients with speed in mind. This can also be an ongoing process. As a store scales, they will fine-tune it so the speed is never compromised.
  • Conversion rate optimization - this solution is great for Shopify Plus store owners with established sites who want to push their store further. This auditing service includes analysis against UX best practices to see how your store stacks up. Once areas of improvement have been identified, the agency will conduct A/B tests to provide the best solutions for you.
  • Payments & checkout - WMW can assist store owners with choosing and integrating different payment options for their store, and optimize the checkout process. Additional payment options like subscriptions, pre-orders, and crowdfunding can also be created.

Case study: Pangaia

pangaia | we make website | shopify website audit and optimization

A notable example of how We Make Websites helps Shopify Plus merchants supercharge their store is Pangaia. This re-designed store was so well executed that the agency was awarded Best Store Rebuild at the Shopify Commerce Awards.

The revamped store placed a lot of focus on the story behind the brand’s unique products and approach to sustainable fashion. This was achieved by creative use of imagery, content, and customized product pages. The user experience and interface were also bolstered thanks to its clean design, fast loading time, and improved search and filter function.

pangaia product filter | shopify filter

Pangaia provides an array of bespoke filter options and enhanced search. (Source: Pangaia)

Velstar

Founded in 2016, Velstar helps brands on Shopify expand and improve their stores by creating outstanding shopping experiences. Going beyond designing beautiful stores, the agency also focuses on the entire user journey. Helping stores increase everything from awareness right through to advocacy.

So far, they’ve helped over 350 Shopify Plus merchants from all walks achieve high-performing stores.

There are a number of services Velstar offers related to website optimization.

  • Design & UX - The agency can build a bespoke website optimized to give your customers the best possible experience. Their designs are also easy to scale and help optimize AOV, CR and LTV.
  • Conversion rate optimization - This data-driven service makes use of analytics, A/B testing, segmentation, and user testing to find hindrances in the user journey. With this to hand, the team will develop and launch optimizations to skyrocket conversions. Velstar will also monitor your store and assess it using live data to recommend further improvements.
  • SEO - Velstar will optimize the existing content in your store and also create new content. They will also audit and analyze your site to optimize its technical SEO.
  • Optimization of subscription stores - To turn your subscription Shopify store into a high-converting one, the team will optimize it so that it’s flexible and convenient for shoppers.
  • Internationalization - For stores that want to sell globally, Velstar will help store owners navigate Shopify Markets features.

| Read more: Best SEO Practices for Shopify Collection Pages

Case study: French Connection

French connection | velstar shopify plus partner

(Source: French Connection)

French Connection reached out to Velstar as the brand wanted to migrate to Shopify Plus. The fashion house leaned on their expertise in design & UX, SEO, conversion rate optimization, and third-party app integration.

Velstar built a customized Shopify store set up across four different regions. The design of the store is clean and minimalist, putting the brand’s premium products in the spotlight. They also developed customizable content blocks that are responsive. This gives the French Connection’s in-house team the power to manage page content easily for different marketing campaigns. Velstar also provides ongoing support to French Connection, helping the brand continuously optimize its customer experience.

Thanks to Velstar, French Connection achieved a 40% increase in traffic, a 30% increase in revenue, and their bounce rate dropped by 74%.

BSS Commerce

BSS Commerce is a full-service agency that offers a comprehensive solution. They provide a combination of design, customization, and development services on the Shopify Plus platform. As a Shopify Partner since 2019, BSS Commerce has been trusted by over 11,000 B2B and B2C eCommerce brands using their powerful apps and Shopify Plus development services.

bss commerce

BSS Commerce is distinct from its market competitors because of its broad perspective and commitment to innovation. To create tailored digital eCommerce solutions, the team is continually striving to fine-tune brand identity and stimulate business.

Specifically, BSS Commerce provides a blend of in-depth eCommerce audits, beautifully designed, conversion-focused apps and result-driven customer services. These Shopify Plus successful case studies have demonstrated their abilities and effort to aid businesses in reaching the top of the success ladder.

Eastside co

Established in 2012, Eastside co is a full-service digital agency that has helped over 500 Shopify stores excel on the platform. They provide comprehensive auditing services, and build Shopify stores using a custom theme with bespoke functionality.

The auditing process covers three key areas:

  • Technology - they give your tech stack a full review and make recommendations based on your goals and business processes.
  • Marketing - they take a look at all of your digital marketing activities to find areas for improvement. This is through on-site data analysis, reviews of all paid media, a full SEO audit, and analysis of your email marketing. The suggestions are both immediate and long-term.
  • Experience - using data collected from your marketing audit, the team reviews your site page by page to analyze your UX. Recommendations are based on best practices and data-led ideas.

Apart from auditing and building stores, Eastside Co also offers support packages so you can get the help you need post-launch.

Case study: Lust Home

Lust home | eastside co shopify plus partner

(Source: Lust Home)

Lust Home came to Eastside Co as they wanted a bespoke Shopify store that showcases their premium wallpapers. The result was an award-winning eCommerce store that placed fun and functionality at the forefront.

Aside from creating a visually stunning store, the agency built unique capabilities that budding interior designers would relish. One of them being the usage calculator. This allows shoppers to easily figure out how many rolls of wallpaper they would need for their wall size.

lush home usage calculator designed by velstar

Lust Home usage calculator (Source: Lust Home)

Art savvy shoppers also need particular features to help them land on the precise products they are after. With Boost Product Filter and Search, these consumers can drill down their product selection based on styles like art deco, psychedelic, and monochromatic.

Covert Digital

Covert Digital is an eCommerce web design and development agency based in Australia. The agency specializes in creating functional, integrated, high-converting websites that are easily scalable.

For Shopify Plus merchants that want to audit and optimize their store, Covert Digital provides a thorough process. As part of their web and UX design service, the agency will conduct a UX audit. During this session, they will review a website and measure it against industry best practices and benchmarks to make recommendations. To inform the strategy for your newly designed store, the team utilizes journey maps, user personas, and rigorous feature testing. This ensures that your store is completely aligned with your customers.

Case study: B.Box

bbox | convert digital shopify plus partner

(Source: B.Box)

B.Box wanted to launch a new site that was speedier, had an improved user experience, and more engaging content. Covert Digital gave the brand’s existing Shopify store an audit to identify ways to improve the UX through design. The functionality of the store was also given a polish through a review of its tech stack.

bbox navigation menu optimized by velstar

(Source: B.Box)

The revamped store now makes use of promotional banners, pop-ups, countdown timers, and informative content embedded in the navigation menu. This not only helps to bolster the store’s marketing activities but also presents parents with all the information they need to feel confident to purchase.

Jumpstart

Jumpstart focuses on helping APAC Shopify Plus merchants. They’ve worked with over 800 store owners across their offices in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The agency designs unique, mobile-first websites with SEO in mind. To that end, they help with UI design, navigation setup, organizing categories, and building product pages.

Jumpstart also offers technical support. They can take care of the maintenance of your website, ensure data is protected and secure, and support hosting post-launch. Training can be provided to ensure your team is well adept at looking after your Shopify store.

Case study: The Cellar

the cellar | jumstart shopify plus partner

(Source: The Cellar)

As The Cellar was going online for the first time, it turned to Jumpstart to help them build an eCommerce store optimized for the brand and its customers. Equipped with vast knowledge of The Cellar’s customer base, the agency was able to build an innovative and appealing store.

The store has a very clean and pristine feel that mirrors the high quality of The Cellar’s products. There’s also a vast array of options to help customers find their preferred wine in both the navigation menu and filters.

Final Thoughts

The work of Shopify Plus Partners has helped numerous stores reach their full selling potential. Their expertise, tools, and grasp of eCommerce for enterprise-level businesses and Shopify as a platform make them a vital asset for growth. Ready to raise the bar of your Shopify Plus store’s performance? Any one of these top-tier partners will take you along the road to success, so give one of them a try.

Ellie Ho
Content Marketing Specialist
June 25, 2024
5 min read