Is it Time to Rebrand Your Shopify Website?

Rebrand to revitalise

Is your Shopify website crying out for a makeover? Perhaps your website traffic is on a downward trajectory, or your site design is stuck in 2010. If so, it could be time to freshen things up.

But wait, before you get started, there’s a lot you need to know. Rebranding your online store is a big project to take on. It’s a complex process fraught with potential pitfalls and diving in without a clear and well-informed strategy could lead to more harm than good.

So, if you’re looking for ways to boost engagement, win more conversions, and supercharge your website’s performance, a website rebrand might indeed be the way forward, but there’s lots to consider before you embark on this journey.

Our Shopify rebranding guide will help you decide whether now is the right time to rebrand your Shopify store and reveal how to carry out a successful website rebrand.

What is website rebranding?

Rebranding is the process of updating a brand’s identity. Businesses usually rebrand because their current brand identity no longer reflects the direction their business has taken or because it has become ineffective, outdated, or tarnished. Rebrands come in all different shapes and sizes, from subtle logo tweaks to full rebrands, where every element of the brand’s identity is changed. When rebranding, every element of the brand’s identity comes under fire, from its colour palette to its core value and voice when communicating with customers.

Brand and web go hand in hand. The two work together to shape memorable user experiences. Your website is central to your brand experience, so maintaining consistency between branding and web design is crucial.

When we talk about a Shopify website rebrand, we’re referring to the process of updating or completely changing a Shopify store’s visual design, messaging, or strategy to improve its performance and better align it with the brand and its goals and target audience. This process can involve changing the website’s layout, colour scheme, logo, typography, content, user interface, and more. The extent of the project depends on the scale of the changes required and the business’s rebranding objectives.

A website rebrand can be a significant undertaking, but when carried out successfully, it is one of the most popular and effective strategies for improving customer engagement and boosting those all-important conversion rates.

How do I know when it’s the right time to rebrand my Shopify website?

Any rebranding project should be approached with caution and handled with care. Rebranding is a complex process that should not be tackled without a solid strategy, or you risk ending up in a worse position than you started! Unless you know what you’re doing, the process can be time-consuming, disruptive, and expensive. Safe to say rebranding should not be carried out on a whim. So, with those warnings in place, how do you know when rebranding is the right course of action for your Shopify store?

Let’s look at some key signs for Shopify rebranding that could indicate your store needs an identity makeover.

• It looks outdated – If your website is starting to look like a bit of a relic next to your competitors’ sleek new storefronts, that’s a pretty big hint that it’s time you spruced it up.
• It’s not reflective of your brand – Think about how your brand has evolved since your Shopify website was designed. If your brand has moved on since then, it’s time your online presence caught up. Your branding and store design must be cohesive; any disconnect can confuse visitors.
• Bounce rates are high – Now it’s time to get technical and consult your website’s analytics. First, look at your bounce rates. Are they high, or have they increased recently? If so, this could indicate that your store’s design isn’t doing its job anymore. 
• Conversion rates are low – When bounce rates are high, conversion rates are often low. The faster people leave your website, the less chance you have of winning conversions.
• User experience is poor – Finally, it’s time to analyse what type of user experience your website offers visitors. High bounce rates and low conversion rates could indicate that your site offers a poor user experience. If your website is confusing to navigate, takes ages to load, or doesn’t look right on mobile devices, it could be the clunky user experience that’s turning your visitors off.

So, is it time to rebrand? If you recognise any of these signs, rebranding could be the key to boosting your Shopify’s performance and growing your business.

Why should I consider rebranding my Shopify website?

Before deciding to refresh their website, many businesses experience a slump in sales and engagement. Signs like dwindling traffic, a drop in conversion rates, and diminished engagement could signal the need for a rebrand. 

If your Shopify store is stuck in a rut, rebranding could give it the new lease of life it needs to boost its performance. If you’re interested in rebranding for customer engagement, making informed changes to your website can help revitalise engagement and loyalty, build brand awareness, and create a buzz, which will help boost your store’s visibility online.

Ultimately, embarking on a Shopify website rebrand with a solid strategy behind you can transform your business. So, what is the impact of rebranding on sales? Rebranding allows you to refine what your brand stands for, enhance your store’s appeal, and secure a competitive edge. A successful rebrand could help your business win more conversions, boost revenue, and, ultimately, pave the way for business growth and success.

What steps should I take to rebrand my Shopify website successfully?

Rebranding your Shopify website requires a huge amount of research, analysis, and planning, and that’s just to devise your rebranding strategy! The breadth and complexity of the task means you may also need support from a team of experts specialising in branding, Shopify web design, graphic design, content creation, and more. Let’s discover the key steps for Shopify rebranding.

Clarify your rebranding goals 

Every rebranding project needs clear direction. When deciding to rebrand your website, it’s important to identify the reasons behind your rebrand and what you hope to achieve. Clearly defining your objectives will help to guide your branding strategy.

Partner with a branding agency like Create8 

At Create8, we understand the symbiotic relationship between brand identity and web design. While we’re a branding agency at heart, we also specialise in web design. This unique combination perfectly positions us to deliver impactful website rebranding services tailored to achieve significant results. As a proud Shopify partner, we have a team of specialist Shopify website designers who understand the platform inside out. With every website rebranding project we undertake, we always carry out a branding workshop to gain a deep understanding of the brands we work with and align the perspectives and ideas of everyone involved in the project.

Conduct competitor research 

A good Shopify rebrand differentiates your brand from its competitors, helping you stand out in your marketplace. To achieve this, you’ll need to research what your competitors are doing and identify your unique value proposition – what do you offer that is different to your competitors? Once you have identified what sets your brand apart, you can work your unique value proposition into your new identity and web design.

Know your audience

For your website rebranding to succeed, it must resonate with your target demographic. Do you know who your audience is and what makes them tick? It’s important to tailor your website redesign to your audience’s needs and preferences.

Perform a website audit

This step is crucial to the success of your rebranding project. There’s no point in randomly chucking out parts of your branding and website design if they work just fine. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; otherwise, you could end up in a much worse position than you started. Deep dive into your Shopify store’s analytics to discover which parts of your website are performing well and which are holding it back. Identify your website’s strengths and weaknesses and use this insight to make informed decisions about what to keep, modify, or remove.

Decide what needs changing

Based on the insight gathered during the website audit, make informed decisions about which aspects of your brand and website need an update. This could range from minor tweaks to a comprehensive overhaul.

Revisit the basics

Before you begin rebranding your website, it’s important to revisit the core elements of your brand – its vision, mission, and values. This will help you to ensure that your rebranding efforts are aligned with these core elements to create a consistent brand experience.

Implement the changes

The scope of this step can vary widely. It could encompass changes across any aspect of your branding or web design, including messaging (brand voice, tagline, value proposition, messaging), visuals (logo, colour scheme, typography, imagery) and functionality (user interface, mobile responsiveness, page speed, navigation, security, SEO).

Rollout your rebranded website

Once you’re happy with the changes, it’s time to release your refreshed Shopify store into the real world! Make sure you conduct thorough testing before you hit publish.

Communicate the changes

Don’t forget to let your audience know about the changes through engaging communications. Share the story and reason behind the rebrand to foster a deeper connection with your customers and increase the likelihood of the changes being positively received.

Monitor performance

Launching a rebrand can be a bit of a hold-your-breath moment; you never quite know how your audience will receive it. Don’t forget to ask for customer feedback on Shopify rebrand and pay close attention to your website performance metrics. Be prepared to make further adjustments based on this feedback.

What are the potential risks of rebranding a Shopify website?

While there is much to be gained from rebranding your website, a lot can go wrong if the process is not handled properly. Let’s discover the top three potential risks of Shopify rebranding.

Loss of SEO rankings

One of the biggest risks of making large-scale changes to your Shopify store is that it could negatively impact your website’s position in search engine results pages (SERPs). If a rebrand involves changes to text content, page titles, URLs, images, links, etc., it must be executed very carefully. Any changes must be strategic and informed by SEO best practices to avoid undermining your website’s visibility in SERPs.

Loss of brand recognition

Minor tweaks to your store’s messaging or functionality are unlikely to unsettle your customer base. However, if you’re completely changing how your website looks, you risk confusing or alienating existing customers. Customers familiar with your website’s old design and branding may not immediately recognise or trust its new look.

Negative reception

There is always a risk that the changes you make, no matter how well-informed, are met with resistance or indifference from your audience. Despite thorough planning and creative effort, there’s always the chance that a rebrand will crash and burn.

Whilst it may be impossible to completely mitigate these risks, preparing for and addressing rebranding risks can give your rebrand the best chance of success.

How can I maintain SEO rankings when rebranding my Shopify website?

We cannot stress how important it is to consult an SEO specialist when rebranding a Shopify website.

Here at Create8, SEO specialists play a key role in all Shopify website rebrands, helping us ensure SEO rankings are always maintained or improved.

Some strategies that can be implemented into your Shopify website rebrand to help protect your rankings, traffic, and domain authority include:

• Setting up 301 redirects
• Updating listings on local directories
• Updating on-page links
• Updating content
• Updating Google Search Console

If your website rebrand does not involve changing your brand name, domain, or URLs, then there is less of a risk to your website’s SEO. 

However, suddenly disappearing from the SERPs overnight is every Shopify store owner’s worst nightmare. So, to be safe, it’s always best to consult an SEO specialist before carrying out a rebrand to protect your website’s rankings. 

How do I communicate my Shopify website’s rebrand to existing customers?

How you announce your rebrand will be crucial in shaping how people perceive your new website.

If you drop your website’s new look without explanation, your audience is left guessing why you’ve made the changes and what they mean. However, if you craft a clear, consistent, transparent, and compelling story behind the rebrand that explains the rationale behind the changes and how they align with your brand’s core values, mission, and vision, it can help improve the chances of the rebrand being received well.

To ensure your message reaches as many people as possible, you should announce the rebrand across multiple channels, including your blog, social media profiles, and an e-shot. By encouraging your audience to provide feedback, you can make them feel like part of the journey and potentially increase their loyalty to your brand as it enters a new chapter.

Partner with Create8 to rebrand your Shopify store

Are you ready to breathe fresh air into your Shopify store?

If you’re ready to embark on your own website rebranding journey, our team here at Create8 has the expertise to unlock your Shopify store’s full potential. From Shopify website design to branding, SEO, and developing a Shopify rebranding timeline, our team of specialists take a holistic approach to rebranding, always maintaining consistency between your brand and website design.

Let’s discuss how we can elevate your brand together. Contact our team to learn more about our services or discuss your project and requirements in more detail.