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<h3 class="p1"><strong>It&rsquo;s official, Noughts &amp; Ones is now Certified B Corp&trade; Shopify agency!</strong></h3>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">With an above average score for our sector, we are mega proud to be at the forefront of driving positive change within the e-commerce industry.</p>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">As a certified B Corp&trade;, we are now part of a global community of companies that use business as a force for good. This means we&rsquo;re balancing purpose and profit, and continuously aiming for higher environmental and social standards.</p>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Although we have been living and breathing the values of B Corp since 2018, our formal certification has been in the works for over a year (the application process is rigorous) as the B Lab team scrutinises every part of a business across five key areas: Governance, Environment, Workers, Community and Customers. In order to certify, a company must achieve a minimum of 80 points in the B Impact Assessment and we are delighted to have achieved a score <strong>103.4</strong>!</p>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Whilst we are taking some time to celebrate our achievement, we are also aware that this is just the start. The B Corp&trade; badge doesn&rsquo;t just mean we meet the highest environmental and social standards, it also commits us to keeping these high standards up for the long haul.</p>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/noughts-ones/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT OUR B CORP PROFILE</a></span></p>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">A huge chunk of points came from our Conscious Development&trade; framework and how we&rsquo;ve been putting these principles into practice with the clients we work with. As a combination of e-commerce best practices and digital sustainability principles, we are working hard with our clients to ensure that the Shopify stores we deliver are:</p>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li class="p1">
<h3>Design&mdash;conscious</h3>
</li>
<li class="p1">
<h3>Code&mdash;conscious</h3>
</li>
<li class="p1">
<h3>People&mdash;conscious</h3>
</li>
<li class="p1">
<h3>Partner&mdash;conscious</h3>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">We have loads of plans in the works for how we can evolve our Conscious Development&trade; framework over the coming months / years by introducing new partners and service offerings.</p>
<p class="p2">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="p1">Thank you all for being a part of this remarkable journey. Together, we will continue to push for positive change, shaping a more sustainable and socially responsible e-commerce industry.</p>

<p>We are a Certified B Corp&trade;!</p>

Explore the latest insights, trends, and stories on sustainable e-commerce and Shopify expertise. Stay informed with Noughts & Ones' blog.

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<p>From new projects to ad-hoc development support, we offer a range of services to help you grow your Shopify store. We'd love to hear from you!&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Shopify Editions Winter 2024: What's new?</p>

<p><strong id="docs-internal-guid-f565c10d-7fff-dc40-f2c7-f6b45c8f8bbf">Shopify Editions Summer 24: an N&amp;O Perspective</strong></p>

<p>Figma Config 2024</p>

Industry Insights

E50d5e2e3df393371fd11b5e05711707bfa7b95b 1332x888

<p>On Wednesday 26th June, Figma&rsquo;s kicked off their annual two-day conference at San Francisco&rsquo;s Moscone Center. Although we couldn't attend in person, we did catch the online stream to get a taste of what Figma will be rolling out to their four-million-strong users love the next few months.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>From the rollout of Figma&rsquo;s brand new interface, the new Figma Slides platform, and the long-awaited implementation of artificial intelligence, we&rsquo;ll be giving our initial reactions to all the features unveiled at this year&rsquo;s event.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="0" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h2 data-block-id="block-1d0656fa-0ad1-4536-af47-b96aa169faf6">Figma UI3</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The first announcement of Figma Config 2024 was the launch of UI3, a more approachable interface that&rsquo;s been reorganised for ergonomics to give designers more room to focus on their work.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.figma.com/blog/behind-our-redesign-ui3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an article</a> released during the event, the Figma team highlighted four key reasons for the user interface changes:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul class="ql-rendered-list-container" data-is-root="true">
<li class="ql-rendered-bullet-list" data-block-id="block-01ffa842-8ad3-45c0-81cb-7afa0e55a9cf">
<p>To allow the designer's work to take centre stage</p>
</li>
<li class="ql-rendered-bullet-list" data-block-id="block-a9df39da-920e-4f05-845a-935b27221c5d">
<p>To balance the needs of new users and professional designers</p>
</li>
<li class="ql-rendered-bullet-list" data-block-id="block-5cc6335d-6bb0-41b1-bf17-4382da2af284">
<p>To adapt to the changing nature of design</p>
</li>
<li class="ql-rendered-bullet-list" data-block-id="block-b31385f0-2605-4f60-aebb-4c877a9b45a5">
<p>To lay the foundation for Figma's future</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In essence, the core philosophy behind the redesigned user experience appears to be ensuring that Figma gives designers access to the right tools at the right time.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By knowing the context in which designers are likely to require specific tools, Figma can remove anything irrelevant and cut down on the time wasted in scrolling down and clicking into submenus to access the tools that their users are looking for.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Sidebars have been given some additional love, with a somewhat 'Miro-esque' aesthetic being applied to both the dual sidebars and product toolbar. Certain tools have been also grouped more intuitively, with width and height properties now positioned next to auto-layout fields for a more streamlined user experience.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>While we can see the practical use of the ability to either completely hide or change the width of the sidebars, for teams like ours that heavily leverage design systems and variables, the growing need for actions located deep in Figma's old sidebar design means that we may need to keep all sidebars open by default should the new contextual design fail to impress.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Some designers who had beta access before Config expressed concerns about certain changes to the Figma user experience. One designer hesitated to go into any specifics but did comment on both the confusing repositioning of some key tools, alongside the removal of other functionality altogether.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Certain functions which previously took a single click now take between two or three clicks to action thanks to additional (and somewhat annoying) modal windows, while other functions seem to be buried inside of other submenus, making the transition to UI3 more jarring than the team at Figma must have intended.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="1" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h2 data-block-id="block-638802c7-e686-45da-8b9c-afc2abc49f5b">Introducing Figma Slides</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Designed to bridge the gap between Figma and dedicated presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Figma are launching their own dedicated presentation tool under the name of Figma Slides.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This new tool offers its users access to basic functionality that has been missing from the core Figma platform. Finally, agencies (like our own) who have been using Figma to create their presentation decks have access to critical tools such as speaker notes without having to rely on handwritten notes or other third-party programs open on a separate screen.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For business owners and project managers, the default Slides UI offers all of the core functionality they will come to expect from other presentation software. For the more design-critical among us, Figma Slides includes a dedicated design mode, akin to Dev Mode on Figma, that gives users access to more complex tools such as auto-layout to enable more control over the design of their presentations.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>A more impressive feature is the ability to pull through specific frames and components directly from Figma that can be viewed and interacted with as if they were working prototypes. Additionally, if changes are made to these components in the background, then they will automatically feed through into Figma Slides without the need to replace or update these components manually.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="2" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h2 data-block-id="block-e674ca17-c145-49a6-a665-6bb3a1f1247b">Figma Jumps on the AI Bandwagon</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a move that absolutely everybody saw coming, one of Figma's core announcements for Config 2024 was the launch of their proprietary artificial intelligence; Figma AI.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Figma AI promises to minimise the wasted time spent during the conceptualisation, editing and deployment phases by providing designers with a handful of time-saving tools to expedite their creative processes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>So what's included with Figma AI and how will those features improve the workflows of digital designers moving forward? Let's take a look at some of the core features included with Figma AI, and how we'll be implementing them into our own workflows:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="3" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h3 data-block-id="block-e33960c2-2320-47bb-8584-0043746bfb5e">Instantly Create Editable Designs</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>One of Figma's primary features for Figma AI at launch is the ability to instantly create editable design templates to help designers beat creative block after staring at a blank canvas in panic. The tool promises to transform an idea into editable designs in just a couple of minutes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Does this mean the end of UI designers as we know it? Looking at some of the AI-generated output, it seems like our jobs are certainly safe for now.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The results generated by the Make Designs feature are noticeably basic and lack any real creativity or originality. By its very nature, the most that AI-generated content will ever be capable of outputting is the average of all of the data that is fed into it. For businesses seeking bespoke solutions to unique problems, human designers will still outperform AI every time.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's a little disappointing to see Figma leaning so heavily into the content generation side of AI with these features, especially when it's clear that tools such as this go directly against the interests of their own customer base. Time will have to tell whether this feature will be adopted or abandoned by the wider design community.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="4" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h3 data-block-id="block-b5c2c80e-5a64-45ba-b2db-a5ea0f73ca74">Auto Rename Layers</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Since the advent of creative software tools such as Photoshop, there has always been a never-ending battle between the forces of good and evil. The Good, who diligently organise and name all of their layers, and The Evil, those who choose to live in a constant state of chaos as they manically navigate their way through endless lists of 'Frame 243' and 'Rectangle 792'.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Thankfully, Figma has announced that they are leveraging AI's power to end this war by introducing the ability to automatically rename all layers in your designs based on content, location and their relationship to other layers in your design.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For those who already name their layers manually, then rest assured that Figma AI won't overwrite any of your bespoke naming conventions, focusing instead on only renaming layers that haven't already been assigned unique names.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Overall, this is a great feature for speeding up file handover between internal teams and should make it infinitely easier for other designers and developers to find what they're looking for inside your design files without getting lost in a sea of frames along the way.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="5" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h3 data-block-id="block-55e6ca77-2871-4463-83b4-351dbc458547">Generate Auto Layout</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In a similar vein to being able to auto-rename layers, Figma AI also gives users the ability to instantly apply auto-layout to a selected frame, applying contextual groupings to any nested frames to turn static designs into responsive experiences.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This has massive potential for us as an agency, particularly when it comes to being brought in to add additional functionality to existing Shopify stores where our existing GAIA design system doesn't need to be implemented from the beginning of the project.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For our design team, this can often mean spending hours working through another designer's Figma files and ensuring that tools such as auto layout are not only implemented, but implemented correctly.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By using Generate Auto-Layout, we should now be able to instantly clean up some of the design files that we're sent, diving straight into the creation of new sections and features without being bogged down by spending hours on file clean-up first.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Dylan Field, Figma Co-founder, did walk through an example of how this works in practice, and while it generated some pretty impressive results for low-to-mid complexity frames, he did advise that for more complex designs further tailoring is likely to be required.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="6" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h3 data-block-id="block-fbcb4077-05ce-43b4-9fa9-da3fac0ba7be">Visual Search</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Another great tool that should help team members find what they're looking for is Figma AI's new Visual Search feature. By either uploading a screenshot, drawing with the pen tool or selecting a specific element on the page, Figma will search across your entire design library and will present a list of similar elements that can be dragged directly into the current page.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>While this sounds like a real time-saver for small to medium-sized design systems, we do have concerns over the reliability of this feature for enterprise-level projects, where similar elements and components may feature a massive array of context-specific variations that aren't going to be easily discernable from one another in such a small preview window.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This has the potential for the wrong components being used in the wrong places, putting a little too much faith in elements <em>looking</em> like they belong as opposed to being manually and reliably sourced from the correct repository.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="7" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h3 data-block-id="block-027f8a56-7122-4c87-a61f-ff444a24d20b">Instant Prototyping</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Prototyping inside of Figma has been in a pretty good place for the past few years, with tools such as 'smart animate' making the transition between states and frames seamless without the need to painstakingly animate each keyframe along the way.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Announced at Config 2024, Figma is leveraging the power of AI to make prototyping even easier thanks to their new Make Prototype tool.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By clicking a single button, Figma's artificial intelligence will start to implement some of the most common prototyping interactions, such as creating simple flows between a selection of top-level frames, adding interactions to back or next buttons and linking to individual frames from a navigation menu.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Prototyping as a whole has also been given a big boost thanks to the addition of a responsive prototype window, giving designers and developers alike the ability to instantly resize the prototype window to test the responsiveness of frames at different resolutions without needing to manually adjust the width of the frames themselves.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Of all of the AI-led features unveiled at Figma Config 2024, this one has the potential to be one of the biggest time-saving features that doesn't pose as much risk of error as tools such as Make Designs and Visual Search may have.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="8" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h3 data-block-id="block-cd660bd9-38b9-4f02-83da-1adcc520a464">Image Generation</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The power of image-generation tools such as Midjourney baked directly into your favourite design software, Figma's new 'Make Image' feature allows designers to generate images from written prompts and select the most accurate result to use in their designs. If any of the results aren't quite up to scratch, then these results can be regenerated by providing Figma AI with a little more context about what isn't quite working.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This is a fantastic addition to Figma and will help us cut down on the many hours wasted searching through stock sites such as Unsplash or iStock for placeholder imagery, allowing us instead to focus on crafting engaging Shopify stores without hitting unnecessary hurdles along the way.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="9" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h3 data-block-id="block-5d37551e-f7b5-498d-bcce-358672cd217e">Replace Content and Content Generation</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now this is where things get exciting. Figma AI's new Replace Content feature not only allows users to generate written content in place of 'lorem ipsum' content, but also gives them the power to generate similar content across duplicated elements throughout their designs.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>What does this mean, and how is this going to be useful? Figma gives us the following as an example:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote data-block-id="block-06325422-640c-40f6-a8e5-1fa2a2764cf3">Let&rsquo;s say you&rsquo;re designing a professional networking app and have a card with text layers for a person&rsquo;s name, title, and bio. Use <strong>Rewrite this</strong> to generate your first example of a card to fill in the details. Add auto layout to the card&rsquo;s top level frame and duplicate it, then use <strong>Replace content</strong> to generate new content for the duplicated cards that matches the style of the original.</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For commonly appearing sections in Shopify stores such as written testimonials, blog cards or product FAQs, we will now be able to instantly populate our designs with more accurate content. This allows our clients to focus more on the form and functionality of the bespoke sections we create instead of getting caught up on placeholder content that doesn't quite hit the mark.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="10" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h3 data-block-id="block-10a28bef-6b65-4a20-8b47-bc583efaa321">How much will Figma AI cost?</h3>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For now, the future cost of utilising Figma AI appears to be vague, and nothing more specific than "at least some amount of money".</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Figma AI will be at least free to use at launch, and will take a data-led approach in understanding how Figma AI is being used by their customers to price the additional functionality accordingly in the future.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>While it's always great to be given access to new features to experiment with, the change of dev mode from being included with all Figma plans to becoming a paid extra still leaves a bit of a better taste in our mouths, and it feels like we're walking down a familiar path with Figma AI here.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="11" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h2 data-block-id="block-45b9600c-40ae-42bf-a24d-6a3cec7e2a22">What We Felt Was Missing from Config 2024</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We would have loved to have seen a little more development with the Figma Variables, a feature that has enabled us to finally go all-in on design tokens since its implementation in Config 2023, particularly regarding typography and typographic variables.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Currently, typographic variables such as line height still don't support responsive values such as <code>%</code> or <code>em</code>, and are limited to pixel values only, which doesn't seem to make sense given Figma's approach to providing a solid framework for responsive and scalable design systems.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additionally, it would have been great to finally call the actual written values of colour variables through instead of relying on third-party plugins to automatically populate the colour sections of digital brand guidelines and UI kits.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Speaking to other UI and UX designers, there also seems to be an increasing demand for usable input fields for prototyping</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a id="12" class="cu-table-content__anchor"></a></p>
<h2 data-block-id="block-96bc64e3-26d0-48e2-bdf5-907f98c778fc">Final Thoughts</h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Overall, Figma Config 2024 certainly felt like a significant milestone for Figma, but many of the features announced still feel a little too early in their infancy to be excited about just yet.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Instead, we feel like this year's conference provided more of a launchpad for more exciting updates and developments to come in the future.</p>

Share Image

<p>Shopify never fails to show how it looks to continuously stay ahead of the curve when it comes to their latest innovations. As always, their latest &lsquo;Editions&rsquo; have brought over 150 powerful new tools and updates, all designed to enhance every aspect of your online business. From cross-border selling enhancements to (shock) AI-powered functionalities, let me take you through my own highlights of this latest event and how it can radically revolutionise your Shopify store and overall experience for your customers.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Shopify Markets: Centralising Your Global Expansion</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Shopify Markets is a game-changer for businesses looking to expand internationally. It consolidates all your cross-border, B2B, and in-person selling efforts into a single, streamlined hub (something which in the past was a bit of a disjointed experience, one in which you really had to know your way around Shopify&rsquo;s settings). This comprehensive platform allows you to manage and customise the buying experience for each market with ease.</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Bird&rsquo;s Eye View: Gain a holistic perspective of your international operations in one place, allowing merchants to truly see their own setups and make informed decisions.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Customised Marketplaces: Create specific markets, select products via catalogues, and tailor pricing and store themes to resonate with local audiences.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">POS Integration: Set specific catalogues for Shopify POS, manage prices, and stock bestsellers efficiently.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Market Previews: Preview exact product listings and prices for specific markets, ensuring accuracy and relevance.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">Split Shipping: Enhancing the Checkout Experience</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Split Shipping introduces a new level of transparency and convenience for your customers. Previously, customers saw a single shipping rate and delivery date, which in many cases would mean customers dropping off if it would not meet their requirements. Now, they can see if their orders will arrive in multiple shipments and choose from 'lowest price', 'fastest', or 'custom' shipping options. This feature also extends to subscription services, providing more flexibility and clarity.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This feature is not available at the time of writing this, but you can be sure we&rsquo;ll be checking this out when it is!</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">All New Analytics: Real-Time Insights</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Understanding your store&rsquo;s performance is crucial. The revamped analytics tool in Shopify Editions | Summer '24 offers real-time data streaming, eliminating the 24-hour wait for updates as well as updating the overall experience to make it far more useful than before.</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">User-Friendly Interface: An updated UI allows you to access key metrics on a customizable dashboard.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Custom Reports: Edit pre-built Shopify reports for deeper insights and add new metrics. View conversion rates and sessions together for a comprehensive analysis.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Data Explorations: Create new reports, save custom views, and control how your data is presented.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">Tracking Web Performance Over Time</h2>
<p dir="ltr">With the new web performance tracking tools, you can monitor how changes to your store impact core web vital scores. Adjust time ranges, dates, and device types to drill down into specific performance metrics, ensuring your site remains fast and efficient.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">Latest AI Updates: Smarter Store Management</h2>
<p dir="ltr">As expected, Artificial Intelligence is at the heart of many new features in Shopify Editions | Summer '24, designed to simplify and enhance your store management.</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">AI Image Editing and Generation: Available in the mobile app and store editor, making image management seamless.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Shopify Magic: Provides real-time customer service responses, suggesting customer responses based on your store&rsquo;s data and allowing you to edit these responses before they get sent to the customer.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">AI-Powered Categories &amp; Attributes: Recommends product categories and attributes, improving searchability and organisation.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Sidekick: Shopify&rsquo;s chatbot understands your store&rsquo;s data, helping with best practices, how-to guides, and tailored responses. For example, it can launch targeted marketing campaigns from a segment of customers and send them a personalised email with a specific discount offer.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">New Style Settings: Advanced Customisation</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Style settings introduce unparalleled control over your store&rsquo;s design. This is one we&rsquo;re particularly excited about here at Noughts &amp; Ones, as we&rsquo;re hoping that it&rsquo;ll provide us with even more options to provide an optimal experience for the custom themes we create for merchants.</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Customisable Layouts: Adjust direction, alignment, spacing, and layout settings without separate configurations for different devices.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Static Blocks and Conditional Logic: Create complex layouts with static blocks and apply conditional logic to elements like for example &lsquo;View all&rsquo; buttons that only show when there are more products in the collection than displayed on the page, enhancing the overall user experience.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Allow blocks to pass resources (like products, collections, metaobjects) to their children, making it simple to hook up data with custom layouts with lots of nesting</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Shopify Combined Listings App (Plus Only)</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Exclusive to Shopify Plus, this app allows you to create combined listings with unique titles, descriptions, and media for each variation. Optimise your SEO with unique URLs and manage everything from a single product detail page (PDP).</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">Store Credit: A Versatile Customer Incentive</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Currently in early access, store credit can be displayed as a payment method at checkout. This feature is perfect for goodwill gestures, retention strategies, or marketing campaigns, providing customers with a compelling reason to return.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">Flow Template Apps</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The new template app extension streamlines your workflow, making it easier to manage and automate various aspects of your store.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">Hydrogen Visual Editor: Collaborative Development</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Hydrogen Visual Editor empowers your team to build and ship pages collaboratively in a visual environment. It integrates with GitHub, ensuring the code remains the source of truth while allowing non-technical team members to contribute effectively.</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Real-Time Updates: Devs can see changes in real-time and manage content updates within the editor.</p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">
<p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Collaboration Tools: Add comments, tag collaborators, and manage branches and releases, facilitating smooth teamwork.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h2>
<h2 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Phew - there&rsquo;s a lot there to digest, and this isn&rsquo;t even all of it! The Shopify Editions | Summer '24 release is packed with features designed to elevate your e-commerce business. From enhanced analytics and AI capabilities to advanced customisation and global market management, these updates ensure that your Shopify store remains competitive and user-friendly. Here at N&amp;O we always look to embrace these innovations to deliver exceptional shopping experiences and drive your business forward. We can&rsquo;t wait to dive deeper into these new updates!</p>

Screenshot 2024 01 31 at 16.32.43

<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Today saw the next instalment of Shopify&rsquo;s biannual editions updates: Winter Editions 2024.</strong></h2>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.shopify.com/editions/all" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Shopify Editions</span></a> represents the features developments that Shopify is introducing in order to support the entire e-commerce ecosystem: from merchants and partners to designers and developers alike.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p dir="ltr">The previous <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.shopify.com/editions/summer2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Summer Editions 2023 - Imagine: My Business, My Store, My Future</a></span> introduced 100+ game changing product updates and Winter Editions 2024 - Foundations has been no different.&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>So what are the highlights from this Winter Editions 2024?</strong>&nbsp;</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Let&rsquo;s get into some of the most significant updates on both Shopify and Shopify Plus.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Combined Listings</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Displaying variants with dynamic content is a common request that we come across, and something that we've implemented on numerous stores. With Shopify's new native app products with variant options can now all be displayed on a single parent listing and product page! Each variant has its own description, media gallery, and URL. <em>Exclusive to Shopify Plus.</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/combined-listings?utm_campaign=winter24edition&amp;utm_source=editions&amp;utm_medium=W24E-page&amp;utm_content=W24E&amp;utm_channel=W24-editions-website" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Increased Product Variants</h3>
<p dir="ltr">A common frustration for merchants with medium to large product catalogues has been the 100 variant limit which they often hit pretty quickly. Not any more! The new Product API, now available in Developer Preview, enables the use of the GraphQL Admin API to create and edit products with up to 2,000 variants.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://shopify.dev/docs/api/release-notes/developer-previews?utm_campaign=winter24edition&amp;utm_source=editions&amp;utm_medium=W24E-page&amp;utm_content=W24E&amp;utm_channel=W24-editions-website#increased-variants-developer-preview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Checkout Extensibility</h3>
<p dir="ltr">As well as Shopify having the highest-converting checkout on the internet, Checkout Extensibility enables further customisation and is now even more powerful with 14 new APIs and UI components. Furthermore, it is also now supported on the Thank You and Order Status pages. <em>Exclusive to Shopify Plus.</em>&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <a href="https://www.shopify.com/plus/upgrading-to-checkout-extensibility" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">here</span></a>.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Expanded Discounts</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Shopify have introduced new types of discounts, including free automatic shipping discounts, automated fixed amount and "Buy X get Y" promotions. Buyers will also see <em>exactly</em> how much they&rsquo;ve saved right in the cart view.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/discounts/discount-types" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3 dir="ltr">Shopify Subscriptions</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Now in full release,&nbsp; Subscriptions enables merchants to easily set up and manage subscriptions directly from the Shopify admin dashboard, and enable customers the flexibility to modify or skip subscriptions directly from their account.&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Product Bundles</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Shopify have increased the maximum number of products that can be offered in a bundle from 10 to 30 - with Shopify Scripts, bundles can help merchants increase average order value.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/bundles/scripts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Carbon Neutral Shipping</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Modern shoppers care about the climate, and the new Planet app from Shopify gives them a more sustainable way to ship. Merchants can use the Planet app to surface a carbon-neutral shipping option, build brand loyalty, and have a real impact.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://apps.shopify.com/planet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Web Performance Dashboard</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Shopify's Storefront Performance has had a big upgrade with enhanced insights with trusted insights across three Core Web Vitals. Over the past year, Shopify's infrastructure is 35% faster and they have expanded our global points of presence.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://performance.shopify.com/blogs/blog/web-performance-dashboard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>

<h3 dir="ltr">Sales Rep Permissions</h3>
<p dir="ltr">A game changer for B2B users. New staff permissions enable merchants to restrict access for sales team members users so that they can only place orders and view customer information associated with their specific accounts. Define access levels for sales managers and sales reps using roles within staff permissions. <em>Exclusive to Shopify Plus.</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.shopify.com/plus/solutions/b2b-ecommerce" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Theme Blocks</h3>
<p>Theme blocks are now reusable allowing developers to streamline workflow by defining blocks once and reusing them across multiple sections. Blocks can also now be nested in up to eight layers meaning that they can be easily edited and reordered without the need to hard code changes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.shopify.com/editions/winter2024#online-store-updates-for-developers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Customer Account Extensibility</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Now in developer preview, extensions can be built directly into new customer accounts with the same UI components as Shopify Checkout, alongside new components, extension APIs, and external network calls. Certain third party apps can now be brought closer to customers and add powerful functionality to new customer accounts.&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">More info <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/customer-accounts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></span>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Updates to Shopify Flow</h3>
<p>Developers like us can now write JavaScript code with the new `Run code` action to add logic, summarise data, calculate dates, and more. Furthermore, Flow tasks can now be previewed with the `dev` command and triggers can be built with more complex data structures like lists and objects.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">&nbsp;</h3>
<h3 dir="ltr">Head to the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.shopify.com/editions/winter2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Winter Editions 2024 - Foundations</a></span> site for the full list of product announcements.&nbsp;</h3>

20230912 1750

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<p><em>PRESS RELEASE 09/09/2023</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Noughts &amp; Ones, the Bristol agency dedicated to empowering planet-conscious e-commerce brands on Shopify, is thrilled to announce the appointment of <a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-pill-29284235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Matthew Pill</a>&nbsp;as the new Operations Director. This strategic move comes as the agency continues to expand its operations and services in response to the growing demand for sustainable e-commerce solutions.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Matthew Pill, who has been an integral part of the Noughts &amp; Ones team as Senior Developer, will now take on an even more pivotal role in the agency. As Operations Director, Matthew will leverage his extensive technical expertise and industry insight to oversee the day-to-day operations, ensuring the seamless delivery of projects and retainers while maintaining a strong focus on sustainability and purpose.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Noughts &amp; Ones has established itself as a trailblazer in the e-commerce landscape, partnering with forward-thinking brands that prioritise environmental and social responsibility. The appointment of Matthew Pill as Operations Director reinforces the agency&rsquo;s commitment to excellence and sustainability.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Matthew&rsquo;s dedication to our mission and his exceptional technical skills make him the perfect fit for this role,&rdquo; said Tom Locke, Founder / Sales Director of Noughts &amp; Ones. &ldquo;As we continue to work with purpose-led brands, Matthew will play a pivotal role in driving our agency&rsquo;s growth, ensuring that we meet and exceed the expectations of our clients while adhering to our values.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In his new role, Matthew will be responsible for optimising project delivery, strengthen team collaboration, and enhance the efficiency of the agency. He will also work closely with clients to ensure that their sustainability and purpose-driven goals are at the forefront of every project.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Matthew Pill commented on his new role, saying, &ldquo;I am thrilled to be taking on a new role as Operations Director and I couldn&rsquo;t be more excited about continuing to work with this fantastic team! I&rsquo;m incredibly proud of the accomplishments we&rsquo;ve already achieved at Noughts &amp; Ones and I cannot wait for the new opportunities that lie ahead as we look to continue to contribute to a more sustainable future.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Under Matthew and Tom&rsquo;s leadership, Noughts &amp; Ones is poised for further growth and innovation in the e-commerce industry, reaffirming its commitment to driving positive change and helping purpose-led brands thrive.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Noughts &amp; Ones is a leading e-commerce agency based in Bristol, UK, specialising in creating purpose-driven and planet-conscious online shopping experiences. With a mission to empower brands that prioritise sustainability and social responsibility, Noughts &amp; Ones delivers innovative e-commerce solutions that drive growth while making a positive impact on the planet.</p>
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20230912 15682

<p>At Noughts &amp; Ones, we've always believed that businesses have the power to drive positive change in the world. Our journey began with a commitment to crafting custom Shopify stores for sustainable, planet-conscious brands. Today, we're excited to share a significant milestone in our pursuit of a greener, brighter future &ndash; our application for B Corp&trade; certification.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>What is B Corp&trade;?</strong></h3>
<p><a href="https://bcorporation.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">B Corp&trade;</a> (or Benefit Corporation) is a global movement of companies dedicated to using business as a force for good. Becoming a Certified B Corp&trade; involves a rigorous assessment process that evaluates a company's impact on its Workers, Customers, Community, and the Environment. It's a way for businesses to measure and improve their social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>Why B Corp&trade; aligns perfectly with our values</strong></h3>
<p>Our decision to pursue B Corp&trade; certification was an easy one. It aligns perfectly with our core values and mission. From day one, Noughts &amp; Ones has been committed to sustainability, eco-consciousness, and ethical business practices. We've always believed that businesses should be stewards of the environment and actively contribute to the well-being of their communities.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>Our B Impact assessment journey</strong></h3>
<p>We're thrilled to announce that we've completed the B Impact Assessment, a comprehensive evaluation of our business practices. This assessment covers the following areas in great detail: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers. It measures our commitment to sustainability, social responsibility, and ethical conduct. While we eagerly await our audit to finalise our B Corp&trade; status, we're proud of the progress we've made so far.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>Our commitment to a Greener future</strong></h3>
<p>Becoming a Certified B Corp&trade; isn't just a badge of honour for us; it's a commitment to continuously improve our impact on the world. We're dedicated to crafting efficient, reusable code, and promoting digital sustainability best practices. Our custom Shopify stores are designed to empower sustainable brands, and our B Corp&trade; journey amplifies that commitment.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><strong>Join us on the journey</strong></h3>
<p>We're grateful for your support as we embark on this exciting journey towards B Corp&trade; certification. Together, we can create a more sustainable, ethical, and planet-conscious business landscape. Stay tuned for updates on our progress, and feel free to reach out if you'd like to learn more about our mission or how we can help your sustainable brand thrive.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>At Noughts &amp; Ones, we're not just building Shopify stores; we're building a brighter, greener future.</p>

Opinion

Micheile Henderson 7i G Nwuxj B Y8 Unsplash

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<p>Conscious consumerism isn't new. I'm sure you've seen the data around consumers seeking sustainable and ethical products from brands that put purpose and planet on par with, if not above, profit backed with stats like;&nbsp;<em>"73% of global consumers are willing to pay more for products that come from sustainable brands"</em>&nbsp;from industry leaders like <a href="https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/analysis/2019/a-natural-rise-in-sustainability-around-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nielsen</a> and&nbsp;<em>"More than Half of Consumers Would Pay More for Sustainable Products Designed to Be Reused or Recycled"</em>&nbsp;from <a href="https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/more-than-half-of-consumers-would-pay-more-for-sustainable-products-designed-to-be-reused-or-recycled-accenture-survey-finds.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Accenture</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When talking with our clients, we refer to selling via Shopify directly to customers as "DTCC" (direct to&nbsp;<em>conscious</em>&nbsp;consumer) to reinforce the principles that should be adopted in order to connect with today's consumer - principles that are at the core of our Conscious Development&trade; framework - because ultimately, it's the consumer that will play the pivotal role in fostering positive change in the industry.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To make the right choices for our planet, it's crucial to look beyond the surface as a consumer and offer total transparency as a DTCC brand. Transparency around supply chains, sourcing, production processes and environmental impact certifications should all be just as accessible as the products being sold.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>So, who are the brands that are doing this really well?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a href="https://tropicskincare.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tropic</a></h3>
<p>🐰 Responsibly sourced and cruelty-free ingredients<br>🌍 Certified&nbsp;<a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.carbonneutral.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CarbonNeutral</a><br>🌱 100% compostable and recyclable parcels<br>🗑️ Zero waste to landfill</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://byhumankind.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">by Humankind</a></h3>
<p>✨ EU safe ingredient guidelines<br>🌍 Certified&nbsp;<a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.carbonneutral.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CarbonNeutral</a><br>💚 Source from ethical producers<br>🤝 Factories pay at least a living wage</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://nakedsprout.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Naked Sprout</a></h3>
<p>✅ Certified B Corp (incl. the world's only B Corp certified factory)<br>💧 Partnership with&nbsp;<a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.justadrop.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Just a Drop</a><br>🧮 Carbon calculator tool<br>🐬 Plastic-free packaging</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.crukafe.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CRU Kafe</a></h3>
<p>♻️ 100% recyclable<br>🫘 Organic products<br>🤝 Fairtrade certified<br>🧑&zwj;🌾 Partnership with The Highland Organic Agriculture Cooperative</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://lucyandyak.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lucy &amp; Yak</a></h3>
<p>🙌 Dead-stock fabric used (from other brands)<br>✅ OCS and GRS certified<br>🧑&zwj;🏫 Supporting girls schools in India<br>♻️ Re:Yak marketplace</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.thenueco.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Nue Co.</a></h3>
<p>✅ Certified B Corp<br>🌈 Plastic Neutral certified<br>🚰 Partnership with Charity:Water<br>💚 Ethically and sustainably sourced ingredients</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.youunderwear.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Y.O.U Underwear</a></h3>
<p>🤝 Fairtrade certified<br>✅ Certified B Corp<br>✨ Ethical Move pledge<br>🌲 Partnership with Ecologi</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><a href="https://bitetoothpastebits.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bite</a></h3>
<p>✅ Certified B Corp<br>🐰 100% vegan<br>❌ No single-use plastic packaging<br>🤝 Carbonfound carbon-free partner</p>
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E2d005d4 3e9e 4a01 B5d5 6cacae5c7b34 Meet the Merchant Maeving Blog Post Header Image

<p>Will &amp; Seb are the two founders of <a href="https://maeving.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maeving</a>, who specialise in British electric motorcycles with removable batteries that you can charge from any plug socket.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We've been working in collaboration with an agency partner over the last few months to develop a number of custom Shopify features as well as a finance integrations, whilst maintaining tip-top performance metrics.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We sat down with Will &amp; Seb to hear the story behind Maeving and understand what drives them (see what we did there) to lead the charge (c'mon now) in planet-friendly motorcycles.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Let's start with who you are and what the story is behind Maeving?</h2>
<p>We&rsquo;re Will and Seb, the two co-founders of Maeving. We&rsquo;ve wanted to found a green business together since we became best mates at university. We went on a trip to the far east, saw the removable battery concept had taken off hugely there, and asked ourselves &lsquo;why can&rsquo;t we make a high-quality, British version?&rsquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Can you tell us what an average work day looks like for you?</h2>
<p>No day is the same. Whether we&rsquo;re in the detail of realising the bike homologation process, planning events and popups, fundraising, hiring staff, defining our brand, designing our website, talking to our customers &hellip; there&rsquo;s always something fascinating to get on with.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>What was your biggest 'lightbulb' moment as an e-commerce store owner?</h2>
<p>When we realised the incredible (though simple-sounding) power of being able to sell a bike directly to our customers, ourselves: This stands in stark contrast with the rest of the motorcycle industry who must (at best) pass their customers on to a dealer to complete the transaction. We can sell online, at live events and shows, and in person. This means we can very quickly tell the stuff that&rsquo;s working for us vs. the stuff that isn&rsquo;t.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>What tools/tech can you not live without?</h2>
<p>We're fairly old school. I (Will here) spend a disgusting amount of time in excel, as this is a very capital intensive business which requires a careful cashflow management. But now we're in market we're totally in love with Gorgias, as well as obviously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.shopify.com/?ref=noughtsandones" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shopify</a>!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>If you could go back in time to the start of your journey and save yourself from making a specific mistake, what would you tell yourself?</h2>
<p>I think it's more that we nearly made a&nbsp;<strong>two</strong> big mistakes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Firstly, we nearly partnered with a company based in China which had a really cool product, but that just wasn't the quality standard needed for the UK market. We pulled the plug at the last minute, but given what we know about quality standards now it would have been a disaster. Moral of the story - no matter how much you wish something would work, if it's not a perfect fit, when the realities of starting up hit, it will collapse.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Secondly, when we were doing our first fundraise, we nearly took money from the wrong group of investors. Given what we've gone through subsequently, and how important our investors' guidance and support has been, we couldn't be stronger believers that picking the "right" investors is a crucial early step.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>What would you say is the most important thing an ecommerce brand should do to make a positive impact on people and the planet?</h2>
<p>People want to make a difference to the climate crisis &ndash; they know this is important. However, brands must appeal to the head&nbsp;<em>and</em> the heart &ndash; give your customers a way to make a difference in a way that they can also fall in love with.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Is there anything on the horizon for Maeving that you're really excited about?</h2>
<p>We&rsquo;ve sold out our first hundred bikes which was a huge moment for us. We&rsquo;re really excited to put the RM1 on general release, so that anybody can order them!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To find our more about Maeving and join the recharge revolution head over to <a href="https://maeving.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">their website</a> or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/maevingelectricmotorcycles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a>.&nbsp;</p>

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<h2>🤔 What are Product Subscriptions?</h2>
<p>Product subscriptions on ecommerce stores refers to a payment model that allows customers to sign up for a recurring payment plan to receive products on a regular basis, such as monthly or quarterly. This model provides customers with the convenience of automatic product delivery and gives Shopify store owners a more stable and predictable source of revenue.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In today's retail landscape, offering monthly product subscriptions is becoming increasingly popular among businesses looking to boost customer loyalty and revenue. By providing a convenient and personalised shopping experience, subscription-based models have been shown to improve customer retention rates and drive recurring revenue for businesses.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In this article, we'll be taking a look at some of the most popular advantages that online store owners gain by implementing product subscriptions on their Shopify stores, including increased monthly recurring revenue, greater customer flexibility, improved customer retention and much more.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>💷 Increased Monthly Recurring Revenue</h2>
<p>Monthly subscriptions are a great way for Shopify store owners to increase their monthly recurring revenue (MRR). By offering customers a subscription option, store owners can guarantee a steady stream of income each month thanks to an automatically recurring subscription fee.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For businesses that operate in more seasonal industries such as gardening or fashion, fluctuations in customer purchasing behaviour can vary wildly depending on the time of year. Subscriptions help combat this issue by providing a more stable and reliable source of revenue for store owners in industries such as these, something especially important during slow sales periods.</p>

<h2>⚙️ Greater Customer Flexibility</h2>
<p>With subscriptions, customers can schedule automatic deliveries to ensure they always have the products they need without having to remember to manually reorder. This convenience can be a powerful motivator for customers to continue shopping with your Shopify store, leading to increased customer retention and ultimately, increased revenue.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Giving customers the ability to manage their subscriptions on an order-by-order basis also plays a direct role in increasing their average order value (AOV). A 2021 study from Recharge Payments found that offering customers flexible purchase options such as the ability to skip a delivery, swap a product and select an item as a one-time purchase increased their AOV by an average of 6%.</p>

<h2>💚 Improved Customer Retention</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.omniconvert.com/customer-lifetime-value-ecommerce-benchmark/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A study by Omniconvert</a> found that the chances of an ecommerce customer returning to make another purchase drop to 20% after 200 days. However, for Shopify stores that offer subscriptions as a method of selling products to their customers, 42% of subscribers continue to make repeat purchases for at least a year depending on the vertical, far greater than the average monthly user retention rate of 1% observed within the ecommerce industry as a whole.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This is particularly true for products that are purchased more frequently such as food and drink, beauty and household items. In these verticals, users are more likely to commit to a specific brand in order to meet an ongoing need in their lifestyle.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For Noughts &amp; Ones client The Cheeky Panda, who specialise in a range of sustainable bamboo toiletries, implementing subscriptions as part of their core business model saw customer conversion rate increase by 6.57% percent, with an accompanying increase in average order value of up to 24%.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In terms of specific verticals, home goods demonstrated impressive customer retention in <a href="https://rechargepayments.com/resources/industry-report/#customer-retention" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recharge Payments' 2023 subscriptions report</a>, ranking highest in both overall customer retention and in the highest increase in 12-month customer retention, highlighting the value of maintaining a loyal customer base over an extended period, which can result in long-term benefits for the business.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Interestingly, it appeared that merchants with a smaller subscriber base actually had an advantage in retaining customers over a 12-month period. This suggests that smaller businesses may be better positioned to develop more personal relationships with their customers, resulting in increased loyalty and retention. In contrast, larger businesses may struggle to maintain the same level of personalisation and customer engagement, which can negatively impact customer retention rates.</p>

<h2>🤝 Deeper Customer Relationships</h2>
<p>When it comes to selling products online, customer experience really matters.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/advisory-services/publications/consumer-intelligence-series/pwc-consumer-intelligence-series-customer-experience.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">73% of people</a> consider customer experience as a crucial factor in their purchasing decisions, and customers who are completely satisfied with a product or service not only <a href="https://www.harbott.com/the-most-important-metric-in-your-business/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contribute 2.6 times as much revenue</a> that a partially satisfied customer, but also tend to be more loyal and recommend the brand to others.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Alongside providing an engaging and meaningful customer experience at the point of sale, implementing Shopify product subscriptions can also create a sense of loyalty and trust that can lead to increased sales and repeat business for your store.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additionally, offering exclusive benefits to subscribers, such as early access to new products or discounts, can further enhance the value of the subscription and deepen the relationship between the customer and the business.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>📥 More Personalised Marketing Campaigns</h2>
<p>Another benefit of integrating subscription platforms on Shopify is the ability to collect valuable customer data which can be used to create personalised marketing campaigns, increasing the likelihood of further repeat purchases and strengthening the relationship between your store and your customers.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Just looking at email campaigns alone, CRM platform <a href="https://mailchimp.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MailChimp</a> found that personalised and segmented campaigns <a href="https://mailchimp.com/resources/effects-of-list-segmentation-on-email-marketing-stats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">perform far more effectively</a> than generic campaigns sent to all of your customers, each of which will have their own unique wants and needs from your products:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Opens</strong>: 14.31% higher than non-segmented campaigns</li>
<li><strong>Unique Opens</strong>: 10.64% higher than non-segmented campaigns</li>
<li><strong>Clicks</strong>: 100.95% higher than non-segmented campaigns</li>
<li><strong>Bounces</strong>: 4.65% lower than non-segmented campaigns</li>
<li><strong>Abuse Reports</strong>: 3.90% lower than non-segmented campaigns</li>
<li><strong>Unsubcribes</strong>: 9.37% lower than non-segmented campaigns</li>
</ul>
<p><br>This type of segmentation also allows stores to target customers are different stages of the sales cycle, sending unique marketing materials to new subscribers, hesitant shoppers or recent customers to help improve customer retention while simultaneously decreasing churn rate.</p>

<h2>📦 Simplified Inventory Management</h2>
<p>By allowing customers to subscribe to products, Shopify store owners can better predict demand and plan their inventory accordingly. This can help to avoid overstocking or understocking of products, and businesses can use this subscription data to identify which products are most popular and adjust their inventory levels or plan promotional campaigns accordingly.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Subscription-based models can also help Shopify store owners streamline their supply chain management. By having a steady and predictable demand for products, store owners can work closely with suppliers to ensure a consistent supply of products, reducing the time and resources required to manage their supply chain and freeing up time to focus on other aspects of their business, such as marketing and customer service.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Offering product subscriptions can also lead to a more efficient and cost-effective order fulfilment process.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Subscriptions allow for regular and predictable orders, which can make it easier for store owners to prepare orders and fulfil them in a more timely manner. This can lead to faster and more efficient order processing, which can improve customer satisfaction and reduce the likelihood of order errors.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additionally, the regular and predictable nature of subscription orders can help store owners optimise their shipping and delivery processes, reducing shipping costs, improving overall efficiency and helping to minimise the negative effect on the environment.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>🛍️ Looking to Implement Product Subscriptions on your Shopify Store?</h2>
<p>At Noughts &amp; Ones, we pride ourselves in designing and developing custom&nbsp;<a href="https://rechargepayments.grsm.io/u1s34kwbuyk5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recharge Payment integrations</a> for <a href="/projects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">planet-friendly businesses</a> that take their environmental commitments seriously. We do this by strictly adhering to our own Conscious Development&trade;️ framework and working with green tools that let us code more efficiently.</p>
<p><a href="/contact" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get in touch</a> with our friendly bunch of website designers, developers and project managers to find out how you can start offering product subscriptions on your Shopify store to your customers today.</p>

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<p>In this article, we will be diving into the world of search engine optimisation (SEO) and how it can be applied to your Shopify store to drive traffic and increase sales.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We will be covering a range of topics, including how to optimise page titles and meta descriptions, the importance of creating high-quality content, how to properly optimise your product pages, images and much more.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By following these eight best practices, you can improve your store's visibility in search results and attract more targeted traffic to your site.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Whether you're new to SEO or looking to take your ecommerce efforts to the next level, this guide is designed to provide actionable tips and strategies to help you achieve ecommerce success with Shopify.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>📝 Optimise page titles and meta descriptions.</h2>
<p>When creating page titles for your Shopify store, it's important to make sure that they accurately reflect the content of each page and include keywords where appropriate. This means that the title should clearly and concisely summarise the main topic of the page, and also include keywords that are relevant to that topic to help search engines understand the content of the page and how it should be indexed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Meta descriptions on the other hand are a brief summary of a page's content that appears in the search engine results, and it's an opportunity to entice users to click on your link.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By including relevant keywords in the meta description, you can help search engines understand the content of the page and make it more likely that users will click through to your website.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's also a good idea to include a call to action in the meta description to encourage users to take a specific action, such as visiting your store, purchasing a product, or signing up for a newsletter.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>🔠 Properly utilise header tags.</h2>
<p>Effectively utilising header tags throughout your Shopify store will help you to properly structure the content of a page and make it easier for both users and search engines to better understand the areas of most importance around your website.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>H1 tags are used by search engines to identify the primary topic on a given page, and these tags should only ever be used once per page to avoid confusing search engines trying to index your page correctly.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In general, it's also considered best practice to ensure that heading tags are used in consecutive, numerical order. For example, H4 headings should never directly follow H2 headings without a H3 heading being used somewhere in between. Failing to do so can negatively affect the potential search ranking of your page under poor content hierarchy.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Finally, it's important to remember that header tags should only ever be used in order of contextual hierarchy, and not based on their visual appearance.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>If there are discrepancies with certain headings appearing as more visually important than others, then consider amending the global styling of these headings to more accurately reflect their hierarchical context.</p>

<h2>💡 Create high-quality content, relevant to your users.</h2>
<p>Creating high-quality, relevant content for your Shopify store is crucial for SEO success. This includes writing product descriptions, blog posts, and other website copy that is optimised for both search engines and end-users.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By providing valuable information that answers the questions and addresses the needs of your target audience, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your store. Additionally, regularly updating your website with new and relevant content can also improve your SEO, as it signals to search engines that your site is active and valuable.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Another important aspect of creating high-quality content for your Shopify store is making sure it is optimised for the keywords you want to rank for. This includes researching and incorporating relevant keywords into your website's meta tags, headlines, and throughout the body of your content. By targeting these keywords, you can improve your website's visibility for those specific search terms and attract more targeted traffic to your store.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>🔗 Encourage building quality backlinks.</h2>
<p>Backlinks are links that take a user from one website to another, and play a crucial role in how search engines determine the quality of content on a single page.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Major search engines such as Google will evaluate how many backlinks a specific page has as part of its page ranking criteria, and pages with a high number of backlinks from other trusted websites will typically rank higher than others.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To help you get started, we've put together a list of the three best tips you need to know when putting together a backlink strategy for your Shopify store:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Produce regular blog articles.</h3>
<p>It&rsquo;s a common misconception that blog posts are intended to provide additional information to users who are already on your website and that are already familiar with your products. In reality, blog posts should be SEO-driven content pieces that are written with the aim of bringing in traffic and introducing new people to your business for the very first time.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>A great starting point is to think about the questions any potential customers are likely to search for, and then write dedicated articles around those topics in an effort to be viewed as a trusted source of expertise in this area.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Request backlinks from partners and suppliers.</h3>
<p>For ecommerce businesses that work with a group of partners or suppliers, consider reaching out to these businesses and ask them if they'd be happy to include a link to your business on their own website.</p>
<p>Remember that the more popular the partner's website, the more 'points' will be assigned by search engines when determining the overall quality of the backlink. So for ecommerce businesses that work with a large number of suppliers, consider focusing your time on asking the most popular of these whether they'd be happy to write and host a dedicated article that introduces you to their customers for the very first time.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Market your products with other brands.</h3>
<p>Similarly to the tip above, consider reaching out to businesses that either share similar values to your own or sell products that sit nicely alongside your own and ask if they'd be interested in doing a content swap. Writing guest articles like these for other like-minded businesses is a great way of reaching out to new audiences and introducing your product range to people who are more likely to make a sale thanks to their previous purchase history.</p>

<h2>🛍 Optimise your product pages.</h2>
<p>Optimising your product pages for search engines is a crucial aspect of SEO for your Shopify store. By ensuring that your product pages are optimised, you can increase the visibility of your products in search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive more traffic to your store.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>One of the most important ways to optimise your product pages is to use product titles and descriptions that include relevant keywords.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Researching and selecting the right keywords for your products is crucial to ensure that your products appear in the search results for the keywords that potential customers are searching for.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>When writing your product titles and descriptions, make sure to include these keywords in a natural and readable way. However, you should also keep in mind not to overstuff the keywords, as it could have a negative impact on your SEO.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Another important aspect of optimising your product pages is to make sure they are mobile-friendly and easy to navigate. This means that they should be easily readable and usable on smaller screens, and the layout and design should be optimised for easy navigation. This not only improves the user experience but also is a ranking factor for search engines.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Furthermore, having a good website structure, with a clear hierarchy and easy-to-follow URLs can help search engines understand the organisation of your site and make it easier for them to crawl and index your pages.</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>🏷 Use alt-tags for images.</h2>
<p>Alt tags are hidden labels used by search crawlers to determine the content and relevance of any imagery utilised throughout a website. Alt tags can help search engines understand what the images are about and how they relate to your products, improving your product pages' visibility in image search results and helping drive more traffic to your store.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To help search engines gain context to the images used throughout your Shopify store, is recommended to include keywords in the alt-tag to help the product images rank better in search engines, such as "Blue T-Shirt Women's Clothing" or "Black Handbag Leather Purse".</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It is also important to make sure that the alt-tag is relevant to the product and not just a generic term - try to be as specific and descriptive as possible without going into too much redundant detail.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For example, instead of using a generic term like "Product Image," the alt tag should be something like "Blue Women's T-Shirt" or "Black Leather Handbag."</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additionally, it is important to use consistent naming conventions throughout the store to ensure that all images are properly labelled and easy to identify, as this can help with accessibility and improve the overall user experience.</p>

<h2>🧪 Use analytics tools to measure website performance.</h2>
<p>Analytics tools are essential for measuring website performance on a Shopify store. They provide valuable insights into customer behaviour and engagement, allowing store owners to make data-driven decisions about how to optimise their site for better conversion rates and increased revenue.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Additionally, analytics tools can provide actionable data on customer demographics, behaviour, and preferences, which can be used to personalize marketing campaigns and improve the overall customer experience.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Businesses that are looking to succeed in a competitive online market should be regularly monitoring their site's performance through analytics tools to identify any issues and track their store's performance over time.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Passive data collection can be an invaluable tool for businesses looking to learn more about their customers' behaviour and online browsing habits, and your website should constantly be evolving to suit the growing needs and requirements of your customers.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Tracking user experience on Shopify stores with heatmapping software.</h2>
<p>Heatmapping tools such as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hotjar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hotjar</a> or <a href="https://www.luckyorange.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lucky Orange</a> are a great way of tracking how users are engaging with the content of your website.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By using tools such as these, businesses are able to easily see which areas of a page users are interacting with the most, and which products or areas of their online store could benefit from further development in order to more effectively engage their users.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>Sustainable alternatives to Google Analytics.</h2>
<p>As a&nbsp;<a href="/conscious-development-framework" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sustainable Shopify agency</a>, we're always on the lookout for more environmentally-friendly alternatives to energy-intensive analytics tools like Google Analytics which are predicted to produce almost <a href="https://gerrymcgovern.com/calculating-the-pollution-cost-of-website-analytics-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>One of our favourite options is <a href="https://withcabin.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cabin</a>, a carbon-conscious and privacy-first analytics tool that focuses on a faster, lighter and greener method of tracking user behaviour.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To keep their environmental footprint to a minimum, Cabin is powered by a sustainable cloud infrastructure that runs on 100% renewable energy. What's more, far less energy is consumed by the end-user thanks to a total package size that is up to 22 times smaller in size than Google Analytics.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Another great option is <a href="https://plausible.io/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Plausible</a>, an open-source alternative to Google Analytics that promises completely autonomous data measurement without relying on tracking cookies or the collection of any personal data.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>🗺 Create and submit a website sitemap.</h2>
<p>Creating and submitting a website sitemap is an important step in optimising your Shopify store for search engines. A sitemap is a file that lists all of the pages on your website, and it helps search engines understand the organisation of your site and make it easier for them to crawl and index your pages.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>One of the main benefits of having a sitemap is that it allows search engines to find all of your website's pages, even those that might not be easily discoverable through internal linking or other means. Additionally, a sitemap can also help search engines to discover new pages on your site when you add or update content, which can increase your website's visibility and traffic.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Another benefit of creating a sitemap for your Shopify store is that it helps search engines understand the importance of different pages on your site.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Sitemaps allow you to specify the priority of different pages on your site, which can help search engines understand which pages are most important and should be crawled more frequently.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Sitemaps also allow you to specify the frequency of page updates, which can help search engines to understand how often they should crawl your site to check for new content.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Cf6a9a1d E533 47ea 9cb9 3a72800080d4 Website+developer+working+at+a+desk

<h2>Why is website speed important?</h2>
<p>As with all forms of digital marketing, website design and development is an ongoing battle of ensuring that your online presence is stronger than your immediate competition, and therefore more likely to be viewed by potential future customers of your business.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Speed tests serve as a great starting point for understanding how successfully your website is meeting these aims, and are an important method of getting a better understanding of how your website scores from a technical SEO (search engine optimisation) perspective.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Unlike content-driven SEO, technical SEO refers to the process of optimising a website to pass a series of technical checks predefined by popular search engines such as Google Search, that typically test a website on its page load times, responsiveness and <a href="https://www.noughtsandones.com/blog/web-accessibility-design-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accessibility scores.</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Combined with a carefully-considered content strategy, the better a website scores for technical SEO, the further up a search engine&rsquo;s page rankings the website will appear.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>From a conversion perspective, page speed&nbsp;<em>really</em>&nbsp;matters.&nbsp;<a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/app-and-mobile/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A 2018 Google study</a>&nbsp;determined that just a two-second longer wait for a web page to load increased the probability of a user abandoning their visit by 90%. By turning your attention to reducing page load times across your site, you're more likely to&nbsp;<a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.portent.com/blog/analytics/research-site-speed-hurting-everyones-revenue.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">improve your website's conversion rate and generate more sales</a>&nbsp;for your business.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There are real sustainability benefits to focusing on improving page speed too, as the faster a website loads, the less energy is consumed by both the hosting server and the device of the user visiting the site.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How do we test the speed of your Shopify store?</h2>
<p>As passionate experts in fast but <a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://www.noughtsandones.com/conscious-development-framework" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">environmentally-conscious Shopify stores</a>, our team of expert developers are always looking to strike the perfect balance between a website&rsquo;s technical performance metrics and its effectiveness in selling products.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We do this by shrinking scripts, compressing downloads, setting appropriate caching times, and only including elements that are there for a specific reason and ensuring that each of these elements is as optimised as possible.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We use a selection of testing tools in order to highlight areas of your website that can be more effectively optimised in order to improve the overall performance of your Shopify store.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>These tools are tried and tested by thousands of website development agencies, establishing themselves as the primary analytics tools that developers utilise when analysing the performance scores of websites.</p>

<h3>Google Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights</h3>
<p>Google provide two of the most popular testing tools for analysing the performance score of your Shopify website, <a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Lighthouse</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://pagespeed.web.dev/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PageSpeed Insights</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By default, both of these tools provide insights and recommendations across the following key areas of all of the websites they analyse:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>👉 Initial page load<br>👉 Time to interactive<br>👉 Image format and sizing<br>👉 Cumulative layout shift<br>👉 Redundant code analysis<br>👉 Total page requests</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>PageSpeed Insights is a browser-based tool that focuses specifically on performance scores at the individual page level, providing page-by-page recommendations that can be made in order to make meaningful improvements to the speed score of each page of your website.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Google Lighthouse is also a tool used for analysing the performance of webpages, but it provides a more comprehensive analysis and includes a wider range of metrics. It can be run as a Chrome browser extension and provides recommendations for improving performance, as well as insights into other aspects of the website's quality, such as accessibility, best practices, and SEO.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Alongside a focus on reducing page-load time, Google Lighthouse also provides recommendations for additional areas of improvement, including search engine optimisation (SEO) and image usage, both of which play a key role in determining the potential search engine ranking scores of your Shopify store.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>One of the key differences between Google Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights relates to the specific metrics that your website is tested against, alongside the level of detail listed in the recommendations that are provided to the user.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>PageSpeed Insights is focused on analysing individual pages, Google Lighthouse instead provides an analysis of the entire website. This means that PageSpeed Insights is better suited for analysing specific pages and providing page-specific recommendations, while Google Lighthouse is better for getting a broad overview of the website and identifying overall trends and issues.</p>

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<h3>Pingdom</h3>
<p>Alongside the tools provided by Google, we also benchmark all of our client&rsquo;s websites with <a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://tools.pingdom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pingdom</a>, a third-party analytics service that provides a unique insight into the weight of the websites it tests.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Unlike Google Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom provides users with an overall, colour-coded website performance grade between A to F, alongside a simple selection of actionable steps that a user can take to improve their website&rsquo;s page speed.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For those users who may be unsure about what some of the more technical recommendations mean, Pingdom also provides an easy-to-understand explanation of each metric to guide less technically-minded website owners each step of the way.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>One of the most useful features of Pingdom is the ability to break down a website&rsquo;s size by content type, allowing users to identify how much a website&rsquo;s use of image, video and page scripts contribute as individual percentages of a website&rsquo;s total page weight.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>This then enables us to focus our attention on improving the key areas of your website that are likely to have the biggest impact on your overall page speed score.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<h3>Shopify Theme Speed Score</h3>
<p>While Shopify does include a version of speed testing built directly into their platform, their<a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/store-speed/speed-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&nbsp;online store speed</a>&nbsp;report simply uses Google Lighthouse to measure the speed of your store&rsquo;s currently active theme.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>However, Shopify also includes a couple of additional metrics that help their customers get a better understanding of these numbers in context. These include information on how well your speed score compares to other Shopify stores, and how your page speed score has evolved over time.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For a more general overview of best practices on keeping page speeds to a minimum, <a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/store-speed/speed-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Shopify helpfully list a selection of criteria</a>&nbsp;that may be negatively affecting a website&rsquo;s speed score, including (but not limited to):</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>👉 Apps<br>👉 Themes<br>👉 Third-party libraries and services<br>👉 Analytic libraries<br>👉 Custom font libraries<br>👉 Complex or inefficient theme code<br>👉 The file size and amount of images and videos utilised</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>Putting these benchmarks into perspective.</h2>
<p>While keeping your Shopify page speeds down to a minimum is important, it&rsquo;s crucial to strike a balance between page speed and store functionality in order to ensure your customers are presented with a user experience that best suits their needs.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Different platforms have different limitations, and you can&rsquo;t always completely perfect both areas on functionality-driven platforms such as Shopify.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To help you avoid obsessing over page speed and losing focus of the things that matter most for your online store, we&rsquo;ve put together a helpful list of considerations to keep in mind when analysing your website&rsquo;s page speed:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Take data from multiple sources</h4>
<p>Scores often vary across sources, so it&rsquo;s important to take information from a wide range of testing tools and draw your own list of actions from the recommendations provided as a whole.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Some elements are worth the decrease in page speed</h4>
<p>Some elements that have the largest negative impact on page speed may be more important to your website than fast loading times. For example, the website of an animator or videographer may include a large amount of content-heavy video elements across the website, but removing these elements are more likely to hamper the success of your website if potential clients aren&rsquo;t able to see a good selection of your projects and capabilities.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Some optimisations simply can&rsquo;t be made</h4>
<p>Quite often, some elements that may be negatively affecting the page speed of your website may fall outside of a developer&rsquo;s control. For example, associated code libraries may be contributing quite heavily to the weight of your Shopify store, but as these are required in order for the platform to run, it isn&rsquo;t always possible to make any amendments to these elements.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To help reassure users of the platform concerned about page speed, Shopify&rsquo;s Help Centre have <a class="Link-module--link--P9E65 Link-module--linkEmphasisHigh--E94t2 Link-module--linkReverse--tSUSI Text-module--textWeightNormal--fNka3" href="https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/store-speed/improving-speed#factors-you-can-39-t-control" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flagged the below areas</a>&nbsp;as elements that will have a detrimental effect on your website&rsquo;s page speed but fall outside of manual control:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>👉 Your customer's device, network, and location<br>👉 Shopify&rsquo;s own infrastructure<br>👉 Content delivery network (CDN)<br>👉 Your local browser cache<br>👉 Server-side page cache<br>👉 The assets inside the content_for_header Liquid object</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Consider making more important improvements first</h4>
<p>While page speed is an important metric, it is important to avoid focusing too heavily on these numbers. The development time and resources required to bring these numbers down can often be better spent improving different aspects of your website, including focusing on user experience or implementing additional functionality that may make it easier for your customers to purchase your products.</p>

Ab8c2ce0 A692 4a4f A686 35615f04ec3e Woman+using+laptop+on+sofa

<p>A <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2011 study by the World Health Organisation</a> found that roughly one billion people (15% of the world's population at the time) are registered as living with at least one form of disability. With this in mind, it's crucial that web designers and developers understand how to build a website for users with different disabilities.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/accessible-design-for-users-with-disabilities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nielsen Normal Group</a> defines accessible website design and development as "encoding meaning rather than appearance", and suggests that so long as websites are developed specifically for meaning, then browsers, screen readers and other digital tools will enable disabled users to interpret and interact with online content in a way that is best optimised for their individual needs.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>To help web designers and developers understand a little more about what those individuals' needs are likely to be, we've put together a helpful guide that breaks down the four primary types of disabilities and how these conditions are likely to affect disabled users as they navigate the internet.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>👀 Visual disabilities</h2>
<p>Screen reading technology has revolutionised the way that the visually impaired access the web. <a href="https://nfb.org/resources/blindness-statistics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A study from The National Federation for the Blind</a> discovered that an estimated 7.3 million Americans rely on screen readers in order to browse the internet, just a small percentage of the <a href="https://www.rnib.org.uk/sites/default/files/Eye%20health%20and%20sight%20loss%20stats%20and%20facts.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">285 million people worldwide</a> who are living with some form of sight loss.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>There are a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/vision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wide range of different sight-based disabilities</a> that developers need to consider when developing an accessible website for the first time, ranging from complete and partial blindness to short-sightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), and <a href="https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/eye-conditions-and-diseases/color-blindness/types-color-blindness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">four different types of colour-blindness</a> (protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia and monochromacy).</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Fortunately, developers who are keen on differentiating their websites from the competition are also inadvertently streamlining their websites for the visually impaired thanks to a shared list of benefits between accessibility and SEO (more on that later).</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Things to do:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Make sure that all text-to-background colours pass with at least an AA rating according to <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)</a>.</li>
<li>Avoid certain shades of red and green that are difficult to see against darker backgrounds for those who suffer from deuteranopia.</li>
<li>Use clear iconography and don't rely on colour alone to distinguish between certain elements such as confirm and cancel buttons.</li>
<li>Label buttons and interactive elements clearly, avoiding short nondescript text such as "click here" to assist users that utilise screen reading programs.</li>
<li>Ensure all images throughout the website include alt tags so that people who use screen readers are more easily able to identify their content.</li>
</ul>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2><br>🦻 Hearing disabilities</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/hearing-loss#tab=tab_2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to the World Health Organisation</a>, around 1.5 billion people (almost 20% of the global population) live with some form of hearing loss. 430 million of those (or 5% of the world's population) are credited as hearing disabled.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>According to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asha.org/public/hearing/types-of-hearing-loss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)</a>, the three most common forms of hearing loss are:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Conductive hearing loss:</strong> Sounds struggle to make it past your outer and middle ears, resulting in soft sounds being harder to hear and loud sounds becoming muffled.</li>
<li><strong>Sensorineural hearing loss: </strong>Damage to the inner ear results in soft sounds being harder to hear and loud sounds becoming unclear and muffled.</li>
<li><strong>Mixed hearing loss:</strong> A combination of the above two hearing disabilities.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Thankfully, most of the online environment today is focused primarily on visual-led experiences. And, any experiences that do rely on video are becoming more and more accessible.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.3playmedia.com/blog/closed-captioning-trends-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A 2021 report by 3PlayMedia</a> found that 87% of people surveyed actively provide captions to accompany most (if not all) of their video content. Further, &nbsp;over 50% of those responding said they do so with a direct focus on accessibility.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Things to do:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Clearly subtitle videos and offer additional subtitles if possible for those who speak alternative languages.</li>
<li>Offer full written transcripts to accompany any audio-based content.</li>
<li>Ensure that any media player controls are enabled to help users with hearing-related disabilities adjust the audio volume to suit their own requirements.</li>
<li>Avoid high-frequency sounds on your website. They can be troublesome for people who suffer from hyperacusis or other tinnitus-related conditions.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>🧠 Cognitive &amp; neurological disabilities</h2>
<p>Typically characterised by a difficulty in comprehending and processing information, cognitive and neurological disorders <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2007/02/210312-nearly-1-6-worlds-population-suffer-neurological-disorders-un-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affect roughly one in six people globally</a>. They can make it difficult for users to engage with the content of a website.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Cognitive and neurological disabilities are often less predictable than visual, hearing or motor disabilities so it can be a complex task for developers to accurately account for them when building an accessible website for users with different disabilities.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's best practice to focus on crafting a short and intuitive user journey. Keep animation and moving elements to a minimum, and ensure that the readability of any text is as clear as possible.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Things to do:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Avoid justified text, break any written content up into smaller sections, regularly use new paragraphs and avoid overly-long lines of text.</li>
<li>Use sans-serif fonts where possible, as <a href="https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">users with dyslexia can often struggle to discern the individual characters found in crowded, serif typefaces.</a></li>
<li>Consider using a darker colour palette to <a href="https://www.w3.org/WAI/RD/2012/text-customization/r11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">improve text readability for those who experience dyslexia</a> and help to ensure better sleep <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for those who view their screens late at night</a> thanks to a reduction in the amount of blue light emitted.</li>
<li>Remove (or restrict) any flashing elements around your website to avoid triggering seizures in those diagnosed with photosensitive epilepsy. <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#dfn-general-flash-and-red-flash-thresholds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The W3C specifies that content should not flash more than three times in a single second</a>, and for developers in the United States of America, <a href="https://www.section508.gov/manage/laws-and-policies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act</a> states that pages must be "designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and less than 55 Hz."</li>
<li>Ensure that any custom styling (colour palettes and font families for example) can easily be disabled by any third-party accessibility software that a user may have installed.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>✍🏼 Motor disabilities</h2>
<p>For website developers looking to help create a more accessible online environment, it's also worth considering how users will interact with your website at the physical level.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>For those who experience limitations to their fine motor skills, it may not always be possible to use traditional input methods such as a mouse and keyboard. As such, it's important to examine how alternative input devices (such as voice commands, mouth sticks or keyboard-only controls) affect a user's ability to interact with your website.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Things to do:&nbsp;</h2>
<ul>
<li>Streamline your website's navigation to reduce the number of clicks required to reach a new page. For example, consider including links to the most popular pages in your website's footer, and ensure that if you're using dropdown menus, make sure that these expand on hover instead of on click.</li>
<li>Be generous with the sizing of interactive elements such as buttons or hyperlinks so that users don't have to be so precise when engaging with them. <a href="https://dequeuniversity.com/resources/wcag2.1/2.5.5-target-size" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The W3C recommends a minimum target size of 44px</a> for all mouse-based elements to ensure maximum accessibility.</li>
<li>Remove time-limited actions on things like form submissions to reduce both physical and mental stress on a user.</li>
<li>Make sure that modal or popup elements on your website are easy to close with both keyboard and mouse controls.</li>
<li>Check if you can tab through all elements on the page. This is one of the easiest forms of keyboard navigation testing developers can do.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>💚 Let's build an accessible website together</h2>
<p><br>We're a team of designers and developers who specialise in the design and build of responsive and accessible Shopify stores. We understand how to build a website for users with different disabilities so if you need our help in this area, <a href="/contact" target="_blank" rel="noopener">get in touch now!</a></p>

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