E-commerce Redesign: Tripling Conversions for Cherry Picked

The Challenge

Cherry Picked Goods, a boutique online retailer specializing in artisanal food products, was experiencing declining sales despite growing traffic. Their analytics revealed a troubling pattern:

• 67% bounce rate on mobile devices
• 78% cart abandonment at checkout
• 8+ second average page load time
• 2.1% conversion rate (industry average: 3.5%)

Root Cause Analysis

We conducted a thorough audit and identified critical issues:

1. Performance - Unoptimized images and bloated JavaScript
2. UX friction - 7-step checkout process with required account creation
3. Mobile experience - Desktop-first design that broke on small screens
4. Trust signals - Missing reviews, unclear shipping information

Our Approach

We proposed a complete rebuild using a headless architecture that would give us full control over the frontend experience while leveraging Shopify's robust backend.

Design Philosophy

Our design principles for the project:

• Speed is a feature - Every interaction should feel instant
• Mobile-first - Design for thumbs, adapt for mice
• Reduce friction - Remove every unnecessary step
• Build trust - Show social proof at decision points

Technical Implementation

Headless Architecture

We decoupled the frontend from Shopify, using their Storefront API:

┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
│   Eleventy   │────▶│  Storefront  │────▶│   Shopify    │
│   Frontend   │     │     API      │     │   Backend    │
└──────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └──────────────┘

Performance Optimizations

We implemented aggressive performance optimizations:

Image Pipeline

• Automatic WebP/AVIF conversion via Cloudinary
• Responsive images with art direction
• Lazy loading with blur-up placeholders

JavaScript Strategy

• Alpine.js for interactivity (14KB vs 200KB+ React)
• Code splitting for route-based loading
• Service worker for offline cart persistence

Build Optimizations

• Static generation for product pages
• Edge caching with stale-while-revalidate
• Critical CSS inlining

Checkout Redesign

We reduced checkout from 7 steps to 2:

Before:

1. Cart review → 2. Account creation → 3. Shipping address → 4. Shipping method → 5. Billing address → 6. Payment → 7. Confirmation

After:

1. Cart + Shipping → 2. Payment + Confirmation

Key changes:

• Guest checkout as default
• Address autocomplete via Google Places API
• Real-time shipping calculation
• Express payment options (Apple Pay, Google Pay)

Trust Building

We strategically placed trust signals:

• Product reviews pulled from Shopify
• "Customers also bought" recommendations
• Clear shipping costs upfront
• Security badges near payment forms
• Live chat widget for support

Results

The redesign launched after 6 weeks of development:

Week 1 Results

Metric	Before	After	Change
Page Load	8.2s	2.1s	-74%
Bounce Rate	67%	31%	-54%
Mobile Traffic	45%	62%	+38%

Month 1 Results

Metric	Before	After	Change
Conversion Rate	2.1%	6.6%	+312%
Cart Abandonment	78%	43%	-45%
Average Order Value	$52	$68	+31%
Revenue	$45K	$142K	+215%

Key Takeaways

1. Performance directly impacts revenue - Every 100ms improvement in load time correlated with 1% conversion increase

2. Headless isn't always complex - With the right tools (Eleventy + Alpine.js), headless can be simpler than traditional solutions

3. Small UX changes compound - Removing account creation requirement alone increased conversions by 23%

4. Mobile-first pays dividends - Our mobile conversion rate actually exceeded desktop after launch