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An In-Depth Review of the Value Proposition: Shopify's Boost Theme
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
6 Different Styles of the Boost Theme
Conducting a Speed Test Using PageSpeed Insights
Understanding How Speed Is Measured
Should You Utilize the Boost Theme?
What Users Have to Say About the Boost Theme
Live Shopify Stores Using the Boost Theme
Final Thought | Is It Worth The Price?
Selecting from a vast array of both free and premium Shopify templates can be a daunting endeavor, particularly when striving to pinpoint the ideal theme for your online store. The Clean Canvas-created Boost Theme is one of the high-end options available within the Shopify ecosystem.
But the pivotal question remains: Is the Boost Theme the optimal choice for your Shopify store?
To unveil the answer, we embark on a comprehensive exploration of the Boost theme, dissecting its intricate features, exploring its functionalities, and, most crucially, assessing whether it justifies its price tag
Overview of the Shopify Boost Theme
The Boost theme is the brainchild of Clean Canvas, a UK-based team of web developers renowned for their expertise in crafting Shopify templates. A glimpse at their portfolio reveals an array of visually captivating themes, including Symmetry, Alchemy, and Masonry, to name a few.
Notably, Clean Canvas boasts an impressive track record, with the three themes mentioned earlier garnering an outstanding 84% to 100% positive feedback from users. Particularly, Alchemy stands out, receiving a flawless 100% satisfaction rating.
Hence, it is evident that these developers possess ample experience in creating templates that truly cater to their clientele's needs.
Comprehensive Features of the Boost Theme
The Boost theme offers users a selection of four distinct stylings or sub-themes (more on this in the upcoming section), all while retaining essential features, functionality, and customization options.
In other words, if you opt for the Inspire style, you won't sacrifice any crucial features; the differences primarily lie in the color palette, font choices, and other visual elements.
Here's an exhaustive breakdown of Boost's features across various aspects of your online store:
Cart and Checkout
- Cart notes
- In-store pickups
- Quick buy
Marketing and Conversion
- Blogs
- Customizable contact form
- EU translations (EN, FR, IT, DE, ES)
- In-menu promos
- Product badges
- Product reviews
- Promo banners
- Promo popups
- Promo tiles
- Quick view
- Recently viewed
- Recommended products
- Store Locator
Merchandising
- Color swatches
- High-resolution images
- Image galleries
- Image hotspot
- Image rollover
- Image zoom
- Ingredients or nutritional information
- Lookbooks
- Product options
- Product tabs
- Product videos
- Shipping/delivery information
- Size chart
- Slideshow
- Usage information
Product Discovery
- Breadcrumbs
- Enhanced search
- Mega menu
- Product filtering and sorting
- Recently viewed
- Recommended products
- Sticky header
This comprehensive array of features within the Boost theme ensures a versatile and engaging shopping experience for your customers.
6 Different Styles of the Boost Theme
Inspire sets the stage for online stores aspiring to convey a sense of opulence and sophistication. Its design predominantly revolves around the striking interplay of black and white, executed in the most refined and minimalist manner. Inspire seamlessly complements products and brands associated with:
- Male grooming
- Adventure gear
- High-fashion accessories
- exquisite handcrafted items
- Premium cosmetics
- Exclusive services
- Fitness essentials
Building upon the elegant contrast of black and white found in Inspire, Flourish introduces a touch of light blue to certain sections of the website, infusing a soothing and luxurious ambiance. Flourish is an excellent choice for products and businesses aligned with:
- Swimwear collections
- Linen textiles
- Women's Jewelry:
- High-end women's fashion
- Makeup and skincare products
Spark takes a colorful and soft approach with rounded edges, deviating from the edgy aesthetics of Inspire and Flourish. It exudes a more playful persona and is an ideal fit for products and brands catering to:
- Baby Clothing
- Children's toys
- Stuffed toys
- Pet shops
- Makeup tailored for teens
- Vibrant clothing for teenagers
The Bloom sub-theme introduces a noticeable shift in its dominant color palette. The once-pristine white background changes to a pastel shade with hints of beige and dark blue fonts. Additionally, the typography for menu items adopts a less bold style. Bloom complements products akin to those suited for Spark and extends its appeal to:
- Adventure-themed accessories
- Liquid containers
- Handmade Jewelry
- Colorful bead collections
- Leather accessories
- Essential oils
These are the initial four styles offered by the Boost Theme. Now, let's explore the remaining two styles in the same structured manner.
Sense presents a distinctive style that leans towards a refined and contemporary look. With a focus on clean lines and a minimalistic approach, this sub-theme is a suitable choice for online stores that wish to project an aura of modernity and simplicity. Essence is particularly well-suited for products and brands associated with:
- Home Decor
- Furniture
- High-tech gadgets
- Minimalist fashion
- Sustainable products
- Wellness items
Nova diverges from the previous styles with a futuristic and high-tech aesthetic. It incorporates sleek and cutting-edge design elements, making it a top pick for online stores seeking to showcase innovative and technology-driven products. Nova shines when paired with products and businesses related to:
- Electronics
- Smart devices
- Futuristic fashion
- Automotive accessories
- Advanced gadgets
- Space-themed products
These are the final two styles, completing the diverse range of options within the Boost Theme, each catering to distinct preferences and product categories for an engaging and tailored e-commerce experience.
Let's Examine the Pricing
The Boost theme falls within the middle to mid-high price range when it comes to Shopify themes. While the least expensive themes are priced at $180, the most premium options can reach up to $350. In comparison to other similar Shopify themes geared towards handling larger inventories, here's how Boost's pricing stands:
- Canopy: $300
- Chord: $320
- Testament: $260
- Icon: $260
- Blum: $290
With a price tag of $300, the Boost theme undeniably represents a significant investment for a Shopify theme. This cost alone might discourage budget-conscious online entrepreneurs from considering it.
However, it's crucial to note that price should not be the sole determining factor when selecting a template. The decision should be influenced by its functionalities, the tools it provides, and the flexibility it offers to enhance your store.
Fortunately, Shopify allows you to test templates, even the premium ones, before making a purchase. This enables you to assess firsthand whether it aligns with your budget and requirements.
Conducting a Speed Test Using PageSpeed Insights
Website loading speed plays a pivotal role in influencing bounce rates. To encourage potential customers to spend more time on your website, it's essential to optimize its load time to fall within an acceptable threshold.
HubSpot's research highlights this significance: "The highest e-commerce conversion rates occur on pages with load times between 0 and 2 seconds. With each additional second of load time, website conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42%."
In line with this metric, we conducted tests on live websites utilizing the Boost theme to gauge their loading speeds.
Understanding How Speed Is Measured
For this evaluation, we employed PageSpeed Insights as our testing tool. Before diving into the speed test results, let's clarify the user-centric metrics used to assess whether Boost qualifies as a theme with fast loading speed:
- Largest Content Paint (LCP)
LCP serves as a metric to gauge a website's loading speed, measuring the time it takes for the website to load its primary content.
A good LCP is defined as ≤ 2.5 seconds, signifying a fast load speed and a useful page.
- First Input Delay (FID)
FID measures a website's responsiveness to user interactions on its pages.
A good FID is ≤ 100 milliseconds, indicating that a page is responsive and user-friendly.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
CLS assesses the visual stability of a website, highlighting the frequency of unusual layout shifts.
A good CLS is ≤ 0.1, signifying that the website provides a stable and pleasant visual experience.
- First Content Paint (FCP)
Similar to LCP, FCP measures a website's loading speed, focusing on how long it takes for a website to display any content on the user's screen.
A good FCP is ≤ 1.8 seconds, indicating that the website is responsive and displays content promptly.
- Interaction with Next Paint (INP)
INP measures a website's responsiveness to all forms of user interaction. A low INP indicates a seamless user experience.
A good INP is ≤ 200 milliseconds, showcasing that the page responds swiftly to user interactions.
- Time to First Byte (TTFB)
TTFB holds particular significance as it measures the responsiveness of web servers, highlighting how quickly a server responds to user interactions within the website.
A good TTFB is ≤ 0.8 seconds, demonstrating that the web server is highly responsive.
In sum, these metrics provide a comprehensive evaluation of Boost's performance in terms of speed and user friendliness, crucial factors in enhancing the online shopping experience.
Speed Test Results
Let's delve into the speed test outcomes for the Boost theme and assess if they align with the acceptable parameters outlined above.
Desktop Version
The desktop version of the Boost theme exhibited the following speed test results:
- Largest Content Paint (LCP): Good
- First Input Delay (FID): Good
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Good
- First Content Paint (FCP): Good
- Interaction with Next Paint (INP): Good
- Time to First Byte (TTFB): Needs
- Improvement (1.2 seconds)
In summary, the desktop version of Boost achieved an impressive performance score of 95. However, it's noteworthy that the Time to First Byte (TTFB) did not meet the optimal standard.
Mobile Version
Now, let's shift our focus to the mobile version of the Boost theme:
- LCP: Needs Improvement
- FID: Good
- CLS: Good
- FCP: Good
- INP: Good
TTFB: Needs Improvement
The mobile version of Boost presented a different performance profile compared to the desktop version. Notably, LCP, INP, and TTFB were categorized as needing improvement, while the remaining metrics scored as good.
The mobile version yielded a performance score of 55. This implies that mobile users may not experience the same level of features as those on desktops, particularly in aspects like in-section scrolling.
Assessing Other Websites
Now, let's turn our attention to speed tests conducted on two actual Shopify stores utilizing the Boost theme:
Nigel Cabourn
Nigel Cabourn, a men's wear e-commerce store, offers a range of products, including trousers, jackets, shoes, accessories, and more. Here are the results for both desktop and mobile versions:
Desktop Version: Performance score of 97 (All metrics passed)
Mobile Version: Performance score of 70 (All metrics passed)
Incylence
Incidence, an e-commerce store specializing in athletic socks, showcases high-quality images and features four collections with over 120 products. Here are the results for both desktop and mobile versions:
Desktop Version: Performance score of 70 (All metrics passed)
Mobile Version: Performance score of 33 (Notably, CLS is 0, indicating visual stability.)
In summary, the Boost theme demonstrated commendable speed and responsiveness in both the demo store and the two actual e-commerce stores, even when handling a substantial inventory. While the mobile version's performance scores were lower, practical testing on mobile devices revealed a delightful user experience with no discernible speed or responsiveness issues.
In conclusion, the choice of your online store's theme undoubtedly impacts its loading speed. However, as the aforementioned results show, load times can vary from one website to another. It's important to note that the theme is just one aspect to consider when aiming for a fast website, as other optimization strategies can be employed to enhance speed and the user experience.
Should You Utilize the Boost Theme?
Considering the four primary presets of the Boost theme, it appears to be tailored for businesses in the Lifestyle, Fitness, Apparel, Stuffed Toys, and Pet Supplies niches. However, it's worth noting that the design language of the Boost theme can also be adaptable and appealing to other businesses, including:
- Arts and crafts
- Cosmetics and beauty products
- Male grooming
- Succulents
If your business doesn't fall within these categories, fret not. Much like the majority of Shopify themes, the Shopify Boost theme offers extensive customization options to tailor it to your brand and business model.
In fact, the Boost theme boasts a plethora of features that make it highly desirable. Let's delve into four of the theme's standout highlights:
- Header
Sticky header: The Boost theme provides the option to incorporate a sticky header that remains at the top of the browser as users scroll through the website.
Adjustable logo width: Whether your preference leans towards a large or small logo, Boost accommodates your choice with a width slider.
Announcement bar: Instantly convey important messages to your customers as soon as they visit your website using the announcement bar. This can be utilized for limited-time offers, discounts, new blog promotions, and more.
Mega menu: The Boost theme enables the implementation of a mega menu in your online store, simplifying the organization and enhancing customer navigation by reducing the number of clicks required to find what they seek.
Images in the drop-down menu: Unlike some themes that limit you to text in navigation menus, Boost allows you to include images with shop links, making your top-selling products more visually accessible.
- Scrolling Within Sections
The Shopify Boost theme uniquely prioritizes showcasing products.
A standout feature is in-section scrolling, which efficiently displays multiple products, collections, or blogs within a section without the need for additional columns or sections.
- Scrolling Banner
The scrolling banner serves as an additional marketing tool, enabling you to post important messages in a visually appealing and engaging manner.
Easily create and manage this feature through your dashboard, including the ability to add your logo and other icons to the scrolling banner.
- Video Section
Compellingly tell your brand's story by utilizing the video section on your website.
You can seamlessly integrate videos, ensuring they are high-quality and relatable to your customers.
The video section can be employed not only on your homepage but also as a feature video on other pages of your website.
In conclusion, the Boost theme offers a versatile and feature-rich platform that can cater to various business types beyond its initial presets. With extensive customization options and a range of engaging features, it presents an appealing choice for online store owners looking to create a visually captivating and user-friendly e-commerce experience.
What Users Have to Say About the Boost Theme
Now that you've explored all aspects of the Boost theme, you're faced with a decision: Should you use it or explore other templates? Among the 65 users who reviewed the theme, 59 expressed satisfaction, 2 held neutral views, and 4 were dissatisfied. When seeking feedback, it's crucial to consider both positive and negative reviews to gain a comprehensive understanding of its real-world usability.
Should You Implement It in Your Online Store? More Reviews
It's undeniable that the Boost theme excels in aesthetics, particularly in its section arrangement and diverse theme styles. Commendations also extend to its remarkable speed, even when handling extensive inventories. Additionally, the theme is mobile-responsive, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for your customers on their mobile devices.
Despite these commendable characteristics, it remains challenging to definitively say whether the Boost theme aligns with your ideal website. Ultimately, the decision hinges on your vision for your brand's identity. Here's our perspective on the theme, along with reviews (where applicable) from users who share similar sentiments.
Pros: What We Like About It
There are numerous aspects of the Boost theme that we find commendable:
- Easy to Use
Even for beginners, customizing the Boost theme is straightforward, with everything neatly organized in the back end of your Shopify store, facilitating ease of modification.
- Flexibility
The template offers flexibility for both startup e-commerce stores and those with limited product inventories, as well as those with extensive collections. This adaptability allows for seamless navigation through the use of the mega menu.
- Innovative Features
Notable features like in-section scrolling and the scrolling banner provide a refreshing touch, allowing users to enhance their store's customization with ease.
Cons: What We Don't Like
However, no template is without its limitations, and in the case of the Boost theme, the drawbacks of being a prebuilt template become apparent:
- Limits Creativity
The structured layout of the Boost theme might lead to a tendency to adhere closely to its inherent structure, potentially stifling creativity. While this structure simplifies web design, it can limit creative expression. Using a third-party page builder can provide more creative freedom.
- May Not Reflect Brand Image
The Boost theme offers four different stylings, primarily differentiated by font and color palette, but the execution remains largely consistent. This universal design approach aims to accommodate diverse business models but may make it challenging to achieve a unique and tailored branding image. It's not impossible, but it requires additional customization.
- Hard to Stand Out
Due to its popularity among online pet shops, if your store plans to sell similar products, it may bear a resemblance to other pet shops using the same template. While personalization can differentiate your store, the underlying structure may still exhibit similarities.
Key Takeaway
As evident from user reviews, the Boost theme has managed to satisfy a significant portion of its user base, with particular praise for its "top-notch" customer service. Notably, there are not enough negative reviews to match all the cons listed. Of course, some users did not find the theme suitable for their specific needs, which is entirely normal, as no single theme fits all scenarios. The suitability of the Boost theme depends on individual requirements, preferences, and expectations.
Live Shopify Stores Using the Boost Theme
Would you like to explore actual Shopify stores that have customized the Boost theme to reflect their unique brands? Below, we've compiled a list of such stores, including some from previous reviewers:
- One Comfy
One Comfy, a UK-based e-commerce site, specializes in selling fine dining placemats. Their website embraces the clean and straightforward aesthetic of the Boost theme, avoiding unnecessary elements. The product colors harmonize seamlessly with the website's simplistic color palette.
- Nerpa Polymers
Nerpa Polymers is a manufacturer of eco-friendly epoxy resins, showcasing their chemical engineering expertise. Initially, their online store may not exhibit the typical characteristics of the Boost theme. However, upon scrolling, you'll encounter the familiar rounded edges of the Spark sub-theme. They also effectively employ in-section scrolling in their blog section.
- Pure Proteins
Pure Proteins specializes in protein-rich nutritional supplements for dogs, sourced from dried fish instead of beef. Their website features a compelling combination of black and red, contrasting against a white background, utilizing the rounded edges of the Spark sub-theme. High-quality images enhance the overall appeal of the site. The video section on their collection page showcases a dog enjoying one of their protein-rich snacks.
- Plumpy Plushies
Plumpy Plushies, a US-based Shopify store, offers adorable stuffed toys depicting animals like dogs, cats, sea lions, and penguins, as well as food-shaped stuffed cushions. Their website predominantly uses a soft shade of yellow to create a cute, cozy, and colorful ambiance.
- The Sign Shed
The Sign Shed specializes in custom signs and banners. Similar to Nerpa Polymers, their use of the Boost theme may not be immediately apparent. However, hovering over their menu reveals the mega menu feature in action, providing efficient access to their wide range of products. On their homepage, they leverage the rounded edges to elegantly showcase 15 images without overwhelming the page.
Final Thought: Is It Worth The Price?
Now, let's address the question that's likely on your mind—the $300 price tag of the Boost theme.
There are two ways to approach this:
The first option is to go ahead and make the purchase if you're impressed with what you've discovered in this article, thoroughly convinced that this theme aligns with your needs, and have explored the demo store.
Conversely, if you find the features unsatisfactory, it's advisable to explore other Shopify themes available. If you appreciate the clean aesthetics, product-oriented design, and color contrast offered by the Boost theme, there are alternative themes to consider, such as Fashionopolism, Prestige, Broadcast, and Alchemy.
Avoid rushing the decision when selecting a template. Take the time to research existing Shopify stores in your niche and observe which theme works best for them. You can identify the theme a Shopify website uses by installing the Shopify Theme Detector by PageFly or by visiting std.pagefly.io and pasting the URL of the Shopify store.
With a bit more patience, you'll discover the ideal theme for your e-commerce store.
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