I chatted with Yacine Hacine for an episode of The AI Growth Blueprint. We talked about what it takes to create personalized shopping experiences.
We discuss the innovative features of Stylaquin and how they enhance online shopping by making it more interactive and tailored to online shoppers.
The conversation also touches on the impact of AI on e-commerce and the importance of engagement in the digital shopping experience. Tune in!
For the past several months, we’ve been sharing engagement statistics from HorseWorld EU showing:
Those numbers were accurate at the time.
But they were inflated.
Not intentionally. Not through creative accounting. But inflated nonetheless—based on a baseline that made Stylaquin’s impact look bigger than what most stores will actually see.
Here’s the full story.
HorseWorld EU has been using Stylaquin since early 2024. The engagement data we reported came from their analytics between January and May 2025.
Then in June 2025, they changed their Shopify theme.
The old theme had a mandatory language selection popup. Every single visitor had to click through a language choice before they could browse any products.
This created an artificially low baseline:
The new theme auto-detects language based on browser settings. No popup. No forced interaction. Clean, natural browsing behavior from the first second. Fun fact: Stylaquin supports multiple languages!
When they switched themes, the baseline changed dramatically. Suddenly, non-Stylaquin users were browsing more naturally—which meant the comparison to Stylaquin users looked very different.
Using data from June-November 2025 (after the theme change), here’s what Stylaquin’s actual impact looks like:
The lift is real. It’s just more modest—and more representative of what you’ll actually see.
The 700% organic traffic increase is unchanged.
In May 2025, Google released an algorithm update that prioritized engagement metrics more heavily. During that same period, HorseWorld EU’s organic traffic spiked by 700%.
Before that: steady 50% year-over-year growth.
After: 700% spike.
We attribute this to the combination of Google’s update and Stylaquin’s impact on engagement signals. According to the store owner, nothing else changed. The spike happened in mid-May and the theme change didn’t happen until mid-June.
That number stands.
We could have kept using the bigger numbers.
Nobody asked us to revise them. The original data was accurate at the time. Most companies would have quietly moved on or found another customer with better numbers to showcase.
But here’s why we’re not doing that:
1. You deserve accurate expectations.
If you install Stylaquin expecting 200% longer sessions and see 30%, you’ll feel disappointed—even though 30% is actually excellent. We’d rather you be pleasantly surprised than let down.
2. The clean baseline is more representative.
Most stores don’t have forced popups depressing their baseline engagement. The updated data shows what you’ll likely see.
3. These numbers are still really strong.
A 30% increase in session duration is significant. Viewing 2X more products means genuine discovery. Converting at 2X the rate means quality engagement. Most e-commerce apps would be thrilled with these results.
4. Trust matters more than impressive stats.
We’d rather be known for accuracy than for having the most eye-popping numbers on our landing page.
5. We’d rather under-promise and over-deliver.
Conservative numbers you exceed feel great. Inflated promises you miss feel terrible.
They’re achievable.
The 30% longer sessions and 2X more products viewed represent realistic results for stores with clean implementations—no unusual elements artificially depressing baseline metrics.
They’re still impressive.
How many Shopify apps can prove 30% longer sessions and 2X more products viewed with real customer data? Not many.
They show we aren’t shining you on
When we say “30% longer sessions,” you know we’re not inflating, cherry-picking, or using creative math. We’re showing you reality.
They focus on outcomes.
Engagement metrics are great. But the result—dramatically more organic traffic and revenue—is what actually matters for your business.
If you’re evaluating Stylaquin, here’s what’s realistic:
You’ll likely see:
You’ll need:
Best results come from:
For full transparency, here’s the complete comparison from HorseWorld EU’s analytics (June-November 2025):
| Metric | Used Stylaquin | Didn’t Use Stylaquin | Lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Session Duration | 5:24 | 4:06 | +32% |
| Average Products Viewed | 10.0 | 4.9 | +104% (2X) |
| Overall Conversion Rate | 2.91% | 2.06% | +41% |
| Returning Visitor Conversion | 8.13% | 3.76% | +116% (2.16X) |
| Return Visitor Rate | 26.2% | 14.5% | +81% |
| Stylaquin Usage Rate | 12.75% of sessions | N/A | 3-4X higher than traditional wishlists |
Consistent, measurable improvement across every engagement metric. Real results, accurately reported.
The SaaS industry has a trust problem.
Too many companies inflate metrics, cherry-pick data, or use creative accounting to make results look better than they are. We’ve all seen the “10X your revenue!” claims that mysteriously don’t work for anyone else.
We’re not interested in playing that game.
When our baseline data changed and the numbers shifted, we had a choice: keep using the bigger numbers (nobody would have known), or update them to reflect reality.
We chose reality.
Stylaquin works. Shoppers engage more, view more products, convert better. Google rewards that engagement with higher rankings. Stores see measurable traffic and revenue increases.
The exact percentages matter less than the outcome. And we’d rather be known for accuracy than hype.
If you have questions about the data, or want to discuss whether Stylaquin is right for your store, email me directly: sfletcher@stylaquin.com
Full transparency. No BS.
Sarah Fletcher
Founder, Stylaquin
Let’s start with the Big thanks. Thank you God. I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given me with this life and I’ll try to use your gifts wisely. Not sure what the plan is, but I’m okay with that. You do you, I’m your ride or die buddy. Actually ride and die, though no rush, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Fat thanks go to Pudge, my rescue pup who greats me each morning with the enthusiasm of a teenage Beatles fan. At 120 lbs, the Vet assured me that even though he looks great for an eight year old Bernese Mountain Dog, he will soon be crushed by the extra seven pounds he’s gained, live a shorter life and be plagued by joint pain. I covered Pudge’s ears and explained to the vet that fat shaming a plus-size person’s pet might not have the impact he was hoping for.
Sloppy thanks go to all the excess belongings in my life. Your Swedish death cleaning moment is nigh, but I’ve really enjoyed having you along for the ride. Those of you who have been in the family for generations and don’t fit in the attic, don’t get too nervous. I’ve been saying this for a while and progress remains slow. I know I don’t need an antique fencing foil right now, but I might take it up again. You never know. It’s good exercise.
Wet thanks go to my Mom, who passed in February. Last week I found time to review some of the Stylaquin data, noticed that one of the stores had gotten truly amazing results and I thought “I have to tell Mom, she’ll love it!” I did, but it wasn’t the same.
And now for some extra cheese. I am honestly grateful for so many people who make my life interesting, fun, curious, exhausting, enlightening, and fascinating. I’m blessed, and I hope I’m giving back as much as I’m getting. Thank you!
All the best,
Sarah
The first blog post I wrote was “Online shopping kind of sucks” I am still saying that several years later. Yes, Stylaquin ROCKS. Yes, you should add it to your Shopify site. But WHY is it the only innovation aimed at women?
Honestly, the amount of time that is being spent on AI, and how AI is going to improve the shopping experience is insane. AI is, at its core, a predictive engine. There is no possible way you can show me exactly what I want, because I don’t know what I want. That’s why I’m shopping and not just buying. I’m going to pause here to give the men reading this a moment to throw back their heads and wail “See, they don’t even know what they want!” Yes, EXACTLY! Showing me what you think I should want is going to be about as frustrating for me as trying to get YouTube to stop showing me heroic pet rescue videos after I watched JUST ONE. Alright, maybe more than one, but I do have other interests.
I don’t mean invent some amazing thing that will change the world. I mean look at what he wore. Jeans and a black turtleneck. EVERY DAY. Um, other than Elizabeth Holmes, women don’t typically have a one-and-done wardrobe. Websites are still focused on the speed aspects of shopping, getting shoppers in and out as quickly as possible. Which completely misses the point that women LIKE to shop. It’s a hobby, not a chore, we dig it—and do a lot of it. Most of it in fact.
Women don’t love to shop because we find the exact right thing the minute we show up. I mean, sure, a good shopping moment is a victory shared with friends over coffee or wine, but without the hunt, where’s the fun? We love to shop because it’s fun to look at lots of nice things and think about how they would look. There’s a whole journey of discovery that isn’t being addressed. (By anyone other than Stylaquin that is.)
Online shopping sucks because it’s assuming that we are all looking for the thing we already know we want. If I want a navy blue, short-sleeved, 100% cotton tee-shirt—three clicks and I’m done. In real life, it’s just not that simple. What if I want the perfect top to go with the pants I know look good with the shoes I just bought; which have a sort of low heel so I can also wear them to work, and the top should probably also go to work on meeting days, but needs to work for date night too, if I go straight from work to the date? Now that requires some real thought. Men, if you just felt your face go numb, stop thinking that men are qualified to be in charge of women’s online shopping experience. This is who we are, and we do 87% of all online shopping. The female brain has evolved for over 300,000 years to be the finely honed instrument it is today. What you do with fantasy football, we do with shopping.
I don’t want to diminish what Stylaquin does. Stylaquin shoppers stay 70% longer, view 185% more items, come back 3X more often and convert 3% more when they do. But Stylaquin can’t, or at least shouldn’t be, the only innovation aimed at improving online shopping for women.
End rant.
Last week I went to the Women Leading Change conference. As I walked around in a room full of women I was impressed by the kindness, the generosity, and the staggering number of crazy talented women suffering from imposter syndrome. (We need to get over that.) I have watched the struggle for equality firsthand. My grandmother was born without the right to vote. She wasn’t allowed to open a bank account at the bank she worked at, even though she had a degree, was a registered dietician, and ran the bank’s cafeteria. Rather than have my grandfather open an account for her, she went to a credit union so she could open her own. My mother had degrees from both Brown and RISD and was the president of the Women’s Ad Club of Rhode Island. As an art director, she lived through Mad Men in real life.
When I was in college in the 80s I got into a discussion about feminism with one of my professors, Elfie Raymond, who had degrees from the Sorbonne and the University of Vienna*. Elfie held up a hand to wave off all the politics of the day, looked me in the eye and said with her slow, euro-accented English. “Sarah, the housewives of Scarsdale have burned their bras to show the world that women are equal. Now it’s up to your generation to prove their sacrifice was worth it. You can’t just SAY you are equal, you need to BE equal.” (Elfie always had an edge of both sarcasm and wit.) Those words stuck with me. Being equal wasn’t enough at the time. You didn’t move up the ladder being as good as the guy next to you. Being better was the only way for women to get ahead. The unwritten rules of commerce did not favor women, and yet the slow steady push for equality moved a lot of rubber tree plants and broke a lot of glass ceilings.
Today I have an established business (Catalog Design Studios) and a startup focused on online shopping designed for the way women shop. (Stylaquin) This year I’m also running for town council in my small town. I don’t know if I’ll win, but being equal means I can try. Being equal also means being able to fail, get things wrong, and do things over. Being equal means that if I fail, I won’t fail because I’m a woman. I’ll fail because I’m human.
When I’m in a room full of women I can see how far we’ve come, and how far we still need to go. Looking back, I can see each generation making progress. Looking forward I see even more change ahead. My niece, who’s in data analytics, wasn’t getting paid as much as her peers. She wasn’t afraid to go to HR and complain—that’s progress. The real progress though is that when her peers found out about the discrepancy, they went to HR and complained too, now she’s paid the same as they are. Millennials aren’t as comfortable with inequality as prior generations. They speak up and fix it. That’s generational progress!
*Elfie Raymond was also a Post-doctoral Fulbright Exchange Scholar at Columbia University; recipient of research grants from the Ford Foundation, the Hewlett-Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Scholar-in-residence at Northwestern University, Graduate Theological Union Seminary at Berkeley, the Institute for Reformation History at the University of Zurich, and Reader at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington. She was an extraordinary human.
I say gift because it gave me insight into many, many things. No one is more surprised than I am that one of the biggest insights I had was about men. Every morning I take a pill that blocks my estrogen. I’m a different person because of it and I now know how different it feels to have the hormones that lean more toward the typical man. I don’t feel like a man, but I GET men now in a way I didn’t when I had estrogen. I don’t have the same interest in chatter, so I just tune out. I want to get things done more than I want everyone to agree. I stopped worrying about my hair. I stopped wearing makeup. I don’t put the effort into decorating the way I used to. If I need a new shirt, I just buy a new shirt. My expectations for the new shirt have lowered. I didn’t go from Felix Unger to Oscar Madison, I just don’t care as much about how things look. In a weird way, things just aren’t as beautiful.
It can with Stylaquin! Stylaquin is the easy to add Shopify app that transforms your website. Stylaquin makes shopping faster, more engaging, and more fun. Stylaquin shoppers stay longer, view over 85% more products, come back more often, and buy more when they do. Find us in the Shopify App Store.
So how does this relate to web design blindspots? Women shop differently than men. In general, women like to shop more than men. When I had an abundance of estrogen, I really enjoyed just looking at new things. Beauty and newness were delicious. Retail therapy did lovely things for my mood. Trying to explain the difference between having estrogen, and not having estrogen, is like trying to explain color to someone who has only seen black and white. The current online shopping experience was designed by men, who (gross generalization coming) don’t gronk spending free time looking at pretty things just because. Of course, the internet, which was designed by men, is geared for the way men shop. You don’t design for something you don’t think matters. Why would you? It’s like asking women who aren’t into sports to design a better system for fantasy football. Why would they?
When online shopping first went mainstream, it was mostly men doing the shopping. A few decades, and one pandemic later, that has changed to women doing most of the online shopping. If you’re selling to women, you need to understand why women shop differently. what they get from browsing, and why it matters to them. I honestly, totally get why it is so hard to see. Thank you cancer. (There are two New York Times best sellers by Dr. Louann Brizendine you should read if you want to get into details. One is called The Female Brain. The other is called The Male Brain. Both are fascinating.)
The Stylaquin Idea Board keeps customers engaged in two ways: it’s an interactive styling board where shoppers can collect and curate all the things that interest them; and it also acts as a wishlist that shoppers can return to. Find us in the Shopify App Store.
I’ve had a laser focus on how women shop for my entire career as an art director and catalog designer. When you watch people shop online you can see a clear difference between shopping when they know what they want and just need to find it, and browsing. We call this item shopping. Most men are item shoppers. I am now an item shopper. Browsing is different. Browsing is about discovery, beauty, surprise, and delight. As women browse, they save all the things that interest them in separate tabs. When I point this out to men, they laugh and say “Yah, my wife/girlfriend does that.” Men don’t wonder why women open all those tabs, they just think it’s odd behavior, like spending an afternoon wandering through stores and not buying anything. Men assume that women see the world through the same lens that they do. Based on my experience, that is not true. If you’re selling to women, that’s big a blindspot.
“Shrink it and Pink it” Is a design phrase that shows the bias in product design that exists today. There is a difference between how men and women see the world. When I invented Stylaquin, I saw the world through estrogen colored glasses. I knew that my online shopping needs weren’t being met then, but I struggled to explain to my male friends and a whole bunch of male MIT professors why Stylaquin met the needs of women. They just couldn’t see it, and back then I couldn’t see why. I honestly wish there was a way to share our perspectives with each other, but alas, it’s a gift that comes at too high a price to share. The big takeaway for men is that women don’t love shopping for no reason. They aren’t engaging in odd, pointless behavior. Women love shopping more than men do because they get more from the experience than men do.
Stylaquin makes it a simple to accommodate both the item shopper and the browser on the same site. If you have a Shopify site it’s quick and easy to add Stylaquin. If you’re not on Shopify, reach out and we’ll take a look.
I know a lot of great marketers, people who get paid big bucks to write copy, create campaigns, and design cool things. Yet, when they get to their own company—total blank. I do it, you probably do it too. If you’re thinking OMG! That is ME! You’re not alone. I don’t think I’ve met a founder yet who is confident about their marketing. It’s like you start a business and then take a stupid pill.
It can with Stylaquin! Stylaquin is the easy to add Shopify app that transforms your website. Stylaquin makes shopping faster, more engaging, and more fun. Stylaquin shoppers stay longer, view over 85% more products, come back more often, and buy more when they do. Find us in the Shopify App Store.
We don’t step back far enough to see the business the way we would if we were marketing it as a job. The results matter because we all put our hearts, souls, and savings into our businesses. No one starts a business with the hope of failing. The “Producers” being the exception to the rule. I have learned that I need to pretend that I am my own client, ask the questions I would ask a client, and then write down the answers. This gets me two things. A sharable document that explains the company to those just coming on board, either individuals or outside teams. It also holds me accountable. When I share a product description, Brand Book, or strategy document it becomes real. If you just think about things and never write them down, it’s faster, but way less accurate, and totally unsharable.
I don’t know about you but I never develop a marketing strategy for a client without sitting down with their team, getting all the background, learning about the customers, fully understanding the value proposition and the market we will be addressing. For my own business, I feel like I know it, or should know it, or will figure it out as I go. The steps I take with clients, I’m not doing with myself, or my team. I know that if I go through the steps and do the work I will get a better product, but I still skip through them because I want to be done. I want to check all boxes and swoop in with a brilliant idea that we can execute on. Pronto!
The Stylaquin Idea Board keeps customers engaged in two ways: it’s an interactive styling board where shoppers can collect and curate all the things that interest them; and it also acts as a wishlist that shoppers can return to. Find us in the Shopify App Store.
I have a coach and I’m in two mastermind groups. I try to help the other founders in my group, but I rarely ask for help. I’m not sure what I need because I don’t go through the complete process needed for great marketing. I just feel like I should do something and asking something like “So what should I do next?” is impossible for anyone who doesn’t fully understand my business to know. That doesn’t mean I can’t ask for help, but I need to phrase it as “Has anyone ever had this problem and how did you fix it?” It is much faster and more accurate to hire an expert, but it’s also more expensive. Working from a strategy document helps me hold focus.
When you first start out, you don’t have data. That isn’t a true statement, but it feels like it’s true. How can we have data if we are just starting out? Feedback is baby data. Getting feedback is the first step in the journey. What do potential customers like? What don’t they like? What would they pay? These are all questions before the first sale. Once you have sales, looking at what data you can get and how to use the data is the next part of the journey. How often do you look at your data? What data would help you do a better job marketing? One of the things that Stylaquin gives stores is actionable insights on what customers looked at and considered, not just what they purchased.
With all that’s going on in the world it is more important than ever to take time to laugh and share goodwill. The world is a beautiful magical place. We can all do our part to make it better, safer and more peaceful, and that starts with gratitude for the blessings we enjoy. So thank you!
I’m repurposing a card I made way back in 2012. It blows my mind that a) The two munchkins grew up so fast. b) Eleven years later I’m focused on making online shopping better and more fun. Was this where the seed was planted…? c) Tech is still pretty much that annoying. Can’t wait for AI to smooth the edges.
All the best
Sarah Fletcher – Stylaquin Founder
Many things have changed in eleven years, but tragically online shopping isn’t one of them. Make 2024 the year that you push your Shopify site into the future with a Shopify wishlist that makes it more fun and engaging to shop!
The Stylaquin Idea Board keeps customers engaged in two ways: it’s an interactive styling board where shoppers can collect and curate all the things that interest them; and it also acts as a wishlist that shoppers can return to. Find us in the Shopify App Store.
I wanted to create a graphic for 3 Easy Ways to Get More Sales This Season. Nothing fancy, just the title with some holiday whimsy. I though it would be fun to start with the words in the title, and then add a Santa hat to the number three. I headed over to Adobe Express to see if I could whip it up in a jiff with AI. I mean, how hard could it be right?
So here’s the instructions I gave the Adobe Express AI generator. It asked me what I would like to create and I typed “The words “3 Easy Ways to Get More Sales this Season” with a festive Christmas look and a red Santa hat on the 3.”
It can with Stylaquin! Stylaquin is the easy to add Shopify app that transforms your website. Stylaquin makes shopping faster, more engaging, and more fun. Stylaquin shoppers stay longer, view over 85% more products, come back more often, and buy more when they do. Find us in the Shopify App Store.
When I got done laughing, I headed over to Canva to see if their AI generator could do any better. Canva first tried to steer me toward starting with a template, which I thought was smart, if they weren’t 100% confident in their AI generator’s capabilities. I decided to push the envelope and go straight to the AI generator.
Kudos to Canva for having real words, but points off for not being anything close to what I asked for. I mean, come on, no Santa hat anywhere. Not nearly as amusing, and also very odd. What is the shape with the glitter/snow supposed to represent? What is the odd broken heart shape with the Christmas tree lot in it? Were there no pics of Santa available? Hat or no hat, I never mentioned either tree or glitter.
The Stylaquin Idea Board keeps customers engaged in two ways: it’s an interactive styling board where shoppers can collect and curate all the things that interest them; and it also acts as a wishlist that shoppers can return to. Find us in the Shopify App Store.
And so it seems that, much like self driving cars, there is a long way to go before we can just tell AI our dream featured post image and have it magically appear.
If you’ve got a great AI fail do share. It’s makes me feel like SkyNet is still a long way off.
Our journey began with an idea, followed by a patent, followed by a sh*t ton of work. The initial plan was to sell Stylaquin to large companies, where we would integrate with each individually. Good plan, bad timing. Before the pandemic hit, we were just coming out of beta and the market for new and innovative things was open and exciting. Once the pandemic hit, stores that were interested in testing were fighting for their lives, and online went from being a channel to being a lifeline. We were dead in the water.
When we looked at our options, it was clear that we needed to change our approach, and we also needed to find a partner who was looking for innovation. Shopify was the fastest-growing e-commerce platform with the largest share of customers who would benefit from what Stylaquin has to offer. Choosing to start with Shopify wasn’t a hard decision to make, but it wasn’t all that easy to implement.
It was clear that to rework the app for Shopify, and for scale, was more than David had the bandwidth for and we added Jeff Eisen to the team. Jeff was just out of IBM where he lead teams for both Lotus 123 and Watson, the supercomputer. (So AWESOME!) The pace increased exponentially.
We also realized that to be easy for smaller shops to use, Stylaquin had to be no extra work for whoever was adding it. We changed how Stylaquin displayed the store’s images from using templates to using an algorithm. The Look Book pages are now automatically laid out in a way that is both beautiful, and ever-changing, so customers really feel like they are flipping through a magazine when they shop with Stylaquin.
Stylaquin brings a new level of fun to the online shopping experience. It runs the store’s images through a proprietary algorithm to display them in a beautiful, dynamic layout that works on both desktop and mobile.
Then came pricing. Oy, pricing. So many details, so many ways to get caught up in the infinite complexity of “But what if…?”. In the end, we used a subscription pricing model and a usage plan that was based on the sales volume needs of different sized companies. The temptation to just put something in place and work it out later was always there, but thinking it through based on store size, and trying to make it as affordable as possible, kept our focus on what mattered — helping stores of all sizes delight and engage their customers. We realized that we need to be profitable to grow, but we also need to be customer-focused and not let the pennies get in the way of the dollars.
This was the week we pulled the trigger and sent Stylaquin to Shopify for approval. We are still going through the approval process. There has been some back and forth, a few very minor problems like logos showing or wording for instructions, but nothing of concern so far. Big shout out to Wissem from Shop the look for sharing their journey with us. The Shopify application process is detailed and very specific. You really have to go through it a few times and then go through it again. We created a separate document and worked on it outside the actual application which helped us work as a team without fear of making mistakes. We still made mistakes, but Shopify sends notices on the things bots can find, and then humans take over with more detailed questions.
There’s more to come, and more to do, so much more to do, but the dream of a beautiful, fun, engaging, and kind of magical, online shopping experience is almost here!