Tag Archives: how to improve the online experience for women

Why Shoppers Use Wishlists (and It’s Not to Buy)

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Wishlists Aren’t Just About Saving Products

On the surface, a wishlist looks like a simple utility. It gives shoppers a place to save items they’re interested in—nothing more, nothing less.

But if that were really all there was to it, wishlist usage wouldn’t be so emotionally charged. Shoppers don’t just save things—they curate. They dream. They plan. And sometimes, they never come back to buy.

To understand how to build a better online shopping experience, we need to look at what’s really happening when a shopper hits “Add to Wishlist.”

Wishlists are Emotional, Not Just Practical

Think about the last time you created a wishlist. You weren’t just logging a product. You were imagining how it would look on you, how it would feel to own it, or what it might say about your taste.

For shoppers—especially women—wishlist behavior is closely tied to emotional connection. It’s a moment of aspiration, not transaction.

That’s one of the biggest reasons wishlists fall short as a conversion tool. They’re great for creating emotional resonance, but they rarely carry that momentum forward. The shopper pauses, life happens, and the moment is lost.

Wishlists Create a Safe Space to Shop Without Pressure

Online shopping can be overwhelming, especially on stores with hundreds or thousands of products. A wishlist offers a way to narrow the field and temporarily “hold” things while making decisions.

But this feeling of control and flexibility also creates distance. Shoppers use wishlists to delay decision-making. Without a reason to re-engage, that saved item quietly gathers digital dust.

What Shoppers Want Isn’t a List—It’s a Way to Curate

Here’s the real insight: shoppers aren’t looking for a spreadsheet of links. They want a visually satisfying, emotionally affirming way to collect and organize things they like.

That’s why Pinterest boards, styled outfit guides, and magazine layouts have staying power. They don’t just log choices—they inspire confidence in those choices.

Traditional wishlist apps don’t provide that. They’re functional, but flat.

Stylaquin Brings the Wishlist to Life

Stylaquin taps into what shoppers really want: a way to engage with products while browsing, not just file them away.

The Idea Board lets shoppers drag and drop products into a beautifully designed space they can rearrange, revisit, and use to guide their purchase. It’s not tucked away in a menu. It’s always visible, always useful, and part of the fun.

For store owners, this means more time on site, higher return rates, and a shopping experience that encourages thoughtful, confident buying—not passive saving.

Rethink What a Wishlist Could Be

When you understand why shoppers use wishlists—to curate, explore, and emotionally connect—you realize that most apps aren’t meeting the moment.

If you want to offer more than just a save button, it’s time to reimagine what’s possible.

See how Stylaquin brings curation, creativity, and conversion together → https://www.stylaquin.com/demo

Introducing a Fresh New Look for the Stylaquin Idea Board

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Now there are two ways to make shopping fun

We’ve given the Idea Board a modern refresh, with a cleaner, more elegant layout that feels fresh and familiar. It lets shoppers see and change all the variants for any product they add to the Idea Board.

The Stylaquin Idea Board with Full information

But what if your customers are more visual? With one click you can make the way they discover products on your store feel as natural and inspiring as scrolling through Pinterest®.

Giving stores more control over how shoppers interact with their products is the driving force behind the latest updates to Stylaquin.

We’re giving stores even more control over how the shopping experience feels with an exciting new option: A Pinterest-style layout you can enable right from the Stylaquin Admin Panel.

The Stylaquin Idea Board with Minimal Information

It’s designed to help your customers visualize, curate, and come back for more. And it’s just another way Stylaquin helps your store stand out. They can still edit all the product details by clicking the plus sign that appears on desktop when they hover and is persistent on mobile.

Why Pinterest®? Because That’s How People Want to Shop

Pinterest® has become one of the most powerful visual discovery tools in the world, with over 465 million active users and more than 80% of weekly users discovering new brands or products.

It’s not just social—it’s shoppable. And it’s trained a generation of shoppers to think in boards, collections, and inspiration grids.

Now, you can bring that same energy to your own store.

What’s New in This Release

With this update, we’ve introduced:

  • A redesigned Idea Board that’s more modern and intuitive
  • A new Pinterest-style grid option you can turn on or off with a click
  • Both layouts work seamlessly across mobile and desktop
  • The same drag-and-drop functionality shoppers already love

It’s a small change that can make a big difference in how shoppers engage with your products, and how they come back to buy.

Beautiful. Visual. Built to Convert.

The new layout isn’t just about looks. It’s about giving your customers a better way to shop, one that’s visual, expressive, and easy to return to.

Because when people can picture how things fit together, they make faster, more confident buying decisions. And when the experience feels delightful, they’re far more likely to come back.

See It for Yourself

You can explore the new Idea Board (and try out the Pinterest layout) right now on our live demo site:

Click to visit the Stylaquin Demo Site

If your store is already using Stylaquin, just log into your Admin Panel to turn on the new layout. And if you haven’t installed it yet—now’s the perfect time.

How to set Minimal Information Settings In the Stylaquin Admin Panel

The Complete Guide to Converting Browsers into Buyers

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How to Entice Browsers to Become Buyers

Your store is getting traffic, but the sales aren’t following. Sound familiar?

Here’s the thing: your products might be great, your photos might be perfect, and your ads might be working, but if your store isn’t converting browsers into buyers, you’re leaving money on the table.

This guide is all about solving that problem, especially if you’re running a fashion or lifestyle store on Shopify. We’ll walk through why shoppers often leave without buying, how to turn engagement into conversions, and what you can do to inspire more purchases without redesigning your entire store.

Why Browsers Don’t Convert

Let’s start with the hard truth: most online shoppers aren’t in buying mode, they’re browsing.

Here’s where things go wrong:

  • Product grids feel overwhelming
  • It’s hard to discover new items
  • There’s no way to save products or build a cart over time

This kind of friction breaks the customer journey before it even gets going. What you need is a better way to keep shoppers engaged and guide them forward.

The Psychology of Buying Behavior

Shopping is emotional. Especially in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle categories, customers are influenced by inspiration, curation, and storytelling more than they are by specs and discounts.

That’s why you need more than a smooth checkout, you need micro-engagement. Every time a shopper clicks, scrolls, or drags a product onto an idea board, they’re building emotional investment. And that makes them far more likely to buy.

Strategies That Convert Browsers Into Buyers

Here are four high-impact ways to turn casual browsers into committed customers:

1. Create an Inspiring Visual Experience

Make your site feel more like a magazine and less like a spreadsheet. Use look books, curated collections, and lifestyle photography to help shoppers picture how your products fit into their lives.

2. Make Browsing Fun and Interactive

Don’t just display products—make them interactive. Let shoppers swipe, drag, and explore collections with fewer clicks. It keeps them on-site longer and builds connection.

3. Let Shoppers Save Favorites

Shoppers rarely buy on the first visit. Give them a way to save their picks—whether it’s an idea board or wish list—so they can come back when they’re ready.

4. Curate Collections and Guides

Help shoppers find what they didn’t know they were looking for. Group products into trend stories, seasonal guides, or style edits to encourage discovery.

Why Engagement Metrics Matter

Engagement isn’t just good for conversions, it’s great for SEO. Google pays attention to how long shoppers stay on your site, how many pages they visit, and whether they come back.

By improving session duration and interaction, you’re signaling to search engines that your site is useful, relevant, and worth ranking higher. It’s the long game that pays off.

Real-World Results: What Engagement Can Do

Stores using Stylaquin have seen major increases in key engagement metrics:

  • Average session duration: 5:56 (up from 1:31)
  • Products viewed per session: 6.9 (up from 2.0)

That’s 3.9x longer visits and 245% more products explored per shopper.

The takeaway? A better experience leads to better performance, all without discounting or big design changes.

What to Do Next

  • Ready to start turning more visitors into customers? Here’s a quick self-check:
  • Is your store easy (and fun) to explore?
  •  Can shoppers build a look or save favorites?
  • Are you giving them reasons to stay longer and return later?

If not, it’s time to rethink your engagement strategy.

Stylaquin helps fashion-forward Shopify stores level up the shopping experience with visual, interactive tools like Look Books and Idea Boards—no redesign required.

Try it free for 30 days and see what happens when browsers stay longer, explore more, and come back ready to buy.

More Ways to Turn Engagement Into Sales

Explore these related posts to dive deeper into shopper engagement and e-commerce growth:

Why Online Fashion Stores Struggle with Conversion

Top 5 Ways to Keep Online Shoppers Engaged (Without Discounts)

Want More Sales? Upgrade the Shopping Experience

How Stylaquin Stores Keep Shoppers 42% Longer

The Psychology of Ecommerce Engagement

Interactive Shopping Features That Actually Work

How to Audit Your Store for Engagement Gaps

Interactive Shopping Features That Actually Work

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Interactive is a great way to increase sales and improve SEO

Most e-commerce sites are optimized for checkout. But if you want to increase conversions, you need to start earlier in the journey, you need to start when shoppers are browsing.

Interactive features don’t just make your store look better. They actively influence how long people stay, how much they explore, and how likely they are to buy.

Why Interactivity Increases Conversions

Shoppers are more engaged when they’re actively involved. Interactivity gives them a sense of control, curiosity, and even fun. That emotional connection keeps them on your site longer and builds trust.

Micro-engagement, things like clicking, dragging, or saving, leads to macro-results: more sales, more loyalty, and more repeat visits.

5 Interactive Features That Actually Work (and Why)

1. Look Books

Visual browsing tools like Look Books let shoppers flip through curated images of your products. It mimics the experience of flipping through a magazine—and it works. Look Books encourage exploration, help shoppers discover combinations they didn’t think of, and inspire bigger carts.

2. Idea Boards or Wish Lists

Letting shoppers save and curate their favorite items is a simple but powerful feature. It builds emotional investment, encourages them to return, and often results in higher order value. It also gives customers a way to build a personal experience within your store.

3. Drag-and-Drop Tools

Drag-and-drop lets shoppers create outfits, compare options, or group items they’re considering. It gamifies the experience and keeps them interacting. Every movement builds connection—and adds time to the session.

4. Flip-Through Galleries

Mobile shoppers want to scroll, swipe, and move fast. Flip-through galleries make it easier to see more products quickly without clicking through multiple pages. More interactions = lower bounce rate and higher retention.

5. Recently Viewed + Save-for-Later

These features reduce frustration by helping shoppers retrace their steps. They keep people grounded and confident—and make it easier for them to come back later and complete their purchase.

Bonus: How These Features Support SEO

Interactive features don’t just drive sales—they also improve your visibility. More page views, longer session durations, and return visits all send positive signals to search engines. In short, better engagement = better rankings.

Make Your Store More Interactive Without a Redesign

You don’t need a new theme or a developer to make your store more engaging.

Stylaquin adds powerful interactive features like Look Books and Idea Boards, right on top of your existing Shopify site. No code, no layout changes, just better shopping.

Try it free for 30 days and see what happens when your store becomes something shoppers love to explore.

Want to learn more about how to convert browsers into buyers? Check out The Complete Guide to Converting Browsers into Buyers!

How Stylaquin Stores Keep Shoppers 42% Longer (and Why That Matters)

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Keeping shoppers engaged is Stylaquin's magic

Stylaquin-enabled stores are seeing shoppers stay over 3x longer and view nearly 245% more products. That’s not just a nice-to-have—it’s a game-changer for your sales, SEO, and customer loyalty.

If you’ve been focused on tweaking product descriptions, running ads, or offering discounts, here’s a question:
What if your real growth opportunity is improving the shopping experience itself?

Why Time on Site = More Sales

It’s simple: the longer shoppers stay, the more they see, and the more likely they are to buy.

When a visitor lands on your store, you have seconds to hook them. If your store layout is static or uninspiring, they bounce. But when you engage them with a fun, intuitive experience, they linger, explore, and add to cart.

Bonus: Google notices too. Longer sessions and deeper engagement send positive signals that can boost your SEO rankings over time.

What Happens When You Add Stylaquin

Stylaquin enhances your store without changing your theme or layout. The Stylaquin bar acts as a portal to a whole new way to shop:

  • Look Book: A visual browsing experience that feels like flipping through a curated magazine.
  • Idea Board: Lets shoppers save favorites, build looks, and keep coming back to their personalized board.
  • Interactive Tools: Fun, intuitive browsing keeps shoppers engaged and invested in your brand.

Proof in Numbers

We’ve crunched the data and the results are clear.
Session Engagement Metrics:

  •  Average Session Duration:
    1:31 (without Stylaquin) vs. 5:56 (with Stylaquin)
  • Products Viewed per Session:
    2.0 (without) vs. 6.9 (with Stylaquin)

That means:

✔️ 3.9x longer sessions
✔️ 245% more products viewed

Translation? Shoppers stay longer, explore more, and get inspired, making them far more likely to buy.

Why It’s Easy to Try

  • No store redesign needed
  • Works seamlessly with your existing Shopify theme
  • No coding required
  • Free 30-day trial to see results for yourself

Ready to See the Difference?

If you’re serious about increasing engagement, conversions, and return visits, it’s time to make your store as captivating as your products.

Try Stylaquin free for 30 days on the Shopify App Store and turn more visitors into buyers.

Want to learn more about how to convert browsers into buyers? Check out The Complete Guide to Converting Browsers into Buyers!

How to Audit Your Store for Engagement Gaps

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Customer engagement is a powerhouse.

If your store is getting traffic but not enough sales, engagement might be the missing link.

Before you redesign, rebrand, or roll out discounts, it’s worth taking a closer look at how shoppers are actually interacting with your site. This post will walk you through a quick but powerful audit to help you identify and fix engagement gaps—so you can convert more browsers into buyers.

Why Engagement Gaps Matter

Engagement gaps are the moments where shopper attention drops off. It’s where curiosity turns into confusion, friction, or just plain boredom.

If your site doesn’t make it easy—and enjoyable—to explore, shoppers won’t stay long. And if they don’t stay, they won’t convert.

The good news? Most engagement gaps are fixable without a full redesign.

What to Look For: The Engagement Audit Checklist

Use this checklist to walk through your site like a shopper. You can do it in under 15 minutes.

1- Can shoppers browse visually?

  • Does your store feel like a spreadsheet or a magazine?
  • Are there curated collections, galleries, or inspiration sections?

2- Can shoppers save and revisit products?

  • Do you offer wish lists or idea boards?
  • Is there a way to pick up where they left off?

3- Is browsing fun and interactive?

  • Can users flip through products easily?
  • Are there drag-and-drop or swipe-through tools?

4-  Are you telling a story with your collections?

  • Do your product categories inspire or just list?
  • Are there themed edits or seasonal look books?

5- Can shoppers retrace their steps?

  • Do you show recently viewed items?
  • Is navigation intuitive and helpful?

6- Are your session metrics strong?

  • Check your average session time and page views per visit.
  • Low numbers here are a red flag for engagement gaps.
Cover of the How to Outsmart Google e-book.

Don’t get mad at Google, outsmart it! Having trouble getting your site to rank well? Wondering how to get to the top positions without paying for placement? Google is just an algorithm, once you understand how it works, you can learn how to outsmart it. Download your copy today!

P.S. It’s free and we will never share your name. You can unsubscribe at any time.

What to Do Next

If you spotted a few issues in your audit—good! That means there’s room to grow. You can start by:

  • Grouping products into visual collections
  • Adding wish lists or idea boards
  • Improving how shoppers discover and interact with items

And if you want to add interactivity fast, tools like Stylaquin let you create Look Books, Idea Boards, and swipe-style browsing—without changing your theme or hiring a developer.

The Takeaway

You don’t need to guess why shoppers aren’t buying. Do the audit, spot the gaps, and start improving your store experience one feature at a time.

Engagement leads to longer visits, stronger connections, and more conversions. And it all starts with knowing where to look.

Want to learn more about how to convert browsers into buyers? Check out The Complete Guide to Converting Browsers into Buyers!

Why Shoppers Click, Scroll, and Buy : The Psychology of Ecommerce Engagement

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Stylaquin Logo

Transforming Online Shopping

Why Shoppers Click, Scroll, and Buy

Most e-commerce strategies focus on tactics: better product photos, faster checkout, and targeted ads. But if you want to turn more visitors into customers, you need to understand what actually drives people to click, scroll, and buy.

The answer? Engagement—and it’s more emotional than you think.

Browsing Is an Emotional Behavior

Shoppers aren’t spreadsheets. They’re people—and when they visit your store, they’re often browsing with emotion, not logic. This is especially true for fashion, lifestyle, and beauty brands. Customers are imagining how they’ll look or feel with your product, not just comparing prices.

They’re not shopping. They’re exploring. They’re dreaming. And your store should support that.

Why Engagement Builds Commitment

There’s a psychological phenomenon called the *IKEA Effect*—people place more value on things they’ve put effort into. In e-commerce, the same principle applies: the more someone interacts with your store, the more invested they become.

Micro-engagement—like clicking through images, dragging items into a collection, or saving a product to an idea board—creates emotional investment. And that investment increases the likelihood that they’ll buy.

What Micro-Engagement Looks Like

Every small action a shopper takes builds attachment. Examples:

  • Clicking through a Look Book
  • Dragging a product into a personal Idea Board
  • Zooming in on a product image
  • Saving a favorite item

These aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re strategic conversion builders.

Engagement = Sales, Loyalty, and SEO

Shoppers who engage more deeply:

  • Spend more time on your site
  • View more products
  • Are more likely to return
  • Convert at higher rates

And search engines like Google notice. Longer sessions and more page views help improve your SEO, bringing even more traffic in the door.

In short: engagement doesn’t just feel good. It performs.

Ready to Make Your Store More Engaging?

You don’t need a full redesign or expensive dev work to create an emotionally engaging experience.

Stylaquin adds interactive tools like Look Books and Idea Boards (in under 15 mins) with an easy to install Shopify app. It makes browsing more fun, visual, and memorable, which turns more of your browsers into buyers.

Try it free and see what happens when your store becomes an experience, not just a storefront.

If you’d like to learn more about how to convert browsers into buyers, check out The Complete Guide to Converting Browsers into Buyers!

Visit our Demo Site
Find it on the Shopify App Store
Contact Stylaquin

Sheesh—ChatGPT doesn’t understand women either

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AI has a big old blind spot

I was thinking about doing a post about the key variables needed to create a really targeted customer profile so, of course, I headed over to ChatGPT to see what the robots say. The list below does a good job of laying out the basics, with one glaring omission—there was nothing about whether the customer likes browsing or just buys. That’s actually a pretty huge behavior to miss. Under Demographics, in the gender section, it does mention that shopping behaviors often vary by gender, but it doesn’t explain how they differ, or why. 

Take a moment to ponder that. Think about how differently women and men shop. I mean, It’s not that I NEVER see a man in Home Goods, it’s just that I see WAY more women. Women love to browse, shopping is a hobby, and women can have a great shopping day without buying anything. I guess it’s like fishing, you don’t need to catch anything to enjoy the experience. 

Okay, so we all know that AI isn’t infallible, but since most of AI has been designed by men, there’s a pretty high likelihood that AI doesn’t understand women any more than men do. This is creating a huge blindspot for marketers who want to harness the power of AI if their customers are women.

1. Demographics

•Age: Online shopping preferences vary widely by age, with younger generations often more digitally engaged and older generations having different spending patterns.

•Income Level: Income affects spending power and can guide product pricing and promotional strategies.

•Gender: Especially relevant for stores targeting specific products, as shopping behaviors often vary by gender.

2. Geographics

•Location: Country or region is critical for understanding shipping logistics, tax considerations, and seasonal marketing. Some locations may also have specific cultural or legal considerations.

•Urbanicity: Online shoppers in urban areas may prefer fast shipping, while suburban or rural audiences may respond better to offers that mitigate shipping times or costs.

3. Psychographics

•Lifestyle & Interests: Online stores can benefit significantly from knowing customer interests (e.g., fitness, fashion, eco-consciousness) to personalize product recommendations, tailor marketing campaigns, and choose relevant social media channels.

•Values: Knowing if customers prioritize things like sustainability, luxury, or budget-friendly options helps in positioning and marketing.

4. Behavioral Factors

•Buying Behavior: Understanding frequency, timing, and average order value is essential for promotions and email marketing, especially to target repeat purchases or maximize average cart size.

•Shopping Preferences: Knowing if they prefer mobile shopping, desktop, or specific payment methods can guide user experience optimization.

•Brand Loyalty: Identifying brand loyalty levels helps in determining how much to invest in retention efforts versus acquisition strategies.

5. Technographic Variables

•Device Usage: Knowing if the audience shops mainly on mobile or desktop helps optimize the store for the right device experience.

•Preferred Channels: Essential for targeting the audience on the right platforms, whether it’s social media, email marketing, or search engines.

•Digital Engagement Level: Some customers engage more with email, while others are more active on social media or have a high trust in online reviews. This affects where and how to market.

6. Needs & Pain Points

•Convenience Needs: For online shoppers, convenience is often paramount. Insights on shipping expectations, easy returns, and quick customer support can drive conversions.

•Price Sensitivity: Determines if the target audience prefers discounts, installment plans, or premium experiences.

•Product-Specific Pain Points: Knowing pain points related to the product type (e.g., sizing issues in fashion or reliability in tech) allows the store to address these directly in product descriptions and support.

7. Influences & Motivations

•Social Media Influences: Online shopping is highly influenced by social proof and recommendations from social media, making this a priority for building brand trust and generating conversions.

•Motivations for Purchase: These include reasons like self-care, lifestyle enhancement, productivity, or gift-giving. Tailoring marketing messages to resonate with these motivations can increase sales.

What is the impact of discovery on engagement?

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Discovery is a big part of engagement

Discovery is when customers find new things they are not actively searching for. It’s that “Oh wow, cool!” moment of shopping. When you look at your customers’ journey, how much time do you spend on discovery? 

Let’s dig in a bit. First, we’ll go over eight ways you can increase discovery, and then we’ll look at what any improvement does to your SEO scores and Ad costs. It’ll be a happy discovery for you, I promise.

  • Personalized Recommendations:
    There are several Shopify Apps that will make product recommendations based on customer behavior. The Achilles heel is that new customers don’t have any previous data. You could have a best-sellers collection that would probably make the same recommendations. 

  • Special Collections:
    Think about what would interest customers and create collections to pique their interest. “Sale” is always a party favorite, but “Tops under $30” might get more attention. Is there a seasonal play? Can you do something with color?

  • Curated Collections:
    Retailers create themed collections or curated lists (e.g., “Summer Essentials,” “Top Picks for You”) that highlight specific products, helping users discover items that fit within a certain context or trend is an invitation to check things out.

  • Search and Filtering Options:
    Advanced search tools and filters allow users to explore products by category, Honestly, while Google considers this a part of discovery, search tools are designed to help shoppers find what they are looking for fast. They are less about discovery and more about narrowing options They can be important, especially if you have a lot of products with purchase-relevant specifications, think appliances and tools. 

  • Social Discovery:
    Social media integration and user-generated content, such as reviews, ratings, and social shares, can guide customers to new products that are popular within their social circles or the broader online community. 

  • Content-Driven Discovery:
    Blogs, videos, and articles on the site can feature products within a story or how-to guide, introducing customers to new items in a contextual and informative way. This is not really discovery while shopping, but they are an opportunity to show products off in new ways and sell shoppers on things they may not see in the thumbnails or the first few pictures in the image carousel.

  • Interactive Tools:
    Tools like virtual try-ons, and quizzes can help users discover products that are tailored to their preferences or needs. Virtual try-ons are pretty limited at the moment and school’s out on whether quizzes have real impact on sales. They do increase dwell time (time on site), which helps tremendously with SEO engagement scores—more on that later.

  • Stylaquin:
    Discovery starts with an experience. Stylaquin uses your site’s images to create visually interesting layouts for each product. Shoppers can flip through a site like they flip through a magazine. Shopping is faster and more fun. Stylaquin shoppers view 3X more items when they shop. Stylaquin is easy to add to any Shopify site, very affordable, and comes with a free 14-day trial.
Animated gif showing a laptop that displays Stylaquin's Look Book Feature

Does Your Site Do This?

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.

Learn More

Impact on Sales

Discovery plays a pivotal role in online retail by enhancing the shopping experience, increasing time spent on the platform, and driving impulse purchases. By making it easier and more enjoyable for customers to find new and relevant products, retailers can boost engagement, foster customer loyalty, and ultimately drive higher sales. 

Impact on SEO

Because AI is driving a surge in online content. (Thank you for giving a human-written post a read!) Google is altering the way it ranks sites. Remember when keywords were everything and we all worried about site tags? The sheer volume of AI-generated content is making engagement the big winner in SEO. When Google and the search engines (that could be a band name) look for the best site to send searchers they still use keywords, but the volume the site has in less important than the total events, dwell time, and repeat visits the site generates. I invented Stylaquin to make online shopping more fun for women, but it also solves the SEO problem created by AI-driven content—a happy accident. 

Impact on Ad Spend 

In case you need one more reason to focus on engagement—sites with better Google ranking pay less for ads. I’m not shining you on. Sites with higher scores get a boost in the bidding wars. Google and the search engines (Doo Wap, doo wah.) are happy to give up a few pennies to send searchers to a site they’ll be happy with. Getting a few cents off oevery ad view can save you a nice chunk depending on your ad spend.

Cancer helped me see a blindspot men have about women

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About six years ago I was given the gift of breast cancer.

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.

Animated gif showing a laptop that displays Stylaquin's Look Book Feature

Does Your Site Do This?

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.

Learn More

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.)

Add a Styling Board and a Wishlist!

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.

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Animated gif showing a laptop displaying Stylaquin's Idea Board

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.