Step 1: Mobile app design

What does an amazing app design look like?

An amazing app design looks like a Louis Vuitton store. Clean, attractive, and touch-worthy (pun intended).
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Look at this mobile app from Carol's Boutique. It’s chic, easy to navigate, and tells you a lot about the brand at first glance.
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Here’s a version of Carol's Boutique app that you can touch and scroll.

Feels great, right? Let’s dig a little deeper into the components and must-haves of a great boutique app.

Must-have aspects of your boutique app

A homepage that resonates with your brand
Individual product display pages and collections pages
Homepage banners to promote specific collections or limited deals
Search functionality to provide a smooth shopping experience
A cart page with necessary elements like product details, shipping charges (if any), and the final price followed by the checkout button. The cart page is also a great place to recommend similar products and remind them of their wishlisted items.
A smooth checkout page integrated with common payment gateways
The navigation menu that hosts all the major pages within your app. By default, Vajro replicates the navigation menu on your website.
A login or sign-up page. This is a must-have IF you host live sessions. Your users need to have an account with your store if they want to view your sessions.

Check out how Opal, the founder of Wild & Precious Boutique, used the homepage to tell their brand story. She uses a beautiful message to connect with her customers. It’s like she’s talking to them in person.

As soon as you’ve covered the MUST-haves, we can speak about the NICE-to-haves…

Nice-to-have aspects that add value

In addition to the above features, boutique owners use a few other elements to make their app stand out:
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Wishlist feature: Enable your customers to add products to their wishlist so they can come back to their faves later.
Countdown timers: Having a timer on your homepage helps you create hype or FOMO for your upcoming event, product launch, or flash sales.

Landing pages: These are an excellent way to promote a particular collection, flash sales, and limited deals on your app. Add them to the homepage, navigation menu, and bottom bar to attract customers.
Video banner: Every boutique has a story. And some boutique owners we work with share their unique stories on their apps through video banners. You can promote a self-shot video, a professional video, or even a reel from your Instagram here to add a personal touch.

Vintage Boho Bags uses this widget to show their customers how they can personalize their Boho Bags by adding some fringe, braiding, and accessories.

Apart from the features and capabilities recommended above, here are some key points that you should consider to build an amazing app design: 

Have high-quality images
Highlight key information (product details, pricing, CTA button)
Make sure your copy is easy to read
Make optimal use of white space to avoid a cluttered look
Ensure the navigation is smooth and fast
Have only a minimum number of forms, opt-ins, or popups

Why do boutiques benefit from an amazing app design?

An intuitive app design attracts engagement from a large audience. Fashion enthusiasts and boutique lovers admire a sassy app that feels personal and captures their interests.

Here are a few reasons why boutiques benefit from an amazing app design:

1. An amazing app design converts

Customer behavior is more straightforward on a mobile app because there are fewer distractions than on the website. A great user interface makes it easy for customers to navigate through the app, increasing sales and conversions. It prompts them to take an intended action - whether it’s about checking out an ongoing sale, viewing recommendations, or joining your live sale.
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Look at this stunning app design from Shop CCB. On their app homepage, they welcome new app users with an attractive discount. And on the next scroll, they promote products that are available only on the app through an attractive banner

2. You can build a strong connection with customers

With convenient one-tap access to all the products in your boutique, your app shows your customers what they want to see. And when they resonate with your brand… they click, engage, and buy. And even better, they become your advocates and recommend your brand to their friends and family. A mobile app is a community. YOUR community. Filled with loyal customers and fans.

3. Streamline the shopping experience - from browsing to checkout

Mobile apps are built using a language that smartphones understand. That’s the reason apps provide a better and faster shopping experience than websites, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
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Take the example of Simply Me Boutique.
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Their mobile app is their fastest-growing revenue channel, helping them increase their conversion rate by 56% and average order value by 40%

Amy Piechocki, Simply Me Boutique

You need this app. So beautiful and easy to use. The team is talented and made the setup super easy (for a non-techy gal like me), and they're always quick to reply.
My shoppers are loving it!

Read full story

4. Reduce your cart abandonments - To. A. Notable. Extent.

A lengthy checkout process is one of the most common reasons for cart abandonment. An amazing app design avoids that possibility by allowing checkout in 1-2 steps (thanks to guest checkouts and saved passwords).
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Users also abandon their cart if the app has slow load speeds. A great app supports the latest APIs and integrations to offer lightning-fast shopping experiences.
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Here’s an interesting story of how a wellness boutique reduced cart abandonment with a mobile.
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When Angel, Founder of The Pretty Hot Mess, LLC approached Vajro to build a boutique app, her priority was to reduce cart abandonment, retain her customers, and offer a more cohesive shopping experience.With smart and convenient payment plugins and automated abandoned cart notifications, Angel was able to recapture and retain her customers and keep them engaged. The result?
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Angel saw a massive increase in revenue and conversion rates. The overall revenue saw a 227% increase in sales, with an online conversion rate of almost 6%!

Read the full case study here.

227%

Total Sales

69%

Conversion

5. A great mobile app builds up your brand credibility

A powerful app design captures your branding that you carry on your web or physical store. With a mobile app, you can promote your brand story through push notifications, in-app promotions, loyalty programs, and live selling. A great design together with memorable shopping experiences create a lasting impression. It gives you a competitive edge and makes your boutique trustworthy.
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Speaking of trust: With Vajro’s powerful integrations, you can seamlessly integrate with product review solutions to build brand credibility and trust. See how.

6. You can customize as you build (and grow)

A mobile app enables you to customize your most important pages:

Homepage
Product pages
Cart page
Checkout page

With Vajro, the no-code app builder for boutiques, you can customize these pages on the go by yourself. (Without any dependency on tech geeks). But if you need any tech support, just reach out to us here.