What You'll Learn Today

In 5 minutes, you'll be learning about the following:

We Built an AI That Might Replace Us (Kinda)
Shoppers Are Getting Pickier. Here’s What That Means for Your Shopify Strategy
SEO in 2025: The Rules Have Changed - Here’s What to Focus On
You Asked for More Shopify - We Delivered : The Shopify Growth Show
Google’s New AI Tool for Visual Creation [TOOL]

What did everyone enjoy last week?

The most clicked link was ... The Growth Marketer's Playbook

Cheers,

Jim Huffman, GrowthHit CEO
(Want a friend? Let's connect on Twitter or LinkedIn)

My Take of the Week
We Built an AI That Might Replace Us (Kinda)

So - a few weeks ago, I threw out a challenge to Craig Swanson - one of the smartest "Creators" I know:

“What if we built something with AI that could

kill our own agency ?”

Not as a gimmick. But as a serious experiment.

Could we take one of GrowthHit’s core services - like our CRO audit - and build an AI tool that mimics the patterns a strategist sees during a website teardown?

Not perfectly.

Not fully.

Just enough to feel useful.

So Craig built this:

➡️ ShopifyScorecard.com

No polish. No promises. Just a beta tool that’s trying to emulate a seasoned eye.

It’s built on our real CRO frameworks. Trained with real client patterns. And surprisingly… some of it actually works.

It misses things. Some of the insights are off.

But when it lands, it really lands.

This is just the first of many AI tools, scorecards, and frameworks we’re experimenting with inside GrowthHit.

👉 If you run a Shopify store - try it.

🛠️ If you’re in CRO - stress test it.

And if you’ve got feedback - brutal or generous - I’d love to hear it.

👉 GIVE IT A SPIN

Special Find: Team Pick

A Fresh Brand with Big Design Energy

We stumbled across Hormbles—a new brand that’s just getting started, but already turning heads with its sleek, elevated design.

Why it works:

✅ Bold, minimal branding that stands out

✅ Clean layout and product presentation

✅ Confident launch despite having no reviews yet—a great reminder that strong design builds early trust

💡 Takeaway: You don’t need a ton of social proof to make a strong first impression. A clear brand identity and thoughtful site experience can go a long way when launching.

Kudos to the Hormbles team for setting the bar high from day one.

Shoutout to Morgan Davison, our Sr. CRO Manager, for spotting this gem

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Curated Growth Tips of the Week
2 Growth Tips to Grow Your Shopify Biz

Featuring growth tips and insights sourced from other publications.

1/ Shoppers Are Getting Pickier. Here’s What That Means for Your Shopify Strategy

In this week’s Consumer Pulse Report from Klaviyo, the data is clear: shoppers aren’t slamming the brakes on spending - but they are getting more intentional about where their money goes.

With inflation, tariffs, and uncertainty in the air, here’s what Shopify brands should take away - and what you can do about it.

🧠 What the Data Says:

Consumers are pulling back in key verticals: 61% plan to reduce restaurant spend, followed by cuts in apparel, travel, and even groceries.
They’re not spending less across the board—but they’re choosing brands more carefully.
Deals matter: 54% say discounts impact their loyalty.
Loyalty is rising in importance: 28% are sticking with brands they already love.
Transparency wins: 62% want clearer info on pricing—only 14% care about founder updates or sentiment-driven emails.

💡 What Shopify Brands Should Do:

📌 1/ Make discounting smarter

Use Shopify apps or your CRM to identify returning customers or price-sensitive segments.
Offer “price drop” alerts or bundle discounts based on past browsing behavior.

📌 2/ Turn loyalty into a moat:

Build a VIP tier with early access, surprise gifts, or exclusive drops.
Add “thank you” flows that feel personal without being overly sentimental.

📌 3/ Talk money, not fluff:

If you’re raising prices or seeing delays due to tariffs or supply chain changes, tell your customers directly. Be clear, be upfront.
Skip the founder letter—your customers want clarity, not platitudes.

📌 4/ Double down on retention (especially if you’re in apparel, food, or travel):

Set up flows to win back lapsed customers before they churn.
Keep post-purchase emails going—smart upsells or reorders are gold when acquisition costs are rising.

📌 5/ Segment like your business depends on it:

Identify loyalists, window-shoppers, and at-risk buyers using order history and site behavior.
Customize offers, content, and messages accordingly—this isn’t the time for one-size-fits-all marketing.

✅ The big picture: In a cautious economy, trusted brands win. If you’re already in your customer’s good books—lean into it. If not, now’s the time to start earning that trust.

Source: Consumer Pulse: a weekly look at what’s shaping shopper behavior

2/ SEO in 2025: The Rules Have Changed—Here’s What to Focus On 📉➡📈

If your SEO strategy still revolves around rankings and traffic, it’s time for a reset.

In 2025, the rise of AI-generated summaries, zero-click searches, and platform-based discovery (Reddit, YouTube, ChatGPT) has fundamentally shifted how people get answers—and how brands need to think about visibility.

Here’s what modern SEO looks like for Shopify brands, and how to track what really matters:

📌 1/ Answer Without the Click

More than 60% of searches end without a visit to a website. Instead, users get what they need from Google’s AI Overviews, featured snippets, and even ChatGPT responses.

✅ New KPI: Are you showing up in those AI-generated answers?

🛠 What to do: Add structured data, optimize for FAQs, and test how your content appears in tools like Google SGE and Perplexity.

📌 2/ Track Engagement Quality, Not Just Visits

Traffic ≠ success. What matters is how deeply people engage with your content when they do land on your site.

✅ New KPI: Scroll depth, internal link clicks, video views, and return sessions.

🛠 What to do: Use rich formatting, visuals, and multimedia to improve time on page. Make your product pages and blog content more interactive and helpful—not just keyword-filled.

📌 3/ Branded Search = Trust

When people start searching for your brand name, it means you’ve earned awareness—even if they first saw you on a Reddit thread or AI response.

✅ New KPI: Branded search volume trends.

🛠 What to do: Track your brand queries in Google Search Console and Google Trends. If those numbers are rising, your content is working even if traffic isn’t skyrocketing.

📌 4/ Measure Conversion Influence (Not Just Last Clicks)

SEO is now a first touch, not a final conversion. Users might discover you via AI, then convert days later through email, Instagram, or a branded search.

✅ New KPI: Assisted conversions and multi-touch attribution.

🛠 What to do: Use GA4 to map how your SEO content contributes to the broader customer journey. Track early-stage TOFU content and its impact on later purchases.

📌 5/ Think Beyond Google—Search is Cross-Platform

Shoppers now search inside TikTok, LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, and AI tools. Being visible only on Google is no longer enough.

✅ New KPI: On-platform reach and citations (LinkedIn analytics, YouTube views, Reddit mentions).

🛠 What to do: Repurpose educational content across these platforms, track your brand’s presence in AI-generated responses, and make sure you’re discoverable where your customers hang out.

🔑 The Big Idea:

SEO in 2025 isn’t about rankings—it’s about visibility, authority, and recall. Your content needs to show up, stand out, and build trust across platforms—even if it never results in a direct click.

Make sure your brand is the one that shows up wherever your customers search.

Source - SEO KPIs in 2025: What Really Matters in the Age of AI and Changing SERPs

TOOL OF THE WEEK:
Google’s New AI Tool for Visual Creation

AI Image Generation with Drag-and-Drop Simplicity.

Whisk lets you create stunning visuals just by uploading images for subject, scene, and style—no prompts needed. It’s fast, fun, and perfect for visual ideation.