Project Overview
Plum Paper – Shopify Ecommerce Store for Customizable Planners & Stationery
Role: Shopify Developer / UX Optimization
Timeline: 2025
Platform: Shopify (Theme Customization, Product Personalizer Integration)
Overview
Plum Paper is a leading customizable planner and stationery brand known for producing premium-quality planners that can be personalized by customers from cover to layout.
The company needed a modernized Shopify setup, improved product customization workflow, and enhanced overall performance for a smoother shopping experience.
The primary goal was to create a storefront that could support complex product personalization, display multiple product variations beautifully, and streamline the customer journey.
My Role
As the Shopify Developer, my responsibilities included:
Optimizing the Shopify theme for speed and user experience
Integrating and configuring product personalization tools
Improving navigation, page layout, and content structure
Enhancing the product configuration process for planners
Ensuring the entire site remained responsive and stable despite advanced customization features
I also collaborated with the marketing and design teams to ensure the new structure aligned with both branding and conversion goals.
Goals
Improve the end-to-end customizable product flow
Simplify the navigation and make core categories easier to find
Reduce cart abandonment during long customization sessions
Improve mobile performance
Ensure the store could support thousands of variants without slowing down
Integrate apps that support personalization, reviews, analytics, and retention
Process
1. Theme Optimization & Customization
I refined the existing Shopify theme by focusing on readability, hierarchy, and performance.
Enhancements included:
Cleaner homepage with direct paths to best-selling planners
Updated typography for a modern stationery look
Faster loading collections and product pages
Custom sections for personalization options and “Builder” tools
The new design places emphasis on clarity and reduces user overwhelm.
2. Advanced Product Personalization Setup
Since customization is the core of Plum Paper’s brand, I implemented a stronger, more reliable system for planner personalization.
Key tasks included:
Integrating the product personalizer (e.g., Zepto Product Personalizer or Inkybay)
Setting up options for cover designs, layouts, add-ons, dates, and planner sizes
Creating conditional logic so customers only see relevant options
Optimizing load speed inside the customization interface
Developing a clean, step-by-step flow that keeps customers engaged throughout the process
This resulted in fewer drop-offs and a more enjoyable designing experience.
3. Navigation & UX Restructure
I reorganized the menu to simplify discovery:
Main Categories:
Planners • Notebooks • Teacher Planners • Accessories • Stickers • Collections • Gift Cards
Supporting Pages:
Build Your Planner • Compare Layouts • FAQs • Track Orders • Blog • Help Desk
This structure helps users find what they need faster — especially first-time customers.
4. App Integrations
To enhance functionality without compromising speed, I integrated key apps:
Product Personalizer for deep customization
Judge.me or Loox for visual reviews
Klaviyo for email automation & abandoned cart flows
Search & Discovery for better filtering and upsells
ReConvert for post-purchase cross-selling
Help Desk (MooseDesk) for support & canned responses
Each app was configured to maintain a balance between features and performance.
5. Mobile Optimization
A large percentage of planner shoppers browse on mobile, so I:
Optimized customization tools for touch screens
Improved scroll performance on long product pages
Ensured cover thumbnails and layout previews displayed clearly
Made cart actions sticky for convenience
The result: smoother interactions and higher conversion potential.
Challenges
Planners are highly customizable, which creates challenges like:
Managing thousands of possible variant combinations
Preventing slow load times in the planner builder
Ensuring users don’t get confused or overwhelmed by choices
To solve these:
I used conditional logic to hide irrelevant options
Optimized image sizes and assets
Structured the customization steps into manageable, easy-to-follow stages
Results
A cleaner, faster, and more intuitive Shopify storefront
Reduced friction in the product customization flow
Improved mobile performance across all devices
Stronger SEO structure and better user navigation
Higher engagement in customization tools
Improved cart completion rates due to a clearer flow
Final Thoughts
This project allowed me to work on a deeply personalized e-commerce experience while optimizing performance and customer satisfaction.
The redesigned store now gives customers a smoother, clearer journey from browsing to customization to checkout perfectly aligning with Plum Paper’s brand as a leader in premium planners.
