The title says it all. After spending months, if not years, of having to rely on free themes for WooCommerce, I finally took the plunge and bought my first Premium WordPress WooCommerce theme.
1 It comes with a lot of CSS/HTML that I don’t need but helps maintain consistency in design- something that can be very difficult when you are doing your customizations after downloading free themes
2 It’s faster- since fewer images are loading on the page load (and fewer images overall), it loads much faster than any of the free ones I’ve come across. This is especially true on mobile browsers, which eat up more bandwidth while rendering images.
3 Social proof is built-in testimonials, trust seals, etc. are all baked in, so you don’t have to go looking for a 3rd party plugin or add-on.
4 It’s more “future proof,” meaning that it is likely to be updated and supported by the theme developer long after free themes have been abandoned.
Customer Support:
5 There is better customer support in case you need help with something- this goes back to point 2 about free themes often being unsupported
6 It looks more professional out of the box- This one is pretty subjective, but I’ve had others tell me that my site looks more “slick” since switching to a premium theme.
7 It can be adapted to multiple purposes without having to do a lot of coding- I was able to take a theme that was designed for a restaurant and use it for my online store with just a few tweaks
8 It’s more SEO-friendly out of the box- Again, this is subjective, but I’ve noticed that my site is ranking better in Google since switching themes. This could be due to better code structure or other optimizations that the premium theme developer has done.
9 There are more features and plugins available for Premium WordPress Woocommerce themes– This is probably the most obvious benefit of using a premium theme. Because they are more popular, there are more developers creating extensions and plugins for them. So if you need a specific feature or want to add something extra to your site, it’s likely that there’s already a plugin available.
Performance:
10 They are often better coded and more optimized for performance- This is something that you don’t see with free themes. Because premium themes are often used by big businesses, the developers want to make sure that they are coded well and perform well under load.
11 You can usually import your data from a free theme without too much trouble- This was one of the selling points for me when I was looking for a new theme. I didn’t want to have to start from scratch again and spend hours recreating all my pages, products, etc.
12 There is usually more documentation and support available- With a premium theme, you’re not just buying the theme itself. You’re also buying access to the developer’s support forums, FAQs, and other documentation.
13 They often come with more premade layouts and templates- This can be a huge time saver if you’re not too great at design or don’t have the time to create your templates from scratch.
Multiple Domains:
14 You can usually use them on multiple domains- I’m not sure about all premium themes, but the one that I bought allows me to use it on as many domains as I want. This is handy if you have multiple sites that you want to use the same theme on.
15 They are often updated more frequently- Because premium themes are used by more people, the developers are more likely to update them more frequently. This is another thing that you don’t see with free themes.
16 You can usually get customer support from the developer- This is one of the main benefits of using a premium theme. If you have any problems or need help with something, you can usually get in touch with the developer, and they will help you out.
17 They often come with better security features- Because premium themes are used by more people, the developers often put more effort into making sure that they are secure. This means that your site is less likely to be hacked if you’re using a premium theme.
18 The cost is often worth it- In my opinion, the cost of a premium theme is often worth it for the time that it will save you. If you want to create a legitimate business around your site, then you need to take the aesthetics of your eCommerce store seriously. For me, spending money on themes and plugins was well worth it because I could spend more time making sales instead of worrying about designing my site.