The Story of Losing Leads and Losing My Mind in 2023
I’ve been there. For four years, I spent countless hours scouring the internet for the perfect CMS, CRM, and checkout system. In 2023, I finally made the move to Shopify for my multi-six-figure agency—and it was easier than you think.
In Q4 of 2023, my agency had over $250,000 worth of leads sitting in the pipeline. My close rate hovered around 50-60%, but suddenly, those leads were slipping through my fingers. Why?
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CRM tech issues meant emails landed in spam or weren’t sent at all.
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The economy lagged in my niche, and more businesses cut their website and marketing budgets.
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Proposal software was fragmented—causing errors, incorrect scoping, and lost orders.
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Leads got lost in my follow-up process when tech got disconnected and broken easily, failing to move down the sales funnel.
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My sales process wasn’t scalable—training a team member to help close deals was nearly impossible because of my messy tech stack.
We had recommended Shopify for product-based businesses for years, but when it came to our own service-based agency? We were duct-taping together Webflow, ConvertKit, Thrivecart, Dubsado, Pipedrive, and more, just to handle basic lead management. The result?
We have been working with Shopify since 2011, and easily recommended it to our clients selling products. But when it came to our own Service based company? It was like it wasn't even an option.
We were duct-taping together tools like Webflow, ConvertKit, Thrivecart, Dubsado, Pipedrive, and a million more fragmented tools just to have a basic application and call funnel for our leads. There were enough tabs running on my browser to make anyones head spin. When my employees started saying how my browser tabs gave THEM anxiety on our video calls, I knew something had to change.
Maybe you’ve experienced something similar. As a service provider, it can feel like you’re always spinning plates—dealing with sales leads, managing your projects, and chasing clients—while your tech tools seem to be working against you. I knew something had to change.
That’s when I decided to explore Shopify as a solution—not just as an eCommerce platform, but as an all-in-one tool to streamline our entire agency’s operations.
The big question: can you market and sell traditional creative services on Shopify?
Absolutely. Shopify isn’t just for eCommerce—it’s a powerful platform for service-based businesses too. Whether you offer custom packages, productized services, digital goods, or a mix of all three, Shopify can replace your messy tech stack and simplify how you sell.
Shopify replaces:
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CRMs like Dubsado, Pipedrive, and HubSpot
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Proposal & invoicing software like Thrivecart & Stripe
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Project management guest portals like Notion & ClickUp (with a bit of theme customization and metafield magic!)
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Email marketing tools like Flodesk & ConvertKit
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Course hosting platforms like Teachable & Thinkific
With a Shopify-powered service business, you get:
✅ All-in-one lead tracking, billing, and client management
✅ Automation to reduce admin work
✅ A scalable system that doesn’t require third-party tools
The Many (Many) Problems Shopify Solves for Service-Based Businesses
Problem 1: You Have No Clear View of Your REAL Leads & Pipeline
Before Shopify, tracking leads felt like piecing together a puzzle with missing pieces. My CRM only logged leads after they filled out a form—which meant I had no idea how many people engaged with my brand before that point.
Even if you offer fully custom packages, maybe a mix of productized offers, some digital goods and more. But your traditional sales process involves a sales call, a proposal, contract and kickoff.
How Shopify Solves It:
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Shopify Forms + Klaviyo capture every visitor who interacts with your services, whether they buy, subscribe, or just browse.
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Shopify Customer Profiles store and track potential leads—even if they don’t fill out an inquiry form yet.
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Shopify Analytics shows true conversion data from traffic to inquiries, giving me visibility into where I was losing leads.
The result? I could finally quantify my conversion funnel—from total traffic to form submissions to actual sales. With this data in hand, I adjusted my marketing, optimized my inquiry forms, and saw my close rate increase almost immediately.
Problem 2: Traffic Without Context is Just a Vanity Metric
Most service providers only see half the picture when it comes to marketing. Seeing that Instagram drives a lot of visits is one thing—but what if Threads converts better? Without tracking actual sales conversions per traffic source, you’re wasting time on the wrong channels.
It’s impossible to see our true lead sources from our traffic and marketing efforts when all our tools don’t integrate data seamlessly or capture attributed sales the same way.
One of the biggest struggles for service providers is understanding which marketing efforts are actually driving business. You might see an influx of traffic from Instagram one day, but what does that traffic really mean? Did those visitors engage with your site? Did they submit an inquiry, book a call, or take any meaningful action?
How Shopify Solves It:
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Shopify Analytics tracks where visitors come from and whether they actually inquire or book.
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Live View Dashboard lets you see visitors in real time and track their on-site behavior.
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Conversion Rate Reports show which traffic sources actually generate leads and revenue.
The result? No more guessing where to invest time and marketing efforts. I shifted from Instagram to a high-converting strategy on Threads—because Shopify showed me where real sales were happening. Being able to see the entire customer journey in Shopify gave me insights I never had before.
Problem 3: Too Many Tools, Too Much Hassle and Too Late in the Game
When customers visit my site, buy a low-ticket digital product, subscribe to our newsletter and more, these are each a signal that the person is a potential lead. Other CRM’s (Customer Relationship Management Software) mostly don’t consider leads in your pipeline until they have filled out a form (and are therefore lower in the conversion funnel).
Further to that, managing clients used to mean bouncing between Dubsado, Google Drive, Docs, Spreadsheets, Quicbooks, Stripe, and ClickUp (or Notion) just to onboard one new project. Sales call notes, contracts, and invoices were scattered across different tools.
How Shopify Solves It:
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Customer Profiles store notes, sales history, and purchase data—eliminating the need for a separate CRM.
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Shopify Flow automates follow-ups, onboarding emails, and task assignments to my team.
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Metafields let me track project details, scope, and timelines all inside Shopify.
- Order Profile: Connect the actual scope, projects, invoices, and more to all my systems downstream to let me focus on the client and less on the dollars and cents.
The result? A scalable, automated system that eliminated redundant software and admin work. Clients get a seamless onboarding experience, and I get to spend more time focusing on growth instead of drowning in admin work.
TL;DR: The Shopify App Stack for Replacing CRM and Sales Tools
- Shopify Flow: Automate workflows and reduce manual tasks.
- Shopify Email: Seamlessly integrate email marketing and automation.
- Shopify Forms: Capture leads, sign-ups, and client information automatically.
- Metaobjects: Showcase your work and manage client portfolios.
- Shopify Payments: Process payments, invoicing, and split payments with ease.
- Cowlendar to book sales calls and kickoffs and more
- PandaDoc to capture signature and contracts with their payment
- Tevello for client onboarding and automated intake for projects
- BONUS for more advanced users: Klaviyo: Advanced email marketing automation with powerful reporting, plus lead capture, and additional CRM features.
Final Thoughts: Why Shopify is the Best Solution for Service Providers
I spent years juggling a tech stack that felt like a house of cards, constantly adding new tools to fix old problems. Moving to Shopify simplified everything. If you’re tired of disconnected platforms, manual follow-ups, and lost sales, it’s time to make the shift.
