How Hydro drove a higher CVR with a custom Shopify theme

Hydro is a Shopify Plus brand known for its premium car care products, but like many fast-growing eCommerce brands, they faced a roadblock: they wanted more customization than their Shopify theme could provide.

When Founder, Louis Cooke, set out to scale Hydro’s online store, he knew their site needed to stand out, adapt quickly to seasonal promotions, and convert more visitors into loyal customers.

“The main goal for us was to build a much more customizable site. Themes alone didn’t allow the level of customization we wanted. Instant was key for our CVR and has helped ever since,” says Louis.

Creating a custom Shopify theme in-house

Shopify themes are a great starting point for many merchants, but they come with design limitations. Hydro wanted:

• The freedom to fully customize their homepage and key landing pages without touching code every time.

• The ability to launch seasonal campaigns fast and tailor content to each promotion.

• A way to manage everything in-house without outsourcing expensive design work.

That’s where Instant came in. With Instant’s drag-and-drop page builder, Hydro’s team can now take control of their storefront design and easily make changes themselves.

“The biggest impact has been CVR and ease of customization. Keeping the majority of design work in-house has allowed our team to make changes quickly and improve overall CVR.”

Instead of relying on developers for every update, the Hydro team can launch and iterate on pages directly. This gives them more creative control, faster campaign launches, and measurable improvements in conversion rate.

Seasonal campaigns that drive results

Hydro has built seasonal homepage designs to make the most out of holiday sales windows. Using Instant, they’ve created high-converting pages for:

• BFCM (Black Friday / Cyber Monday): A fully customized landing page showcasing bundles and a 50% storewide sale. Hydro paired these on-site changes with targeted Meta ads that drove paid traffic directly to their deals, ensuring a seamless funnel from ad to checkout.
  
  

• Halloween: Custom spooky imagery with banners promoting limited-edition products like Hydro Snow (pumpkin-spice scented) and Hydro Detail (blood-red, cherry-scented). The seasonal aesthetic drove urgency and positioned their products as fun, collectible gifts.
  
  

• St. Patrick’s Day: A festive homepage with exclusive discounts and unique offers. Codes like “PADDY” unlocked mystery discounts, while “CLOVER” gave shoppers a mystery gift worth £50 on orders over £30; boosting AOV and engagement.

They’ve also been able to quickly whip up pages to be used in paid campaigns for important sales periods like BFCM.

By owning their design process and aligning their paid and organic efforts, Hydro can react to trends faster and keep their promotions fresh and engaging.

The results: More control, higher conversions

The impact of Instant goes beyond just design flexibility. By keeping updates in-house, Hydro has:

• Reduced reliance on external developers and agencies.
  
  

• Increased speed to market for campaigns, going live in hours instead of days or weeks.
  
  

• Delivered a consistently branded experience that converts, leading to measurable CVR improvements across their store.

Louis sums it up best:

“Having Instant allows us to quickly achieve customized landing pages for seasonal events, Xmas, Halloween, anything. It’s easy to use, and it’s had a solid improvement on our overall CVR.”

Why this matters for other brands

For many Shopify Plus merchants, themes alone aren’t enough. If you want to build a truly flexible storefront that adapts to your business goals and seasonal campaigns, you need a tool that gives you the functionality and customization you need.

Hydro’s success shows what happens when brands combine great products, strong offers, and the right tools to execute their vision.

Instant powers Hydro’s ongoing growth

Today, Hydro continues to use Instant to refresh its homepage, launch custom promotions, and test new ideas; all without waiting on development resources. Instant has become an integral part of their marketing and design workflow, powering their growth year-round.

Is your Shopify Plus store outgrowing its theme? Join brands like Hydro, who've scaled beyond standard limitations. Chat with our team to discover how your team can use Instant to scale and customize your online store experience.