How Strait Music Replaced a Website That Was Costing Sales with a Platform Built for Growth

Mode Effect helped the Austin-based music retailer move to Shopify, improve product discovery, reduce checkout friction, and build a website their customers, staff, and leadership team could trust.

When a customer is ready to buy, your website should make the next step easier.

For Strait Music, that was becoming the problem.

The team could see customers running into friction with the online shopping experience. Product search was not working the way real customers searched. The shopping cart felt clunky. Customers were reaching out with confusion near the end of the buying journey. And internally, the team knew those moments were costing the business opportunities. 

Strait Music did not just need a better-looking website.

They needed a better ecommerce foundation — one that could support online sales, help in-store staff serve customers more confidently, connect with modern marketing tools, and give leadership confidence that the business was ready for its next stage of digital growth.

That is where Mode Effect came in.

Key Outcomes

• Improved online shopping experience
• Better product search and discovery
• Cleaner, more intuitive shopping cart experience
• More confidence for in-store staff using the website as a sales tool
• Stronger Shopify foundation for ecommerce growth
• Better integration opportunities with Google, Klaviyo, accessibility tools, and future apps
• Reduced reliance on workarounds and clunky systems
• Greater leadership confidence in the website and the team supporting it

A Trusted Music Retailer Serving Musicians at Every Level

Strait Music Company is a third-generation, full-line music retailer based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 1963, the company has two brick-and-mortar locations and serves everyone from first-time musicians to professional performers. Their business spans pianos, band and orchestra, guitars, drums, pro audio, school music, rentals, service, and music lessons. 

That range is central to who they are.

Strait Music wants a beginner picking up an instrument for the first time to feel just as comfortable as a professional musician looking for expert guidance. Their stores are built around trust, service, and helping people make music.

But as more customers started researching, renting, and buying online, the website needed to deliver the same kind of confidence customers expected from the in-store experience.

The Problem: The Website Was Creating Friction at the Worst Possible Moment

Over the years, Strait Music had worked through multiple website platforms and ecommerce tools. The company had used WordPress, online shopping components tied to its point-of-sale system, and online rental tools as consumer behavior shifted toward digital transactions. 

Those tools helped the business evolve, but eventually the limitations became too costly to ignore.

The existing website was creating several problems:

• Customers had trouble finding products unless they searched by exact SKUs or model numbers
• The shopping cart experience created confusion
• The old site was not as visible or effective as it needed to be for search and advertising
• Disconnected systems created extra work internally
• Staff had less confidence using the website during sales conversations
• The team was relying on workarounds instead of building on a strong foundation

For Strait Music, this was not just a website issue. It was a business issue.

A clunky search experience can prevent customers from finding what they need. A confusing cart can interrupt a sale when the customer is ready to buy. A limited platform can hold back marketing, ecommerce, and future growth.

As Clint Strait, president and third-generation owner of Strait Music, explained, the team was seeing direct feedback from customers having trouble with the shopping cart and knew they were “losing business right at the very end.” 

The website needed to stop getting in the way.

The Guide: A Partner Who Understood the Business Behind the Website

Strait Music did not need a vendor who could simply move products into Shopify.

They needed a partner who understood ecommerce, retail operations, their point-of-sale environment, online rentals, lesson signups, product complexity, and the realities of running a music business.

Mode Effect brought that combination of technical expertise and industry knowledge.

For Clint, that trust mattered. He explained that he only does business with people he likes and trusts — and that Mode Effect had already earned both. Just as important, he knew the Mode Effect team had Strait Music’s best interests in mind. 

That kind of partnership reduces risk.

A website migration is not just a technical project. It affects customer experience, sales, marketing, internal workflows, and the future direction of the business. Strait Music needed a team that could steer the project, keep it moving, and help them reach the end goal efficiently.

Mode Effect became that guide.

The Plan: Build a Better Ecommerce Foundation Without Breaking What Already Worked

The path forward was clear: move Strait Music to Shopify while preserving the systems and business workflows that still mattered.

Mode Effect helped Strait Music focus on three priorities.

1. Improve the Customer Buying Journey

The website needed to make it easier for customers to search, shop, and complete purchases without unnecessary friction.

2. Support the Full Retail Operation

Strait Music is primarily a brick-and-mortar retailer, so the website needed to support more than online checkout. It also had to help staff answer questions, guide customers, confirm products, and drive traffic into the stores.

3. Create a Platform for Future Growth

Shopify gave Strait Music a stronger foundation for integrations, marketing, apps, accessibility tools, email marketing, and future improvements.

The goal was not just to launch a new website.

The goal was to give Strait Music a platform the business could trust and build on.

What Changed: From Workarounds to a Website the Team Could Build On

After moving to Shopify, Strait Music began to see immediate improvements in the areas that mattered most.

Customers Can Find Products Faster

Search was one of the biggest changes.

On the old site, search often depended on exact SKUs or model numbers. That may work for internal teams, but it does not reflect how everyday customers shop. Most customers search by product type, need, name, or category.

The new Shopify experience made product discovery more intuitive. Clint described the improved search function as “mind blowing” because it finally worked more like the search experiences customers are used to. 

For a full-line music retailer with thousands of products across instruments, accessories, rentals, lessons, and services, better search is not a small usability upgrade.

It helps customers get to the right product faster.

The Cart Experience Became Easier to Trust

Before the move, Strait Music’s team was receiving messages from customers who did not understand why parts of the cart experience were not working.

After the Shopify launch, that confusion was no longer creating the same support burden. The experience became cleaner, more familiar, and easier for customers to complete. 

That matters because checkout friction does not happen casually.

It happens when a customer is already close to making a decision.

Staff Gained More Confidence Using the Website

The new website also became a better tool for Strait Music’s in-store team.

Before the rebuild, walking a customer through the website over the phone could feel clunky. After launch, staff could use the site more confidently to search products, confirm availability, and support sales conversations.

Clint called that confidence a “game changer.” 

That is an important shift.

The website became more than an online store. It became a practical sales tool for the whole business.

The Platform Opened the Door for Future Improvements

With Shopify in place, Strait Music could connect more easily with tools like Google search, Klaviyo, accessibility solutions, and other third-party applications.

Instead of asking how to work around limitations, the team could start asking how to improve the experience even further.

As Clint described it, Strait Music moved from dealing with clunky software to having a working foundation they could take to the next level. 

The Result: A Website That Supports Customers, Staff, and Future Growth

After launch, Strait Music had a digital foundation that better matched the business it had become.

Customers could shop more easily.

Staff could use the website more confidently.

The internal team had a better platform to manage.

Leadership had more confidence that the website was finally moving in the right direction.

Clint explained that conducting online commerce is now easier because Strait Music has a better website. And while the company remains deeply rooted in brick-and-mortar retail, the website still plays a critical role in driving traffic both online and into the stores. 

That is the real value of the project.

The new site does not just process transactions. It supports the entire customer journey.

Before and After

The Biggest Value: Confidence

For Clint, the biggest value of working with Mode Effect was simple:

“The biggest value I got is that I don’t have to worry about anything.” 

That is what a strong digital partner should provide.

Not just technical execution.

Not just a new platform.

But the confidence that the work is being handled, the business is being protected, and the website is being built the right way.

Clint also described Mode Effect as a valuable partner because the team understands Strait Music’s business, industry, point-of-sale system, online rentals, lesson signups, and ecommerce needs. Just as important, he emphasized that Mode Effect does what they say they will do, communicates transparently, and keeps the client’s best interests in mind. 

For a business with as many moving parts as Strait Music, that kind of trust matters.

What Strait Music Avoided by Making the Move

By partnering with Mode Effect and moving to Shopify, Strait Music avoided staying stuck with a website that made growth harder than necessary.

They avoided:

• Continued checkout friction
• Customer frustration near the end of the buying journey
• Lost confidence from internal staff
• More workarounds between disconnected systems
• A weaker foundation for search, marketing, and ecommerce growth
• A long, risky internal project without the right outside guidance

Instead, they now have a website that supports customers, staff, marketing, ecommerce, and the next stage of growth.

A Stronger Foundation for What Comes Next

Strait Music is still early in the life of its new Shopify site, but the direction is clear.

The team is already thinking about new ways to improve the user experience, evaluate Shopify-connected tools, enhance rentals, support lesson signups, and continue building from a stronger baseline. 

That is the difference between a website that limits the business and a platform that creates room for growth.

Strait Music no longer has to fight against its online store.

Now, they can build on it.

Is Your Website Helping Customers Buy — or Making Growth Harder Than It Should Be?

If your ecommerce platform is creating friction, limiting your team, or forcing your business to rely on workarounds, it may be time for a better foundation.

Mode Effect helps growing retailers and ecommerce businesses build websites that are easier to use, easier to manage, and better aligned with how customers actually buy.

Let’s build a website your customers, your team, and your business can trust.