Metafields are one of the coolest and most useful tools available in Shopify. But what exactly are they? And why are they so powerful? In this article, we'll explore what Shopify metafields are, why they're so useful, and how to use them to enhance your online store both in terms of content and in terms of design.

What are Shopify metafields?

In simple terms, Shopify metafields are custom data fields that can be added to products, collections, orders, and other objects in your Shopify store. They allow you to store and display extra information about your products that isn't available in the default theme fields.

For example, let's say you want to add a custom field to your product page that displays the material used to make the product. With Shopify metafields, you can add a custom field for "Material"; include the relevant information for each individual product—"100% cotton" for one product and "100% wool" for another; and then relate that field into your page dynamically.

Best part? You don't actually need a third-party app to use metafields in your store anymore. Shopify 2.0 has native support for metafields, which means you can easily create and manage them directly in your store's admin. This is HUGE.

Why are Shopify metafields so useful?

There are many reasons why Shopify metafields are such a powerful tool, but here are some of the main benefits:

1. Customization: Metafields enable you to customize your Shopify store to meet your specific needs. You can add custom data fields to products, collections, and other objects, and use them to store and display information that is unique to your store.
2. Scalability: Metafields let you display unique product data across an entire product catalog without the need to create individual pages for each product.
3. Flexibility: Metafields can be used for a wide range of purposes, from displaying additional product information or images, to automating background or text colors, or flagging images with helpful tags or badges.
4. Improved SEO: Metafields can be used to add metadata to your store, such as keywords, descriptions, and image alt tags, which can help improve your store's SEO.

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How does this all come to life on sites?

Get inspired with these real-life examples showing just a few of the many ways you can use Shopify metafields to enhance your site designs

01—Metafields to house well-organized product information

One of the most common ways to utilize metafields is to display additional product information in an accordion or tabs on the product detail page. This is a great way to provide customers with a ton of helpful buying details but without taking up a ton of space. Use metafields to house info like ingredients, materials, instructions, or the like.

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02—Metafields to tell a color story

Each product in Paracas' line had its own unique identifying color, and we wanted to tease that into their product detail pages to really help brand those products with their respective colors. We set a metafield for "product color" and then dynamically linked that color to certain element backgrounds on product detail pages to tie everything together. The result is a set of effortlessly color-coordinated product pages, all using one single product page template.

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03—Metafields to augment visual display of product

In this example, you'll see that metafields are being used in a very visual way to add color (literally and metaphorically) to product detail pages. The supplementary product image (1), product name (2), vibe descriptors(3 & 4), and color palette are set at the product level, and then pulled into the product detail page dynamically. This let us tell a very visual product story for each of Mosaic's collections in a very scalable way since this set up only needs one single product template.

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If you're not using metafields on your site, you're missing out

Metafields are a powerful tool for your Shopify store and if you're not making good use of them, you're likely leaving opportunities on the table. Now that metafields work natively within Shopify 2.0, it's time to get on board and unleash the full potential of your site! Stay tuned for an upcoming how-to article where we go into detail about how to set metafields up, and get them relating into your store pages. Follow us on instagram to be the first to know when when we post new content!