Over the past few years, significant advancements have been made in completion and stimulation designs in horizontal wells in unconventional plays, with the primary driver being the improvement of fracture contact area in these very low permeability reservoirs, to improve production volumes and recoveries. Fracture contact area with plug-and-perf or sliding sleeve systems have been intensified by increasing the density of contact points in the formation as well as proppant amount with great success. While these parameters have been optimized, other important parameters such as fracture conductivity and connectivity have been largely neglected. In the journey to improving contact area, proppant conductivity is often sacrified to save costs, and fracture stimulation treatments are overflushed in order to maximize operational efficiencies on multi-well pads. This presentation will highlight the importance of all of these parameters, and provides steps that can be taken to further optimize and enhance well producitivity and economics in the shale plays.