Shopify is an emerging ecommerce platform like no other. With a continuously growing user base of over 820,000, the competition is stiff in establishing your online empire. The struggle to succeed in the Shopify platform is one of the most commonly asked questions that we think need to be answered. In this article, we dive deep on how to succeed in the Shopify platform.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a cloud-based SaaS eCommerce solution. Shopify allows businesses to set up their online storefront and sell their products/services to the masses. It provides users with a wide variety of ecommerce marketing tools that help online stores run seamlessly from inventory management to checkout. Hosting over 500,000 active stores, Shopify is undoubtedly one of the powerhouse eCommerce platforms to date.
Why Should You Use Shopify Over Other eCommerce Platforms?
You’re probably asking yourself if Shopify is indeed the best platform you should go with. Below we provide a comparison on Shopify against other major ecommerce platforms such as WooCommerce, BigCommerce & Wix.
| Shopify |
|
| WooCommerce |
|
| BigCommerce |
|
| Wix |
|
The comparison has made it clear that Shopify is the most versatile eCommerce platform in terms of setting up and scaling an eCommerce business because of its plethora of features and nominal costs.
Now, let’s move on to discussing practical ideas to succeed with Shopify.
Tips to Succeed on Shopify
1. Have a Plan for Customer Retention
Making your first sale is a great milestone, and every time you get the ‘sale’ notification, it’s always a fantastic feeling. However, here’s an eye-opening statistic, over 65% of eCommerce sales come from existing customers.
While it is good to have a plan for acquiring new customers over the due course of business, it is vital to strategize a customer retention plan.
Check out these few tips:
-
Utilize Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to ensure that you stay in touch with your customers. It doesn’t even matter where your leads are down the sales funnel; emails can be used to keep your customer engaged and develop a relationship in the process.
You’ll never be out of options as emails can be sent over multiple events like product notifications, sales, specific holiday discounts, on birthdays, and etc.
-
Delight customers
Emails may get the job done, but it doesn’t cost anything extra to surprise and delight your customers. Try coming up with something new and out of the box to add value to what you’re offering. You can try writing a handwritten note or include some other personalized appeal to wow your customers.
-
Have unique packaging
Modern trends have shown an increase in demand for good packaging. When you provide a unique unboxing or packaging experience, you sell something beyond a product; you sell value to your customer relationship.
Here are some of the tips on how you can improve your unique packaging experience:
- Add voucher codes and coupons
- Personalize the unboxing experience with some quirky, personalized notes
- Fill in easy to read and understand manuals
- You might also try writing handwritten cards for your next order
-
Use Retargeting Ads
Retargeting Ads are used to place cookies in your visitor’s browser, allowing you to show them relevant ads upon their search, using the means of Google Ads or Facebook.
-
Use Giveaways
Using giveaways in your campaigns allow your eCommerce platform to engage with your existing customers and raise brand awareness. Giveaways are your sure shot ticket to improved sales and enhanced brand exposure.
-
Give Coupons to Repeat buyers
One of the best ideas to succeed with Shopify is to provide buyers with coupons over every successful sale. This way, you ensure the upsell of your products. You can provide a 10% discount or a 10% + 10% referral discount. There are several popular ways to execute this that have been tried and tested.
-
Have a Loyalty Program
Having a loyalty program will entice customers to come back because they are being rewarded to shop. A popular loyalty program to reference would be the Starbucks Loyalty Program, it focuses on making the ordering experience hassle-free and personalized.
2. Use Paid Ads Effectively
The rise of eCommerce marketing has made one thing very evident – ‘paid ads are the future.’
Paid Ads have made it easy for businesses of almost every shape, size, and state to provide their brand with the right exposure. These ads allow brands to stand a chance to showcase their products to millions of visitors on the first page of Google SERP itself (No, we aren’t saying that organic search isn’t necessary).
With the flexibility and exposure this offers, paid ads are one of the key tools to succeed with Shopify but you need to know how to utilize them properly.
Here are some paid ads avenues that might come in handy for your next campaign!
-
Google Shopping Ads
Google Shopping Ads have been a reliable form of paid ads for many years now. This platform tends to provide a different edge over the traditional PPC ads and contains a blend of images, product descriptions, and information. Customers are more enticed to make a purchase after seeing high-definition photos with relevant information around the product.
Tip: Your strategy plays a significant role in the success of your Google Shopping Ads. We suggest you get educated on the platform before allotting a dedicated budget.
-
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are one the most reliable formats of advertisements for eCommerce stores. Facebook Ads allow a blend of product images and video ads. Businesses of every type can reach out and entice their potential customers in the best way possible.
Here are a few things to know before you begin out to Facebook Ads
- Use the Facebook targeting feature to sort your target audience and then begin the campaign.
- Ensure that your Facebook Ad copy is a blend of content, visual images and videos.
-
Instagram Ads
Instagram Ads are the latest addition to marketing tools that you could leverage to implement your ideas to succeed with Shopify.
The USP of Instagram revolves around placing your product images as a major highlight. Potential visitors can later market your products based on high-quality product images that provide relevant information. Images are everything when it comes to Instagram ads!
3. Build A Huge Email List
Having a solid email list is one of the most reliable methods of building a solid customer relationship and it reduces your dependency on social media platforms.
One of the advantages of having access to a solid mailing list is that you won’t have to purchase or rely on third-party tools to reach out to your potential customers.
This locks in over 122% ROI, making email marketing one of the most profitable channels for your e-commerce stores.
Here’s a tip that might come in handy:
-
Build your list from the start
Start building a reliable list of your customers. The trick is to keep expanding your network by using different on-site marketing tools and techniques to entice people to submit more referrals.
4. Content Marketing
Content Marketing is a strategy that helps you educate your potential customers around a product or brand by sharing relevant information over different online avenues, this is often referred to as the ‘King’ in marketing as your content is the essence of your business which has the potential to make a huge impact on your revenues when utilized properly.
Focus towards providing the right exposure to your brand, content marketing can be vastly divided into different categories as discussed below:
-
Product Images
Product images are a visual representation of product descriptions, with images being the central component of such content, they tend to entice visitors with high-definition images of the product, besides providing relevant information. Consider your image description to be the SERP of Google Shopping ads. The more precise your image is, the higher the chances of securing a sale.
-
Product videos
Videos are a great source of content that is present over the internet. They are also used to add credibility to a product or build the hype around it. Product videos can be a vital tool for your eCommerce store.
-
Product Descriptions
Great copy often translates to an increase in sales. Product descriptions are key-word rich content designed in an engaging manner that serves two significant prospects as explained below:
- It helps SEO, improving the website rank and ratings
- Product descriptions come in handy in enticing and educating the visitors about a product.
-
Product Pages
Product pages are one of the ideal places to implement your content marketing strategy. An SEO friendly page will result in a higher rank in search engines.
-
Product Reviews & Recommendations
Positive reviews work wonders in boosting the credibility of an eCommerce business. The psychology behind this is it helps develop a relationship based on trust among new visitors or first-time buyers. Using the right spot to highlight your positive reviews is crucial for improved sales.
Additionally, when you recommend your products to the existing customers based on their previous choices, you improve your chances of a sale.
While these are some of the best tricks around content marketing, the list doesn’t end here. It is always advisable that you spend some time coming up with new ways to educate your potential audience.
5. Have a Storytelling Marketing Strategy in Place
The art of keeping people engaged in a conversation (without even telling one) is where it lies! An audience seeks something more than a good purchase; they look forward to a journey through your content – one which tells a story. Content is how you spin a web of stories around your offerings and the customers.
- Use Images and Visuals whenever needed
The best way to tell your story is through images and visuals as it is quicker for the consumer to go over this compared to reading product descriptions. When visitors interact with these, it can create an instant connection and familiarity.
6. Be Ready for Mobile Commerce
Desktop computers were previously the preferred device behind generating a massive amount of traffic. Today, mobile users account for over 65% of total eCommerce visitors.
Considering the high amount of mobile traffic, developing a mobile responsive website is essential to ensure that these users have a frictionless shopping experience.
Here are a few Shopify success tips that you could incorporate into the eCommerce platform:
-
Be Mobile Responsive from the beginning
One of the wisest steps to take is to ensure that you have a mobile responsive website developed from the very beginning. You should consider using a mobile responsive website as they are responsible for 53% of sales.
Furthermore, with the world pushing its depth into digitization, it’s time to be prepared for the mobile audience.
-
Create Apps for mobile platforms
Creating a mobile app is another excellent way to entice mobile visitors to engage with your store.
It’s not only about the engagement and potential traffic, creating applications for mobile platforms also has a few extra benefits. This includes:
- Reduced chances of visitors bouncing away
- Increased sales over mobile devices
- Enhanced customer experience
- Your store can now be ranked for mobile-specific queries
- Mobile applications leave a spot for running paid ads
7. Create Interactive Content
Another Shopify success tip is to implement interactive content in your strategy. This can be anything from taking an audience poll to a quiz. Putting up interactive content means visitors interacting with your website. This gives you a better chance at slipping in a ‘know your customer’ form to collect all the relevant information around your potential customer.
Here’s an example of how you can leverage interactive content to your advantage:
-
Using Quizzes
Develop a quiz, embed it over your website, and share it across social media. Remember that the key to developing such quizzes is to generate follow-ups for smooth calls-to-action that navigate more sales.
8. Always Be Supportive
You never know when your customers might need guidance while navigating around your website. It is imperative for you to assist your customers on your platform to ensure your store’s success.
We aren’t asking you to be sitting over the website to answer questions from visitors. Instead, automate the entire support system via different means. Listed below are the steps that can help you assist your audience better on your website.
-
Using Chatbots
Chatbots are one of the most efficient ways to save your bandwidth over manual customer support. These automated bots provide real-time support to your website’s visitors, improving your reliability and chances of conversion. These bots may also help in following up with warm leads and sales (if programmed similarly).
-
Using Help Articles
Help articles are guides that help visitors gather information around a specific product. When written confidently, the visitors engage easily and find it as an excellent resource to navigate their way through a website’s products and categories. Before you think of writing a help article, you need to be sure that you stick to these tips:
- Write in a conversational tone
- Be confident in your appeal
- Be comprehensive
- Make sure that your content is short and precise
9. Keep Security a Critical Aspect from the Start
Cybersecurity has been one of the most alarming issues to several eCommerce shoppers. Many users leave a website the moment they have an impression that it is unsecure.
When you are looking around Shopify success tips, security is something that you wouldn’t want to compromise with, especially in the checkout and payments process.
Covering over 41.8% of payments over the eCommerce sites worldwide, online payments are amongst the most widely used payment methods.
Conclusion
Listed above are some of the best practices to help you achieve success in your Shopify business. Test the above ideas on your Shopify and grow your revenue today! Contact Rainfactory to get started on your Shopify store today.
Guest Post Contribution from AdNabu
AdNabu helps improve sales in Google Ads for Shopify stores. If you are running google search, google shopping, or display campaigns in Google Ads, AdNabu’s apps plus Rainfactory’s Google Ads management will help you reach your sales goals.