Hows your build?
If you’re a Shopify store owner you’re probably overwhelmed with the many apps that they have to offer. What’s the best tool to use? Am I using it to my full advantage? Am I willing to invest in this platform? Those are probably questions you’re constantly asking yourself. Now, Shopify’s monthly cost may be fairly low however there is so much more that should be on your tech stack in order to make your website fully work for you. From operational tools to marketing tools to shipping tools. It may be a lot but ehh investing in your business is the right thing to do, right?…Right!
The overall functionality of your website should be seamless while providing an amazing customer experience for your customers. There are a few tools that you should absolutely be using so I’ll do the work for you so you can save some time and get back to doing the thing you love most…growing your brand.
Upsell/Cross-Sell Apps
Increasing your order value and driving higher conversion rates is a top priority for eCommerce brands. Offering additional products to your customers at the right time can be done with both pre-sell and post-sell apps such as Selleasy Upsell & Cross Sell, ReConvert Post-Purchase, and the Frequently Bought Together apps. Imagine your customer adding an item to their cart and then boom another complementary product pops up for them to add to their cart or say they purchased only 1 product but if you boost them to purchase 2 more then they’ll receive a discount. Customers love receiving discounts but you don’t have to just give out all your product for free…incentivize them to purchase more and then offer them a small discount for doing so. Shoppers also don’t always know everything that you have to offer and they for sure don’t have time to be searching your whole website…put the products in their face with these apps. It doesn’t stop there. After your customer has made a purchase, before they even close out of the checkout page, you can then bump up the order value by creating urgency and letting them know that if they purchase additional items in the next, let’s say, 3 minutes then they’ll get another goodie. Don’t miss out increasing your revenue and giving customers the opportunity to experience more of your products.
Review Apps
When it comes to the buying process, customers are almost always going to check out the reviews first to see what the experience was like for other customers. Aren’t you a victim of this? I know for sure that I’m looking at the reviews before I make a purchase online. Now granted, some people are just jerks and you can’t please everyone so take the reviews with a grain of salt. I actually prefer purchasing products that have a 3-4 star rating because at least I can see other buyers viewpoint and I know that the brand isn’t just approving positive reviews only. I get this question a lot, “Can I approve the reviews before they go on the site?”. Absolutely! All of the platforms I’ve utilized make this an option to approve and moderate the reviews directly from your dashboard. But back to what I said earlier, just make sure you’re showing shoppers a variety of feedback…don’t only post the good stuff. A few reviews app that I recommend are Okendo, Yotpo, and Judge.Me. Shopify Reviews used to be a great reviews app for brands just getting started, however, they recently deprecated that app. Plus, the apps I suggested allow your customers to upload pics. That’s a win win for you, because then you can use those photos as UGC (user-generated content) throughout your website, socials, and email campaigns.
Subscription Apps
If you’re looking to build customer loyalty and increase revenue, then subscriptions are the way to go. Don’t you want your customers receiving your amazing products each month…on autopay without you even have to telling them to make a purchase? Each month you have the opportunity to ‘wow’ your customer with a new product from your brand…creating loyalty between you and your customer. With customer acquisition becoming exceptionally costly, retaining the current customers you do have through subscriptions is a great way to turn them into raving fans. If you’re on the fence about this, Shopify just released a new native subscription feature but if you’re ready to go all in and get a little more advanced, then Recharge and Bold Subscriptions are two of my favs.
Email Marketing & SMS
As you may know I’m a Shopify advocate, however, when it comes to marketing, Shopify just isn’t advanced in some things and email marketing & sms is one of them. Things like reporting, segmentation, and advanced functionality, which are super important just don’t make the cut with Shopify. Personally, I’m a fan of Klaviyo for both email and SMS because it’s important to be able to see all of your marketing efforts all in one platform so you can accurately measure the success of your campaigns. However, Attentive and Yotpo SMS are some great tools for SMS and can easily be integrated into your Klaviyo account. SMS is effective for shoppers who prefer to not be bothered with constant email messages and it’s a great way to get out time-sensitive things such as sales or pop up events. People think email is dead, when in reality email is one of the top revenue generating marketing strategies. Email and SMS allow you to directly target to people who have expressed interest in your brand. Unlike, just randomly hitting people up on social media or sending creepy ads (nothing against ads - I’m all for strategically targeting to the right audiences). Aside from setting up automated email flows to capture people where they are in the buying process based off of their interactions with your brand, email campaigns are also super effective and allow you to engage with your list, keep them updated, and segment and personalize the marketing messages based off of things such as their buying behavior, purchase history, location, etc. When selecting your email service provider, make sure that they also have a way for you to capture email addresses through your website (through sign up forms and pop up forms) so that you can continue to grow your email list.
To Wrap This Up
While I know that app fees can certainly add up, look at it as an investment rather than “just another app fee”. Use this time to audit your tech stack and determine which apps are the most useful for your business goals.
If the apps and tools you are using aren't’ bringing in income or saving you time, then you may want to scratch them off the list or even do a little more research to see how you can make more use of the app/tool.
Like always…we’re here if you need some help! What are some of your favorite eCommerce tech tools?