If you’re running a Shopify store, you’ll know that they keep their platform open for third party developers to create apps which add additional functionality. There are apps for marketing, social media, inventory management, shipping, accounting, customer service, and more. In fact, with over 2,500 apps available, the choice can seem overwhelming. So we thought we’d put together a quick list of some of our favourites.
Smile.io
Incentivising customers to make multiple purchases, refer their friends, or other profitable actions is a task usually left to email marketing or social advertising. There are plenty of ways you can reward customers for their loyalty – and Smile.io have packaged them all in one simple application.
Smile.io integrates with your ecommerce and email marketing platforms, and allows you to create automated rewards and referral programs that engage your customers and boost client loyalty.
The service brings old school retention into the modern world of ecommerce. We’ve all got one of those ‘Buy 6 and your 7th coffee is free’ cards in our wallets somewhere – and mine keeps me glued to my favourite cafe. Smile.io works in a similar way.
You can create and distribute ‘loyalty points’ to your customers, which they save up and spend on discounts, free shipping, or gift cards. These can be awarded for a huge amount of different actions, such as:
- Purchases,
- Subscriptions,
- Sharing or following your social media accounts,
- Birthdays, and
- Referrals.
The best part? Smile.io have a high-powered, free version of their software, so it’s easy to give it a try without locking yourself into a contract or spending any of your marketing budget.
JustUno
JustUno is perhaps the smartest piece of conversion software we’ve ever used at Andzen.
Pop-ups work. There’s no two ways about it – the stats don’t lie. There are many ways to add pop-ups to your website – there’s a smorgasbord of free plug-ins you can use. But if you want to get really clever with your lead capture, you’re going to want to invest in a platform like JustUno.
JustUno takes pop-ups to the next level by giving you the ability to target them to specific sets of website visitors based on a huge variety of different factors. Like Smile.io, this service syncs with your Shopify store and email marketing platform to make the absolute most of all the data you have available on your customers and website visitors. From there, you can target specific pop-ups to appear on certain pages, at certain times, or when your visitors take certain actions on your site. You can also target visitors based on past purchases, their location and other demographics, and more.
We’ve seen JustUno work wonders. We recommend you take them up on their free trial offer (or set up a free account if your website gets 500 or less hits a month) and see how you can make pop-ups work wonders for your store.
Like2have.it
For many brands, Instagram is a great way to bring in leads. People get large followings, and a percentage of them inevitably become customers. Sadly, this percentage is a lot smaller than most of us would like. Instagram only allows you to add a single link in your account bio. Not on posts. Not in comments. Nowhere.
Sure, this limitation works well to combat spam, but it can be a huge pain for ecommerce stores who want to use the platform to market their offerings. Without the ability to link to directly to your product pages, you’re simply not able to create a convenient user experience for customers.
And that’s where Like2have.it comes in.
Like2have.it aren’t able to link to your products on Instagram. However, they are able to link to your Instagram on your website – so they’ve set up a beautiful looking app that lets you catalogue the products you’ve showcased on your account right there on your homepage.
The idea is simple: pull in photos featuring your range from your instagram account, and tag each product with a quick link or a simple ‘Add to cart’ CTA. Just take a look at this example on our client Fae’s website.
At just $20 a month, it’s a worthy investment if you’re using Instagram regularly.
Shoelace
Social retargeting is a great way to engage your customers and leads. But it can be difficult to get right. There’s a fine line between not popping up in your customer’s feeds enough, and spamming them with content. Furthermore, there’s been no real way to personalise your retargeting in line with each customer’s individual journey. So Shoelace – the ‘Remarketing on autopilot’ app – is a welcome blessing for digital marketers and ecommerce merchants.
‘Ad fatigue’ is a very real issue in social advertising. Prospects quickly become annoyed when they begin to see the same ad over and over – and unless you have a remarketing specialist on the payroll, it’s damn near impossible to fix. Shoelace works by creating an engaging sequence of ads that appear at the right time after a visitor leaves your site.
Customers see ads that are relevant to their interests, timely, and, most importantly, fresh. You don’t have to worry about annoying anyone with repetitive content.
Yotpo
Referral marketing is one of the most effective ways to increase your sales. You’re a business, so people believe what they hear others say about your more readily than they believe the sounds of your own trumpet. So how can you make the most out of your happy customers and brand advocates?
You can ask for reviews online, or reward your customers for sharing your brand with their friends with apps like Smile.io. But if you really want to boost your social proof, you’re going to have to leverage user generated content.
Let’s say a customer buys a tube of your toothpaste and posts a photo of them holding it with a happy smile on Instagram. They love your brand, so they tag your business and say a few nice words. It’s probably happened to you before. When people love your stuff, they want to share it with the world!
Yotpo takes these moments, and puts them to work for your business.
Yotpo is a ‘customer content marketing platform’. That might be a mouthful, but their service is simple. They help you generate reviews, photos, and Q&A throughout your customer’s journey, then leverage this user content and feedback to build trust, bring in traffic, and increase conversion.
When your prospects see that others are raving about your brand, they know that you’re worth doing business with.
Yotpo offer a free version of their software – it’s definitely worth giving it a try.
Need help setting up these tools or optimising your Shopify store? We’d love to help! Get in touch at any time and speak to one of our strategists.