Shopify makes an affordable and easy to use Ecommerce platform that makes it suitable for Direct to Consumer (DTC) brands. Its out-of-the-box functionality allows you to quickly start and grow your business.
To get even more out of your store, Shopify also offers numerous apps. Once you have set up your store, you can install them to increase customer satisfaction, increase your conversions, and boost your sales. Here are five Shopify apps you can consider for your store.
1. Fomo
Are you familiar with Robert Cialdini and his principles of persuasion? Then, you might know the importance of social proof for earning the trust of prospects and urgency for generating the sale.
Fomo takes care of both the above aspects. It displays your recent store orders, product reviews, and other customer behavior on social media (by integrating with apps like Mailchimp, Zapier, and Instagram).
Your prospects observe the online activity, and get reassured that other people are also interacting and buying from your business. The notifications also compel the visitors to buy before the product they are viewing runs out.
You can customize these messages to match your website design and set custom page rules to enhance the user journey.
2. Klaviyo
Email marketing is a great way to build relationships with your customers. Indeed, abandoned cart recovery emails help Ecommerce businesses recover carts (which stands fairly high at an average of 69.57%). Klaviyo lets you target customers who have abandoned their browsing sessions without even adding anything to the cart.
The tool deeply integrates with Shopify, collects user data on everything they do on your site, and takes email personalization to the next level. Its dashboard lets you spot the user behavior on your website and launch laser-targeted campaigns.
You can use its dynamic data blocks to hide sections of your email based on recipient characteristics.
Want to tailor a custom audience for Facebook ads? Klaviyo lets you segment your audience based on engagement with previous campaigns, behavior, and the like.
3. SEO Image Optimizer
Do you know the second biggest search engine?
I’m sorry to break it to you, but for U.S.-based web searches, it isn’t YouTube.
At 26.79%, it’s Google Images, comfortably bypassing YouTube (which stands at 3.71%).
Now, if you’re not performing SEO for your store images for Google Images search, then you’re missing out on tons of traffic. Lucky for you, the SEO Image Optimizer Shopify app can optimize the alt text for the images on your store. You only need to choose a template from ‘Auto Pilot Settings.’ Instead of using the pre-made templates, you can also create your own.
Note that the app does not optimize the size of image files. To ensure fast loading times, you can use another tool such as Pixlr for image compression.
4. ReferralCandy
What’s your primary source of information while buying a product?
If possible, I prefer listening to my friends and family to share their experiences of buying. Indeed, 88% of consumers place the highest level of trust in recommendations from people they know.
However, rarely do your happy customers recommend your business to others. In a study by Texas Tech University, 83% of satisfied customers are willing to refer a product or service, but only 29% of them do.
The ReferralCandy app can bridge this gap. It can enable you to create a system for incentivizing your customers for referring your products to their networks. You can set up a referral program for your best customers through ReferralCandy in a few clicks.
All you need to do is set up rewards in the form of a cash payment, discount, or a special gift. Even the referral payout is automated! Once you have set up the program, your customers can launch word of mouth marketing for your business through their unique links.
As your evangelists generate sales for you, you get quick access to data such as referral sales, clicks, and traffic.
5. Gorgias
It could be anywhere between 5 times to 25 times more expensive to acquire new customers than keeping the current one. Customer service is, hence, essential to create a sustainable business. Further, being a Direct to Consumer (DTC) business, you especially need to create an exquisite experience for your customers. The buyer’s journey is the DNA of a successful DTC brand ,as I cover in my article at The Ecommerce Academy here.
However, with the flooding of social channels, it can become challenging to keep up with your consumers. Further, customers also expect omni-moment support to get their problems instantly resolved. Gorgias is your all-in-one customer support helpdesk. It stores your conversations with customers from multiple channels.
It offers a unified view that lets you streamline your support tickets and increases your efficiency. You can use its templates, macros (for aspects such as order status and the shipping date), and live chat to tremendously cut down on your support time.
You can also cancel, refund, and duplicate orders within a few clicks. Won’t you like the convenience of handling customer support from one dashboard?
Bonus: Crowdfunder
If you want immediate customer buy-in, then crowdfunding is a great way to kick start your brand. An added advantage is the inbuilt awareness in such marketing campaigns. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are prominent platforms for raising funding. However, you can use the Crowdfunder Shopify app if you already have a successful website.
The app can help you launch limited editions of your best-selling product, solicit pre-orders to gauge the demand for your products, and also raise funds for charity.
All of it while saving the commission that you pay to Kickstarter and controlling the whole crowdfunding process end-to-end. You can also customize the app with basic knowledge of HTML and Liquid. If you want help with getting the word out about your campaign, then here’s a crowdfunding PR guide by a dedicated crowdfunding marketing agency.
Final Thoughts
With over 820,000 merchants across 175 countries, Shopify is a convenient and powerful platform for selling online. Further, you can install Shopify apps to unlock additional functionalities, even without writing a single line of code.
In the article, you saw five Shopify apps that give convenience and add value to your store. You can install them and generate more sales for your DTC brand.
Are there any other apps that have increased your store’s revenue? Share them with me in the comments.
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