How can Shopify help with my brand’s marketing?
Part of building a sustainable brand is using all the tools available to you in the most effective way possible. If you’re a busy brand owner who’s new to Shopify - or haven’t had the time to do a deep dive on the platform - you might not even know what marketing tools are available (for free!) at your fingertips. Not to worry, though - this guide will break down all the ways you can utilize the Shopify platform to effectively market your e-comm brand.
How to leverage Shopify for brand marketing
Shopify is working to position itself as an all-in-one brand building platform, and this includes a continued investment in its marketing functionality. This is one of many reasons why I recommend Shopify as the e-comm platform of choice to my clients. If your brand is hosted on Shopify, it’s worth taking the time to understand all of the amazing marketing tools that you have at your fingertips within the platform.
Let’s dive into the details of how exactly you can utilize the Shopify platform to help with your brand’s marketing.
You and I both know that not everyone visiting your online store will become a buyer.
But what if I could help you to bump up that percentage?
Email marketing and automations
Did you assume you need an email marketing platform in order to get started on email automation? Think again! Shopify has a variety of email automations available to users on the Basic Shopify plan or higher. These include Abandoned Cart and Checkout flows, Welcome emails and more.
If you install the (free) Shopify Email app, you can also create more advanced automations, target specific customer segments and add more content and design elements to your emails. This is a great option if your brand is just getting started or you don’t have the budget (or bandwidth) to onboard with an email marketing platform like Klaviyo.
Shopify has also majorly improved their segmentation options as of the Summer ‘23 Editions update. If you head to the Customers → Segments section in your Shopify account, you’ll see a ton of new smart segments like First-Time Customers and VIPs. You can then directly target these lists with personalized discount codes, email blasts and more.
If you want to get even more granular, install the free Shopify Flow app (now available for Basic Shopify plans and higher) which allows you to send emails based on totally customized triggers of your choice - all without coding! For example, you could create a Flow that sends a follow-up email asking for reviews a week after a customer makes a purchase. The sky is really the limit with Flow, and I’m super excited it’s now available to more Shopify users.
Discoverability and new audiences
As a brand owner you’ll want to use every free tool available to you to increase your brand’s discoverability. Luckily, Shopify has several built-in ways to attract new audiences.
Reach Potential Customers with Shop
If you haven’t already set up your store in the Shop Channel app, now is the time to do so. Shopify has been heavily investing in updates to Shop, an in-house app that allows users to browse participating Shopify stores all in one place, with expedited checkout and lots of opportunities to discover new products. Shop users can also earn Shop Cash rewards which can only be redeemed within the app. It’s a bit like a social network of online businesses - and, considering how streamlined it is to get set up, you’d be missing out not to enroll your store.
Expand Internationally with Shopify Markets
If you’re looking to increase international traffic or break into new global markets, look no further than Shopify Markets. Shopify Markets makes it incredibly simple to optimize your store’s design and translate content, pricing and more for different target audiences. By taking the time to tailor content to each country’s market, you’ll enhance your brand’s SEO rankings abroad and make it significantly easier for global browsers to convert to buyers.
Apps and extensions
Apps and store extensions offer some of the most robust opportunities to improve your brand’s marketing, often with no (or minimal) additional costs. Here are some marketing app types your brand can utilize:
Loyalty programs
Loyalty programs - like allowing customers to refer new shoppers, or offering rewards points for purchases - are a great way to attract new customers and boost repeat sales. While Shopify does not (currently) have a free loyalty app available, popular third-party app options include Smile, Rivo and Yotpo (if you need a more high-end, customizable solution).
Social media connectivity
Highlighting your social feeds on-site can convert existing customers into followers, fostering long-term brand loyalty. Shopify allows you to link your social media platforms on site, but you can go one step further by using apps like Instafeed to display social posts directly on your homepage.
User-generated content
Social proof and customer reviews are key in order to build trust with new browsers. If you don’t have one already, it’s definitely time to install a customer review app - some I like are Judge.me, Yotpo and Loox.
If you’re lucky enough to receive lots of user-generated content like photos and videos, you should definitely be utilizing that content as social proof. Apps like Foursixty allow you to create shoppable UGC feeds, which can be highly impactful for new customers looking for validation before they buy.
Upselling
Apps provide tons of opportunities to upsell to your customers. Shopify has just released a free Bundles app which will make it easier than ever to create and market bundles and multipacks to customers. Apps like ReConvert allow you to offer upsells on the checkout page, post-purchase and more. If you’d prefer to be more subtle, apps like Frequently Bought Together allow you to market complementary products to your customers at the product page (or cart) level.
Content marketing and SEO
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: SEO needs to be a key pillar in your brand’s digital marketing strategy. Content marketing and search engine optimization go hand-in-hand, which is why I’ve grouped them together. Let’s dive into how Shopify can help with both.
Content Creation in Shopify
Shopify makes content creation easy, with a variety of page customization options available. You could start a blog for your brand. You can create custom page templates for one-off pieces of copy, like an “About” or “Sustainability” page. You can even build customized landing pages using metaobjects. Whatever your content publishing needs, there is likely a way to build the exact type of page needed - all without having to invest in custom coding.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
After you’ve spent time creating high quality, brand-relevant content, you’ll want to make sure it’s optimized so that search engines can find it and direct the right traffic to your site. Shopify has lots of features in place to help you nail SEO. And lucky for you - I’ve written extensively on how to do that!
To learn more about creating SEO-optimized content in Shopify, check out my guide here.
Data-driven marketing
Data can (and should!) be a key marketing tool for any e-comm brand. Shopify has powerful reporting dashboards that you can utilize to make the most well-informed marketing decisions possible.
Shopify’s new Benchmarks feature is the latest in a string of exciting reporting updates in recent years. What makes Benchmarks so helpful is that it compares your store’s key reporting metrics - like conversion rate, average order value and more - versus industry-specific metrics so that you can see how your store compares. I love this tool because it takes away all the “shoulds” that you might feel as a business owner - to always be selling more, to knock your conversion rates out of the park - and provides you with a range of real-life data that can help you make smarter marketing decisions.
Shopify has also made major improvements to their analytics dashboard, including customization options so that you can immediately find the metrics that matter most to your brand.
Have questions? Get in touch. I answer all messages personally.
