Send WhatsApp messages in bulk
Automate your WhatsApp marketing
Collaborate on a shared inbox
Multiple chat apps on one website widget
Drive sales to your Shopify Store
Drive sales to your EasyStore site
Broadcast messages in bulk
Automate your WhatsApp marketing
Connect your chat apps in a shared inbox
Multiple chat apps on one website widget
Drive sales to your Shopify store
Drive sales to your EasyStore site
Customer Success Executive
Reading time: 5 minutes
As one of the top e-commerce platforms in the market, there are tons of e-commerce stores operating on Shopify. With approximately 2.14 billion global buyers online, the global e-commerce market is booming and doesn’t seem like it will stop anytime soon.
That said, running marketing campaigns in such a saturated market is a must. This will help you stand out amidst all the competition.
In this article, we’ll walk through 20 Shopify marketing strategies to increase your sales and some Shopify apps that make it easier. Let’s read on to learn more!
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Shopify marketing aims to attract customers to buy or use your products and services to help improve sales. It also helps increase brand awareness, visibility, and retain existing customers.
Think of it as the usual marketing strategy, but you’re just promoting your Shopify store.
The first marketing strategy is utilising email and SMS marketing channels. Both email and SMS have high open rates (with SMS having a whopping 98%), which allows you to get your messages across to customers without them ignoring you completely.
You can send promotional messages or abandoned cart recovery campaigns via email and SMS to capture your customers’ attention. Include an eye-catching CTA that links directly to your website and you’ll be driving traffic and sales in no time.
💡 Shopify apps to use: SMSBump, Postscript SMS marketing, Klaviyo, MailChimp
Although email and SMS marketing are certainly effective to market your business, these channels can be overly-saturated. Almost every business uses these channels, making it hard to capture your customers’ attention.
That’s why many businesses have adopted chat marketing to market their business to a digitally-inclined audience without making use of such saturated channels.
Also, chat has a 10% conversion rate, while email only has a 4% conversion rate. 🤭
Chat marketing allows you to engage with your customers through platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, as well as through live chat and chatbots. It involves direct 1-on-1 conversations with customers, letting you deliver personalised product updates, abandoned cart recovery reminders, notifications, and many more.
💡 Shopify apps to use: WhatsApp automation by NovoChat, Tidio, Whatsapp Chat + Abandoned Cart
Referral programs let you offer rewards to your loyal customers in return for word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. And don’t underestimate the power of WOM — 92% of consumers trust their friends over traditional media.
With a win-win situation for both parties, many businesses adopt this strategy to drive more sales.
Here are some things to consider when running a referral campaign:
💡 Shopify apps to use: ReferralCandy, ReferralMagic
Additional read: Top 11 Shopify Referral Program Apps: Comparison and Reviews
While this seems like a no-brainer, you’ll be surprised how many businesses overlook the importance of creating content for their website.
We won’t go too in-depth here, but creating blog posts can help increase your brand’s visibility, improve SEO performance, and keep your customers interested in what you have to offer. In other words, this is the way to gain more organic traffic.
There are many different types of content you can churn out for your blog, such as FAQs, how-to articles, or competitor comparison articles. Sharing relevant topics with stats or data to educate your readers will also create trust and credibility.
💡Shopify apps to use: Automizely Page Builder, DropInBlog, Related Blog Posts, Recipe Kit
Additional read: Top 20 Shopify Blog Apps: Comparison and Reviews
Without a doubt, creating content on social media is one of the best Shopify marketing strategies you can adopt for your business. In fact, it’s a great marketing strategy regardless.
Statistics show that 40% of consumers ages 18 to 34 make use of social media to find and purchase products.
Of course, while it also greatly depends on your target audience, social media marketing helps you engage more with your customers and creates additional sources of traffic for your website.
Thanks to a plethora of Shopify apps available, you can easily set up Facebook or Instagram Shops to update your inventory on these platforms. You can also link your social media profiles to your website to bolster the social proof and increase the discovery of your products.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Shoppable Instagram Feed, Socialpublish, Outfy
Video marketing is a great way to showcase and promote your products. That’s because 90% of customers say that product videos help them make purchasing decisions, and 64% say that watching a video makes them more likely to buy.
To add to that, statistics from HubSpot show that 97% of marketers say that video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service.
Fortunately, with the tons of video editing apps out there, creating a product video can be a breeze. Remember to make the video brief, clear, and have an actionable CTA so your customers know what’s the next step to take.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Easy Video — Product Videos, Vidjet, Vimeo Create, CreatorKit
68% of online shopping starts from search engines. This means you need to target the right keywords and present yourself to your customers at the right time to generate leads from organic traffic.
Blog posts and keyword placements aren’t the only factors affecting your website ranking. A website has to be SEO-friendly — from your homepage, landing pages, to product pages.
Therefore, improving SEO performance is important to make your site visible and searchable for the right term.
There are a bunch of factors to take note of when it comes to improving your website SEO:
💡 Shopify apps to use: SEO:Image Optimizer Page Speed, SEO&Image Optimizer&Page speed, Smart SEO
User-generated content (UGC) helps you engage with your customers by sharing brand-specific content created by your customers. This type of content is published on your social media platforms or shared on other channels.
UGC can be in the form of video contests, photos with hashtags, or social media reviews. For example, Coca Cola’s UGC campaign ‘Share A Coke’ spread like wildfire and raised product consumption by 7% worldwide.
Sometimes, online stores run a UGC campaign to generate more buzz and connect to massive audiences. Rewards or incentives are also often given to those who join the campaign, to encourage more participants to join in the future.
These are some benefits a UGC campaign can bring about for your Shopify store:
💡 Shopify apps to use: Junip, Okendo, Yotpo, Automizely
Customer reviews are one of the best marketing strategies you can adopt to market your Shopify store.
That’s because displaying customer reviews on your online store makes others trust your product or services. It plays an essential role in driving revenue because 93% of customers read online reviews before buying a product.
After all, non incentivized reviews allow customers to give their side of the story and share genuine feedback. This provides social proof to other customers that your products or services are legitimate and can greatly influence their purchasing decisions.
That said, ask for a review via email or SMS after your customer makes a purchase. You can also offer rewards like credits, points, or discounts for those who take their time off to leave a sincere review.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Rivyo Product Reviews & QA, Stamped Product Reviews & UGC, Judge.me Product Reviews
Additional read: Top 18 Shopify Product Review Apps: Comparison and Reviews
Leveraging the presence of social media to sell your products directly is called social commerce. After all, 4.33 billion people are on social media, which means more than 55% of the world’s total population are scrolling through these platforms! 🤯
It’d be a wasted opportunity if you didn’t capitalize on this to sell your products.
You can easily integrate your Shopify store to any social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to provide more touchpoints for your customers. Customers can directly browse and make a purchase from within the social media app itself, reducing distractions and drop-offs.
Be sure to set up a Facebook page or Instagram Business profile to get started. Then, you’ll just have to set up either sales channel from your Shopify store’s dashboard. Start uploading product catalogs, activating shopping carts, and adding tags.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Instagram Shopping, Facebook Shop, Snapchat Ads, Pinterest
In 2022, 93% of marketers take the advantage of Influencers’ popularity in promoting a brand. In fact, this industry is projected to expand to a whopping $16.4 billion.
That said, you can partner with relevant influencers in your niche to convince people to visit your store, purchase your products, or simply raise brand awareness.
You do not necessarily have to work with a big-name influencer if your budget doesn’t allow for it. Some micro-influencers may also contribute to your brand visibility if they have more engaged audiences or are more relevant to your brand and niche.
Things to take note of when choosing an influencer:
💡 Shopify apps to use: Affable, HypeAuditor, Impact, linkr
Don’t underestimate the power of using Facebook Groups and communities to promote your brand — nearly 1 billion users participate in such groups.
This is an inexpensive and effective strategy to gain engagement, spread awareness, and attract your ideal customers. These groups already share similar interests with what you offer, hence members in the group will be more receptive to your promotional material.
For example, if you’re selling pre-loved clothing, you could join thrifting and second-hand clothing groups. This helps you grow relationships and build brand reputation among people with the same interests.
Aside from Facebook Groups, Shopify has a ton of other apps that allow you to create community forums where your customers can post discussions.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Facebook, Community Builder, PeerBoard Forum and Community
85% of businesses are more likely to be found by customers due to recommendations. Therefore, running paid ads is one of the most effective strategies to give your business the marketing exposure it needs.
Also known as pay-per-click (PPC) ads, they appear on websites and various social media platforms like Facebook and Google.
PPC ads are extremely targeted based on your customers’ interests and browsing history. This means that people who come across your ads, click on it, and visit your Shopify store are already interested in what you have to offer.
Naturally, this means there’s a higher chance of purchasing something from you.
Although it costs you some money, it delivers quickly and measurably. There are 3 options when it comes to Shopify paid advertising strategies:
💡 Shopify apps to use: Facebook ads, Email Marketing and Paid Ads, Google ads, StoreYa
Giveaways are an effective marketing strategy — not only for the customer (because they get free stuff), but also for your business to grow and reach a wider audience.
Here are some benefits of giveaways:
There are also several different types of giveaways you can host: holiday giveaways, collaborations, industry events, and many more.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Giveaway Ninja, ViralSweep Giveaway, PineRaffle
Many businesses think that offering promotions and discounts can hurt profits and result in more losses.
However, when implemented correctly, they can bring about several benefits like increasing sales demand, attracting new customers, and cutting losses from excess inventory.
It’s important to note that when offering discounts, you have to target the right customers — those who are uncertain or hesitant about purchasing your products.
For example, a good time to offer a discount would be when a customer abandons their cart. You can take this opportunity to send a text or email offering them a one-off discount if they check out all their items in the cart.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Disco: Flash Sales & Discounts, AVADA, Wheelio
Affiliate marketing is often an overlooked marketing strategy as many businesses question its effectiveness. However, affiliate marketing is responsible for driving up to 16% of all US e-commerce sales.
What your advocates do is they create content about your brand and get their audience to purchase your products. They then earn a commission from anyone who purchases through their link.
There are several Shopify apps that help you set up your affiliate marketing campaign, and all you need to do is set up terms and conditions.
Do note that affiliate marketing won’t make sense if you have small profit margins as it would be difficult to pay your affiliates and generate profit. So if you’ve just started out or aren’t making much profits, it’d be wise to skip this strategy.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Impact Affiliate & Influencer, Shareasale, UpPromote: Affiliate Marketing
Sometimes, not every competitor should be seen as your enemy. Strategically partnering with brands that are complementary or related to yours can widen your reach and boost your credibility.
Brand partnerships are one of the oldest marketing strategies adopted by many over the years.
This can work extremely well for small businesses that have yet to make a name for themselves out there. Partnering with the bigger players can certainly help you leave a mark among your target audience.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Canal: Manage Partnerships, Cross Store Partnerships, Boost
Upselling and cross-selling is another marketing strategy that can help you increase your average order value with little effort needed on your part.
In fact, upselling to existing customers is much easier as the probability of making a sale is 60% to 70%, compared to 5% to 20% probability of selling to a new customer. Also, first-time buyers are 27% likely to return, but after their second or third purchase, this number grows to 54%.
By effectively upselling and cross-selling, you increase conversion rates, and also make sure that your customer chooses the right product for themselves.
💡 Shopify apps to use: Bold Upsell, In Cart Upsell & Cross Sell, Zoorix, ReConvert
Using Pinterest will be the best Shopify marketing strategy if your target audience consists of young adults and millennials.
Though it can be challenging to navigate Pinterest since it’s different from other social media platforms, Pinterest can be a great way to promote your brand.
Users who scroll through Pinterest are more likely to purchase from you because they are proactively searching for things, rather than just aimlessly browsing a feed. Pinterest is also less crowded compared to other platforms.
Pinning your product with appealing titles, images, infographics, and designs can definitely catch your customers’ attention. Here are some things you should keep in mind when marketing on Pinterest:
💡 Shopify apps to use: Pinterest, PinTrack, Pinterest “Pin It” Button
Statistics show that the average cart abandonment rate is approximately 70%. Imagine that out of 100 shoppers, only 30 of them complete the transaction. This is a recipe for disaster!
Not all hope is lost though.
Using automation can certainly help with recovering abandoned carts and driving more sales. Automatically send emails, SMSes, and even chat messages regarding a customer’s abandoned cart to remind them about it and encourage them to complete the purchase.
As mentioned earlier, you can include one-off discounts to further push them to make the purchase.
Other than abandoned cart recovery, you can also use automation for:
A great thing about using automation for such use cases is that since these are recurring, you don’t have to worry about sending your messages at the right time. It will be sent automatically based on the triggered conditions. Just let the app do the automation for you while you let the money roll in. 😉
💡 Shopify apps to use: WhatsApp automation by NovoChat, Omnisend, Arigato Automation
And there you have it — 20 Shopify marketing strategies to help you drive sales.
As we always say, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Some of the strategies listed can give the best results to a specific niche, but might not work well for you. You also probably won’t see much results if you only adopt one strategy.
We recommend experimenting and combining some strategies to see what works best for your business and target audience.
If you’re interested in diving deeper into chat marketing, get started with NovoChat for free to see how we can help you skyrocket your sales! 👇👇👇
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