8 New Channels for Shopify Merchants to Acquire New Customers

Ankit Minocha
CEO
October 4, 2024
4

With Apple tightening Privacy laws and restricting Facebook of the privileges, the notion of owning the customer data for brands becomes even more paramount.  


Marketing Channels for Shopify Brands in 2023

With a powerful eco-system of developers and marketing apps for Shopify, the merchants have an opportunity to provide the best customer experience.


Channels that enable you to Own Your Customer

a) Email Marketing

b) Live Shopping

c) Shop Quiz

d) Your branded Mobile App

e) Live Chat

f) SMS

g) Clubhouse Marketing

h) Zest

Brands that own the customer data are able to build a deeper connection with their customers with a personalized communication.

1. Email Marketing

If you are reading this then it's likely that you are already sending emails to build and retain your audience. If not, you’re missing out on a major opportunity to convert them into buyers.

Email can be used to sell by sending offers to users who abandoned shopping carts or haven’t purchased in a while. Or they can be used in a more indirect way to remind people that you exist and are still relevant with newsletters and helpful tips. And are you ready for the best part? Email marketing is inexpensive, which makes it easy to experience an impressive ROI! Also, know how email marketing can boost your client retention in this blog.


Emailer sample

Email Automations you need to grow your Shopify Store

a) Welcome Series Email

b) Browse Abandoned Automation

c) Abandoned Cart Automation

d) Thank you Email

e) Educating about your Products

f) Product Review Automation

g) Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Automation

h) Replenishment Automation

i) Back in Stock Automation

j) Birthday Automation

Best tools to achieve this: Klaviyo, Omnisend


2. Live Shopping

Video is increasingly impacting e-commerce. Consumers use it for purchase decisions, influencers for live-stream product endorsements, and brands deploy video for engagement and product offerings.


Live shopping example in mobile commerce


There are live-streaming tools, video campaigns with synced product carousels, influencer networks to help sell products, and in-video purchase options. Several of these apps target younger consumers. Some of them are:

a) Amazon Live

b) Instagram

c) Youtube Live

d) Livescale

e)The Ntwrk

f) Popshoplive


3. Shop Quiz

If 2020 was the breakthrough year for SMS for Shopping, 2023 is going to be about Shop Quizzes. Quizzes by the brands allow them to learn more about their customers.

Shop quiz in e-commerce stores

Brands can then create these buyer profiles, and connect them with their email service provider to send targeted offers and recommendations.

Quizzes have proven to be a non-obtrusive and much-personalized way of connecting customers with Brands.


4. Convert your Shopify store to app

Marketers know that smartphones changed the game. It’s been years since mobile overtook desktop usage, and that gap is only getting bigger. Now mobile isn’t just a device — it’s a mentality.

E-commerce store to mobile commerce


Today’s brands have to understand how to grow a business in the mobile-first era. And that means answering questions such as:

  • What’s driving mobile business growth?
  • How is the industry evolving?
  • And most importantly, how can you apply the latest data to inform your mobile growth strategies?

Here's a detailed guide on how to get Mobile App for your Shopify Store

5. Live Chat

As more shoppers move online, the importance of e-commerce customer support grows. Think about it, if you need help with something you bought online and the seller doesn’t respond, you’re in trouble. There’s nowhere else to turn; nobody else to contact.


The rise of e-commerce has increased buyer expectations. Most customers anticipate access to speedy, polite and helpful e-commerce customer service through a range of channels, from social media to email. But this is also something they are willing to pay for.

According to a report from PwC, 73% of consumers said customer experience influences what they buy and 42% are happy to pay more for a friendly, welcoming experience. So perfecting your e-commerce customer service can translate into more conversions for your business.

Gorgias is by far the best e-commerce help-desk available that enables you to build campaigns to serve customers better.


6. SMS

Messaging has matured beyond a simple text. New technology in business messaging, such as Rich Communication Services (RCS), promises a rich, interactive experience that customers love.


SMS is for marketing. You can advertise your products or services and be confident in the knowledge that customers will receive and view your message. Mobile phones are experiencing phenomenal usage rates and the five billion users are rarely without their devices. Checking our phones is increasingly the first and last thing we do each day.

The open rate for SMS of 98 percent beats email, with an industry average of 22 percent. Successful SMS campaigns elicit eight times the response rate of email, and a 23 percent conversion rate.

Businesses can invite customers to sales events, special VIP nights or, participate in loyalty programs. SMS can be part of your omnichannel strategy with emails followed up by an SMS reminder or an SMS message with links to further information. Many customers require multiple points of contact before converting from a prospect to a customer. SMS gives you an alternate and high-performing channel for contacting customers.


Some specific use-cases where you can use SMS in your Shopify Marketing Campaign:

  • Provide links in text messages for interested consumers to act upon
  • Promote websites via SMS marketing practices
  • Remind consumers of their existing wish lists
  • Advise consumers when wish list items are running out or on sale
  • Confirm online orders
  • Advise changes to order status
  • Promote specials
  • Send a text message to online shoppers to collect their merchandise in-store
  • Encourage happy customers to leave reviews on social media or online
  • Send SMS to service personnel to direct them to jobs
  • Advise customers of pending service arrival or deliveries
  • Send payment reminders
  • Advise order cancellations for non-payment
  • Thank customers for their patronage
  • Encourage customer feedback

If you are using Omnisend & Klaviyo for Email, they do a stellar job with SMS too.


7. Clubhouse

Clubhouse is a live audio app that allows people to listen to or actively participate in live discussions. Nothing is recorded. When the room ends, that conversation is gone forever.

It’s like a never-ending conference covering eclectic topics. You just enter a room and start listening.


Why Clubhouse matters for your brand?

Clubhouse presents opportunities to share your brand story or your founding story, connect with customers, get product feedback and even run impromptu focus groups.


If you’re an e-commerce brand owner, this presents a powerful opportunity to establish yourself as a go-to resource for certain types of information. It is especially true for brands that offers products that need little to more education on why the product is important.


8. Zest

What’s your store’s gifting strategy? If your brand is like most, the gifting experience might look like gift cards or a gift message printed on the packing slip. While that may seem like “good enough,” gifting is one of the most overlooked paths in a customer journey especially when it comes to customer acquisition.

Zest is building the e-commerce gifting infrastructure by empowering Shopify merchants to unlock the potential within each gift given and received. Zest’s “Send as a Gift” button on product and cart page inspires gifting and sales, but the real magic happens within this re-imagined gifting experience.

With Zest gifting, merchants are able to gather first-party data from the person sending the gift and the person receiving the gift. In a world where valuable first-party data is becoming harder (and more expensive) to collect, Zest is creating an entirely new channel to engage and nurture the warmest leads possible.

Why should brands consider gifting for acquisition?

Gift cards are historically popular presents. They’re convenient, flexible, and familiar. However, gift cards are also impersonal, forgettable, and often unused.

Up to 20% of gift card balances are unredeemed at any time and 6% of gift cards never get used. Plus, one in five gift card recipients won’t use their gift card for at least a year after getting it. A gift card isn’t as memorable or meaningful as a tangible product in someone’s hands, especially if they’ve just been gifted from someone they know and trust.

In short, if someone buys a gift card to your store, you’ll never know if you truly acquired a new customer or who that customer is. This inhibits your ability to connect with them in a meaningful way.

With Zest, gifting is an elegantly re-imagined experience that:

  • Lets both gifters and giftees opt into marketing from your store
  • Instantly establishes a customer relationship between your brand and gift recipient
  • Makes engaging and nurturing gift recipients possible and simple
  • Drives gift recipients to engage and become a customer themselves


Building a strong customer relationship and long-term loyalty is becoming more and more tough as data dwindles. See how Zest is unwrapping a whole new way to connect with gift recipients who you would otherwise have never known.

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