Retailers need to know the tech they invest in will meet their needs and help their businesses grow while also adapting to current trends. In response to changing customer shopping trends, 2021 saw more retailers than ever move into the eCommerce space, and the importance of creating a cohesive shopping experience across in-store and online locations was highlighted again and again. To master this, retailers have needed faster websites, smarter tools, and better connectivity between their different store types.

To meet the growing needs of omnichannel retailers, Shopify released several exciting changes in the last 12 months – from Themes 2.0 to Shopify Flow. To build on these additions and create more and more marketing opportunities for Marsello x Shopify retailers, we released several complementary features that are helping retailers make the most of their retail toolkit.

Let’s dive in and discover Marsello’s latest features and biggest updates for Shopify users.

What features has Marsello released for Shopify users?

The last year saw the development of several stand-out features, and many of these were designed specifically for Shopify powered-retailers looking to grow their business with smart marketing. 

Introducing Marsello’s  biggest releases of 2021 and a sneak peek of what’s to come very soon:

Shopify Theme Extension – Product Recommendations:

The announcement of Themes 2.0 at the Shopify Unite 2021 conference was a cause for a flurry of excitement. With some sources calling it Shopify’s biggest investment in their platform to date, Themes 2.0 opened up a world of opportunities for retailers looking to create their perfect online store, edit and customize themes, and prioritize user experience. 

To meet the needs of fast-growing retailers who need smart, data-driven marketing tools, we developed a product recommendations extension for Shopify Themes 2.0 users. With this tool, users can add personalized product recommendations to their eCommerce store to encourage bigger cart sizes, improve customers’ online purchase experience, and help customers find products they’ll love.

Marsello’s product recommendations are powered by our purpose-built, data-driven product recommendations engine that recommends products based on buyer behavior and purchase history. And the potential doesn’t stop with data-driven recommendations either. Retailers can also select specific products to implant into the recommendations block and encourage sales of specific products. 

Learn more about our Shopify Theme extension – Product recommendations.

Marketing Extensions:

Shopify’s extensions feature allows merchants to integrate tools and apps into their Shopify admin almost as if they were in-built. There are countless options to choose from merchandising to stock management; however, none would allow you to create loyalty points campaigns designed to multiply customers’ loyalty points on purchases automatically – this is where Marsello’s Marketing Extension for Shopify comes in.

Shopify Marketing Extensions users can now create points campaigns in their Shopify admin with the Marsello marketing extension, reducing steps to creating and managing loyalty points campaigns that boost customer loyalty. For example, to increase customers’ motivation to make purchases, you can easily create campaigns where customers earn double loyalty points during a set promotional period directly from the Shopify admin. 

Loyalty points promotion campaigns are a great tool to help promote and encourage engagement with your store's loyalty program.  You not only give customers an extra reason to shop and increase their cart size, but points campaigns are a great alternative to running a sale or discount and help your customers to feel appreciated and respected.

Marsello’s Shopify Flow connector:

2021 was a big year for marketing automation – in fact, one study found that 51% of companies were reportedly moved to or were already using marketing automation in some way by 2021. This increased demand for automated marketing capabilities saw the perfect opportunity for Shopify to release Shopify Flows for their Shopify Plus users - in our opinion, one of the most exciting features released in 2021. 

To help Shopify Flow users tie their loyalty program to customer activities, we released a Shopify Flow connector designed to augment the potential for loyalty marketing. Customers can now earn loyalty points for actions like leaving Google or social media reviews, purchasing specific products, or even purchasing at a particular store location through carefully crafted flows and triggers. 

Learn more about Marsello’s Shopify Flows connector in our launch blog.

Google Reviews:

Do you request Google Business reviews from your customers? Do you manage and respond to the reviews left about your business? 

Google Reviews are integral to helping business owners improve their Google ranking and appear higher in search results, which, in turn, plays a huge role in influencing customers’ purchasing decisions.

To help you collect, manage and respond to reviews, we’ve developed a Marsello-powered Google Reviews marketing feature. A soon-to-be-released addition to the Marsello toolkit, consider this your sneak preview into our latest tool for retailers who want to increase their presence through local SEO and Google recommendations. 

Marsello’s Google Reviews feature will make it easy to automate the review process and create a consistent flow of quality reviews that increase online visibility and help to acquire new customers. 

With email and SMS automations built into your Marsello admin, it’s easy to promote and generate Google reviews as soon as a customer makes a purchase (when their experience is fresh in their minds). You can then easily track, manage and respond to reviews directly from your Marsello admin. Subscribe to our blog and emails to stay up to date with each new release as it happens.

What’s changed for the Marsello platform?

One of Marsello’s biggest updates within the last year has been to implement a new look and feel for our existing app. Since June 2021, we’ve been launching a variety of improvements to the Marsello admin to save you time and make your life easier. With a cleaner design and faster tech, new-look Marsello will now launch universally in April 2022, and we can’t wait to hear what you think.

Can't wait? Get access to new-look Marsello now. 

How can Shopify merchants make the most of their Marsello marketing?

Hopefully, you're familiar with Marsello’s core features. If not, let’s recap quickly with just a few bullet points:

• • • Customer loyalty marketing – use a branded loyalty program, automated notification emails, varied reward types, and achievable earn options to garner customer support and engagement. And you can build customer relationships that span a lifetime with VIP tiers that segment your loyal customers based on their purchase history. Learn more here.  

• • • Marketing automation – delight customers by communicating with them how they’d prefer. With Marsello’s email & SMS campaigns, you can create one-off campaigns from scratch or choose from a library of professionally designed email campaigns developed to get results. And once you’ve sent your campaigns, it’s easy to monitor their success, create new campaigns, or even boost your original with a new subject line for those who didn’t open the first. Learn more here.  
      
    • Email & SMS campaigns – delight customers by communicating with them in the way they’d prefer. With Marsello’s email & SMS campaigns, you can create one-off campaigns from scratch, or you can choose from a library of professionally designed email campaigns developed to get results. And once you’ve sent your campaigns, it’s easy to monitor their success, create new campaigns, or even boost your original with a new subject line for those who didn’t open the first. Learn more here. 
      
      
    • Marketing lists – Use forms, landing pages, and marketing opt-ins to grow your customer database and your return on investment. You create marketing opportunities with new customers by capturing customer information at your POS and eCommerce site. Marsello also automatically segments your customers based on their shopping history, making it easy for you to leverage your customer database and target specific customer groups through email, SMS, or even Facebook ad targeting. Learn more here.  
      
      
    • Feedback surveys – Gather customer feedback to understand their shopping experiences and create memorable shopping experiences that they adore. By adding feedback surveys to your communications (for example, a points-earned email that is sent when a customer has just made a purchase), you get confidential, real-time insight into what it’s like to shop at your store. Monitor your growth, see how your business improves, and celebrate your success by measuring customer satisfaction and feedback. Learn more here. 

And Marsello has much more to offer our Shopify users too – just think of the combination of possibilities! What if you were to create a custom Shopify Flow that rewarded your customers with loyalty points when they leave a 4-5 star review? Or, if customers shopped during an annual secret sale, you could reward points to purchases over a set price! Get creative and start delighting your customers in all-new ways with all new experiences. 

Get in touch with our team to learn about Marsello’s full product offering for Shopify.

Final words

The last two years have seen tremendous growth for retail and eCommerce technologies – and that growth doesn't seem to be slowing down. That's why meeting the growing needs of retailers in the retail and eCommerce market is at the forefront of platform and tech providers like Shopify (and Marsello). 

To help our Shopify-powered retailers achieve their goals, grow their business, and stay ahead of the competition, we needed to continue to innovate with Shopify's product offering in mind. And we don't plan on stopping in 2022. 

From automated campaigns and complete customization to set-and-forget style flows and fully integrated customer loyalty programs, the future is looking bright for Marsello x Shopify retailers. Book a demo today to grow your business with Marsello.

Create automated loyalty rewards that encourage customer engagement no matter how they engage with your store by enabling Marsello’s Shopify Flow connection. In this blog, we learn a little about the Shopify Flow platform and how you can pair it with your Marsello-powered loyalty to get creative and reward customers for all kinds of actions.

First, let’s understand what Shopify Flow is and how it works.

What is Shopify Flow?

Exclusive to Shopify Plus merchants, Shopify Flow is an automation platform that connects to your eCommerce (and other third-party services) and allows you to automate just about anything that could be a trackable event. 

The possibilities for intelligent, automated retail are a game-changer – from tagging and flagging customers and orders, to rewarding customers with loyalty points for just about any action (for example, exclusive rewards for customers who leave 4 or 5 star Google reviews). 

To access Shopify Flow, you’ll need to get the app from the Shopify App Store.

And to make sure you have a complete understanding of the possibilities that Shopify Flow offers, there are countless resources available. From downloadable workflows and examples to imports for your store, Shopify has you covered. Check out these resources below to get started: 

1. 1. A selection of examples from the Shopify Flow reference manual
   2. 14 top workflows blog post

Check out this video from the Shopify team about the Shopify Flow platform and how it can become your new secret weapon.

How can Shopify Plus merchants use Shopify Flow to automate and track their Marsello marketing?

Let’s delve deeper into what a Marsello connection for Shopify Flow means and how you can pair the two platforms to boost customer loyalty by rewarding loyalty with all new triggers.

As we mentioned, one of the ways that retailers could use Shopify Flow is to reward high-value customers who leave 4 or 5 star Google reviews. And rewarding Google Business Reviews is just one example of how you could make the most of Marsello’s Shopify Flow connection.

And when you’ve created your new flows, you can track the success of each flow – helping you to create automations that reap more and more benefits as your business grows.

Learn how to create custom automated flows with Marsello’s Shopify Flow connection in our help center.

And remember, while Shopify Flow is only available to Shopify Plus retailers, Marsello’s Customer Loyalty feature still uses built-in automated points earn options triggered by events like completed purchases, birthdays, and social media interactions. The Marsello loyalty feature is also available to all Marsello Pro users, and the automation doesn’t stop there.

Do you know about Marsello’s Marketing Automation feature?

Final words

Shopify Flow opens up exciting new automation possibilities for Shopify Plus merchants – and with Marsello’s Shopify Flow connector, this now includes rewarding customers for their loyalty no matter the interaction. 

Retailers are now able to automate processes like stock orders, product tagging, and (with the help of Marsello’s connector) rewarding customers with loyalty points for a variety of interactions. And as each Flow is created and used, retailers can track their success and adapt their automations to encourage more and more customer interaction. 

Curious about Marsello and how it works with Shopify Flows? Get in touch with our team today.

Marsello integrates seamlessly with Ecwid by Lightspeed and
your chosen Point-of-Sale platform.

If you use Ecwid to power your eCommerce store, you can now run your customer loyalty program across your physical stores and online! And that’s not all – grow your ROI, nurture customer relationships, boost customer loyalty, and grow your business with proven marketing strategies all available within the Marsello app.

But what does this mean for your business, customers, and marketing? Let’s dive in and understand what Marsello brings to Ecwid retailers.

What marketing can you achieve with Marsello x Ecwid by Lightspeed?

Marsello integrates seamlessly with Ecwid and your POS provider making it easy to set up and run your retail marketing strategy across your Ecwid eCommerce and brick-and-mortar stores.

Here are our top marketing features for Ecwid retailers:

Run a fully-integrated loyalty program with Marsello, Ecwid, and your POS provider

Turn one-off shoppers into brand ambassadors and reward customer loyalty with an omnichannel customer loyalty program that encourages customers to keep coming back no matter where they like to shop. 

Studies show that up to 86% of customers are more loyal to the brands with which they have reward program memberships. And this number grows again when customers can access their loyalty program information and benefits in-store, online, and on the go. 

With Marsello & Ecwid, your customers can automatically earn points for online purchases and effortlessly redeem rewards at checkout, just like they do in-store. And because Marsello integrates with Ecwid and your chosen POS platform, all your customer data, loyalty marketing results, and essential business are wrapped up in detailed closed-loop reporting. Then, you can use this information to refine your marketing strategy and create an undeniable customer-centric loyalty that boosts your ROI. 

Make the most of your Marsello-powered marketing and offer an eCommerce and POS loyalty program that all of your customers love. Build life-long relationships with your customers and turn them into brand ambassadors with a customer referral program that rewards successful friend referrals.  

Learn more about customer loyalty with our Loyalty Marketing Guide.

Design and trigger automated marketing campaigns directly from in-store and online purchase behavior

With Ecwid connected to Marsello, you can automate marketing campaigns from customer activities across your entire business. From welcome messages to customer reactivation, it's easy to customize and enable pre-built workflows for every step of your customer journey or design and build new flows from scratch.

Marketing automations help you to encourage purchase, build customer relationships, and boost sales with perfectly timed emails and SMS automations triggered by customers’ purchase behavior. And because Marsello integrates with Ecwid and your chosen POS provider, your customer data is captured no matter where they shop, making it easy to trigger the right message to the right customer at the right time. 

Did you know that 76% of companies that start using marketing automation generate noticeable ROI within the first year? If you don’t already use automated marketing campaigns to delight and engage your customers, now is the perfect time to start.

Learn more about Marsello’s Marketing Automation software.

Create personalized one-off campaigns to increase sales online and in-store

Marsello’s integration with Ecwid and your POS makes it easy to use one-to-one email and SMS campaigns to design personalized campaigns that help to build diverse customer relationships. 

Marsello automatically collects your customer data and organizes shoppers into customer segments, giving you access to valuable insights that make it easy to personalize your campaigns and target specific customer groups strategically. Offer your best customers exclusive deals and encourage them to share promotions with their friends, then target at-risk customers with easy-win campaigns that encourage them to shop with you again before they disappear for good. The options are endless! And with a library of professionally designed email templates for you to choose from, creating stand-out campaigns that excite every type of customer is simple.

Gain customer insight and track the effectiveness of their marketing accurately in-store and online

With both your POS and eCommerce connected to Marsello, you can also track the efficacy of your customer marketing strategy. Closed-loop data attribution directly attributes your marketing efforts to sales, helping you understand the success of specific campaigns, flows, and marketing tools while also creating opportunities to improve and iterate on areas that don’t perform as expected.

Testing is an integral part of the marketing journey, and accurate data reporting will help you curate valuable marketing campaigns that get results. 

Look at it this way: by understanding what tools work well with your business and customers, you improve the customers’ experience. Merrell NZ had this to say about testing their Marsello-powered marketing campaigns:

“Marsello also offers automations, loyalty, rewards, email campaign segmentation, SMS. All the tools that we knew we wanted to test in stages as our eCommerce and business grows.”

They went on to add: “Marsello is a platform that provides you with a lot of solutions that you can test step-by-step while looking at the results. It’s not an expensive tool, so it makes sense to test it for a couple of months.” 

By investing in accurate reporting and using the data to improve your marketing, you’ll boost customer engagement and, therefore, increase your ROI. 

And Marsello’s insights don’t just stop at reporting around your marketing efforts. By connecting your Ecwid and POS providers to your Marsello account, Marsello automatically segments your customers into marketing lists, making it easy for your to confidently create marketing campaigns and promotions designs for specific customer groups. You can even create your own customer segments – a simple way to design campaigns for groups like your VIP loyalty program customers.

Understand more about the insights you’ll see in your Marsello dashboard or learn more about our Marketing Lists feature.

Final words

By connecting Ecwid and your POS platform to Marsello, you gain access to a variety of marketing tools designed to help you get the most out of your retail marketing strategy. From customer loyalty programs to marketing automations and one-off campaigns, there are countless ways to build life-long customer relationships, promote your business, and encourage new growth.

We haven’t even covered all the tools Marsello has to offer! To name just a few: feedback surveys, online pop-ups to gather customer data, sync your marketing lists to Facebook Ads audiences, unique coupon codes – these are still just a few of the tools on offer.

Ready to increase your ROI and design an retail marketing strategy that engages customers no matter where they chose to shop?

Run your loyalty and marketing across all your stores and online by seamlessly integrating Marsello with Heartland Retail and your eCommerce platform.

Become the ultimate omnichannel retailer with marketing across all your sales channels! You asked for an all-in-one retail marketing platform that would integrate with both Heartland Retail POS and your eCommerce provider, and we’ve delivered!

Let’s dive in and learn what Marsello brings to Heartland Retail POS users. 

How do Marsello and Heartland Retail POS work together?

It’s easy to set up and run your retail marketing strategy across brick-and-mortar and online stores. Marsello integrates seamlessly with Heartland Retail POS and your choice of eCommerce platform.

Integrate your customer loyalty program in-store & online, and turn shoppers into brand ambassadors

With an omnichannel customer loyalty program integrated across your Heartland Retail POS-powered store and eCommerce, you can create a seamless customer loyalty experience. Track and reward customer engagement, gather valuable customer information, trigger perfectly-timed notifications to encourage customers to shop, grow life-long customer relationships, and more! 

Create an undeniable customer loyalty program that can turn one-off customers into brand ambassadors by bringing your in-store and online customer, marketing, and retail data into one platform.

Get started by learning how to add customers to your Marsello x Heartland Retail POS loyalty program and how customers earn points.

Send personalized email and SMS campaigns and delight customers with communications they love

Personalization is the secret ingredient to make email and SMS campaigns stand out. When you include brand colors, logo, product images and use data to feed-in customer information, you create a standout marketing experience that captures your customers’ attention. 

With tools like data-driven product recommendations, merge tags to automatically include customer details (like their names), unique coupon codes, a drag-and-drop email builder, and professionally designed templates, it’s easy to create campaigns that encourage customer engagement.

Marsello’s email templates library is an excellent place to source inspiration while quickly creating memorable email campaigns if you’re new to creating them.

Trigger automated marketing campaigns based on customer data and boost your ROI

Automated marketing campaigns are a powerful customer retention tool. Celebrate critical milestones, encourage customers to return to your store, reward your best customers, and more – all automatically triggered, so you don’t have to manually remember every date for every customer. Better yet? Marsello includes pre-designed automated campaigns. All you need to do is customize the flows with your branding, check that the settings meet your desired goals, and then click enable. Our pre-built automated campaigns include:

• • • A ‘Thank you’ automation to new customers who have shopped for the first time. 
    • A product recommendations and exclusive discount email flow designed to encourage Best shoppers to keep shopping with you.
    • A ‘Happy birthday’ celebration flow for customers who have shared this data with you. 
    • A ‘win-back’ automation to encourage at-risk customers (those who’ve not shopped recently) to make a purchase.
    • An automated flow dedicated to recovering abandoned carts when customers fail to complete a purchase.

But with customizable campaigns, the options are endless. Learn more about Marketing Automations by Marsello or book a demo today.

Understand detailed marketing reports and customer data to improve your marketing

By integrating your Marketing results with your Heartland Retail POS and eCommerce data, you can accurately attribute sales and successes from your marketing to specific sales channels, giving you results you can trust. Marsello uses closed-loop data attribution to ensure you can make informed decisions that see results. 

Track your Return on Investment, Average Customer Lifetime Value, specific marketing results (like loyalty program insights), and detailed customers & revenue insights. Then, use this information to improve your marketing campaigns and processes to ensure that your efforts see the best results in-store, online, and through whatever marketing channels you use.

Use customer segmentation to target specific customer groups through email, SMS, or paid advertising

Capture visitors’ details with POS & eCommerce marketing opt-ins, email capture pop-up forms, and website landing pages. Then, leverage your customer data with Marsello’s in-built segmentation, which can be used for email, SMS, and Facebook ad targeting.

Marsello automatically segments your customers into specific groups to help you create personalized marketing campaigns that get results! With RFM segmentation, you’ll see your customers grouped into the following segments:

• • • Best: ordered recently, ordered the most often, and spent the most 
    • Loyal: ordered recently, ordered often, spent good money
    • Promising: ordered recently, ordered more than once, and spent an average amount
    • New: made their first order recently
    • At-risk: haven’t ordered recently
    • Lost: haven’t ordered in a very long time.  

Customer segmentation is a valuable tool for enabling marketing that gets results. Although you might be narrowing down the recipient list, you’re also making it more relevant, which means that customers in that list are much more likely to engage; this is particularly important when creating email or SMS campaigns and paid advertising.

Learn more about Marsello’s Marketing Lists feature.

Final words

The options don’t stop at loyalty marketing, email and SMS campaigns, automations, or customer data either! From customer feedback collection to native eCommerce integrations, Marsello creates an all-in-one marketing powerhouse designed for omnichannel Heartland Retail merchants.

Ready to increase your ROI and create an omnichannel retail marketing strategy your customers love?

From the humble coffee card to 2-for-1 deals, the hospitality industry is no stranger to a loyalty-focused marketing strategy. But things have progressed rapidly from physical loyalty cards – the future of hospitality is digital, even when it’s brick-and-mortar.

The possibilities for digital hospitality don’t just stop at loyalty programs either! From adaptable real-time menus and online QR table-ordering to increased upselling with less work from staff, the digitalized hospitality experience is paving the way for personalized, data-driven dining experiences that automatically drive customer loyalty and retention.

And Bopple is here to bring that to you by integrating with Lightspeed POS for restaurants and Marsello – the perfect omnichannel partnership!

What is Omnichannel Hospitality

The gap between physical stores and online channels is lessening – in fact, they’re becoming one and the same experience. And the hospitality sector is no different! From online wine tastings to contactless ordering with QR codes, the way we indulge in dining is tightly integrated with the way digest digitally. 

Creating a seamless experience that enhances each and every customer touchpoint is at the heart of an omnichannel strategy, but it’s so much more than that! With a multi-channel approach, you’re able to capture valuable customer information that empowers smart, data-driven, customer-centric business decisions, ensuring you get results from your investments and see a trackable return on investment.

With, Lightspeed Ordering powered by Bopple and Marsello, you have a powerful, tightly integrated tech stack that works together to drive undeniable results and increase customer relationships, engagement, and returns. Let’s dig a little deeper into each app: 

Bopple: Whether you’re running a one-off physical pop-up, or you’re an established restaurant, Bopple has what you need to succeed online. With COVID-specific features like QR check-ins and ordering and essential tools like customer database tracking and frictionless checkout, Bopple was developed with the digital hospitality owner in mind!

Lightspeed POS for Hospitality: Digital POS has cemented itself as the new normal and Lightspeed Kounta POS is fast becoming the go-to tool for savvy hospitality business owners. So you’ve sold out of a dish? Update your digital menu on the fly! Running a special or a deal? Promote it directly to your social media channels and flow that campaign into your Marsello-powered marketing! With everything online, you’re able to edit and adjust all important areas of your business in real-time, without time-consuming admin.

Pair your Bopple and Lightspeed Kounta POS apps with Marsello for a tightly integrated, one-stop tech stack and answers all your omnichannel hospitality needs.

Marsello not only offers personalized loyalty programs that are integrated in-house and online, but the options are endless! Encourage friend referrals from customers, nurture customer loyalty, reward purchase behaviour, and turn insights into opportunities with detailed reporting and automated customer segmentation.

Tied together, it’s easy to see how Lightspeed Ordering powered by Bopple and paired with Marsello Loyalty is a recipe for success and an unrivalled omnichannel solution. 

What does an omnichannel approach mean for hospitality customers?

Customer experience! The long and the short of it is that your customers’ experience of your business is streamlined and interactive. Just look at how Chat Thai uses their omnichannel tech stack to maximize customer experience and drive loyalty!

Chat Thai’s modern branding and crisp aesthetic lead customers to expect a modern dining experience and that’s exactly what their customers receive!

From digital ordering to customer loyalty, all Chat Thai’s customer data is captured with the help of Bopple’s digital tools like QR-code sign-ins and contactless payments. Orders are processed through a Lightspeed Kounta POS, and, combined with Marsello, Chat Thai can easily manage their customer information and create a seamless marketing strategy that re-engages their customers at every touchpoint thanks to an omnichannel loyalty program.

And their customers love it too! In fact, in the first 2 months of using Marsello loyalty with their Lightspeed Ordering powered by Bopple, Chat Thai has seen a 375% increase in reward redemptions!

Did you know, customers who order digitally spend more?

From ordering in person, to simply ‘ordering in’, it’s apparent that customers who order digitally are more likely to spend more. In fact, one study suggests that customers who order digitally will spend as much as 25% more on average. The team at Lightspeed put this down to a few potential factors. Digital menus:

• • • Give the customer a primarily visual experience. Perfected product photography goes a long way in encouraging diners to order more by encouraging an increased hunger response. Consider this your customers’ first impression of what to expect from their order – remember, enticing realism will go a long way! Just look at how Chat Thai presents their menu. It’s enough to get your stomach rumbling and taste
    • Increase the opportunity to upsell. Essentially, a digitized menu and ordering experience automates the upselling process. With beautiful images and an enjoyable, easily navigable online experience, customers are much more likely to explore the entire menu and maybe order an extra side dish or replenish their drinks throughout the meal.
    • Allow for increased flexibility. Think about it like improving customer experience. For example, when it comes to busy businesses and the re-ordering process, digital ordering gives the customer the ability to adjust their order easily and in real-time. No catching the eye of waitstaff, no miscommunications or worries about dietary requirements. And this in turn equates to increased average order values and improved long-term customer loyalty.

The benefits of moving towards digital hospitality for retailers are limitless. With tools like data-driven channel management, customer-driven loyalty engagement, and automation across all touchpoints, omnichannel hospitality is the answer to smart, customer-centric business growth.

Get the omnichannel experience for your customers

So you’re ready to make the move to an optimized omnichannel tech stack designed specifically for hospitality business owners – that’s what we like to hear!

Shopify Plus provides rapidly growing enterprise-level retailers with a unique set of features and support, setting the precedent for Shopify Plus Certified Partner Apps and ensuring Shopfiy Plus retailers see rapid results like month-on-month ROI and improved customer lifetime value, no matter what Shopify Plus tools they chose to use. 

But how do you know which apps will set you up for success? And which of the Shopify Plus partner apps are best designed to grow your omnichannel retail business both in-store and online?

Never fear! We’ve selected our top 5 picks with room to grow. Discover our Top 5 Shopify Plus Partner Apps for Omnichannel Retailers below:

Marsello’s Top 5 Omnichannel Shopify Plus Certified Partner Apps

1.  

Powered by Shopify Plus and your point-of-sale, Marsello is the only customer marketing software that integrates seamlessly in-store and online – the ultimate omnichannel marketing tool! By combining data-driven automation, email, SMS, and loyalty programs, Marsello can empower you to deliver targeted marketing for your business that gets results you can trust with closed-loop attribution that tracks your marketing against sales.

Did you know that Marsello is the only marketing software that integrates in-store and online for Shopify Plus retailers, no matter what POS system you use? With an average return on investment of 98x, it’s no wonder why multi-channel retailers choose Marsello to run their marketing and deliver a seamless omnichannel customer experience that gets results.

• • Made for Shopify Plus retailers – Marsello integrates seamlessly across your in-store and online sales platforms to provide a true omnichannel customer experience.

• • Data-driven marketing – Using your customer data, Marsello allows you to deliver targeted and timely marketing that saves you time and gets results.
  • All-in-one marketing platform – Send email and SMS campaigns, use templated designs to simplify your marketing, automate timely communications, collect customer feedback and acquire new customers with referrals, customize and brand a loyalty program to suit your business; Marsello offers all the tools you need to master retail marketing.  
    
    

“Omnichannel retail is customer-centric – driven by the way that modern consumers want to shop. Customers research products to inform their purchase decisions. When they feel fully informed, they are able to make emotion-based decisions confidently and, finally, complete a purchase that they know they’ll love – even for transactional purchases. Making the most of your marketing channels means you’re able to inform and excite your customers and shoppers just like them, no matter where or how they like to shop.”

– Brent Spicer, CEO at Marsello

2.   

Endear is the first and only clienteling app certified for Shopify Plus merchants. Its CRM and messaging platform is made especially for retail sales teams and tracks how messages convert into sales, both in-store and online. Endear empowers retail teams to engage customers over remote channels like email and text while the app takes care of measuring how outreach is performing, including data points like average order value, location of last purchase, and time to convert.

• • Unified messaging – Now every message your team sends on your brand’s behalf is all in one place. Whether sent 1-to-1 or 1-to-many, your customers will never know the difference.
  • CRM – Segment customers based on their behavior in-store and online using filters like product purchased, total spend, zip code, and AOV.
  • Lookbooks – Create and send curated product recommendations right from the app to shorten a customer’s path to purchase. Plus, Endear integrates with your POS so you’re never recommending items that are out of stock.
  • Analytics – Keep your team motivated and see exactly who and what is driving sales each month.
  • Endear everywhere – Cloud-based and available on iOS mobile devices, you can take Endear’s capabilities anywhere and reply to customers anytime.
  • 1-click integration – Shopify Plus merchants can enjoy easy, one-step installation through endearhq.com or the Shopify app store to enjoy a real-time feed of customer data and order history.

“As the digital space gets more competitive and privacy laws more stringent, now is the time for brands to focus on extending lifetime value of the customers they acquire; the best way to do that is through a high-touch, seamless omnichannel experience.”

– Leigh Sevin, Co-founder

3.   

Dor's first-of-its-kind, battery-powered thermal people counter counts the heat signatures of store visitors and is supported by its proprietary machine learning algorithms to maintain and increase the accuracy rates. Dor’s sensor is a peel-and-stick solution that uses a cellular connection which makes it easy and secure to install for both independent and enterprise retailers. Dor customers can see their store’s peak hours and optimize their staff scheduling, integrate Dor into their POS systems and see the conversion rates of their customers and measure their marketing effectiveness by attributing the foot traffic data to their marketing campaigns. 

• • Peel and stick thermal sensors over any door and start counting your foot traffic right away. 

• • One-click integration with your POS allows you to view revenue, foot traffic, and conversion rate all in one place. 

  • Dor uses a cellular network – no WiFi is required in your space. 

  • View and compare foot traffic trends in every store you manage, at any time, from any device. 

  • Avoid downtime with the proactive support from your dedicated customer success manager 

• • Export data via CSV or connect additional tools via API for infinite applications.

“According to shopping behavior research by the Harvard Business Review, 73% of the participants used multiple touchpoints, including the online channels and physical stores, during their shopping journey. This shows us that omnichannel retail is already an essential part of the buying journey. Retailers have to support purchasing trends with other data points such as foot traffic, peak hours, and conversion rates to understand their customers’ needs inside and out, then improve their channels accordingly.”

– Michael Brand, CEO at Dor

4.   

Plobal Apps’ Shopify Plus offering gives retailers the tools to create their own stand-out, fully customizable mobile apps. Improve customer experience with on-brand, UX-driven mobile channels that help you to deliver a unique brand experience, easy-to-use checkout, and personalized engagement with Plobal.

• • In-app campaigns establish seamless customer experience – Run advanced, personalized in-app marketing campaigns and push notifications to drive installs and increase sales.
  • Social media connectivity – connect your app to social media to target new marketplaces and grow your community.
  • Build customer loyalty – offer exclusive and exciting in-app discounts specific to that app channel and selected products.
  • Omnichannel integration – integrate your app with multiple other platforms and Shopify Plus partner apps to create the ultimate toolkit.

5. 

Shipping fulfillment has cemented itself as an essential part of customer experience. With the ability to compare rates and ETAs across 58+ global carriers, Shippo gives Shopify Plus retailers the ability to send their products worldwide without the stress of customs mishaps or misplaced packages. With end-to-end tracking, both the retailer and customer can rest easy knowing that orders are exactly where they need to be. Shippo’s features include:

• • Carrier rate comparisons – save money by comparing which carrier offers the best value delivery within the customer’s shipping region.

• • Sync across sales channels – no matter where you sell, sync your customers’ orders with tracking information so the customer can stay informed at every step of the way.
  • Automatic and CSV upload label creation – automate the shipping label creation process or generate labels from CSV imports.
  • Create a seamless returns framework – improve customer experience with hassle-free returns they trust.
  • Ship globally – international shipping is made easier with pre-filled customs forms.

Final words

An essential part of mastering omnichannel commerce is finding the tools that work best to make your business run smoothly – from marketing and customer engagement, to order fulfillment, your store should run like a well-oiled machine no matter which channel your customers chose to shop from. The above apps will help you to do just that by providing valuable data, insights, and processes that will improve your customer touchpoints and brand experience.

What apps are you using to bridge the gaps between your sales channels? What tools have become essential to your business success and continued growth? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

The retail environment has changed rapidly in the last 18 months. The demand for responsive, powerful software has grown almost as rapidly as the eCommerce and retail industries themselves – and as a result, software providers also needed to evolve to ensure they meet the requirements of growing brands and enterprise retailers. 

To meet the needs of these retailers, Shopify created Shopify Plus and its coveted Shopify Plus Certified App Partner program. Shopify Plus’ partner program is open to apps that are shoulder tapped because they have proven that they can meet the complex needs of larger retailers. To be specific, Shopify Plus Certified App Partners must offer retailers the highest “performance, security, privacy, and support” – in fact, of the 6000 or so apps on the Shopify Marketplace, only 60 are Shopify Plus certified. 

We’re proud to announce that Marsello has been selected to join the Shopify Plus Certified App Partner Program and is the only certified marketing app that integrates both in-store and online whether a retailer uses Lightspeed POS, Shopify POS, or Window-based legacy software.

Quicklinks:

• What sets Shopify Plus apart
• What is the Shopify Plus Certified Apps Program
• Marsello: the only retail marketing Shopify Plus App Partner that integrates in-store and online
• How Marsello became a Shopify Plus certified partner
• Marsello x Shopify Plus retailers making the most of their marketing
  
  

What sets Shopify Plus apart

While Shopify has been a household name in the retail sphere for quite some time, Shopify Plus is home to the eCommerce and POS provider’s largest retailers. And it’s a non-negotiable that these enterprise-level businesses have confident access to apps that are proven to support their continued growth. 

Shopify Plus provides high-growth retailers with solutions that help them develop and scale with confidence and ease. From (vastly) improved online traffic management and full eCommerce store customization capabilities, to multichannel integration, emphasis on user experience and site speed, and an approved app program (the Shopify Plus Certified App Program), Shopify Plus retailers are equipped with all the tools to see rapid and continued success.

What is the Shopify Plus Certified Apps Program

Shopify’s marketplace is bursting with apps that are all vying for retailers’ attention. While having plenty of options is a powerful position to be in, retailers don’t often have time to test all the available options and make a well-researched decision. This is especially true for big retailers who are beyond the stage of experimenting. As they cater to some of the biggest and best retailers, Shopify Plus needs to be able to provide these retailers with app recommendations that meet certain standards. This is where the Certified App Program comes into play.

The Certified App Program essentially vets their best-performing Shopify partner apps within certain categories. We are proud to say Marsello has met Shopify Plus’ partnership requirements, offering Shopify Plus retailers the only true omnichannel marketing app.

Marsello: the only retail marketing Shopify Plus App Partner that integrates in-store and online for retailers using Windows POS

So what does Marsello offer Shopify Plus retailers? That’s easy! Marsello’s ability to integrate in-store and online means that Shopify Plus retailers can attribute each and every customer interaction to their marketing efforts, no matter where that interaction occurs.

With last-touch attribution, industry-leading marketing tools (from email and SMS campaigns to loyalty marketing and automated flows), Marsello is built to help retailers big and small achieve great things with their marketing. In fact, Marsello retailers see an average of 98x return on investment!

How Marsello became a Shopify Plus certified partner

Shopify Plus requires that any partner app that wishes to become certified must meet a baseline of the following requirements:

• Support: 24/7 access to app partner support
• Security and privacy: Trusted and secure information and data handling
• Performance: Advanced app performance and integration standards.

At the end of the day, Shopify Plus Certified App Partners must have a proven successful history of working with Shopify Plus retailers, while also ensuring the ability to continue this success with any other Shopify Plus merchants who may wish to use the app in the future. Marsello’s mission has always been to empower retailers to create stand-out marketing that supports their business at every step of the way, on every sales channel. Becoming a Shopify Plus Certified App Partner allows us to ensure we’re offering the highest quality product and experience while supporting all of our retailers to grow, scale, succeed and sell more!

"The Shopify Plus Certified App program is designed to meet the advanced requirements of the world's fastest-growing brands," said Mark Bergen, VP Revenue. "Marsello's accreditation in becoming a Shopify Plus Certified App Partner is a testament to the hard work we've put into the partnership over the years. As the first New Zealand-based app to become a Shopify Plus partner, we are excited to play a part in helping omnichannel retailers scale their businesses." – Brent Spicer, CEO at Marsello

Marsello x Shopify Plus retailers making the most of their marketing

Let’s take a look at how some Shopify Plus retailers are already using Marsello to make the most of their marketing. 

International swimwear sensation, Triangl, sees 5182x ROI with Marsello

Triangl found international success selling a color-blocked neoprene bikini that took beaches worldwide by storm. From celebrity endorsements and rapid growth to scaling beyond eCommerce and staying ahead of the fast-paced fashion world, Triangl needs total confidence in any tool they add to their kit, and consistency in their email marketing is no different.

"The increase in our results was also driven by improving our Welcome Email Series where the content seeks to build community, encourage user-generated content, showcase new arrivals, engage customers in upcoming releases, and get involved in our Travels via the Blog."

Triangl’s focus on consistency and customer experience has helped them to curate a loyal following of customers that love to engage with their content. And by integrating their email marketing with both their eCommerce and brick-and-mortar stores, the stand-out swimwear brand are making the most of every customer interaction. In fact, Triangl aren’t just seeing results, they’re seeing remarkable growth – 5182x return on investment with Marsello to be exact.

Learn how Triangl uses Marsello to power email marketing that compliments their brand and delights their customers.

Cosmetics & Fragrance Direct’s omnichannel marketing creates a consistent customer experience

Cosmetics & Fragrance Direct, an Australian beauty stockist, are experts in curating ‘flow’ between their in-store experience and online stores. Recognizable branding and consistent messaging go a long way in customer experience. Cosmetics & Fragrance Direct knows this and has been careful to ensure that the customer experience of transitioning from in-store to online to engaging with marketing efforts feels seamless, effortless, and recognizable. 

With Marsello, they can rest easy knowing that every customer interaction is accurately tracked and organized within their marketing funnel thanks to last-touch attribution reporting and seamless omnichannel integrating with their Shopify Plus eCommerce site and their Lightspeed POS sites. The TL;DR? Cosmetics & Fragrance Direct knows that their marketing goes out to the right customer, with the right message, at the right time because they have ensured that their marketing integrates with all their sales channels. And with 17x ROI just from their one-off email marketing campaigns alone, the team behind Cosmetics & Fragrance direct also knows that their marketing efforts are reaping the benefits.

Read about Cosmetics & Fragrance Direct’s omnichannel marketing success.

Final words 

Marsello’s approval as a Shopify Plus Certified App Partner cements our continued commitment to retailer growth and development, as well as our dedication to our partnership with Shopify Plus. We continue to push the envelope for what retailers can expect from their marketing applications and we’re excited for what this certification means for our work with current Marsello retailers as well as future users. 

Retail marketing is a fast-growing, fast-paced environment and we thrive on challenging ourselves to continually provide a platform that meets retailers’ primary marketing needs while also going above and beyond with customer service, experience, product development, and integration possibilities. We excitedly welcome the future of true omnichannel retail.