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7 Best Loyalty Apps for Shopify [2023]

Choosing the best loyalty program app for your Shopify store isn't easy. In this blog, we review the 7 Best Loyalty Apps for Shopify, and how they can...

Max Crosse

Content Strategy Manager

Customer retention isn’t easy. Between your eCommerce and physical stores, social media, and various other touchpoints, customers can slip through the cracks.

Shopify’s loyalty program apps make it easy to engage your customers with personalized rewards and incentives and ensure they stick around for the long term. But with so many loyalty apps to choose from, how do you know which one is right for your business?

In this article, we’ll review the 7 Best Loyalty Apps for Shopify and how they can increase customer retention and boost sales for your store.

 


 

What are the best loyalty apps for Shopify in 2023?

marsello-loyalty-marketing-tools

1. Marsello [Top pick ✨]


Marsello helps you drive sales and reward regulars with a loyalty and referral program that works in-store and online. With Marsello, you can customize the appearance of your program to match the look and feel of your brand. It’s easy to set up rewards, discounts, points, VIP tiers, and more to gamify your customers’ shopping experience and encourage them to spend more.

Marsello’s key point of difference is the ability to run your loyalty program seamlessly across your Shopify eCommerce and POS channels. This simplifies customer loyalty management and allows for a more seamless customer loyalty experience.

Marsello’s loyalty tools also connect with its all-in-one marketing automation tools, helping you run more effective campaigns, from email to SMS, reviews, and more.

 

Here are some popular ways to use Marsello:

    • Customize and launch a loyalty program that works in-store and online
    • Reward customers with personalized rewards, points, VIP tiers, and more
    • Sync sales from eCommerce and POS and link them to unique customer profiles
    • Use your customer insights to run smarter, personalized marketing campaigns
    • Manage all of your marketing from one app, email, SMS, automations, and more

 

Pricing

Marsello offers a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start from $100 USD/month, and are based on your customer database size and the number of eCommerce and POS sites connected.

 

What merchants think about Marsello

Merchants enjoy using Marsello for its user-friendly interface and powerful loyalty features. Marsello merchants have seen a boost in sales through its loyalty and rewards program, email, and SMS marketing features. Marsello’s marketing automation tools and cost-effectiveness are also highlighted, along with its responsive customer service team.

Install on Shopify

Recommended Loyalty App for Shopify
Marsello helps you launch a world-class loyalty program that engages your customers and drives sales, no matter how they shop. Create rewards, points, VIP tiers, and more with ease.

Start Free Trial

 

2. Smile.io

smile-loyalty-tools

Smile.io offers easy-to-use loyalty and rewards tools to help you engage your shoppers, and turn first-time customers into forever customers. Over 125 million shoppers earn points through Smile. 

With Smile, you can create your own loyalty and rewards program that increases sales and repeat purchases, saves on acquisition costs, and boosts brand loyalty. The best part is that creating a loyalty program with Smile only takes a few minutes—with no coding required.

Smile offers simple management of your customers and loyalty data, and if you need help, you’re supported 24/7 by a team of loyalty experts to answer your questions.

 

Here are some popular ways to use Smile:

    • Customize your loyalty widget and rewards launcher to match your brand aesthetic
    • Encourage repeat sales by allowing customers to earn points and rewards
    • Connect Smile with your email, review, and customer service apps
    • Nudge customers to continue shopping by reminding them of their points and rewards

 

Pricing

Smile is free to install. Their free plan allows up to 200 monthly orders and gives you access to all the basic loyalty features, including a points and referrals program, basic brand customization, default reward emails, and an analytics overview.

 

What merchants think about Smile.io

Shopify store owners appreciate this app for its easy setup and seamless integration with Shopify. Smile is praised for its loyalty points system, customizable rewards options, and VIP program features. Smile’s free plan is a good entry point for new businesses looking to increase customer loyalty. The free version is robust and easy to use.

 

3. LoyaltyLion

loyaltylion-loyalty-program

LoyaltyLion helps Shopify brands boost retention and increase customer engagement with a loyalty program that goes beyond points and rewards.

The popular loyalty app helps you incentivize brand engagement and motivate repeat purchases by offering loyalty points and rewards to customers who engage with your business.

 

Here are some popular ways to use LoyaltyLion:

    • Reward positive onsite behavior with customizable points and gifts
    • Increase brand advocacy by rewarding customer referrals
    • Deliver points and rewards through email and on-store notifications
    • Tailor how your loyalty program appears on your Shopify eCommerce site
    • Integrate with email providers, subscription partners, reward platforms, and more

 

Pricing

LoyaltyLion offers a free plan that gives you access to basic loyalty features, unlimited members, and up to 800 monthly orders. Paid plans start from $156 USD/month.

 

What merchants think about LoyaltyLion

Merchants highly recommend LoyaltyLion due to its seamless integration, customizable features, and user-friendly interface. LoyaltyLion is praised for its exceptional customer service, and merchants appreciate the app’s detailed analytics, and easy migration from other loyalty apps.

 

4. Joy: Loyalty & Rewards Program

joy-loyalty-program

Joy is a user-friendly loyalty solution designed to keep your customers around with advanced loyalty programs and rewards features. It’s designed to help Shopify stores effectively convert their shoppers into loyal customers with the help of rewarding points.

The app has a variety of features that allow store owners to manage the earning and spending of loyalty points flexibly. All of Joy’s loyalty features come in a user-friendly and no-code-required platform that’s supported by 24/7 customer support.

 

Here are some popular ways to use Joy:

    • Reward customers for signing up, placing orders, leaving reviews, and more
    • Manage your customer tiers, points, and missions with export and import data
    • Run campaigns with built-in email notifications and automations
    • Leverage your store’s point-of-sale data to run more effective loyalty campaigns
    • Engage your customers without slowing down your shop’s loading speeds

 

Pricing

Joy offers a free plan, limited to 250 orders per month. You can enable points-earning options for customers who sign up and place an order. Paid plans start from $29 USD/month.

 

What merchants think about Joy

Merchants love Joy for its diverse loyalty features such as rewards programs and referral options, and low impact on your shop’s loading speeds. The customer service team is highly praised, and merchants find the pricing reasonable and appreciate its integration with POS. The tool is regarded as a valuable tool for growing a store’s database and social following.

 

5. Yotpo: Loyalty & Rewards

yotpo-loyalty-dashboard

Yotpo’s eCommerce retention marketing platform helps Shopify brands drive repeat sales with connected solutions for loyalty, email, SMS, reviews, and more. With Yotpo, you can build a customizable, retention-driving loyalty program that offers more than just rewards.

Yotpo’s agile loyalty tools empower store owners to launch a loyalty program quickly and iterate endlessly — with no developer work required. The platform’s out-of-the-box campaigns help you drive repeat sales from the get-go.

 

Here are some popular ways to use Yotpo:

    • Customize, launch, and manage your loyalty program with no coding required
    • Monitor your loyalty and referral program data, from ROI to customer LTV, and more
    • Increase repeat sales and customer engagement with diverse rewards and tiers
    • Create a seamless marketing experience by integrating Yotpo’s marketing products

 

Pricing

Yotpo is free to install, with a free plan available to stores with fewer than 100 monthly orders. Paid plans start from $199 USD/month and provide your customers with more ways to earn.

 

What merchants think about Yotpo

Yotpo is highly recommended for its seamless Shopify integration. The platform helps users effortlessly boost business with features like email reminders for points-earning, and reward redemption options. The customer service, especially the live chat is appreciated, and the app’s customization capabilities are also appreciated.

 

6. Stamped Loyalty & Referrals

stamped-loyalty-program-and-referrals

Stamped Loyalty helps Shopify brands maximize customer loyalty with a customized loyalty program, VIP tiers, and referrals. The platform works as a stand-alone product, but can also be integrated with Stamped’s integration reviews and ratings product to create a full suite of customer tools.

Stamped helps brands deliver immediate value to their customers through a personalized loyalty experience. Their platform helps you increase average order value and maximize customer lifetime value through AI-powered points and rewards, VIP tiers, and referral solutions.

 

Here are some popular ways to use Stamped:

    • Drive engagement with points-based campaigns that motivate customers to shop
    • Reward and incentivize customers to share your brand with their friends
    • Deliver a fully customized on-brand loyalty program and experience
    • Create exciting VIP tiers and perks to recognize your best customers

 

Stamped Pricing

Stamped offers a free plan. Paid plans start from $59 USD/month, however, by signing up for Stamped’s 12-month plan, you can save 17% off your subscription costs.

 

What merchants think about Stamped

Merchants love using Stamped for its intuitive loyalty integration with Shopify, along with its advanced customization features and helpful customer support team. Despite some instances where glitches and shortages in real-time assistance occur, the overall sentiment remains positive, with Shopify store owners taking pleasure in migrating from other app alternatives.

 

7. Rise.ai

rise-gift-card-app

Rise is the go-to gift cards and store credits app for Shopify stores. The app is designed to manage all your brand’s re-engagement activity, from gift cards to referrals, rewards, and refund management.

Rise helps you establish an intuitive rewards program with flexible, automated store credit flows that strengthen your customer relationships and increase customer lifetime value.

Rise’s customer service team is excellent and has proven to go above and beyond to help customers get the most out of their products and deliver success.

 

Here are some popular ways to use Rise.ai

    • Trigger and create store credit rewards based on customer activity
    • Issue gift card refunds and offer store credit for returns
    • Launch a loyalty program that encourages store credit accumulation
    • Remind customers of their gift cards with scheduling and sending options

 

Pricing

Rise’s starter plan starts from $19.99 USD/month and gives you access to essential store credit and gift card features, limited to 100 monthly store orders.

 

What merchants think about Rise.ai

Merchants appreciate the app for its gift cards, rewards programs, and store credit issuance. The app has high customizability and works seamlessly with Shopify and Klaviyo, helping you run more effective campaigns. The app has been instrumental for many Shopify stores wanting to increase sales and attraction, with its gift card scheduling and automation tools being a stand-out feature.

 


 

So, which loyalty app should I install?

Shopify’s loyalty apps make it easy for store owners to engage customers and drive long-term brand loyalty.

The best loyalty programs are ones that make customers feel seen and valued, regardless of how they shop. In this context, Marsello’s seamless integration with Shopify eCommerce and POS allows store owners to nurture customers and manage loyalty and order data across multiple channels.

By centralizing your in-store and online customer data, you can get a complete view of your customers, helping you optimize your loyalty program and run more targeted and timely campaigns that drive sales for your Shopify store.

Recommended Loyalty App for Shopify

Marsello helps you launch a world-class loyalty program that engages your customers and drives sales, no matter how they shop. Create rewards, points, VIP tiers, and more with ease.

Start Free Trial

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    How to Use a Marketing Calendar to Manage Your Campaigns

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    Learn how to use the Marketing Calendar feature to organize your marketing campaigns, schedule future campaigns, track your campaign success, and more.
    Marsello's Marketing Calendar with a campaign scheduled for the future.

     

    Email marketing is still the most effective means of marketing and communication that you can do. In fact, research suggests that almost 70% of businesses use email marketing as part of their campaign strategy, which means you could be behind the curve if you’re not making the most out of email marketing. And when coupled with other campaign strategies like SMS marketing, points promotions, and carefully curated customer segments, you’re no longer part of the curve, you’re ahead of it. In fact, you’re leading the charge!

    And managing your marketing efforts is an essential part of both understanding the success of your campaigns, and planning for outgoing campaigns. Whether it’s a holiday marketing campaign (BFCM is just around the corner and the perfect time for a points promotion) or just keeping track of when campaigns are sent so you can better look back at what has caused an uplift in sales … and it all comes down to timing.

    Introducing a Marsello feature that will feel like you’ve just hired a marketing assistant: the Marketing Calendar. The Marketing Calendar feature is a month-by-month timeline representation of when and how you’re connecting with customers through campaigns, as well as making it easy for you to manage and create emails, SMS, and points campaigns through the calendar.

     

    How to use the Marketing Calendar

    Under ‘Campaigns’, on the right-hand side of your screen, you can toggle your Campaigns view to view the Marketing Calendar. As you can see in your Marsello admin, the Marketing Calendar displays a month-by-month format (which can be adjusted to a weekly or daily view too) and shows which campaigns have been sent within the current calendar month, and which campaigns are scheduled for the rest of the month. This means that you’ll see any SMS, email, or points campaigns within this timeframe, and easily identify gaps in your marketing.

    One of our favorite features of the calendar is that it makes it really easy for you to create and schedule new email, SMS, or points campaigns by clicking on the date that you’d like to send the campaign. This will bring up the usual campaign creation window which means it’s so easy to use!

    And the ease of use doesn’t stop there! 

    Usually, a points campaign will last a few consecutive days, just as The B Code did when they created a points campaign to promote their online loyalty program. Deciding the span of your points campaign and creating it is simple! Just click-and-drag from your preferred points campaign start date to the end date and the ‘create a points campaign’ window will automatically appear.

    Just remember, promoting your points campaigns with email and SMS campaigns will dramatically increase the success of your points campaign while also promoting your loyalty program. A powerful marketing tool during the holiday season when it helps to stand out to your customers with more than just the occasional holiday discount.

     

    Marsello marketing calendar with halloween promotions scheduled.
     

    Using email templates to quickly create eye-catching campaigns

    Creating a campaign with the Marketing Calendar feature takes a few clicks; and with the holiday season fast approaching, there’s plenty of campaign ideas and themes to keep you busy. Because of this, we’ve gone ahead and added several BFCM email campaigns to your templates library. These templates are designed to enable you to quickly get started with an email campaign without the added stress of wondering what to include in your email content or planning designs.

    So, how do you add a template to your campaign? 

    Once you’ve clicked on your desired campaign date within your Marketing Calendar, the rest is easy!

    1. Select ‘Email campaign’ as the campaign type that you’d like to create.

    2. Then opt to ‘start from template’. 

    3. Select the template you feel best represents your brand and the ‘feel’ of your promotion. 

    And from here, it’s just some simple customization steps to ensure your desired template fits your brand and your campaign goals:

    1. Add your store logo

    2. Update header image links to your store

    3. Add a discount and any terms

    4. Customize your copy/text

    5. Drag in product recommendations or showcase specific products

    6. Add your social media links at the bottom

    Let’s dig a little deeper and get into why the Marketing Calendar is useful to you. 

     

    Why is a Marketing Calendar useful?

    Not only does a Marketing Calendar make it simple for you to plan, create and send new campaigns, it is also an important tool for tracking the success of your past marketing campaigns, how often you’re communicating with customers, and what your scheduled marketing strategy is for the coming month(s) (and as the holiday season is fast-approaching, hopefully, it’s starting to look more and more planned). Let’s break each of these points down a little.

    • Tracking your marketing success:
      What are the goals of your campaigns? To increase your revenue and sales (conversion rates), to promote your store (open rates), or to push your loyalty program (engagement)? Maybe you’ve released a new collection of products or you’re announcing a sale. By combining your marketing calendar (with clear send dates) you can easily compare the success of each campaign to your insights over the days that follow from when you sent the campaign and deduce if that campaign had a remarkable impact on your revenue or other goals.
    • Frequency of communication:
      If you’re emailing your customers every day and seeing low open rates, low engagement rates, and, as would be expected, low conversion rates, then perhaps you could switch up the frequency and consistency of your messaging and try contacting customers every other day, or weekly. The Marketing Calendar gives you a visual overview of what you’re currently doing, making it easy for you to adjust your strategies. Whether you could contact customers a little more often, a little less often, adjust your campaign designs or content, or could possibly look at including more personalization, the Marketing Calendar will make it easier for you to make these decisions and monitor their results.
    • Scheduling marketing for the coming weeks:
      As we’ve covered, the calendar makes it easy for you to add whatever type of campaign suits your current and ongoing marketing strategy. With the holiday season approaching, this is the perfect time to look at your scheduled marketing campaigns and decide if you need to be contacting customers earlier, creating promotions, boosting campaigns, or even dialing your marketing efforts back so your customers know that when they hear from you, it’s going to be undeniably good.

     

    Final Words

    Whether you’re just getting started, or you’re running a well-oiled marketing machine, the Marketing Calendar is an easy and effective way for you to track your campaign marketing efforts, create new campaigns, and plan for events such as the holiday season. 

    With just a few clicks you can create new email, SMS, or points campaigns and track their success with ease. The month-by-month visualization of your marketing (which is also adjustable to a daily or weekly view) will help you to see how often you’re sending different campaign types and make it easy for you to plan future campaigns. Get a head start on your holiday marketing and start creating campaigns from the new Marketing Calendar.

     

    Learn more about campaigns

    How to Use Product Recommendations for Shopify POS!

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    Using Product Recommendations (by Marsello) with your Shopify POS is an easy way to master cross-selling, up-selling, and smart marketing.

    Personalized product recommendations are a powerful marketing tool that is capable of increasing sales conversions by 10-30%. With data-driven AI that compares the customer’s data to shoppers like them, Product Recommendations make it easy for your staff to cross-sell and up-sell products that your customers will love.

    In a recent study published by cmo.com, 66% of participants said that campaign content that didn’t have a personalized element (like personalized product recommendations) would discourage them from making a purchase. And the same goes for in-store! Being able to recommend products to your customers that they’re likely to enjoy is a valuable sales skill; combine that with the customers’ shopping data and you’ve got a winning recipe for increased sales both in-store and online. And with Marsello’s Product Recommendations feature built for Shopify POS, mastering the cross-sell is as personally accurate to each customer as it is simple to use. 

    Marsello's AI looks at the products added to the sale when a customer has come to purchase items. The AI instantly populates recommendations based on what similar customers have frequently bought in conjunction with the same products your customer is buying. Combined with Marsello's all-in-one marketing app, you'll be able to increase repeat purchase rates with a custom loyalty program that runs on auto-pilot on Shopify POS and eCommerce, as well as drive sales with product recommendations in POS, email marketing, and more.

    Curious how Product Recommendations can work in-store? Let’s take a look!

     

    How to Use Product Recommendations for Shopify POS


    So how does it work in-store? When a customer is ready to make a purchase, you simply need to add their products to your Shopify POS as you would normally. Once the items are added, you’re free to start recommending similar products. And it’s so easy! Just watch the short video below to learn how!

     

    A GIF that showcases Marsello’s Product Recommendations for Shopify POS in action. The window is of a Shopify POS tablet screen with the step-by-step process of using Marsello’s Product Recommendations once a sale is almost through check-out.


    As you can see, you simply need to select the tab titled “Marsello | Loyalty Marketing” and then you’ll see a list of recommended products that can easily be added to the sale if your customer is interested. For more information on getting Product Recommendations for Shopify POS set up in your store, check out our Help Centre article that breaks down all the necessary steps.

     

    Why Product Recommendations?


    Although we see them all the time with email marketing, Marsello’s Product Recommendations for Shopify POS is a groundbreaking feature that you’ll find nowhere else! It’s vital that retailers are able to give customers valuable intel into the products on offer that they may not otherwise know about, and Product Recommendations makes this simple while also being informed by real-time shopping data.

    We know from countless studies that adding personalization such as recommending stock and encouraging sales with promotional offers can not only increase sales conversions, but also increase click rates, open rates, customer referral rates, and order values! Now, let’s translate that to in-store behaviors!

    Look at click rates and open rates as an increase in the number of customers who are visiting your store time and time again, browsing your products, and maybe even bringing their friends with them. If your staff are able to up the customer-service-ante by effortlessly recommending products to customers that they’ll actually enjoy, your customers aren’t just going to feel like you’re pushing products on them, instead, they will feel seen, catered to, and appreciated. 

    As our friends at Shopify put it, “effective cross-selling techniques can improve revenue per customer by 65% or more, and 80% of buyers prefer to buy from brands that personalize the purchase experience”. Read more here.

     

    Final Words


    Whether you’re looking to up-sell or cross-sell your products, or you want to shift old stock and increase customer loyalty, Product Recommendations for Shopify POS will help you to not only meet your sales goals but also satisfy your customers and grow your business. And it’s so easy to use!

    With Marsello’s AI, Product recommendations are a powerful, data-driven tool that any brick-and-mortar or omnichannel retailer should add to their business. The best part? Marsello’s AI Product recommendations gets smarter and smarter with every purchase! If you’d like to get started, check out our Help Center article to learn how to add Product Recommendations to your Shopify POS.

    Check out our wide range of features and upgrade for complete access to Marsello’s features.

    If you’d like to learn more about the all-new Shopify POS, please sign up here.

     

    LEARN MOREGET MARSELLO

    Fellow NZ-Based Company, Goody, Joins the Marsello Family

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    We’re officially welcoming fellow New Zealand-based Goody to the Marsello family. Read on to learn what this acquisition means for Marsello.

    Marsello's logo alongside the Goody logo

     

    Today, we’re officially welcoming fellow New Zealand-based Goody to the Marsello family. Goody is a loyalty platform and CRM solution used by hundreds of businesses and over 1.2 million members.

     

    As teams, we both believe small-to-medium enterprise (SME) business owners deserve a loyalty and marketing solution that generates real, revenue-based results. Results that are accurately attributable to the marketing you run. The only way that’s possible is with quality integrations with POS and eCommerce that link the sale to the customer and the marketing they receive.  

     

    Combining Marsello with Goody puts us in a great position to bring everything we’ve learned to a broader New Zealand market and to new sectors, like hospitality. Together, we’ll be able to help more New Zealand and hospitality businesses get more sales and better results from their marketing.

    Read more on the acquisition in articles from the following publications:

    We’re excited about what lies ahead as we bring our teams and our products together.

     

    Marsello’s CEO’s stand with Goody’s CEO in front of a lead window and brick pillars.

    How to create customized automated campaigns to drive sales

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    Custom automations are perfect for requesting reviews, offering a post-purchase service or a timely cross-sell. Read more to learn how to use this feature.

    Retailer using Custom Automations to trigger an automated email to all their customers in 2 days time.

     

    Custom Automations are here! Now, you can easily design and enable your own custom email and SMS automations, giving you full flexibility with your automated marketing campaigns. By pairing this new feature with Marsello’s other tools, such as RFM Segmentation and your loyalty program, you’ll be able to create the perfect email flow or SMS Campaign that stands out and sees results.

    With Custom Automations, the options are endless. Automate campaigns that send to specific customer segments or trigger when a customer makes a purchase. Automated flows are perfect for requesting reviews, creating a referral email series, offering a post-purchase follow-up service or a timely cross-sell, just to name a few ideas.

    Let’s check out an example of a retailer who’s seen success using Custom Automations. 

     

    Home Goods Hardware encourages window shoppers to complete a purchase

    Window Shoppers can be notoriously tricky to convert to loyal customers. This hasn’t dissuaded Home Goods Hardware, though. The beautifully branded homewares store, based out of Australia, was one of the first to create a Custom Automation and we love their ingenuity.

     

    Email that welcomes customers by saying, “Thanks for joining the family” and offers them a 15% off discount on their first purchase.”

     

    The campaign features just one simple email that welcomes customers within the Window Shoppers (those who’ve created an account with the store but not completed a purchase) segment and encourages them to make a purchase with a 15% off discount code. With a 49% open rate and 7.5x ROI, Home Goods Hardware are reaping the rewards of automated marketing and we love that they’re doing so by targeting smaller customer groups. There are only 512 customers within their segment and with a 4.2% conversion rate, they’re really making the most of a potentially forgotten customer group.

     

    Read more about Home Goods Hardware’s success with Custom Automations.

     

    To create a similar style of Welcome Newsletter to Home Goods Hardware, try customizing and enabling the “Welcome Newsletter Sign-ups” template found at the bottom of your Automations admin. This easy-to-use template is set up to target customers who’ve only just signed up (1 hour after they’ve created an account), and encourages them to make a purchase by offering a 10% discount. Customers then exit the flow when they have made an order or the flow ends. 

    Let’s take a look at how you could use Custom Automations.

     

    Integrating customized automations into your marketing

    First thing’s first, the Custom Automations feature isn’t restricted to email campaigns! With the incredible open rates of SMS marketing (as much as 5x that of email marketing), they’re a powerful tool to add to your marketing campaigns. 

    This isn’t to say that email marketing is anything to be sniffed at! With a drag-and-drop email builder, customizing your emails to showcase your brand and products is as easy as selecting what content you’d like to include. 

    As we mentioned, Custom Automations are perfect for asking customers to leave reviews, incentivizing referrals, following up with customers after they’ve shopped, welcoming customers who’ve shopped recently, and more. Let’s break down some of these ideas

    • Requesting Reviews – The ins-and-outs of requesting reviews and customer referrals are quite similar when it comes to defining an audience; you’ll want to target customers who are loyal and have shopped recently. Add a delay to your automation that targets customers 5-7 days after their purchase, giving them time to receive the product (if bought online) and use it. Make sure to be clear where you would like them to leave a review too! If you use social media most often, add your Social Icons with the email drag-and-drop builder. 

    • Incentivizing Referrals – Much the same as requesting reviews, target loyal customers! Try setting up your automation to target customers who have shopped recently (last 5-7 days), and shopped more than three times. Remind them that this is an easy way to earn loyalty points and that their friend will also receive a gift too (ensure you’ve enabled your referral program within your Loyalty Program settings).

    • Post-purchase Follow-ups – If you’ve got a product that needs to be replaced regularly (subscription-based beauty products would be one example), you could create an automation flow that reminds customers to refill their order after three or so months. 

    • Welcoming Customers – Welcome new customers who’ve not yet made a purchase. Similar to Home Goods Hardware’s campaign, you could target customers who have signed up within the last day but not yet made a purchase, Each message within your flow could incrementally offer your customers a slightly higher discount, encouraging them to make a purchase. Alternatively, you could simply customize and enable the Welcome Newsletter Sign-ups automation which is found within the Automations tab of your Marsello admin.

    Let’s delve into the actual set-up of automated flows to help you understand these ideas a little better.

     

    Setting up your Custom Automations

    You’ll find Custom Automations under the ‘Automation’ section of ‘Marketing’ within your Marsello admin. Once you’ve elected to create a Custom Automation, you’ll have a range of options that that help you set up your automation flow.

     

    The creation of an Automated Campaign which requires the selection of Email, SMS, Points or Time Delay.
     
    1. Name your automation. While your customers won’t see this, it will help you to find the automation within your admin and adjust or track its results.

    2. Choose your trigger. Depending on what trigger you select, this will dictate how your customers enter the automation’s funnel. This essentially means that your customers must complete a specific action to receive your automation. Your trigger options include:

      • When an order is completed – When a customer makes a purchase, they will enter the funnel for your automation.

      • When a customer enters a segment – When a customer has been added to the segment because they have met the segment conditions. This is where your Custom Segments come in useful and allow you a lot of flexibility with marketing to specific customer groups.

      • When a customer signs up – When a customer has signed up via the POS, eCommerce, or an email collection features. 

    3. Choose your audience. Select which Customer Segment(s) you want to target with your automated campaign. Not only can you opt to use the pre-existing RFM segments found in Marsello, but you can also create your own segments. For example, if you wanted to create a campaign to say, “thank you for your first purchase” that’s specific to just your online customers, you could create a segment that specifically excludes customers who shop in-store. The beauty of custom segments is that you can really drill down into specific sets of customers and create targeted marketing that not only sees results but really engages those customers and helps to foster their loyalty to your brand.

    4. Choose your ‘exit conditions’. These are the conditions which specify when a customer will leave the flow. There are two options, which include: 

      • ‘When a customer makes an order or completes the automation flow’ – This is the default setting and ensures that the customer will leave the flow when they complete a purchase, or (if they do not complete a purchase) they will receive the entire automation flow. This condition is best used when the goal of your campaign is to incentivize customers to make another purchase.

      • ‘When a customer completes the automation flow’ – Automations with this exit condition will deliver all messages within the flow to the customers, regardless of if they make a purchase or not. This condition is best used when the goal of your campaign is to build a relationship with your customers, encourage loyalty or provide education.

    The options don’t end there when it comes to customizing your Custom Automation. Let’s take a look at the finer details of setting up your automation flow.

     

    How to customize your automated flow

    As we mentioned, with Custom Automations, you aren’t just restricted to email marketing. Why not follow up an email with an SMS to really make use of those powerful open rates? Perhaps a time delay could help improve your open rates by positioning your messaging at a better time for all customers? 

    For clear instructions on how to add-to and customize your automation flow, we’ve created an in-depth help article.

     

    In-app window showing that retailers must set their custom automation settings.

     

    This part of the customization process will allow you to add time delays, emails and/or SMS to your automation flow, as well as making it simple for you to award loyalty points. Details of each of these additions are as follows:

    • Time Delays – Adding time delays to your flow will enforce a delay between the end of the previous step (usually when the first message is delivered), and the next is due to send. It’s best to ensure a decent delay time to give your customers time to view your first message; we recommend around 48 hours.

    • Emails   Add an email as a step in your flow. It’s common to add a time delay before adding a new email to your flow. Once it’s added, customize your email to suit your messaging, branding and goal.   

    • SMS – Add an SMS as a step in your flow. As with email, it’s common to add a time delay before adding an SMS to your flow. Remember, SMS customization is more restricted than email and there are some content requirements that you’ll need to ensure you take note of. Check out the Custom Automation help centre article to help you craft an undeniable SMS addition to your campaign

    • Loyalty Points – Adding loyalty points as a step will automatically add a specified amount of points to your customers’ accounts. Simply input the number of points you’d like to award and select how you would like to let your customers know that they’ve accumulated points. 

    Let’s check out an example of a retailer who’s seen success using Custom Automations.

     

    Final words:

    Looking forward to creating your first Custom Automation? Check out our Custom Automation help centre article to help you create powerful automation flows that your customers will love.

    We’d love to see what Custom Automations you come up with – if you have an automation flow that you’re proud of, feel free to let us know by contacting us in our website chat window. 

    This feature is now available for all MarselloPro users. Not a MarselloPro user? Upgrade or sign up today to access Custom Automations and many more exciting features.

     

    Create Custom Automation

    How Points Campaigns Can Help You Increase Customer Loyalty

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    Learn how to encourage your customers to shop by sending a points promotion campaign that offers extra points for purchases during a set timeframe.
     

    Points Campaigns are the perfect tool to have up your sleeve to help drive sales on those quieter days or celebrate a special event (like a holiday).

    With Points Campaigns, you will not only have the ability to run campaigns that offer extra-points-per-purchase (set over specific timeframes) – you’ll also easily be able to market these promotions to loyalty program members and track the success of your campaign with real-time reporting. Your customers will be compelled to not only shop at your store, but they will also be tempted to spend more, especially with extra bonuses like the ability to add minimum spend requirements. 

    Let’s take a closer look.

    How points campaigns work alongside promotional campaigns in Marsello


    The Points Campaigns feature will give you the ability to run Points Multiplier or ‘Fixed-points Amount’ campaigns during set timeframes. This new campaign type is found under the Campaigns dashboard in your Marsello admin.

    And the options are endless! 

    Double points promotions are a common go-to (as you’ll see in the following email examples), however they’re not the only option! Points Campaigns are a powerful tool for encouraging a positive change in shopping behavior. We’ve put together just a few examples:

      1. Why not encourage customers back to your brick-and-mortar store with in-store only points promotions (when you can re-open your store if you were forced to close as a result of COVID-19, or if you’re finding traffic slow). With the new Points Campaigns feature, advanced options will allow you to decide which of your sites a customer must shop at to earn bonus points.

      2. Do you find your store has a midweek quiet patch? Offer bonus points that delight your customers and incentivize them to shop on those quiet days e.g. offer shoppers an extra 50 points exclusively on Tuesdays. This is called a ‘Fixed Points Amount’ campaign.

      3. Do you celebrate your store’s birthday? Why not promote the event with a points promotion and campaign that encourages your customers to celebrate with you and receive bonus points for a limited time. Encourage your customers to spend more by setting a minimum spend amount per order.

      4. Are you just about to launch a loyalty program? Add even more excitement and incentive for your customers to join by offering bonus points for your loyalty program’s first month! Simply specify the start and end dates of your campaign.

    One powerful way to promote your points campaign is through Email and SMS. It’s important to note that these should be scheduled to coincide with the timing of your Points Campaign.

    Read more: 7 Steps To Building A Profitable Loyalty & Rewards Program

    Merchants using points campaigns to drive customer engagement


    Let’s take a look at how some merchants are using points promotion campaigns to attract customers and encourage purchases. 

    Urban Outfitters Offers Double Points

    Urban Outfitters recently made the effort to delight and excite their loyalty program members! The multi-national, powerhouse brand offered double points for all online purchases of homewares for a limited time, helping them to capture customers at a time when many can’t access brick-and-mortar stores (no thanks to Covid-19) and online sales have seen a remarkable increase. 

    In an eye-catching GIF email, Urban Outfitters offer double points on homewares for all loyalty members who shop online.

     

    Urban Outfitters cleverly teamed their promotion with an email campaign that features stand-out design decisions like GIFs and high-quality images. By not specifying exactly when the offer ends, UO also cleverly creates a sense of urgency that the deal won’t last long and that customers should shop soon. Notice that they keep the images simple with minimal text and the focus being on the essential details and then product examples that encourage the customer to shop. Campaigns like this really stand out and help to see high conversion rates and quick returns on investment.

    It’s all about timing too! And we don’t just mean when the emails are sent and received. Urban Outfitters are cleverly offering this deal on homewares at a time when customers are spending a lot of time at home and likely to be intrigued by a refresh of their home decor.

     

    One Love Organics Shares All The Details

    One Love Organics like to keep things simple when it comes to design. Their branding and visuals are always fresh and inviting with stylish design choices and color palettes that pop when paired together. ONO’s recent points promotion campaign was no different.

    One Love Organics uses email marketing to promote a double points campaign that they’re offering for a limited time. They’ve included beautifully brand-complimentary images (green leaves) and text (bold pink).


    They not only encourage their loyal customers to shop with them by offering an undeniable double points promotion to their Love Club loyalty program members, but they also provide the exact time that the deal will end. They then go the extra mile by adding (in a complimentary banner above the core content) that customers who spend more than $49 will receive free shipping!! It’s incentives like these that customers just can’t turn down, and One Love Organics are nailing it!

     

    Final words


    Looking forward to promoting your loyalty program by sending your first Points Campaign? Learn all you need to know from our help center article on creating a points campaign and make sure to check out the pre-built ‘Double Points’ email campaign template.

    We’d love to see what campaign designs you come up with – if you have a Points Campaign that you’re proud of, feel free to let us know in the comments below. 

    To learn how to make the most out of your loyalty marketing, check out The Loyalty Marketing Guide: 8 Strategies for Gaining Customers for Life.

     

    Create points campaignGET MARSELLO

    Boost Your Campaigns and Help Your Retail Marketing Stand Out

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    Re-engage customers who haven’t opened your email campaigns by resending your email with a refreshed subject line. Introducing, Boost Email Campaigns!
    Marsello’s feature, Boost Email Campaigns, allows retailers to resend an email campaign 48 hours after it was originally sent. With a new subject line and a time delay, customers who didn’t open the first email are sure to open the second.

     

    On average, email marketing has the highest ROI of any marketing technique, but with so many emails landing in customers’ inboxes, it can sometimes be tricky to get noticed. Why not give your campaigns a little boost by resending emails with a different subject line to everyone who didn’t open it the first time around?

    Our data shows that boosting a campaign can increase open rates by as much as 30%! With the new Boost Email Campaigns feature, you can easily resend One-off Email Campaigns with a new subject line to capture the attention of customers who may not have noticed your first email. Invite them to shop with your store by boosting your campaigns and take the hard work out of promoting your email campaigns. Let’s dig a little deeper into the feature itself.

     

    Boost Campaigns With Marsello

    The Boost Email Campaigns sub-feature is an addition to the popular Email Campaigns feature that is simple to use no matter whether you’re boosting an already existing campaign or starting from scratch. 

    To boost your campaigns, you have two options:

     

    Option One – Set-up from scratch:

     

    An email boost set-up with the secondary subject line of "Limited Restock: The Darcie Halter Dress"

     

    The first step is to create a new email campaign from the Campaigns Admin. Once you have created the subject line for your new campaign, you will then find the added option to boost your campaign. From here, the process is easy! Select ‘Boost Campaign’ and create a new subject line for your new, boosted campaign; then, save your settings. This second email will only send to those customers who did not open the original email and it will be scheduled to send automatically after 48 hours.

     

    Option Two – After the first campaign is sent: 

     

    Up to 46 hours after a One-off Email Campaign has been sent, you can choose to boost the campaign and re-send it to customer who did not open it within the first 48 hours.

     

    So, you’ve decided to boost a one-off email campaign after you’ve already sent it. Using the Campaigns Admin, you will be able to boost your campaign, although this option is only available for 46 hours after the campaign was first sent. To boost your campaign, simply find the recent campaign you would like to boost in your Campaigns Admin and you will see a ‘Boost Campaign’ button alongside it. Simply select this button, add a subject line for your second campaign, and save your boosted campaign. 

     

    There are some points to note at this stage: 

    • After 46 hours, the ‘Boost Campaign’ button will automatically be greyed out and will no longer be available for that campaign. 

    • As with setting up your boosted campaigns from scratch, your second campaign will automatically copy the content of the original campaign but use the new subject line. 

    • The 48-hour send delay applies to the original campaign’s send date and time – this means that if you scheduled your first campaign to send on Monday at 12 PM, then boosted that campaign 45 hours later, your boosted email would then send on Wednesday at 12 PM. 

    No matter which way you decide to do so, once you have saved your boosted campaign, your email content will then automatically be duplicated for the second email but the new campaign will instead use the second subject line. 

    This new subject line is essential! It’ll differentiate your new email from your original and is crucial to helping your campaign stand out to your customers. Don’t be afraid to get creative but remember there are a few golden rules with email subject lines! Let’s cover the basics, just to be sure:

    1. Keep it simple. No more than 10 words and 60 characters (remember, emoji’s use multiple character spaces so keep them to a minimum) is a pretty standard industry recommendation. 

    2. Avoid special characters and limit your punctuation. Adding too much punctuation can make your emails look like spam. Refer to tip one.

    3. Use emojis sparingly. We touched on this but it’s actually really important. Depending on the operating system your customers use, they could see your emojis differently and this could have a real effect on the success of your campaign. Emojis should support your message, but not replace words or feature too heavily. 

    4. Keep it relevant. Your subject line should indicate why you’re getting in contact and what the customer can expect from your email. 

    5. Be creative. Help your campaigns to stand out with subject lines that are too good to miss! ‘Exclusive Online Sale – Today Only’ is much more informative than, for example, ‘Sale Now On’ and really invites your recipients to open your email and make a purchase before they miss out.

    Let’s break down our previous example from the above images, taken from The Little Atelier.

     

    The same email set-up with the secondary subject line of "Limited Restock: The Darcie Halter Dress"

     

    In their first campaign, the fashion-focused retailer lets their customers know that they’ve re-stocked an item. While their loyal customers would be the most likely to open the email, other customers are likely to be excited that a popular item has been restocked. The subject line is informative if a little simple. In the future, the store could choose to add a little more detail or even promote re-stocked items with a deal like an exclusive loyalty program Points Campaign where customers earn extra points for purchases over a set timeframe.

    In the boosted campaign, The Little Atelier uses a subject line that creates a little more urgency. While the item has been restocked, supply is limited. This implies that customers should get in quick to avoid missing out. One option to add a little more power to this boosted campaign could have been to add a phrase like ‘Don’t miss out.’ 

    Note that in both subject lines, the emojis are used sparingly and support the content of both the email and the subject itself. 

     

    Final Words

    Boosted campaigns are shown to have remarkable results – as we’ve mentioned. With a 30% increase in open rates alone, it’s no wonder why so many retailers have asked us for this feature. Combine those results with the already astounding power of email marketing and you’re using proven, long-lasting, tried and true tools of the trade to engage your audiences, while also ensuring that no customer is left behind.

    Looking forward to using the Boost Campaign feature? Learn all you need to know from our help center article on how to boost your email campaigns.

    We can’t wait to see what results you see too and we’d love to hear about your success. Let us know how your boosted email campaigns do in the comments section below!

     

    Boost CampaignGET MARSELLO

    Differentiating Your eCommerce Store From the Competition

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    Written by our friends at BigCommerce, read on to learn our 10 strategies for helping your online store stand out!

    eCommerce stores that stand out from the crowd have a few things in common and can be crucial sources of insight into how to differentiate your store from your competitors’. 

    Using your unique twist to build on what others have done can make a big impression on your customers. As Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba, says, “You should learn from your competitor, but never copy.”

    The eCommerce industry is growing at a rapid rate, making it even more important for merchants to be creative and differentiate themselves from competitors. With approximately 1.8 million online retailers in the U.S. and 7.1 million worldwide, shoppers are shifting from in-store purchases to online buying. 

    In 2019, 14.1% of all retail sales worldwide were from eCommerce sites, and this is expected to grow to 22% by 2023. Differentiating yourself is crucial if you want to reach those customers — so let’s dive into some strategies for ensuring that you stand out against your competitors time and time again.

     

    Introducing Marsello Social.
    Does your social engagement convert into sales? Find out with Marsello Social, free for everyone. Plan and schedule posts ahead of time, track engagement and measure the impact of all your posts on revenue.

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    Make Each Shopping Experience Unique


    Providing a quality product and a smooth selling experience make for a great start, but that isn’t enough to make a lasting impression. Creating a unique and memorable shopping experience is what will make you stand out from the pack – by making a personal connection, for instance.

    Consider adding live chat to your online store for customers who have questions during the buying process, or take outreach a step further with video chats that facilitate technical support or help customers choose great accessories for their purchased items. 

    Cross-channel marketing is another way to make the customer experience unique. Tools such as shareable wish lists, social media promotions, and on-site product reviews help create a community of frequent customers that interact with each other and build enthusiasm for your brand.

     

    Understand Your Competitor’s Approach


    It’s important to study and understand what your competitors are doing to allow you to create a unique experience for your customers. Analyze your direct competition to figure out the similarities and differences between their approaches and yours and use that information to your advantage.

    Before you start researching your competitors, have a goal in mind for what you need to find out. You might be interested in comparing product offerings, website design, or pricing strategies. You might also want to understand how competitors use social media and where they advertise.

    Some information about your competitors can be gained simply by perusing their websites and signing up for any newsletters or text message promotions they offer. For more in-depth competitive research, use online SEO tools that track keyword usage, web traffic rankings, and backlinks.

     

    9 Ways to Differentiate Your eCommerce Store


    Differentiating your eCommerce store might seem overwhelming, but you can break the process down and tackle specific aspects of your site one at a time. Focus on methods that first highlight the strengths of your brand, then branch out to make your online store excel in these nine areas:

    1. Great customer service

    Product selection and pricing might be what gets customers to check out your eCommerce store, but stellar customer service is what keeps them coming back. Here are some ways to make your customer service the best in the business:

        • Make your policies crystal clear. From returns to shipping and fulfillment charges, let customers know what to expect upfront, which prevents any issues that might damage your reputation.

        • Offer multiple communication options. Some customers might prefer email or phone contact, while others might prefer online chat through on-site chatbots or social media. Keep someone on staff who can respond to these different forms of communication, so customers always feel like you’re listening to their concerns.

        • Ask for customer feedback, and listen to what customers tell you. Track online reviews about your business and be open to changes based on what consumers are saying about you.

    One element of customer service is personalized attention. When shopping in-store, customers may get that personal attention in person – but online, you can personalize your marketing so that it feels like it’s designed just for them. Marsello offers features that help eCommerce store owners implement the below strategies. 

        • Use SMS marketing tools to send exclusive coupons or offers for birthdays and anniversaries.

        • Create a loyalty program and offer exclusive sales for customers who join, making sure that your most loyal customers are always the first ones to know about new products or deals.

    Collect data about a customer, such as date of birth, when they register on for your loyalty program or site; this not only makes personalizing offers easier but also allows you to incentivize customers’ actions with rewards. Fashion retailer, T.C. Elli’s, has done a great job of incorporating data collection and a referral program into their Marsello-powered loyalty program, as shown in the example below.

     

    T.C. Elli's online loyalty widget with VIP tiers
     

    2. A unique brand

    Your brand is your calling card – it’s what makes your store memorable long after the sale is complete. Developing your unique brand can help you stand out in the crowded marketplace and lead to big rewards. Some things to think about when you build your brand:

        • Your brand’s voice: think of this as your brand’s personality. It should be consistent across all of your marketing materials and so distinct from your close competitors that, even without seeing the brand name, consumers recognize it as yours. Your brand voice might be edgy, playful, refined, or practical – just make sure it fits your target market and that it’s consistent.

        • Your brand’s value proposition: show consumers what they’ll get from your store, and your store alone. This should communicate your brand’s value and why you’re a better choice over the competition. Figure out what problem your store solves for customers and how you meet their needs in a way that others don’t.

        • Your brand’s story: a story gets customers emotionally invested in your brand. It may include the reasons you started your business or the progress you made over the years to become the company you are today. A captivating narrative helps customers feel like they know your brand well, which makes them more likely to choose you over a less familiar company.

    Singapore-based lingerie retailer, Our Bralette Club, offers an excellent example of a brand story that speaks directly to its target market and simultaneously offers outstanding customer service.

    Our Bralette Club's powerful store and motive on their online store gives customers insight into what motivates the team behind the brand.

    3. One-of-a-kind products with compelling product pages

    Offering unique products that aren’t available elsewhere gives customers a reason to shop from your eCommerce store instead of exploring another company. And how you present those products matters, too. Compelling product details and visuals help consumers come to a buying decision, giving them the confidence to finalize their purchase.

    Having one-of-a-kind products doesn’t necessarily mean inventing something completely new. In some cases, it might simply mean changing the look of a product to cater to your particular customer base. If everyone else is offering an accessory in standard black and white colors, consider adding a hot pink or patterned version to your product selection.

    Your product pages need a few essentials to meet customer expectations. Transparent pricing and details, such as size, color options, and materials, help consumers make an informed selection. To make your product pages more engaging, add descriptive copy that entices the customer and pictures that show the product in a variety of contexts.

    Include fun and personalization in your product pages. Witty copy or creative photos help sell products that aren’t particularly exciting on their own. Showing customization options with a range of features prove that you can meet your buyers’ individual needs. (Remember to use humor only if it’s appropriate for your audience, message, and brand.)

    Avoid bogging down your product pages with too much information. It should be easy for your site visitors to find the information they need. Creating a clear, consistent template across all of your product pages helps customers compare multiple items to make their selection.

    This product page from NaturallyCurly offers an example of clear product information (including ingredients, a description of what customers can expect, and details on how to use the product), a high-quality product image photo that accurately sets customer's expectations, and they even go the extra mile with the addition of customer reviews (take note of the rave review this customer has about NaturallyCurly’s customer service, helping customers to feel confident in the brand):

    Haircare specialists, NaturallyCurly's product listing for Curl Junkie Curls in a Bottle

    It’s worth mentioning that clear product descriptions, high-quality images, proper tagging and categorization of products, and add-ons like customer reviews also help with SEO and will improve the likelihood of acquiring new customers organically.

    4. Competitive price point

    Pricing can make or break a sale, but this doesn’t mean that you need to undercut everyone else to capture market share. If your prices are higher than the competition, showcase the reasons why. 

    This product page from évolis Australia dives into the specific details about this hair product to let customers know what it is that makes it stand out and why they should buy it instead of potentially similar products on the market. By drawing customers' attention to ingredients in the product and reinforcing that it was designed by industry professionals, shoppers will feel more confident that they're purchasing a product that will serve their needs as expected.

    Evolis' online product listing for Promote Activator

    5. Easy-to-navigate site

    Ease of navigation affects how long visitors stay on your page, and the longer a visitor lingers, the more likely they are to buy. Put navigation buttons in an easy-to-find place on every page so customers can quickly access your home page or their checkout cart.

    Watersports supplies store, Splash, has an easily navigable and visually enticing online store. Drop-down navigation menus at the top of each Splash page make it easy for customers to quickly access specific categories based on what specialized equipment they may be shopping for, and a link to the customer’s cart offers quick checkout capability.

    The Featured categories section is another way Splash reinforces its visual aesthetics and easy-to-use navigation. It works as a quick way to get shoppers where they need to go, in a much more visual-forward way than does the main navigation bar.

    Splash's featured categories on their online store

    Page load speed is another aspect of site design you need to consider. When your site takes too long to load, consumers are likely to go elsewhere to find what they need. Set up separate versions for computer users and mobile users to optimize loading and presentation.

    6. Streamlined checkout process

    With an overall cart abandonment rate of 55% to 80% for online merchants, developing a streamlined checkout process is one way to keep customers around until the sale is complete. Here are some ways to ensure that checkout goes as smoothly as possible:

        1. Create a clear, simple way for customers to add items to their cart. A button with the words “Add To Cart” should be displayed prominently on each product page.

        2. Include a button on each page that takes customers immediately to the payment page. A “Buy Now” or “Pay Now” button helps to encourage impulse purchases.

        3. Let customers quickly peruse what they already have in their carts. A drop-down visual enables them to check the contents in their cart without leaving the product page, making it easier for them to add new items. Also, show a summary of all items in the cart whenever a new item is added.

        4. Eliminate barriers to buying. Give customers a way to buy as a guest instead of having to register with your site to make a purchase, and offer multiple payment options to ensure buyers aren’t deterred by not having the right type of payment method.

    For a good example of a simplified checkout, look at the Heirloom Traditions Paint page below. The drop-down cart menu lets customers see everything in the cart without leaving the shopping page.

    Heirloom Tradition's online cart

    7. Run a referral program

    A good referral program can differentiate your eCommerce business by creating a relationship with customers that turns them into brand ambassadors. About 83% of people say they trust recommendations from friends or family members, making word of mouth a valuable way to introduce your unique brand to new customers.

    To create a referral program that stands out from eCommerce competitors, meet your customers where they are. That might mean rewarding customers for referrals on social media or embedding the referral program details on your main page to make sure site visitors know about it. You can integrate your referral program into an overall reward program, as wellness and beauty brand, Switch2Pure, does in the example below:

    Switch 2 Pure's loyalty program.

    Another way to create an attention-getting referral program is to offer a bonus that’s more than just a small discount. Consumers are used to seeing referral programs that provide 10% to 25% off for each referral, but a program that gives them a free item or exclusive access to specific products will make them eager to refer someone to your store.

    8. Implement a cohesive content strategy

    Making your content strategy cohesive and consistent helps establish your identity in a crowded eCommerce marketplace. Treat content creation as a thoughtful process, and consider how each piece you create fits into your overall brand.

    Understanding your brand and precisely identifying your target market helps you maintain this kind of consistency. Figure out exactly what your customers want and need, and show them how your products provide it. Kate Quinn’s Little One of the Week blog features real children wearing the store’s products. This user-generated content is actively targeted to customers and encourages them to share their own content with the brand as well.

    Kate Quinn's 'Little One of the Week' blog featuring Zy'onna

    9. Personalize, personalize, personalize

    Personalization gives customers the impression that your brand speaks directly to their needs. Some ways to achieve a sense of personalization in your eCommerce store include:

    Personalized product recommendations

    Show items that the customer has previously viewed or complementary products to goods they’ve already purchased. The example below shows how Heirloom Traditions Paint incorporates this concept into their email marketing. By showcasing related products in an automated email flow that thanks first-time customers, the Kentucky-based paint supplier is actively targeting recently acquired customers with data from shoppers just like them, while also offering an astounding discount of 30% off:

    Heirloom Traditions Paint's product recommendations within their emails

    Personalized product recommendations can be a great way to trigger, or at least inspire, the customer’s next purchase. Heirloom Traditions Paint has seen such impressive success that they’ve made over $145,800 in revenue on just their automated email flow which sends to first-time customers. 

    There’s so much value that comes along with email marketing. It’s a channel that gets some of the highest returns on investment as far as conversions, and it can be highly automated. That means, when your system is triggering a ‘thank you’ email or an abandoned cart reminder, your brand is staying in the forefront of your customers’ minds without the time and effort of a manual process on your end.

    Generate a personalized homepage 

    Using cookies and prior data about each customer can help you create a personalized experience for anyone who visits your site more than once. Design your site to display a welcome message with the customer’s name once they’ve input their information during the checkout process or signing up for a reward program. 

     

    10. Run campaigns with email and SMS marketing.


    With so much competition out there, staying top-of-mind with your customers will take some effort. But the good news is that there are plenty of ways and channels to do so. 

    Email marketing can be incredibly valuable because customers need and expect emails from you as updates on the status of their orders, etc. You can cover your bases here with campaigns that touch customers throughout the journey; for example:

        • As a thank-you for first-time customers,

        • To win back lapsed customers, or

        • Recover abandoned carts.

    SMS marketing is a relatively new tactic that brands are using with some success. Information overload is real – and, as everyone’s email inboxes keep filling up, you may get more ROI from showing up in their text message inbox instead. With SMS marketing you can achieve:

        • Higher open rate than emails

        • Higher ROI with spend

        • Ability to target audiences on mobile devices

        • Faster delivery to the recipient after sending.

    The most important things to remember about SMS marketing are to always add value and to use personalization when possible. Value can come in the form of a unique sales offer, time-sensitive deal, information necessary to participate in a specific event, or intros to new products or services. With personalization tactics, you can make sure those value-add messages go directly to the audience members who need or want them the most.

     

    Conclusion

    The eCommerce playing field is increasingly crowded – but as online shopping increases, there are more opportunities than ever to differentiate yourself from your competitors. First, you have to understand your competitors’ approach. Then you can use that information to set yourself apart.

    We went over ten ways to differentiate your store and your business, to name a few: strong branding, a personalized sales experience, unique products, and impressive customer service. By focusing on establishing a strong brand identity first, the rest of the improvements you make to your website are much more likely to align with that vision.  

    Use these tips to develop an emotional connection with consumers and reap the rewards of more sales and increased referrals. Your long-term success depends on it.

     

    This blog was written for Marsello by the talented team at BigCommerce.

     

    Discover Email Campaign Templates Designed for Customer Engagement

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    Create consistent, recognizable, and beautiful emails with previously designed email templates! Learn how to navigate Marsello's Email Templates Library.

    With a variety of options to choose from, Marsello’s Email Campaign Templates Library gives you numerous designs for creating stylish newsletters, announcements (such as sales and promotions), updates on stock, and more using the One-off Email Campaigns feature! Each template is designed so you easily create beautifully on-brand emails that see results, without hours of effort and edits.

    Let’s dig a little deeper and learn about each template type.

     

    Basic Templates

    With full customization available, the basic email templates allow you to edit the design of each email so that it best suits your store’s brand, helping your customers to instantly recognize who they’re receiving mail from. You’ll have the flexibility to create emails that truly embody your store without having to start those email designs from scratch.

     

    Marsello's in-app email template library with 6 templates

     

    Themed Templates

    Created by professional designers with years of experience in email marketing, these templates are ready for you to simply add in your store’s branding and relevant content, review, then send! With everything from color palettes to fonts, themed templates are designed to do the hard yards for you.

     

    Marsello's themed email templates within the app

     

    Custom Templates

    This is where things get really exciting! You can now create your own custom templates, allowing you to save the designs of emails you know your customers love so that you can use those designs again in the future. Either save a previous campaign as a template or start from scratch and create your own email marketing masterpiece. 

     

    Marsello's in-app email templates with custom themes.

     

    Final Words

    Email templates allow you to easily replicate the same style throughout your communications and create a recognizable experience for your customers. In turn, your customers look forward to your emails and the likelihood of them engaging with your communication efforts increases. Increase your email marketing ROI and start exploring and designing emails that excite new shoppers and loyal customers alike.

    Excited to start using email templates? Learn how to navigate Marsello’s Email Template Library and get ready to start using them for yourself.

     

    GET MARSELLO

     

    Using contact tracing to retain your customers

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    Use contact tracing at your physical store and collect customer data to market directly to those who have opted in – learn how in this blog!

    As retail and hospitality have adjusted to recent times, it’s become increasingly more important for customers and merchants to be able to account for who is visiting their physical business locations. This is why contact tracing has become integral to ensuring a safe space for customers to continue shopping in-store and for those stores to operate – being able to safely (contactless) and securely (protecting personal data) account for everyone’s locations so they can be alerted to any personal health risks is fast becoming commonplace on an international scale.

    But just because this data is private, doesn’t mean that’s the end of the road. Marsello's Contact Tracing Forms also allow your visitors to opt-in to receive your future marketing. This means you can automatically collect the data of those interested visitors and add them to your mailing list automatically.

    Let’s take a look at Marsello’s contact tracing feature and see how one store is already seeing success.

     

    How it works


    Setting up your form is easy! All you need to do is find it in your Marsello admin navigation menu under ‘Marketing’; you’ll see the option ‘COVID-19 Contact Tracing’ and your first form is all set-up and ready to go! Just check out this help article if you'd like to learn more.

    Once you’ve created your form, you’ll need to download your unique QR code flyer and print that for display within your store. This is the flyer that your customers will scan with the cameras on their smartphone, automatically loading the COVID-19 Contact Tracing Form you created. If you added the ability for your customers to opt-in to receiving marketing, you’ll find this at the bottom of your form. 


    COVID-19 contactless visitor check-in form with QR code


    12.6% of Madame Fancy Pants' contact tracing customers have accepted marketing!

    One merchant that has seen a 12.6% increase in customers who accept marketing from the Contact Tracing Forms is Madame Fancy Pants (MFP), a Wellington, New Zealand-based retailer who specializes in high-quality designer clothing. Since enabling the form, MFP has been able to not only track the customers who visit their physical store (allowing them to be compliant with current New Zealand retail practices) but also increase their marketing outreach and customer loyalty with a marketing opt-in at the bottom of their form. We can’t wait to see how they reach out to these customers in the future.

     

    Madame Fancy Pants' COVID-19 Contact Tracing form that also collects customer's details for marketing


    Final words

    We’ve covered the importance of contact tracing, how to set up your forms, and even seen a store that is reaping the rewards. Now it’s up to you to create your own COVID-19 Contact Tracing form and create the opportunity to offer your customers a safe shopping experience to keep them coming back.

     

     

    Go to Contact Tracing FormsGET MARSELLO

     

    Loyalty Program Designs to Increase Customer Loyalty

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    Learn how to showcase your brand with loyalty widget and tab designs that stand out on your online store while complimenting your branding.

    Promotional GIF of Marsello's loyalty widget.

     

    Loyalty programs are one of the best ways to improve retail customer experiences. And the design of your loyalty program matters! To ensure engagement and sign-ups, loyalty program designs need to be simple, eye-catching, and above all show your customers what’s in it for them. From understanding what makes a strong loyalty program, to widget designs that actually convert, this guide will help you design a loyalty program that your customers rave about. 

     

    What makes a strong loyalty program?

     

    The best loyalty programs are win-win; you and your customers should both benefit from the exchange. 

    Improving customer service and experience might actually be making you money. There are a lot of long-term benefits of growing lifetime loyalty and adding extra touchpoints to make sure your customers feel appreciated.

    When designing your loyalty program, there are a few key features that will give you a competitive edge:

     

        • Simplicity for customers - Don’t make them work for it. Using a loyalty program design software like Marsello helps you integrate on-brand widgets and automated marketing campaigns to make it easy for customers to redeem points 
        • Emotional connection with your brand - You need to create customer buy-in. One way is to give your loyalty program a unique name that builds a community around it. For example, Our Bralette Club uses a play on slang to playfully name their program the Peach Party
        • Multiple touchpoints with customers - This includes omnichannel marketing systems like email, SMS, and social media, as well as loyal programs that let customers sign up and redeem points both online and in-store
        • Touchpoints outside of transactions - Successful loyalty programs foster interactions with customers that aren’t just transactional. Create a community that is fun, desirable, and invites them in!

     

    Want to know more? Check out these examples of great loyalty programs.

     

    Benefits of rewarding your loyal customers 

     

    Building retail loyalty is a long-term, sometimes difficult process. So what are the actual benefits of investing in a great loyalty program design? Firstly, it of course builds customer loyalty. 75% of consumers say they favor companies that offer some kind of reward system. 

    Secondly, loyalty programs increase your revenue. Just one of many examples is size-inclusive lingerie brand Our Bralette Club (OBC). By cultivating positive customer experiences with freebies and discounts in their loyalty program, OBC increased their revenue by 278% through their program members alone.

    Next, a good loyalty program design improves customer retention. Loyalty programs give your business an opportunity to improve relationships with customers outside of transactions. Research shows that even a small increase of 5% in retention can boost profits by 25-95%.

    Lastly, it helps to create a community around your brand. With community comes customer buy-in, and with emotional buy-in comes referrals. Referral marketing is invaluable for any scaling business, and it starts with customer-centric strategies like loyalty programs. 

     

    KPIs to Measure Your Customer Loyalty 

     

    It’s not enough to pick a customer loyalty model and wait for it to grow. You need to measure your customer loyalty program over time! How? By measuring the right KPIs and investing in customer relationships long term. 

    1. Net Promoter Score 

    A Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a score of how likely a customer is to recommend your brand to a friend or family member. A person with a positive Net Promoter Score (i.,e. they would promote your business to their friends) has a lifetime value of up to 1400% more than someone who wouldn’t promote your business. 

    Measuring NPS as part of your loyalty program KPIs will give you a fairly good indication of whether customers are engaged and loyal to your brand. 

     

    2. Customer Loyalty Index

    A customer loyalty index is similar to an NPS score. It takes customer surveys, their purchase history, and their purchase intent for the future to measure their loyalty to your brand. 

    Tracking loyalty in this way is useful because it combines loyalty with other measurable factors such as retention and churn rate.

     

    3. Repurchase Ratio 

    A repurchase ratio compares the number of repeat customers to the number of one-off customers. Not only will you identify loyal, returning customers, you will also get an idea of which customers are maybe seasonal for marketing purposes. 

    In general, 65% of a company’s revenue comes from existing customers. That is why tracking customers who are repurchasing is so important. Not only does repurchasing show loyalty to your brand, it indicates an effective marketing strategy. Revenue up, cost of new acquisitions down! 



    Examples of great customer loyalty program designs

     

    With loyalty program software like Marsello, you have infinite design options. Whether you want to show off your brand, invite new customers into your community, or increase engagement and retention, Marsello has got you covered. 

    Check out some of our favorite examples of loyalty program widgets below!


    What are loyalty widgets and how can they show off your brand

    Widgets are used in place of loyalty explainer pages and are readily available on retailers’ eCommerce stores or through email updates that brick-and-mortar loyalty customers receive. With widgets being a core representation of your loyalty program, we know how important it is that they embody your store’s brand, and to help you customize widgets that really show off your store.

    Let’s take a look at each of the available design options within Marsello and how some of our favorite retailers have integrated them into their website and branding.

     

    Center panel

    Having your loyalty widget pop up in the center of your screen ensures that it's front-and-center when your customers curiously check out your store’s loyalty options. They can easily navigate through your rewards and how they can earn points, ensuring that they feel informed and that your rewards are easily attainable.

    Check out what Wellington-based retailer, Smack Bang, has done with their outstanding designs and generous loyalty program. With offers such as discounts on orders and free shipping, the team at Smack Bang are ensuring that their customers keep coming back to earn points and redeem rewards, while also offering a referral program that ensures they continue to acquire new customers who fit a similar customer profile to their current customers.

     

    Marsello-Smack-Bang-Success-Story-Loyalty-Program-1

    Floating Panel

    This widget design slides in from the side of the viewer’s screen. With smaller image size options, rounded corners, and a ‘floating’ appearance, this eye-catching display will be sure to inform and entice customers. 


    We love what Good Dog has done with their widget design, opting for a cute dog-bone print as their primary image and including their store name. With a simple set of percentage discounts as their rewards, Good Dog makes it easy for their customers to earn rewards, and to decide which rewards they’d like to redeem.

    Marsello-Loyalty-Widget

     

    Slide Panel

    Similar to the floating panel, this crisp design was created with sharp lines, defined corners, and sitting flush against the side of the page of an online store. You’ll notice that the image option for this widget is also small, creating a compact widget that suits fresh, clean branding. NatureMills, a Californian natural and organic food retailer, is a wonderful example of this widget style with clean, on-brand imagery and colors, generous rewards, and simple design choices. 

     

    NatureMills' Slide Panel loyalty widget on a green background.

     

    Loyalty tabs to encourage customer interaction

    The loyalty tab is also customizable! This great little addition to your store is the initial view that customers have of your loyalty program. It encourages them to explore your loyalty options, shop with you time and time again, and know when they can next redeem a reward or earn points. The tab is like a sign saying, “Welcome, come on in’, to your potential and current loyalty customers.

    Let’s take a quick look at the new design types.

    Resting

    The resting tab is a rectangular shape with rounded upper corners. You can add an icon and/or text to this tab style and design where it will sit on your online store, although its placement is restricted to the edges of the screen, this means that your customer will always be able to see the tab as it’s connected to the edge of your online store.

    Marsello’s ‘Resting’ loyalty tab.

    Circle


    The circular tab is smaller than the other options, designed to be discreet yet eye-catching. It floats on your online store which means that you can place it almost anywhere on your online store and it will ‘float’ down the page as the customer scrolls. Although you can add an icon to this tab, you cannot add text.

    Marsello’s ‘Circle’ loyalty tab at the bottom of Loretta's homepage.


    Floating

    The floating tab design is rectangular and features rounded corners; it’s also ‘floating’. With the ability to add both text and/or icons, this tab is a great way to attract customers to your rewards through a call-to-action such as ‘see our rewards’.

    Marsello’s ‘Floating’ loyalty tab at the bottom right of Good Dog's homepage


    Final words:

    If you haven’t yet had the opportunity, check out the loyalty widget and tab design options and start creating the widget of your dreams! 

    To learn how to make the most out of your loyalty marketing, check out The Loyalty Marketing Guide: 8 Strategies for Gaining Customers for Life.

     

    Read Guide

    Re-opening Your Store After COVID-19

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    Read about how improving your store's marketing and practices could be the secret to a busy period once the coronavirus pandemic is over.

    Blog banner featuring a store worker changing an Open sign.

    How to Kick Off Strong When the Pandemic is Over

    Have you started planning for your store after lockdowns and ‘shelter at home’ orders are lifted?

    While it’s true that much of the world is still on lockdown, there will come a time when stores will be allowed to open their doors once again. In-store sales will start picking up again as foot traffic increases, and the merchants who are adaptable and have plans in place for any changes to shopping patterns will be in a much better position to continue selling well beyond the pandemic lockdown. 

     

    That’s why it’s never too early to start planning. If you take proactive steps to market and improve your business during this period, you could hit the ground running when the coronavirus pandemic is over; even if that means that your store stays online, embraces omnichannel, or you have to adapt your business model. 

     

    Here are some suggestions on what you can do to prepare your store for emerging from lockdown.

     

    Stay in constant contact with your customers

    Whether or not you’re selling at the moment, it’s crucial that you keep in touch with your customers. Doing so helps you stay top of mind so that when shoppers are ready to make purchases, your store will automatically be on their radar. 

     

    The types of messages that you send will vary depending on the state of your business, but here are some ideas.

     

    Online product launches

    If you have new products in stock, find creative ways to launch (or re-launch) them digitally. Put out teasers, create email and social media campaigns, and try to generate as much excitement as possible. 

     

    Need an example? Check out this email from, T.C. Elli’s, which lets their customers know that they’re launching new products, and they’re doing so in an innovative and exciting way considering the circumstances around COVID-19 – They’re hosting a live video launch!

    T.C. Elli’s Live Videos One-off Campaign

    This clever email also allows T.C. Elli’s to capture customer information for a wide range of their customers, helping them to increase their marketing reach in the future. 

     

    Offers and promotions

    If you’re still open or are currently selling online, continue emailing your subscribers about any sales or offers you have going on. You can make your offers more relevant by either running promotions on items that shoppers are likely to buy or by segmenting shoppers based on their brand interactions and activities. 

     

    Consider the case of Lightspeed & Shopify retailer, The BCode, a Havaianas and Skechers shoe distributor. Rather than sending out generic email blasts to everyone, The BCode makes use of customer segments. For instance, in the summer, they launched a campaign specifically for customers within their "loyal segment," and were able to convert 13.79% of subscribers – that’s way above the industry average. 

    An email from The BCode the showcases their products and gives a product explanation.

    Company updates

    People want to know what’s going on in your business, so keep shoppers posted on important updates to your company. Have you made any changes to your staff’s work arrangements? Do you have new policies in place? What can customers expect from you during these times?

    Have a look at this email from Australian retailer, OnceWas

    An email campaign from OnceWas providing customers with a COVID-19 store closure update.

    The OnceWas team uses a simple design to compliment a clear and concise message: that their Hampton-based brick-and-mortar store has temporarily closed as a direct result of COVID-19. But they don’t just leave the communication there, they go on to offer customers a styling service that encourages shoppers to stay engaged with OneWas and keep making purchases. OneWas further reinforces this objective by adding a link to new arrivals and encouraging their customers to ‘explore’. 

    OnceWas’ COVID-19 related update cleverly encourages customers to keep shopping, rather than dissuading them and that’s a powerful marketing strategy to have in their toolkit. Beautiful design and clear communication are a winning combination in getting customers to keep shopping with you, and OnceWas have mastered this! 

     

    Tighten up your existing systems

    If you’re experiencing downtime due to the coronavirus, take this as an opportunity to tighten up all the operational tasks that you’ve been putting off. 

     

    Here are some ideas:

     

    Count and reconcile your inventory 

    Keeping your stock in check can fall to the wayside especially during hectic shopping seasons. Doing a full inventory count takes several hours (sometimes a couple of days) and many stores can’t set aside that time when they’re busy selling. 

    So if you currently have some time on your hands, now is a good opportunity to really get a handle on your stock. Count your items so you can make sure that the inventory levels in your system match what you have in your physical store or warehouse. 

     

    Streamline manual tasks

    Identify tasks that you’re still doing by hand, and find ways to automate them. 

    For instance, if you’re running a manual loyalty program that involves physical stamp cards, you could look into more modern solutions that allow you and your customers to track and redeem rewards easily. 

     

    Sales and inventory are two other common areas that small businesses should also look into. Many SMBs are still using pen and paper to track stock movements and revenues. If you’re one of them, it’s high time that you switch to a cloud-based POS and retail management system that automatically does that for you. 

     

    Streamlining manual tasks not only saves you a ton of time, it reduces human error and can also help grow your business. Switching to a modern loyalty solution, for instance, doesn’t just make it easier to run your rewards program, it also gives you the ability to offer better rewards and get to know your customers, which ultimately boosts shopper retention and revenues. 

     

    Integrate different platforms

    Already using modern software in your business? Make sure they’re tightly integrated. 

    Let’s say you’re running an online shop and a brick-and-mortar store. In this case, you want to connect your POS system with your eCommerce platform, so that sales, inventory, and customer data flow easily between the two solutions. 

     

    You can even add in a loyalty integration, so you can run a rewards program seamlessly across online and offline channels. And now is the perfect time to start rewarding your customers who have shopped during retail restrictions, thereby encouraging those customers to keep coming back to your store long after you’ve come past lockdown.

     

    One retailer that’s doing this well is Bulo Shoes, a retailer that runs a fully-integrated and robust retention strategy that runs across their online and brick-and-mortar stores.

     

    “We linked Marsello to our online and physical stores with a loyalty program and automated email marketing, making it easy for us to communicate with customers regularly and to offer them rewards that keep them coming back," says Silas Gomez, eCommerce manager at Bulo Shoes. 

     

    “With the recent COVID-19 developments, we have been able to direct our customers to our online stores and keep them updated with any changes.”

    Bulo Shoe's loyalty program's online widget.

    Bulo Shoes’ integrated strategy has paid off tremendously. The company is seeing 27x ROI by interlacing a generous loyalty program with a cleverly curated email marketing strategy.

    Bulo Shoes also has a 13% repeat purchase rate across all their stores; they're seeing an engagement rate of 45% and they've generated over $7,800 in reward redemptions alone. 

    Keeping your physical and digital stores in sync means you never have to worry about double-selling products and you can provide a more seamless and rewarding shopping experience to your customers.

     

    This is just one example of how you can integrate the apps in your business. Depending on the software you’re using, there are plenty of other solutions that you can connect, including:

    • Accounting software

    • Payment processor

    • Staff management

    • Reporting and analytics

    The easiest way to connect your platforms is to use add-ons. For example, if you’re selling online, you can research the apps that your shopping cart integrates with. 

     

    That said, if you can’t find direct integrations, you can use a solutions like Zapier and IFTTT, which enables you to connect various apps together. 

     

    Check out our recent blogs on top apps for Shopify and BigCommerce & Lightspeed and save yourself the times spent researching.

     

    Leverage data

    It’s best to make data-backed decisions when planning for your re-opening, particularly when it comes to what products to market and sell. 

     

    Admittedly, COVID-19 makes this task a bit tricky. While historical data still has some value, it may not be as reliable, given the drastic changes that have occurred. 

     

    That said, there are a couple of things you can do that can help you determine your sales and marketing strategy going forward.

     

    Engage in social listening

    Pay attention to what your customers are saying online and on social media. What have they been up to? Have they developed new interests? Are there any products or services in particular that they’re looking into?

     

    The answers to these questions can shed light on insights you can use when making stock, purchasing, and merchandising decisions for your re-opening. 

     

    Look into search trends

    Use tools such as Google Trends and Keyword Planner to see what people are searching for online. What keywords (related to your vertical) are seeing more searches than usual? 

     

    Uncovering those search trends can take some digging, but you might discover useful nuggets along the way!

     

    See what people are wishing for

    If you have a wishlist feature on your website, you can use that to figure out what people want to buy. Dig into your wishlist data and use it to determine which products to market and sell.

     

    When you combine the above with historical data and traditional demand forecasting, you’ll be able to effectively plan your assortment and sales initiatives. 

     

    Re-open with a splash

    Re-opening your store is a big deal, so it’s fitting that you make your relaunch… well, big. Create a huge campaign around your grand re-opening. 

     

    Rather than just putting your “OPEN” sign back up and hoping people will come in, proactively implement strategies to drive traffic.

     

    Here are a few ideas:

    • Launch celebratory offers and sales

    • Hold an in-store event complete with giveaways and swag bags

    • Email local press or influencers in your area to generate buzz

    • Market your grand reopening to email subscribers

    • Create a lead-up-to-opening campaign on your social media

    • Consider paid social media advertising to boost awareness

    Implementing a combination of the above tactics will allow you to open with a splash. And when you combine these steps with the data-backed insights that we talked about above, you’ll be able to maximize traffic and sales. 

     

    Re-emphasize health and safety

    Consumers will start shopping again, but they will likely be more cautious going back to brick-and-mortar stores. 

     

    Alleviate your customers’ concerns by communicating and enforcing extra health and safety measures. These measures will depend on your specific store, but will likely involve something along the lines of:

     

    Encouraging space between shoppers

    Maybe you need to keep your store displays and fixtures farther apart to give people more space to move around. You could also encourage physical space at the checkout counter by putting markers on the floor that are six feet apart, so shoppers know where they should stand while waiting in line.

     

    Limiting physical contact

    You could limit contact between customers and employees through things like self-checkout as well as by keeping your staff lean. You could also limit the number of people who can enter your store at any given time.

     

    Added cleanliness and sanitation practices

    Clean and sanitize your store often. Give extra attention to high-touch areas, such as popular product displays and the frequently visited sections of your store. If you have baskets or shopping carts, wipe them down before each shopper touches them. 

     

    And whatever measures you decide to take, communicate everything to your customers. Display prominent signage in-store and include your policies and action steps in all your customer communications. 

     

    For best results, use a reassuring tone in your messages. For instance, when emailing customers about your grand re-opening, craft a message that strikes a balance between promotional and reassuring. You want to welcome customers back to your business while making them feel safe and confident that they can shop at your store. 

     

    It’s never too early to prepare for retail’s bounce-back

    While no-one knows for sure when retailers can open their doors again, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Laying the groundwork today will put you in a position to succeed tomorrow and beyond. 

     

    Let us know in the comments how you’re planning to re-open your store and excite your customers. Good luck and stay safe!

    26 Shopify Apps for Retailer’s Grappling with COVID-19

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    Post-COVID-19 retail means adapting to a changing online retail landscape. Check out our selection of apps that could help to streamline your business.

    Marsello gradient over a Shopify logo. 26 Shopify apps for retailesr grappling with COVID-19

     

    Steering your business through the COVID-19 pandemic means adapting to a changing online retail landscape. With many businesses going through a temporary slowdown, it’s more important than ever to give your Shopify customers the optimum shopping experience they deserve. View these useful apps that are designed to streamline your business operations.

    Sales and Marketing

    Many people have temporarily cut back on online purchases, so it’s crucial to attract Internet shoppers who are searching for quality products. That’s where top-notch sales and marketing apps can make the difference.

     

    Marsello logo

    Marsello 

    Marsello can help you develop a customer loyalty program that lets you reward customer behaviors that benefit your business. You can also streamline and uplevel your marketing initiatives with automated, customizable email, promotional campaigns, and highly effective SMS text messaging service.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    In the retail business realm, having a steady stream of loyal customers who purchase from you again and again is like hitting the jackpot. Marsello can help you achieve that by powering an attractive loyalty program plus automating your marketing and customer communications. That way, you can focus on growing your business and serving shoppers better.

     

     

    Gift Box logo

    Gift Box  Free Gift Motivator

    This handy app encourages your customers to spend a little more and receive an enticing freebie. You design the free gift framework, and the gifts automatically appear in your customer’s cart when they meet the free gift criteria.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Customers are often willing to spend a little more to get a free gift, which helps to increase your business’ Average Order Volume (AOV). Offering a free gift with purchase can help to build customer loyalty and encourage repeat business.

     

     

    Spin-a-Sale logo

    Spin-a-Sale

    The popular Spin-a-Sale app demonstrates retail gamification at its best. When a visitor enters their email address, this interactive pop-up displays a spinning prize wheel that settles on a random, one-time discount. Visitors can use those discounts on your eCommerce site.  

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Visitors are likely to stay engaged with your emails and prize wheels, helping to boost your email signup rate and build customer loyalty. And, discount-laden shoppers are more likely to jump on your eCommerce site and make a purchase. This app easily adds subscribers to your Shopify customer list and automated email integrations.

     

     

    Yotpo logo

     Yotpo

    This customer-themed eCommerce marketing platform enables you to easily collect favorable customer reviews and referrals, plus photos and videos. Yotpo’s powerful marketing tools can spur on-the-fence visitors to become enthusiastic customers.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Favorable customer reviews and referrals attract new customers who already have a positive impression of your business. Showcasing customer videos and photos on your website helps to strengthen your customer relationships and build customer loyalty.  

     

     

    Financials

    Tracking your online business’ financial indicators is especially crucial right now, so arm your business with solid financial apps. Here are some suggestions.

     

     

    Quickbooks Sync by Bold logo

    Quickbooks Sync by Bold

    This workhorse app automatically syncs your Shopify orders into your Quickbooks Online program. Data for expenses, payouts, and fees also migrate into your accounting program.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    You won’t have to manually enter your Shopify data into your Quickbooks Online program. This system efficiency enables you to quickly obtain a Shopify financial status report.

     

     

    XERO logo

    Xero by OneSaas

    OneSaas targets workflows that start with a specific transaction. When you create a quote, an order, an invoice, or a receipt, you only have to enter that data once. OneSaas shares that data so it’s available to all functions in that sequence.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Xero by OneSaas can free up your time for other higher-value tasks. And, because time is definitely money, you’ll spend less time on mundane tasks that don’t enhance your bottom line.

     

    TaxJar Sales Tax Automation logo

     

    TaxJar Sales Tax Automation

    All businesses are required to pay sales tax to their respective state and local governments. The hardworking TaxJar Sales Tax Automation app maintains daily sales tax balances due for all your selling platforms’ sales. Plus, TaxJar automatically submits your business’ tax forms before their due dates.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    TaxJar Sales Tax Automation makes time-consuming manual sales tax calculation a thing of the past. Save valuable time crunching the numbers, and be confident that TaxJar is on top of sales tax payments for every applicable state. TaxJar submits the sales tax report to all required state and local government tax offices.

     

     

    SimplyCost logo

    SimplyCost ‑ Profit Tracking 

    Tracking your business’ expenses and profit is important, but you don’t want to spend excessive amounts of time getting the answers you need. SimplyCost – Profit Tracking automatically calculates your store’s profit after considering all recurring and one-time expenses associated with your sales.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    SimplyCost – Profit Tracking helps you save time by effortlessly calculating your store’s profits. By generating fast custom reports, you can gauge your store’s performance and determine your most profitable products. This valuable data will help you to execute better business decisions.

     

     

    Social Media

    Wide-ranging “stay at home” orders are keeping potential customers within their homes for weeks on end. With viewers constantly browsing their social feeds, smart retailers are executing compelling social media initiatives that will ideally translate into completed sales.

     

     

    WhatsApp Chat logo

    WhatsApp Chat

    For eCommerce retailers, smooth order communication and processing are key to completed orders. Toward that end, the WhatsApp Chat + Abandoned Cart app provides fast customer support and order functionality. To minimize abandoned cart problems, the Abandoned Cart Recovery app sends messages that include discount codes to help complete sales.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Beyond WhatsApp’s eCommerce order functionality, this is a hugely popular communications platform. By blending it into your eCommerce online retail operation, you’ll gain added credibility with social media-savvy customers.

     

     

    Instagram Influencer Marketing logo

    Instagram Influencer Marketing

    In the realm of social media powerhouses, Instagram influencers carry a lot of clout. The Instagram Influencer Marketing app’s Carro program lists all the influencers that appear on your store’s customer, follower, and email subscriber lists. After Carro facilitates your collaboration with an influencer, you’ll be able to communicate with and supply products to them.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    When used properly, Instagram Influencer Marketing can widen your reach on social networks. By cultivating a long-term relationship with Instagram influencers, you have highly credible allies who will help to promote your brand.

     

     

    Facebook Messenger Marketing logo

    Facebook Messenger Marketing

    If you’re looking for an additional marketing medium, Facebook Messenger is an increasingly popular choice. In fact, Messenger boasts an impressive 80%+ message open rate. With that optimistic backdrop, you can use the platform to generate more engagement. But do it soon before the space gets too crowded!

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Why leverage Facebook Messenger Marketing? Chances are, you’ll reach customers and prospects while they’re browsing through their favorite Facebook channels. It’s simple, in this relaxed and familiar setting, customers may be more receptive to your marketing messages, so it’s a great opportunity to try and reach them.

     

     

    Instafeed logo

    Instafeed – Instagram Feed

    Instafeed lets you boost your store’s online presence by adding crisp, new Instagram content. Images and videos are welcome, and you won’t need coding skills to complete this fast, easy installation.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Adding Instagram content to your store will encourage browsers to enjoy the photos and videos. When visitors stay longer, they’re more likely to explore your store’s offerings and purchase products.

     

     

    Analytics

    As a retailer, you need to know exactly what’s working (and what isn’t working). You also want to pinpoint your revenue sources, and learn about emerging financial problems, so you can make smarter business decisions.

     

     

    Hotjar logo

    Hotjar Install

    Hotjar views your site from your visitors’ perspective and analyzes each aspect of those interactions. Note: The Hotjar Install (Unofficial) app isn’t affiliated with Hotjar. You’ll need a Hotjar account to implement this app.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Hotjar will carefully analyze your store’s instant feedback, feedback polls, form analysis, surveys, and conversion funnels drop-offs, among other metrics. Using that data, you can determine what is (and isn’t) working so you can make adjustments to improve site effectiveness.

     

     

    Conversific logo

    Conversific

    Conversific has funneled varied Google Analytics data and eCommerce metrics into one powerful app. Even better, Conversific has distilled those mountains of data into 10+ action-oriented reports.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    With just a few clicks, you can view your gross profit, profit margins, and other reports that support profit growth and conversion. Doing so will allow you to get a steer on how your business is doing and you’ll get a good picture of your profitability and market position.

     

     

    Glew logo

    Glew: Multichannel Analytics

    You don’t have time to hunt through your inventory, marketing, sales, shipping, and other functions to get the analytics data you need. Enter Glew, a multichannel analytics app that gathers all your eCommerce tools in one place. View your data via customized dashboards that enable segmentation and filtering.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Glew’s analytics solutions can identify your most valuable customers. Analytics results also help you to determine how (and when) to invest in channels with the best ROI potential, and develop other strategies to improve your bottom line.

     

     

    Customer Service

    Providing excellent customer service can set you apart from your competitors, and can help to build long-term customer loyalty. Armed with the right tools, you’ll be well equipped to provide your customers with customer service they’ll rave about. 

     

    Messenger Channel logo

    Messenger Channel

    While customers interact with your store’s Facebook Page, they can also buy products from your online Messenger store. If shoppers have questions, you can address them in Messenger. You’ll be able to fulfill Messenger-based orders through Shopify and track your Facebook sales through your Analytics pages.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    When customers order products while chatting on Facebook Messenger, you receive that sales revenue. At the same time, you’re engaging with customers, which boosts your profile and encourages relationship building and long-term loyalty.

     

     

    HelpCenter logo

    HelpCenter

    You want to provide good customer service, but spending time on emails and live chats is time-consuming. Instead, the Help Center app posts frequently asked questions on a searchable Help Center Page. Customize the page to match your brand, and offer services in varied languages.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    By serving your customers via the Help Center app, you’ll provide valuable details on your store and its offerings. You’ll spend much less time answering questions, enabling you to focus on helping your business grow.

     

     

    Tidio logo

    Tidio Live Chat

    Tidio Live Chat gathers your email, live chat, and Messenger channels together in one location. The Live Chat function utilizes intelligent bots that jump on abandoned cart issues and often save the sale via live chats and discounts. In fact, studies have shown that live chats can increase sales by 40 percent. Tidio Live Chat is available in multiple languages. 

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Tidio Live Chat is an invisible partner who never sleeps. By interacting with customers on your behalf, you’ll see increased sales and fewer abandoned carts. You’ll also enjoy easy access to your email and Messenger channels in one location.

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

    Depending on your budget, you may need to reduce paid advertising in the short term. As a result, you’ll need to work extra hard to drive organic traffic.

     

     

    SEO Image Optimizer logo

    SEO Image Optimizer – Auto SEO

    Recognize the value of SEO-optimized images, but don’t have the time or expertise to handle these tasks yourself? With a one-click installation, the SEO Image Optimizer – Auto SEO app monitors and optimizes your store daily to comply with Google’s best image search practices.  

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    This hardworking app will automatically optimize your images to comply with Google’s best image search criteria. As a result, you’ll be favorably positioned in Google’s search rankings.

     

    Plug in SEO logo

    Plug in SEO

    The one-stop, Plug in SEO app fixes existing SEO issues with your Shopify store. The app also optimizes your blog, adds valuable keyword tools, and performs updates as search engines change their algorithms.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Your improved SEO position will drive more organic traffic to your store. Better-optimized SEO also helps to improve your search engine rankings.

     

     

    SEO Manager logo

    SEO Manager

    This value-packed SEO package includes varied tools, and real-time feedback, designed to help your store rank better in search engines. SEO Manager also identifies and automatically repairs your website’s broken links.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    SEO Manager helps you to improve your search engine rankings. In turn, your store enhances its online visibility and will likely see increased traffic to your eCommerce store.

     

    Inventory Management & Order Fulfillment

    With more people shopping online, efficient order processing has become extremely important. Ecommerce merchants need an order fulfillment system that handles all transaction aspects. Brick-and-mortar stores need a proven tool that helps them to manage their curbside pickups and delivery orders.

     

     

    Shippo

    Shippo

    Processing orders through several sales channels can be a laborious process. Shippo syncs your channels so you can manage your orders on a single platform. You can also generate discounted shipping levels, efficiently track your shipments, and update your customers.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Shippo’s time-saving order processing and tracking app saves time and reduces your frustration factor. This all-in-one solution reduces duplication of effort, giving you more time for higher-value tasks.

     

     

    ShippingEasy Logo

    ShippingEasy

    If you regularly ship via the United States Postal Service (or USPS), the ShippingEasy app can save you money on domestic and international shipping costs. You’ll receive a free Postal Service postage account, plus discounted rates on all services. ShippingEasy also supports delivery to APO/FPO/DPO locations. 

     

    Plus, you can print labels in batches, avoiding laborious one-at-a-time printing tasks. As an added bonus, ShippingEasy boasts an award-winning support team.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    ShippingEasy’s discounted USPS shipping rates will certainly save you money, and the savings will increase with your processed volume. Printing labels in batches will also save valuable time. 

     

     

    Stocky logo

    Stocky

    Managing your store’s inventory is a balancing act. You don’t want to run out of popular products, but you also don’t want to tie up too much money in inventory. Stocky enables you to manage your purchase orders from one location, and you’ll quickly learn when it’s time to replenish stock. Use Stocky’s data to evaluate inventory and make decisions accordingly.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    By giving you an accurate inventory snapshot, Stocky helps you to avoid spending your hard-earned cash on excessive stock. When an item reaches the “Replenish Now” level, you’ll get an immediate alert. This timely data makes it much easier to gauge your ongoing inventory needs.

     

     

    Store Pickup + Delivery logo

    Store Pickup + Delivery

    Retailers of all sizes can benefit from having store pickup and delivery options, so this app is a game-changer. Store Pickup + Delivery, you can implement local delivery and curbside pickup, while keeping your shipping calendar clean and up-to-date.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Utilizing the curbside pick-up method saves you money on picking, packaging, and shipping costs. Local product delivery is a desirable concierge service. Social-distancing customers will appreciate these options for receiving their products with minimal risk. By offering these choices, you’ll help to build customer loyalty and encourage repeat business.

     

     

    Now Back In Stock logo

    Now Back In Stock

    This handy app tells your customers when their desired out-of-stock items are now available for purchase. Send alerts via email or SMS text messaging, and customize the messages to reflect your store’s brand.

     

    Benefits for Your Business

    Because the customer already wants to purchase a “Now Back in Stock” item, you’ll likely generate a sale. By obtaining the customer’s email and mobile contact information, you can add the customer to upcoming marketing campaigns. You’ll also promote customer loyalty by offering this desirable service.

     

    Your turn

    Now we’d love to hear from you. Which Shopify apps are invaluable to your store during these times? Let us know in the comments. 

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