With such an expansive reach, coupled with a user-friendly design, Shopify is an excellent tool for breaking into the digital market space, and thankfully, when it comes to marketing for Shopify, there are numerous ways to get your brand noticed and drive more sales. The key is to use the right mix of these Shopify store marketing strategies to maximize visibility among your ideal audience.
The E-Commerce Market, At Large
Before diving into the many ways to market on Shopify, it’s important to have a solid grasp of the current e-commerce landscape.
E-commerce is more popular than ever, and that is a fact that is becoming more prevalent by the day; global retail e-commerce sales exceeded $6.3 trillion last year as consumers continue to shop online with increasing frequency. According to a recent survey, nearly 80% of online consumers shop at least once per month, and roughly one-fourth of that group does so at least once per week.
With those statistics in mind, it’s natural for business owners and marketers alike to want to get their brands out there in the most efficient and worthwhile ways possible, and that’s where a platform like Shopify steps in. The company controls 32% of the e-commerce platform market, and over one million businesses across 175 countries run their stores using the platform.
The Basics of Marketing Shopify Stores
Marketing Shopify stores isn’t as complicated as it might sound, and that’s because Shopify provides integrated marketing and advertising tools that are designed to help brands get noticed and generate sales.
Be that as it may, you can’t rely solely on these built-in Shopify advertising tools; you’ll also need to leverage some outside marketing strategies, such as:
- Paid Google Ads
- Social media ads
- Search engine optimization
- Organic social media marketing
With that being said, the end goal of marketing for Shopify stores will depend on the needs and overall maturity of your business.
Before you conduct your Shopify advertising, you can set goals that support your long-term vision; for instance, if your store is relatively new, your goal might be something simple like acquiring more leads or increasing sales volume by 10%. In contrast, if your store has been around a while and you are preparing to launch a new product, your goal may instead be to raise awareness about the upcoming release.
That’s the great thing about marketing for Shopify stores: your strategy can be customized to align with your business needs.
Marketing for Shopify: 15 Effective Strategies to Amplify Your Reach
By marketing for Shopify, you can satisfy consumers’ desires for online buying opportunities and stand out in what is an ultra-competitive market. With that in mind, here are 15 ways to successfully market your Shopify business:
1. Bolster Your SEO Efforts
Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about making your website and content more appealing to search engine algorithms, and a big part of the SEO process is keyword research; you’ll need to conduct extensive research and incorporate keywords that align with consumers’ search intent.
Once you know what phrases people are searching for, you can incorporate them into product descriptions, image tags, and blog content. Just remember, though, that SEO isn’t just about stuffing your site with keywords; you must be strategic in your approach to keyword usage.
In addition, ensure that every page of your site has a meta description, image and title tags, and other supplemental data to help Google effectively rank your content. A meta description is a brief breakdown (usually 155 characters or less) of the information on a particular page; a title tag is an SEO-enhanced title that is similar (but not identical to) the actual page title, and image tags help algorithms understand the content and context of an image. Together, these pieces of information are vital to ensuring your high ranking on search result pages.
2. Leverage Social Media
Make use of platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to showcase products and connect with your audience. You don’t need to use every platform out there, of course, but you will need to build a following on at least a few different social media channels; prioritize those that are most popular among your target audience.
When getting active on social media, make sure to use a combination of organic posts and paid ads. If you don’t yet have a large following, running a few targeted ads will help you expand your reach and bolster your page.
Once you do build some momentum, it’s important to keep it going, and that means posting regularly, interacting with your followers, and publishing quality content. You can also host live streams, post polls, and publish videos to help maximize engagement.
3. Send Emails
You might initially consider email to be an antiquated marketing tool, but in reality, it remains one of the most impactful and cost-effective marketing tools out there; in fact, according to HubSpot, the average return on investment (ROI) for email marketing campaigns is 36:1. That means you could make up to $36 for every $1 you spend on email marketing.
Nevertheless, you can’t bombard consumers with emails and hope for the best; you need to create custom campaigns for each audience segment, such as prospective buyers and repeat customers, while also ensuring that the content that comprises each campaign is relevant and timely.
For instance, if someone just completed their first purchase, sending them a thank-you email that includes a discount code could encourage them to make a follow-up transaction; likewise, if a once-loyal customer hasn’t ordered from your Shopify store in 30 days, targeting them with an email that features a coupon could be the ideal way to get them shopping again.
Email marketing facilitates personalization at scale; you can set up automated campaigns that require very little maintenance or oversight and adjust over time. That said, when setting up your campaigns, you need to make sure that each audience is properly segmented and that you choose a message frequency that keeps your brand on top of your mind without annoying your audience.
4. Use Influencer Partnerships
Social media influencers have become bonafide marketing powerhouses, and working with a few of them is a great way to enhance your marketing for Shopify. Find a couple of influencers whose audiences align with your own and strike a deal that involves them reviewing, using, or showcasing your products.
When searching for influencer partners, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, make sure that prospective partners will represent your Shopify store’s values and beliefs. If you have built a reputation of being a family-friendly brand, for instance, you wouldn’t want to work with an influencer who frequently tackles controversial topics.
In addition, if your Shopify store is on the smaller side, you probably won’t be able to land a mega-influencer with millions of followers. The good news, though, is that you don’t have to. Micro-influencers — those with roughly 10,000 followers — are still building their brands, meaning they often have cheaper fees; some may even partner with you in exchange for free merchandise.
5. Engage in Content Marketing
Content marketing involves creating quality materials, such as blogs and videos, for the purpose of educating your target audience. While most content will end with a call-to-action (CTA), the majority of each asset is purely educational, not sales-y, a characteristic that differentiates content marketing from paid ads.
Publishing quality content helps build relationships with prospective buyers and nurture feelings of loyalty among existing customers, and over time, it can establish your brand as a source of authority within your industry and build credibility; with that said, though, creating content can be time-consuming, especially when you are trying to manage a Shopify store, and that is why many businesses outsource content creation processes to third-party firms.
When looking for content creation partners, make sure that they’ve worked with businesses in your vertical before. On top of that, carefully review their content package options; while you may not necessarily need a huge content package, ordering multiple pieces of content at once can save you money in the long run. On that note, ask for evergreen content, material that isn’t seasonal but has relevance all year long.
6. Offer Promotions and Discounts
If your Shopify store sales are lagging behind, now might be the perfect time to run a sale or offer a special promotion. Over half (52%) of consumers say that a sale will prompt them to make an impulse purchase; the same source reports that 37% of shoppers are more likely to buy from a brand if the company offers discounts or coupons.
If your goal is to maximize revenue, running a sale might seem counterintuitive, but a good sale doesn’t have to wreck your profit margins, and it could be the perfect tool to kickstart your Shopify store and increase brand awareness. Modest discounts as low as 5% can catch consumers’ eyes and prompt them to make a purchase. You could also offer free gifts or shipping if customers meet minimum purchase thresholds. Either way, consumers will appreciate the savings, and you can keep your profits intact.
If you make customers feel like they are getting a great deal, they’ll pay more attention to your store in the future in hopes of landing another discount. On that note, reward loyal customers with recurring sales and discounts; send them digital coupons every now and then as a way of saying thanks and encouraging them to come back.
7. Optimize for Mobile
Mobile traffic now accounts for over 58% of global website traffic, so if your website isn’t optimized for the format, you could be inadvertently reducing traffic. Thankfully, Shopify handles a lot of the technical aspects of mobile optimization for you, which is one of the many benefits that makes the platform so popular among small to mid-sized retailers.
Still, simply being optimized for mobile is not enough; you’ll need to capitalize on Shopify’s mobile-friendly design with your other marketing efforts; for instance, make sure you are running ads on channels that are often accessed through mobile devices.
8. Run Retargeting Ads
Use retargeting ads to re-engage with visitors who didn’t make a purchase. As their name suggests, these types of ads retarget people based on their past online behavior. You can identify your customers using on-site cookies, email addresses you collect during the initial checkout process, and other first-party data (data you collect yourself), and there are numerous ways to retarget them.
Running paid ads on search engines like Google is one of the most pragmatic and well-known approaches, though you can also use email campaigns to follow up with certain customer segments, such as individuals who abandon their carts before finalizing purchases.
When someone interacts with your brand or visits your Shopify store, they already have an interest in the products you offer; retargeting, therefore, gives them the little extra push they need to make a purchase. If you really want to seal the deal, consider offering free shipping or a discount on their first transaction.
9. Improve User Experiences
Shopify has lots of drag-and-drop tools designed to help you create a great online store, but it’s still up to you to make the most of them if you want your digital store to thrive.
First and foremost, strive to create a frictionless online experience and seamless checkout process; you want to develop a dynamic website, no doubt, but you need to make sure that it isn’t overwhelming. When in doubt, keep things simple, sleek, and functional; a few well-placed design elements will go a long way in driving site visitors toward a purchase.
If possible, have a few friends and family members explore your website and ask them to identify any elements that added friction to their purchasing journeys. Test out different setups and configurations until you find a design and layout that is smooth and enjoyable for everyone.
10. Showcase Customer Reviews
User reviews are a great way of establishing your authority and reputation within the e-commerce space. Once you’ve amassed a decent volume of reviews, consider incorporating them into your paid social and search ads as well.
At the same time, make sure that you address any negative reviews that pop up. Reply to negative comments in a professional and helpful tone, and always work toward an amicable resolution. Even if the customer is unwilling to compromise, other prospective customers will see that you at least attempted to make things right.
In many instances, the audience you are trying to appeal to are the onlookers, not the person with the grievance; that said, ask the person who left the negative comment to reach out to you directly via a direct message.
Even after the conversation shifts to a private forum, ensure you maintain a professional tone that you would be okay with the entire world seeing, as a disgruntled customer may be willing to post screenshots of your conversation.
11. Host Online Events
Organizing webinars or live product demos allows you to engage with your audience in a more personal way while also giving new attendees a chance to ask questions about your brand and store.
Before you host a webinar or go live, though, you’ll want to advertise your upcoming event. Running social media ads or inviting people to pre-register for your event are a couple of methods to improve participation.
When composing your ads, make sure to highlight that attendance is free, and take advantage of the sign-up process, as it’s a great opportunity to gather contact information about prospective customers. The goal is to maximize attendance and showcase that you are providing complimentary information.
Customers may not have to pay to attend your webinar, but they will have to provide their email address. Integrate these into your next email marketing campaign and target prospects with deals, coupons, and sales; after running a few webinars, you’ll have hundreds of new email addresses to add to your campaign list.
12. Connect With Affiliates
Affiliates are entities that route traffic to your Shopify store in exchange for a small commission on any conversions. Your work with them will be based on a performance partnership, as they won’t get paid unless the leads they provide convert into customers, and that means they are a low-risk way to build traffic and grow your Shopify business.
Still, when setting up an affiliate program, there are a few issues you’ll need to address. First, you need to choose a performance model that incentivizes participation without hurting your profitability. Second, you’ll need a reliable and accurate attribution strategy (attribution being how you link conversions to specific affiliates and pay them for their efforts).
One simple approach is to give each affiliate a unique code, which they will then instruct their customers to use during checkout for a discount, thus allowing you to track the origin of leads. A great affiliate program can pave the way for your long-term success and help you breeze past your revenue goals.
13. Conduct Market Research
Understand your audience’s needs and preferences so that you can tailor your marketing efforts accordingly. Conducting market research can sound like a daunting process, but Spotify includes some built-in analytics tools to help you better understand who is buying your products.
Don’t stop there; consider investing in third-party analytics tools that can combine data from various sources. When you combine all of your customer data, you can obtain a holistic view of your ideal audience.
From there, divide your audience into segments based on similarities, like age, gender, location, income, and product preferences so that you can use other Shopify marketing strategies more effectively; for instance, instead of sending blanket emails to everyone on your mailing list, you can target each segment with “exclusive” or “personalized” deals. Since the deals are built around recipients’ interests, there is a much greater chance of a conversion.
14. Hire a Professional Product Photographer
Poor-quality product photographs can cost you sales, so it is vital that you invest in high-quality photography. Don’t take product photos with your smartphone or rely on stock images from the manufacturer; hire a professional and let them work their magic.
The same applies to video; hiring a videographer and publishing captivating video content about each product will make them more appealing to prospective customers.
That said, if you’re not quite ready to add photographs and videos of your entire inventory, start with your best sellers and gauge your ROI from there. After you see the difference that quality photographs and videos can make, you’ll be ready to replace all of the stock images on your website.
15. Take a Customer-First Approach
Focus on providing excellent customer service to encourage repeat business and referrals. Remember, the customer journey doesn’t end when a person receives their package; post-transaction service plays a major role in keeping them coming back for more, too.
Returns management is a particularly important aspect of customer service. While you may not be in a position to offer free returns, you should make the returns process as seamless and customer-friendly as possible. Consider including pre-printed return shipping labels in every order; the costs of adding these to your packages will be negligible, and your customers will appreciate the extra effort.
As your business grows, you may also need to outsource customer support to ensure that your support quality remains high while simultaneously allowing you to focus on your competencies.
Mastering Marketing for Shopify
Running a Shopify store is a challenging yet rewarding experience, and if you want to thrive, you’ve got to make Shopify store marketing a top priority; after all, even the best products won’t sell themselves.
When marketing for Shopify, visibility and diversity are key. You’ve got to make sure your products are visible through proactive marketing efforts, and you can’t rely on a single marketing channel to do so. Tailor your approach to align with the interests and preferences of your ideal audience, and before you know it, your Shopify store marketing efforts will be generating leads, driving revenue, and helping you achieve your growth goals.
