Boost Your Shopify Sales with a Mobile App

Shopify has quickly become one of the world’s most popular eCommerce platforms. It powers more than one million businesses across the globe.

In fact, Shopify controls 31% of the total eCommerce market share in the United States. 

It’s the most searched for eCommerce solution on Google, and the fastest-growing eCommerce platform in existence at the moment. So if you’re currently using Shopify to sell online, you’ve definitely made the right choice.

As a Shopify store manager, it’s your responsibility to make sure that products are selling. 

Having an eCommerce website is a good start, but it’s not enough to maximize the potential of your online store. A website alone, even if it’s mobile-friendly, is just the tip of the iceberg.

It doesn’t matter what you’re selling or what industry you’re in; your Shopify store needs a mobile app. 

There is a common misconception out there that mobile commerce apps are only used by enterprise stores and global chains. That’s a myth, and couldn’t be farther from the truth. 

The market dictates mobile app usage, and consumers worldwide prefer to shop via mobile apps. So any small or medium-sized business will benefit from a mobile commerce app as well.

You may not realize it, but your Shopify store is competing with big brands like Amazon. These companies have set certain expectations in the minds of your customers. So to stay competitive and reach as many people as possible, your Shopify store must adapt and launch an app.

As an expert in the mobile space, I created this guide to explain exactly how you can leverage a mobile app to boost Shopify sales. 

Push Notifications

One of the most significant advantages of a mobile commerce app is the ability to stay in contact with your customers. Communication is limited on a Shopify web store on its own.

Right now, you’re probably relying on email to reach shoppers. But lots of factors need to go your way in order for an email campaign to be successful.

First, you need to turn website visitors into email subscribers. That’s easier said than done. It usually requires a visitor to take at least a couple of steps to complete the process. If someone buys a product from your Shopify store, you might give them an option to automatically opt-in to emails, but some customers won’t go for that. 

Once someone joins your email list, communication still isn’t promised. Your emails need to be delivered and opened by the recipients. 

Considering the average person receives 121 emails per day, there is no guarantee that this will happen. 

That’s where push notifications come into play. To communicate with customers via push notifications, all they need to do is download your app from the app store.

In terms of engagement, push notifications beat emails in every category. 

That’s because push notifications appear on a user’s mobile device similar to a text message. The chances of them reading it and opening the message are much higher than a promotional email buried in someone’s inbox.

While you should definitely be using push notifications to drive Shopify sales, just make sure you do so with caution. Sending too many messages can be annoying, and it’s one of the reasons why users mute push notifications. 

As a Shopify store owner, you should only send push notifications that add real value to app users. 

• Flash sales
• Discount codes
• Delivery notifications

These are ideal examples of what you should be using. Just saying hello or sending a weekly newsletter as a push notification won’t be effective and could ultimately backfire. 

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are one of the best ways to retain your customers. 

A loyalty program gives people an incentive to spend more money and increase their shopping frequency. Both of these metrics will boost sales of your Shopify store. 

Can you have a customer loyalty program without a mobile app? Absolutely. But an app will really take your program to the next level. Here’s why.

Aspect	Without Mobile App	With Mobile App
Customer Engagement	Limited to website visits	Accessible anytime via phone
Loyalty Tracking	Requires login and navigation	Instant access with a click
Program Visibility	Often an afterthought	Constantly visible on mobile

For starters, it’s unlikely that your customers will visit your website on a daily basis. Even your best customers may only online buy from your Shopify store once or twice per month. They probably aren’t eager to check their loyalty status if they need to land on your website, log in, and navigate to their customer profile. So the program almost becomes an afterthought.

However, your customers use their phones every day. Your app is just a click away at any given moment. This makes it easy for them to track their status and gives them an incentive to reach the next level.

Take a look at some of the top reasons why people continue to participate in loyalty programs. 

Nearly 50% of people said that they participate because the program is accessible through a mobile app. 

If you look at all of the top mobile commerce apps on the market today, they all have customer loyalty programs. A simple mobile app builder, like Buildfire, has plugins that provide customer loyalty functionality for native mobile apps. This will be an easy way for you to drive customer engagement. 

I recently wrote an article about Sephora’s app and customer loyalty program. They took an old loyalty program and revamped it to drive sales and conversions on their app. You can follow their lead and take the same approach for your eCommerce app. Alternatively, you can create a loyalty program with full customization. 

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