Increasing sales is what every online merchant dreams of. Shopify is an e-commerce platform that provides a ton of features that help increase conversion rate and overall performance of an online store.
One of the best things about Shopify is its huge potential for expansion. It integrates well with huge marketplaces, social media, and has an app store that is full of useful third-party functionality ready to be installed on your store. Although, sometimes you’ll need the assistance of a Shopify development company to assist you with customizations or performance optimization, in most cases you can set up and launch a Shopify store by yourself.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the most useful native Shopify features you can use to boost sales.
#1 Blog
Shopify has a built-in-blog that you can use to post articles and other content. This feature is one of the most important as the content you publish there helps you generate a steady stream of organic traffic.
Blogging takes a long time since you need to create articles that can be ranked in the search engines. When creating content, try to stick to the following recommendations.
- Blog posts should be at least 800 words long
- Include internal and external links
- Research the topic before writing
- Target the right keywords
#2 Abandoned Cart Recovery
As of 2020, about 88% of shopping carts were abandoned by online customers. For some reason, shoppers put products in their carts and then leave without proceeding to checkout. This is a significant number that can make a huge difference to your business.
Shopify provides features that you can use to convert those abandoned orders into potential sales. Thus you can set up and use automatic mailing directly to the potential customers who have abandoned carts in your store. In this case it is imperative to convey the correct message. You can create an urgent need by highlighting limited availability, expiring discounts, and other similar ideas.
#3 Gift Cards, Coupons, Discount Codes
Everyone loves a great deal. Done right, you can use gift cards, coupons, and other codes to personalize the customer experience and increase brand loyalty.
All of these are available in Shopify out-of-the-box. Such bonuses can be created and applied in many different ways. For example, you can create and include ones as an incentive to recover abandoned carts. Some coupons and discounts can be periodically sent to select customers to build brand loyalty.
However, keep in mind that overuse of these items can overload the customer experience. So, use discounts wisely and in strictly defined cases, like:
- Launch of new offers
- For first-time buyers
- In loyalty programs
- For abandoned cart recovery
- As an incentive to encourage a purchase
#4 Shopify POS
Another useful feature of Shopify is its high compatibility with physical retail via Shopify POS (Point of Sale). There is a POS application you can use to read barcodes and interact with your inventory system.
This feature usually goes beyond what most other e-commerce CMSs offer. As a result, it becomes possible to combine online and offline channels.
#5 Omnichannel Sales
In addition to POS, you can integrate Shopify with a huge number of external sales channels. These channels include Amazon, Facebook, eBay, and others.
Omnichannel sales are a bit different from multichannel in the sense that you aim to provide an optimized customer experience across all platforms. This opportunity can help significantly increase sales and customer loyalty. The result is a great experience that caters to the varied needs of your potential customers.
#6 Invoices Generation
Even if you are a B2C e-commerce store, you will need to bill customers for every sale. Aside from being a good accounting habit, it also demonstrates a professional approach to strengthening your brand.
Shopify offers a free invoice generation service and a template to get started. It is extremely easy to use. Just go to the invoice generator page and fill in the fields. You might want to automate this process, but to do this you’ll need to install a third-party app.
#7 Integration with Social Networks
Shopify integrates seamlessly with most social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Even if you don’t use them as a part of your omnichannel strategy, you can still achieve your marketing goals.
Platforms like Facebook also have tracking features like Pixel to help you gather more data to further boost your marketing efforts.
#8 Email Marketing
If you’re interested in using third-party services, Shopify has a built-in email marketing tool. Similar to how it works with abandoned cart recovery, you can use it to create entire email marketing campaigns.
However, in order to take advantage of this, you’ll need to let your customers subscribe to your newsletter. It could be part of the checkout process, or a call to action posted on the storefront. You can then target this customer database for specific marketing campaigns.
#9 Shopify Apps
Shopify’s most powerful feature is the ability to extend the out-of-the-box functionality with the help of thousands of third-party apps. Shopify App store allows you to expand your business beyond the basic constraints.
The store has an extensive collection of apps. Some of them are free, while others have to be paid for. There are many free features that can help you increase your sales in a variety of ways.
Final Thoughts
Shopify is one of the most powerful platforms for building e-commerce stores. It’s feature-rich origin sometimes makes merchants spend a lot of time getting acquainted with all the benefits provided out-of-the-box. Anyways, it deserves your attention, especially if you want to create a fully functional user-friendly e-commerce store.
Author Bio: Olha is a Content Manager and SEO Analyst at Whidegroup. Starting as a Content Writer for software and web development topics in 2011, Olha has always been guided by a desire to thoroughly inspect every field of study before writing a single word. She found her passion in e-commerce and delighted in expanding her expertise in web development, analytics and SEO for small to medium e-commerce businesses
