The Ultimate Guide To Shopify Marketing

If you have ever shopped online or browsed through an eCommerce store, you might be familiar with Shopify. At some point, you might have wondered how a particular online store is designed. Well, seven out of ten times, the answer could be Shopify.

The platform, launched in 2006, has proven to a be a revolutionary eCommerce tool. Today, many businesses across the globe are leveraging the platform to sell their products. In just the United States, there are around 2.9 million Shopify stores right now.

With the boom of eCommerce in the last two years, digital sales have continued to show an upward rise. According to a recent report, online retail hit the huge milestone of $1 trillion in 2022.

In a way, this has all been possible because of eCommerce platforms like Shopify. It is a great tool for business and startup owners that offers a range of impressive features like:

• Smooth Checkout and Payment
• Secure Gateway
• Product Listing and Management
• Support for SEO Strategies
• Customer Engagement
• Automated Marketing Processes

To get the best out of this tool, you need to focus on a promotional strategy for your professionally designed Shopify website before anything else. So, let’s get started with our ultimate guide to Shopify marketing!

What is Shopify Marketing?

Simply put, Shopify marketing is about implementing strategies and using the relevant tools to attract customers to a website and generate higher sales. As I mentioned above, the platform offers many options to business owners for promoting their products online.

From social media ads to visitor insights, the Shopify website builder provides business owners with the tools to follow quality leads and convert them into buying customers. Think of this as an all-in-one platform where you can find everything that simplifies the process of selling online.

Image Source: Shopify.com

You can use Shopify’s built-in features or tools even if you are integrating the platform with an existing website. For instance, you might be looking to optimize the Shopify website and boost visibility in searches. Users can easily improve on-page search engine optimization or SEO by customizing meta tags on the web page. You can access the tools to discover relevant keywords or structure the website for a higher ranking.

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This is just one example to help you understand how you can kickstart your marketing campaign or strategy. Business owners can access many other useful features to promote their Shopify stores online.

The Best Shopify Marketing Tools

Here are a few great tools that you can use with Shopify website builder to promote your products, capture leads and increase conversions.

Shopify Email

The platform offers this great tool to website and business owners that can help them reach out to cold leads and build lasting relationships with customers too. You can create email marketing campaigns, track their progress and results, and send automated emails to people who subscribe for discounts or offers. This tool also allows you to manage your email list efficiently and personalize emails according to segments.

You can choose templates from Shopify or create a branded one to boost recognition among potential customers. It’s a good idea to get an icon or symbol that represents your industry beforehand. So for example, if your Shopify website sells organic skincare products, you can get a beauty logo to customize your email templates.

Shopify’s email marketing tool guides you through a simple process for setting up campaigns that can bring more visitors over to the website and create awareness.

Image Source: Shopify

Content Creation and Marketing

As I have mentioned above, this platform can give you a solution for everything! While it may sound clichéd, you need to keep in mind that ‘content is still king’. Even with all the development in AI and new tools like ChatGPT, high-quality and informative content remains important for businesses in the digital world. Now, if you are wondering how this is related to Shopify marketing, well, you might find this a bit surprising.

The platform offers its users channels to create blogs, visual posts, and videos to engage their audience on Shopify stores and social media networks. You can take a look at Shopify’s blog which has valuable insights and guides for users.

Image Source: Shopify

Facebook And Instagram Marketing

It is another great tool that you can use to grab the attention of your target audience on social media channels like Facebook and Instagram. Before marketing your products on social media, make sure that you get a professional header image designed for your profile or business page. Shopify has a built-in tool for marketing products on such mediums. You can integrate your accounts with the Shopify website builder and set up an ad campaign for Facebook.

Users can create awareness among potential customers with sponsored posts or invest in retargeting ads. This involves creating carousel posts on Facebook for visitors who left the Shopify stores without purchasing any item. So, you can retarget them by tracking their behavior and showcasing certain products that people might be interested in buying.

Image Source: Shopify

Google Listings

Whether you are thinking of setting up a Shopify website or looking to build brand recognition, you need to focus your attention on search engine optimization or SEO. In the digital world, this is an all-powerful process that can direct more traffic to a website and boost sales too.

For Google, you can consider getting your products listed on the first-page search results by optimizing the product pages and descriptions. Shopify has a dedicated category for Google that users can access to use the tools.

You can find the Google Channel and integrate some of the products with the search engine’s Merchant Center. Business owners can also invest in Google Ads and have their website show up on the top of the SERPs.

The platform also allows users to set up the ‘Buy on Google’ option for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time searching for specific products. While the tool is quite useful, you can consider hiring Shopify SEO experts to get the best results quickly.

Image Source: Shopify

Shopify Forms

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about email or SMS marketing? You might assume that people do not prefer getting such messages. Now, this is not entirely true. While many visitors may avoid giving out their contact information, you can still make sales with an engaging email campaign or text messages. This is where a feature or an app like Shopify Forms can prove to be very useful.

It gives power to the customer or visitor as they have to authorize marketing updates from the eCommerce store. If they agree to the option, you can find their information added to the panel in the Shopify website builder. Other than this, you can also collect the contact number and email from visitors on the website when they check out or via opt-in forms.

Image Source: apps.shopify.com

Customer Segmentation

Can you expect to generate revenue or increase sales without knowing your customers? Probably not. It’s a good idea to start researching the interests and preferences of the target audience from the beginning. With a Shopify website or storefront, you can make this a lot easier. The platform has a tool for customer segmentation that allows you to divide them into groups.

I think this is a great marketing tool that can be used for both digital and print platforms. You can easily hire designers for marketing collateral and promote your products effectively.

Segmentation allows you to create segments or groups of potential customers that have similar characteristics. For instance, you can create a category for potential customers that are in the age demographic of 18 to 30 years old. With customer segmentation, it’s easier to gain an insight into what the target audience is looking for and personalize Shopify stores for an improved shopping experience.

Image Source: Shopify.com

Marketing Report and Insights

While the list of tools might seem endless for Shopify website owners, I am rounding up my top ones with this. The platform provides comprehensive reports and insights to its users and keeps them updated on the traffic and engagements. You can use Shopify Analytics to make data-driven decisions for your eCommerce store. With this tool, business owners can get access to features like:

• Live View
• Analytics Report
• Inventory
• Product Analysis
• Finance Report
• Marketing Report
• Customer Behavior Analytics

To understand how to connect with your target customer in the best way, you need to have in-depth knowledge of their behavior and patterns. The marketing report can help you track your campaigns and provide insight into the way people are interacting with the website.

Image Source: Shopify

How to Create A Successful Shopify Marketing Strategy

Before moving on to marketing strategies that you can implement to promote your Shopify website, let’s talk about the process of creating one. In the beginning, it can be a bit tricky to figure out the right tactic or plan that can get you to the end goal.

You need to answer a few questions about your online business when creating a strategy for Shopify marketing. This can help clarify your short- and long-term objectives easily. Think about some of the key factors that are likely to drive your business to success.

• What makes you different from the competitors?
• How can you define the core business values?
• What is the message or purpose of your brand?
• Is your product solving a problem for consumers?

These are just some of the questions that you answer in the beginning. Once you identify the unique selling point (USP) of your business and product, you can encourage potential customers to browse through the Shopify website. It also makes the next step of creating the right strategy for small business marketing simpler.

Here are a few steps that you can follow to make sure that you achieve the results you want with your promotional campaigns.

Set Your Key Metrics or KPIs

If you think about it, new businesses are launching almost every day. This means that you will have to face tough competition in the digital world and grab the attention of consumers before others.

By setting immediate targets or key performance metrics, you could drive business growth and create an effective strategy too. Here are some of the major ones that can be tracked or measured with the Shopify website builder:

• Conversions
• Leads
• Product Views
• Email CTR or click-through-rate
• Social Media Engagement
• Organic Traffic
• Pay-per-click ads
• Bounce Rate

For example, you might be looking to reduce the bounce rate on the website by 20 percent within two months.

If the online store has a high bounce rate, you can map out the user journey again and get an insight into how people are interacting with it. To solve this issue, you could optimize the loading speed or make it more responsive. This is a clear metric that you can measure and track in a given time. It will give you an idea of whether your current plan is working or not.

Conduct Competitor Analysis

Even if you have already heard this a lot of times, you need to make sure that it stays a top priority in your marketing strategy. Find out how similar businesses are marketing their websites and products to potential customers. Is their strategy successful? Which channels are they using to reach out to the audience?

Collect all the data that you can and conduct an extensive analysis. You can use marketing tools like SEMrush or BuzzSumo to research the keywords that your competitors might be ranking for.

Focus on the Right Marketing Channels

Last but not the least, it’s important to identify or locate marketing channels where your audience is based. For instance, if you are selling shoes made with sustainable materials, you should focus on social media networks as your primary marketing channel. You can create a strategy for Instagram and Facebook, and draw attention to your USP with short videos, stories, and high-quality product photos.

Once you have determined the right marketing channel, you can hit your targets easily and boost brand recognition quickly as well.

These are some of the factors that you need to keep in mind before working on a Shopify marketing strategy.

Most Effective Shopify Marketing Strategies

Let’s take a look at the best Shopify marketing ideas that can bring more visitors and lead to an increase in conversions too.

1. Optimize the Site for Improved CX

Before anything else, think about how you can convince the visitors to stay for longer and buy your products at the end. This is one marketing strategy that could bring people back to the website and boost growth with positive word of mouth as well.

By improving CX or customer experience, you can create a good perception of your Shopify website and generate higher sales. Factors such as low-quality visuals, poor navigation, and slow loading speed can affect user experience greatly.

So, you need to track the consumer journey on your website and identify the elements that are causing people to abandon their carts or leave the page immediately. Once you determine those, you can look for solutions to improve CX. For Shopify stores, business owners can:

• Pick the right theme and maintain consistency across devices
• Collect feedback with surveys or quizzes
• Include a live chat option with automated questions
• Keep the checkout form brief
• Add a progress bar so people can access their information quickly

Providing a good customer experience can be an effective strategy for Shopify marketing. A well-designed website engages visitors immediately and convinces them to act too. Just take the example of the website of Partake Cookies here. It is easy to navigate, has bright colors that appeal to the audience, and highlights all the relevant information on the home page.

Source: partakefoods.com

2. Educate Your Audience with Valuable Information

Marketing 101: know your customer. Once you have gained an understanding of your target customer, you can look for ways to draw attention to your Shopify website and products. This is where content marketing can play a key role. You can create educational content that offers industry insights, expert opinions, or real-life stories of people. Once you know what your audience is interested in, you can make a positive impression with visual elements of your brand identity designs too.

According to a report on consumer insights, almost 78 percent of shoppers spend their time researching products online. They are looking for informative articles, how-to guides, or expert opinions that help them gain an understanding of the business and its products.

Valuable insights or opinions can help people make a well-informed decision and choose your Shopify store to purchase an item. You can consider the following content formats to promote Shopify marketing:

• How-to Articles and Guides
• Explainer and Demonstration Videos
• Customer review posts

Here is an example of Patagonia’s blog that is different from most others in the niche. It captures the attention of the audience with interesting stories about outdoor activities, adventures, and nature. These are educational posts that can connect with the audience and convey the values of the brand as well.

Image Source: Patagonia.com

3. Offer Referral Discounts to Visitors

You will find quite a few businesses using this marketing tactic for customer acquisition. It’s also a good way to build loyalty and bring visitors back to Shopify stores. Referral discounts can help organically promote your website and create awareness about your product. By offering incentives to visitors, you can create hype from word-of-mouth marketing too.

All you have to do is set up a referral program that encourages people to share the Shopify website with their family members or friends. This can also help you grow your email list and collect information from visitors. You can offer discounts of 25 or 20 percent on referrals to get people excited about the offer. Take a look at what Rothy’s has done with its ‘Refer-a-Friend’ program.

The website sells shoes made from recycled materials and has an option for visitors to recommend the products to anyone. People who might be interested could save money on their purchases and give their friends a discount too.

Image Source: Rothys.com

4. Win with Social Proof on your Home Page

According to HubSpot, 88 percent of potential customers trust recommendations or reviews from others when buying a product. It’s why testimonials and feedback from real customers can make a huge difference for your business. You can use user-generated content (UGC) on your website and social media networks to reach out to a wider audience. This can also boost brand credibility and is an innovative digital marketing trend that you can follow.

To win with your promotional strategy, you can include social proof on the home page. Many Shopify stores today are choosing to make a positive impression on visitors with authentic reviews. Consider the example of the website for Ratio Coffee here.

The feedback is placed in the middle of their home page which means people don’t have to scroll until the end to find customer experiences. It can play a huge role in purchasing decisions and drive sales.

Image Source: Ratiocoffee.com

5. Personalize Product Views or Recommendations

You may have already come across people talking about how personalization is the next big thing. And it is. Businesses and website owners are using AI tools to track engagements and patterns so they can promote the right products to people. For Shopify marketing, you can always use information from your email lists or tools like Google Analytics to get an idea of which products are getting the highest views.

This can help you personalize choices for potential customers and reach out to them with product carousels on social media and upselling. For first-time visitors, you can keep it simple by including a discount on certain products. ASOS is one example of a business that is winning with this strategy. You can certainly take inspiration from this website to win with your Shopify marketing!

Image Source: Asos.com

Wrapping Up

This is our ultimate guide to Shopify marketing which has everything that you might need to know about taking your eCommerce store to the next level. If you are thinking about launching an online business or looking to generate higher sales, you can go through the tips and strategies mentioned above.

Before you get started, make sure that you have your visual branding assets ready so you can easily use them for the website. If not, you can always launch a design contest and have your icon for the Shopify store.