Note: This is a guest post by Michelle, a freelancer who writes copy for Heroic Search, an SEO company in Tulsa. She is a storyteller that is passionate about communicating share-worthy content that helps businesses grow their eCommerce stores.

Thinking of turbocharging your Shopify store? Excellent. There are many store owners just like you. In fact, as of 2017 there were estimated to be around 2 - 3 million eCommerce companies in existence - and this wasn’t even including stores in China.

It’s a remarkable number, but the 2 out of 10 eCommerce stores who succeed are the businesses that implement the right strategies that the others don’t.

For those who run a Shopify store, this means taking advantage of the numerous Shopify themes and features on offer that enhance their shop.

In this article, I’ll be taking a look at what these are and how Shopify can propel your eCommerce business forward.

Customer Groups

Imagine if you could segment your customers according to their location, previous buying habits and other such things. How awesome would that be?

Well, now you can.

Shopify’s Customer Groups let you segment your customers based on their total spend on your store. From, there, you can run a promotion that’s based on those numbers.

For example, let’s imagine I’ve got a customer who’s spent more than $200 in my store. I could then send them a tailored email that reminds them of this - and thanks them. Then, I could offer them a discount on their next purchase.

Customer Groups also lets you target specific customers with specific emails. For instance, let’s say that I’ve got a whole bunch of email subscribers who live in Germany. My shipping rates in that part of the world have changed, which means I should then email my segmented list of customers an update.

Customer Groups are a win/win for everyone because your customers get to receive emails, messages and promotions that are specific to them. This means that your conversions will go up.

Two-Step Authentication

Have you enabled two-step authentication for your store yet? If you haven’t, now’s the time to do it.

Two-step authentication is a neat Shopify feature that bolsters your store’s security. The more secure your store is, the more your customers will trust you.

This is very important because all it can take is a data breach for all your customers to lose faith in you.

And the thing is that, without two-step authentication, it’s really easy for someone to steal your password and break into your store.

When you instal two-step authentication, Shopify will ask you to provide two things: 

1) your account password

2) a single-use authorization code that should be sent to you via an SMS text message or a mobile app

A hacker might still get past your password layer but they won’t be able to get into your store because of the authorisation code.

A/B Testing

A/B testing - also known as split testing - is where a marketer (or store owner) compares two versions of the same thing to see which one is performing better.

Where your Shopify store is concerned, your tests will typically centre around your webpages.

Why perform A/B tests? A/B tests give you greater understanding into what’s working and what isn’t working. Once you’ve got the results you need, you can make tweaks to improve the overall performance of your store.

Download an A/B testing app from Shopify such as Neat A/B Testing.

Implement a Shopify Loyalty Program

It’s never easy acquiring new customers. As well as a time-consuming venture, it’s also a costly one. So why not work on retention marketing instead?

Customer loyalty is so important. If you have a bunch of loyal customers, they’re potentially yours for as long as your store is in existence.

A loyalty program can propel your store forward because it invites repeat custom - which is awesome! Here are some things to bear in mind:

• What will you reward points for? It’s normal to reward customers for purchases, but you could think outside the box and reward them for all kinds of things, from referrals to Facebook Likes to birthdays
• Give your loyalty program a name. “Points” is lame. Get creative and customize your program!
• Shopify lets you implement a customer loyalty program. There are plenty available ready-made such as the Loyalty app by Smile.io.

Add a Point of Sale Card Reader

In 2018, customers want convenience. If your store offers them a seamless, super easy shopping experience, they’re going to fall in love with it.

For example, 2018 has seen the rise and rise of an omnichannel shopping experience. Customers want to be able to switch between devices when browsing your store, and they also want to be able to do things like order online and pick up in-store.

And when they shop with you across various sales channels, they expect their data to be the same.

A point of sales card reader (POS card reader) from Shopify lets you sell your wares anywhere, both online and offline. It allows you to keep track of your inventory, your customers and their orders. This leads to happy customers.

Conclusion

These are 5 ways that Shopify can propel your eCommerce business forward. Shopify makes it easy to implement all 5. What about your store, have you already carried out any of the aforementioned ideas and how have the worked for you?