Shopify is arguably one of the best eCommerce store builders, even for non-technical people, but once their store goes live, marketing comes out as the real challenge. If you have just stepped into the eCommerce world, you would have already recognized that it does take a lot of money to do so. However, if you put some time into marketing strategy building and investing, you can pull decent results without hiring experts. In this article, we will go through eight frugal ideas to promote your Shopify store:
1. Share Discounts with a Chatbot
You can easily set up a chatbot to answer common questions, such as what products are on sale and what types of discounts you offer. You can also link a Facebook post to a chatbot to automatically message commenters. This way, your bot can offer a discount code or lead magnet to get users interested in your brand. You can also create your own questions and responses for the bot.
You can also set up your chatbot to offer discounts and promos to all visitors. For example, a Chatbot can offer a 10% discount to anyone who signs up for your newsletter. All you need to do is ask them to provide their email address, and your Shopify store’s ESP tool will send them an automatic email with the discount code using the visitor data.
You can also use your chatbot to offer discounts on a specific product or service. This helps you build a stronger relationship with your customers. A chatbot also helps you improve your average order value by giving personalized recommendations based on a quiz. Thus, you will be able to convert the visitors into paying customers by providing them with 24/7 service personalized recommendations to suit their needs without any time restrictions or navigation hassle.
2. Social Media Shoppable Posts
By creating shoppable social media posts for your Shopify store, you will have a better chance of conversion as you don’t need to redirect traffic to your website. This way, the user can quickly complete the purchase without leaving the social media app. You must make sure you’re connecting your store with the right channels.
If your products are aimed at women, Pinterest is the best choice as it has over 60% female users. If your products are focused on Gen Z, you should consider Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube.
Remember, the social media shoppable posts are digital assets that offer app-native experience combined with eCommerce capabilities. However, they should maintain consistency with your overall brand language.
3. Run Shopping Ads on Google
In order to increase your sales initially, you can go for Google Shopping ads. They are focused on helping users make eCommerce purchases right from the SERP. A lot of Shopify store owners either find paid advertising too complicated or believe it to be a costly affair. But, this isn’t necessarily the case if you utilize a marketing automation app like PromoNavi at your disposal.
PromoNavi will do everything that a PPC expert does. It will enable you to create a merchant feed in one click, create shopping campaigns, allocate a budget, manage campaigns, and more. PromoNavi does all of this at a fraction of the cost of a PPC team, while all your spending will be focused on ad costs. As far as ad spending is concerned, you don’t have much to worry about as you only pay when a click-thru happens.
It’s a great way to attract buyers and generate revenue without waiting for your organic effort’s results. This way, you can keep your Shopify store on top of Google results, especially when you are targeting product selling during special occasions or trying to encash a viral social media trend.
4. Utilize Email Marketing
Email marketing for your Shopify store is crucial for several reasons. It will help drive traffic to your site and improve conversions. To make email marketing successful, you’ll need to develop a brand voice, design emails that catch attention, A/B test different email elements, and personalize your content for your customer. To create an effective email marketing campaign, you can send welcome emails, retarget window shoppers, send newsletters, and more.
There are many ways to effectively utilize email marketing for your Shopify Store. You can start by adding an email capture form on your site to help you build your mailing list. Of course, your first few months of business won’t generate many subscribers because you’re a brand new online store with no existing customers. Paid social media campaigns combined with freebies and sign-up bonuses are time-tested ways to get started, so make sure to leverage them.
With Shopify email marketing, you can offer your customers products based on their purchase history and website activity. You can also set up product recommendation emails based on festivities and important events in the near future. Cart abandonment emails, upselling, cross-selling, win-back email series and all other marketing email types will help you make the most out of each subscriber. On top of that, you can also improve customer experience using transactional email sending functionality. All this will turn subscribers into repeat buyers, and this way, your store will be able to generate more revenue.
5. Build Purpose-Driven Communities
Creating a community for your Shopify store’s customers is a smart way of keeping them engaged without investing a lot of effort and money. The first step in creating a community is to define its purpose and member persona. Then you need to create the rules and the structure. You can start small with a single forum or expand to many forums on other platforms, such as Reddit, Discord, or Facebook groups. However, it is necessary to understand that you still need to act as a moderator, ensure that your customers are making conversations, and keep the engagement levels optimum.
Follow Shopify’s terms and policies to stay out of trouble. The platform does not allow for unsolicited emails and communications, so be sure to check them carefully before you start sending out emails based on your community’s activities. It may not be the essential thing to do, but it surely helps keep your Shopify store running risk-free! Building a purpose-driven community is the best way of doing so while it also helps keep the members aligned and engaged.
6. Leverage Nano-Influencers
Using nano-influencers to promote your products and store is a great way to boost your brand’s visibility. These micro creators typically have more time and availability than traditional influencers, but their niche followings are much more targeted. As a result, their followers are more likely to be interested in your product, and this can be a huge benefit to your advertising efforts.
Nano-influencers are social media users with a few thousand or a bit more followers. They’re usually fans of a particular product or service and relate to their followers on a personal level. Even though they’re not the biggest influencers, they can still make a big impact on your business. It means you’ll need to invest in their content to ensure they can reach their audience and increase your sales.
The use of nano-influencers has many benefits and can be used by both new and experienced brands. Because they have a smaller following, they can be much more affordable for a brand, especially one that is just getting started. In addition, nano-influencers are often willing to receive products in exchange for advertising space.
Another benefit of working with nano-influencers is that they are much more responsive to their followers. So, it’s worth it to invest in this strategy. If you’re ready to take the leap and hire a nano-influencer to increase your Shopify store’s presence, you’re definitely ahead of the competition.
7. Run Loyalty Programs + Social Media Contests
One of the most effective yet virtually free ways to keep customers coming back to your Shopify store is to run customer loyalty programs. By offering rewards and special discounts for returning customers, you can keep them coming back for more. It is also important to remember that not all loyalty programs require a fee. You can offer free rewards for subscribers to your newsletter or push notifications. Alternatively, you can offer prizes, discounts, and free shipping.
A successful loyalty program should also be integrated with your social media marketing campaign. It should be highly customized to suit your Shopify business and brand. You can customize the design of the campaigns and integrate them with your Facebook page and Shopify store. You can also make your campaign 100% mobile-friendly by integrating it with other social media services.
To figure out how to design your loyalty program, ask your customers about their expectations. Once you know what your customers want, you can set up a loyalty program or integrate loyalty program apps to your Shopify store.
To Wrap Up
No doubt, eCommerce is highly competitive, but at the same time, it is one of the most rewarding sectors if you play your cards well. These ideas are useful for all types of Shopify stores, and you can also decide priorities based on the nature of your business. Promoting your Shopify store cost-effectively isn’t difficult, but you need to be mindful of your efforts.
Interesting Related Article: “Accelerating Growth in Your eCommerce Business“