3 Shopify Housekeeping Resolutions for 2018
It's this time of the year ecommerce consultants, digital marketeers and online entrepreneurs try to predict what's going to be hot in 2018.
In 2017 we built, upgraded and made improvements to over 40 shopify stores around the world. While Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality will be the e-commerce buzzwords over used in the coming months, we are seeing that it’s the simple things that will make a change to your Shopify store in 2018.
1. Email Automation
Our team is always amazed at the amount of online stores that are not fully utilising their email database. The return investment for email is well above any social media channel or PPC platform. In some cases it runs over 1,000%. And yet, very few Shopify merchants are actually fully utilising email as a serious marketing channel. With a single initial investment to automate email services and some minor ongoing management we are seeing 6-figure stores add up to 25% or their revenue via email.
In 2018 we'd advise you to add a budget for email automation in 2018. Chances are you already have a budget for Adwords, Facebook marketing & logistics. This year add a budget for email. The cost of reselling to a customer you already have is 20% of the effort of attempting to gain a new client. Assigning effort to email in 2018 should be a priority.
We recommend the following email automation tools:
- Mailchimp
- Klaviyo
- Dot Mailer
- Rare.io
2. Mobile Ready
Suggesting to a online business owner that their store should be mobile friendly is the same advice we'd have given back in 2013. But yes, just like email automation, you'd be surprised the amount of online businesses that don't even realise how poor the cross browser experience is on mobile.
As Magento users flock to Shopify given the upcoming upgrade, we've seen so many stores without any mobile friendly browser experience. Given the amount of browser types & screen sizes in the market today, mobile testing to ensure your store is 100% responsive is of paramount importance.
3. Audit Your Apps
If you've been using Shopify for a while, you'll be familiar with the range of apps on the App Store. Everything you need is there whether it's a tab in your product page or an up-sell on exit, the Shopify App Store has it. However we are seeing an increasing number of store owners adding apps and availing for the free period but forgetting to uninstall the app. You'd be surprised how these charges add up.
For start-up stores most business owners are very much aware of the costs. However as sales increase and revenue rises, many store owners enter the app area and check their monthly charges less often.
We recommend auditing your app usage at least once a quarter - save margin in the long run.
Keith Matthews | Founder
Ireland's No. 1 Shopify Experts
