More than 4.36 million online stores use Shopify. There are more than 8,000 apps built to serve Shopify stores. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most influential eCommerce stores in the world. It is a powerful platform adopted by businesses of all sizes globally. If you have a Shopify store, you would love to see customers shopping from you repeatedly, wouldn’t you? Which business doesn’t, right?

The sign of a prosperous business is having customers who keep returning to buy your products or avail of your services. This is where loyalty programs come in. In this article, we look at why every Shopify store needs a loyalty program. We also speak about why you should use Shopify loyalty program tools.

One of the most interesting Shopify customer retention statistics is that more than 84% of consumers are likely to stick with a brand that offers a loyalty program. There are a number of loyalty programs for eCommerce, all you must do is choose one that fits your needs and budget.

Here’s why Shopify stores need a Loyalty Program

For businesses that are looking for retaining customers on Shopify, a loyalty program puts you right ahead of your competitors. Most businesses assume that a decent website and a suite of attractive products are enough to make bank, but that’s never the case. There are tonnes of other e-commerce stores that are vying for your target audience’s attention. Why should people buy from you? You must give them a little extra– a bonus or an incentive to tilt things in your favor, and that’s where loyalty programs come in. Let’s look at why you must invest in Shopify customer loyalty strategies and how they would benefit your business.

Increases Customer Engagement

Customer engagement in eCommerce is one factor that you cannot slack on. If you don’t have an engagement structure, your “almost” customers will be poached by stores that invest in it. Loyalty programs are designed in such a way that they engage their customers and end up increasing customer retention. You create an emotional connection with your customers by offering them rewards or incentives they will like. A loyalty program helps you build deep relationships with your customers. You can even ask for their help in getting honest and unfiltered feedback about everything related to your Shopify store. A customer’s loyalty would only increase when they get know that you are sincere about improving their shopping experience.

Offers a Consistent Rewards Experience

You must be consistent with your reward structure when you include a loyalty program in your store. Each customer should feel that the Shopify loyalty rewards they get are fair for everyone and they stand a chance too. This is why it is imperative that you choose a loyalty program software like 99minds99minds that does everything on autopilot. Having a loyalty program ensures that there is consistency across the entire setup. If you are looking for Shopify loyalty app recommendations, let it be known that you cannot go wrong with 99minds.

Increases Product Or Service Quality

Wait, how does having a loyalty program in place increase product or service quality? Because the quality of your offering directly impacts customer loyalty, and vice versa. When you have customers in abundance, you are in a place to focus on improving the incumbent quality. When you retain your existing customers, you won’t have to worry too much about having a pipeline of leads in the offing. That’s one of the most important Shopify loyalty program benefits.

Your Acquisition Costs Plummet

Existing customers will be singing praises about your brand to their close ones. The next time these new customers want to buy products similar to what you offer, they are more likely to look you up. In their minds, the resistance to buy your product is already significantly lesser since someone they trust hyped you up. This way, your conversion rates improve significantly while causing a dent in your acquisition costs.

Creates Loyalty

Loyalty and trust are things that cannot be purchased. Even if you offer your customers a no-brainer offer, there is no guarantee that they will keep buying from you. Your customers must trust in your brand, what you stand for, and the promises that you make. People will turn up over and over again when you give them delightful experiences. What makes a loyalty program so successful is that it creates a rapport with your customers. This is why you will find loyalty program customers are happy to buy more from you even if competitor’s prices are higher than what you offer.

“Hey, I love those guys!” Statements like these from your customers on social media sites are how you must go about measuring loyalty program effectiveness.

Drives Customers to Certain Products

One of the most rewarding results of having a loyalty program in your eCommerce store is that you can drive customers to certain products. After loyalty program implementation, customers can be directed to certain products with its in-built features like push messaging and triggered notifications. While you cannot ask customers to buy certain products to get more loyalty points, it is possible to drive traffic to those product pages.

Do you want to finish the stock of a slow-moving product? Incentivize its purchase Would you like to direct the attention of customers to a new product category? Incentivize its purchase Are you looking to sweeten the deal for a new audience? Incentivize its purchase Do you want a certain section of your target audience to try certain products? Incentivize its purchase

If you look at it objectively, your loyalty program can be crushing multiple goals for you with ease. All you must do is create a structured reward program in place.

Offers Buying Patterns Insights

The interesting thing about raw data is that you can box them into patterns to understand what your customers like. Do they buy product X on weekends more? Do sales drop when the product’s price is above a certain threshold? Do they only buy if there are rewards? Do certain kinds of rewards result in an increase in purchases?

The answers to the above questions can change the way you run your business. By using loyalty program trends in eCommerce stores, you can understand buying patterns. It will help you make business decisions that affect the performance of your marketing campaigns.

Wrapping Up

Loyalty program ROI is measured not only in increased retention rate, but also in goodwill, customer satisfaction, and an eagerness to continue doing business with you. Even though these are intangible results that no metrics can measure, this is how loyalty program success stories should be considered. You must build such a good brand that your customers are not just in for the rewards. That’s what building brand loyalty on Shopify with structured software like 99minds does.

If you look at loyalty program case studies, you will only find advantages to having it in your store. When was the last time you saw a customer distraught about getting incentives after a purchase? The only problem that might arise is when you don’t take the help of a loyalty program software like that of 99minds. Increase the customer lifetime value by implementing loyalty program best practices with us.