Transform Your Shopify Store into an Application for Increased Repeat Orders
In the digital age, having a mobile app for your Shopify store can be a game-changer. By connecting directly to your store, mobile apps provide real-time synchronization of products, customer data, and inventory, ensuring a seamless and personalized shopping experience across iOS and Android devices.
One crucial metric to monitor is the Return Purchase Rate (RPR), a metric used to quantify the rate of customers who make a repeat purchase after making an initial purchase. The formula for RPR is simple: RPR = (Number of Returning Customers / Total Number of Customers) * 100.
A low RPR may indicate post-purchase engagement problems, poor mobile experience, or the absence of strong reasons to come back. However, there are several strategies to drive repeat purchases with the Shopify app.
Firstly, building a native mobile app offers numerous benefits. It allows for direct customer engagement, ease of use, and personalized experiences.
Secondly, using push notifications via the mobile app can maintain direct communication with customers, informing them about new arrivals, exclusive discounts, and upcoming sales. Push notifications have higher visibility and engagement rates than email marketing and keep your brand top of mind, driving repeat purchases.
Thirdly, simplifying the checkout process within the app is essential. Features like saved payment information, one-click purchases, and integration with digital wallets improve convenience and boost conversions.
Fourthly, incorporating loyalty programs and rewards in the app can build brand loyalty and encourage habitual use. Providing loyalty points, early access to promotions, or exclusive app-only offers fosters repeat business and word-of-mouth marketing.
Fifthly, personalizing marketing with retargeting campaigns that track user behavior can increase conversion likelihood by up to 70%. These campaigns deliver timely, customized ads through mobile channels to customers who have shown interest in specific products.
Leveraging app builder platforms like Tapcart or Twinr can also help in creating branded mobile apps without coding, supporting push notifications, and offering advanced analytics to optimize customer engagement and app performance.
In-App Follow-Up Post-Purchase, Offering On-Demand Support through In-App Chat, and Surveying Customers Inside the App can further build emotional loyalty and support Shopify customer retention strategy.
A strong RPR makes a business more predictable, as it allows for planning inventory, budget, and campaigns with confidence. Every additional purchase a customer makes improves Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). Return customers have a higher probability to upgrade, purchase bundles, or consider additional product lines.
Offering Subscriptions can transform one-off purchases into a recurring revenue. This not only increases RPR but also makes the business more predictable and stable.
Industry benchmarks for RPR vary across sectors. For instance, in the Beauty industry, RPR ranges from 25-30%, while in Fashion, it's 20-25%. In the Food/CPG sector, RPR can be as high as 30-40%.
By implementing these strategies, Shopify merchants can significantly improve their RPR, customer retention, and overall business performance.
- To boost repeat purchases, Shopify merchants can utilize push notifications within their mobile apps, which offer higher visibility and engagement rates than email marketing, keeping their brand top of mind and driving customer retention.
- In the retail industry, app analytic tools like those provided by app builder platforms such as Tapcart or Twinr can be crucial in optimizing customer engagement and app performance, thereby supporting efforts to increase Return Purchase Rate (RPR) and overall business success.
