📲 My Shop App Experience 👀

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: My Experience with the Shop App, its Value Prop, and How it Could be Improved.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Retention & Yotpo.

• The D2Z Podcast: Catch up on some old episodes! I took this week off to completely redo our setup, and I’m looking forward to hearing what you think about the new and improved version next week.App Highlight: Recharge’s New Affinity Portal.

A LOT is coming up, both virtual and in-person!

• Conquering Conversions in Q2 with ShipBob on May 25th, where I’ll present specifics around Electriq’s Email & SMS Marketing tactics.

• Private Dodger Stadium Suite with Recharge on June 13 in LA. There is extremely limited space for merchants, so RSVP ASAP if you’d like to attend, but no guarantees that we’ll be able to accommodate you.

• DTCxRetain June 14-15, where I’ll host a retention marketing breakout session. If you’re a brand, use the code ELECTRIQBRAND for a free pass!

• Transactional Email & SMS Masterclass on June 21st with Malomo, where I’ll dive into how Electriq creates personalized transactional journeys that improve retention and increase LTV.

 Random tip: Invest in your personal brand to challenge your critical thinking while making yourself more valuable to potential employers.

Let's Chat D2C: My Experience with the Shop App, its Value Prop, and How it Could be Improved

I spent about an hour perusing through the Shop App this week as I had almost $100 in Shop Cash I had to use, and I noticed some pretty interesting things. 

Shop Cash

I only used the app to redeem my $93.56 in Shop Cash. If you’re a reader of this newsletter, you know I’m not a fan of loyalty programs, but when they are based around store credit and can be easily redeemed at checkout, they are much more frictionless than traditional points-based programs.

Customers can earn Shop Cash in the US by using Shop Pay, but Shop Cash can only be redeemed in the Shop App. This is an excellent strategy for Shopify to get more customers to use the app.

Opportunities for Improvement - Merchants Pricing Strategy

For every product I considered purchasing, I googled the item to see what the reviews were like and check prices. They were cheaper elsewhere for at least 90% of the products, even when “discounted by 50%” on the Shop App.

I don’t care how much Shop Cash I have, but if I can get the exact same product from Amazon, etc. I’m not going to buy from their Shopify store.

Opportunities for Improvement - Review Aggregation

Multiple times I looked at products with zero reviews on the Shop App, but after a quick Google Search, they had thousands of reviews from other sites.

Opportunities for Improvement - Unified Checkout

Like Amazon, I should be able to purchase from multiple merchants in one unified checkout. Even if the orders are fulfilled separately, and I get multiple tracking numbers, that’s a significantly better experience than having to checkout from each merchant individually on the app.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Retention & Yotpo

Yotpo recently surveyed brands, and 52% said they’re more focused on retention than they were last year. And yet, 40% of brands haven’t made any changes to improve or broaden their retention strategy. Even further, 70% said their retention rate has stagnated or worsened over the past year.

Why the disparity? Because retention is complex. Brands clearly understand the value of retention, but moving the needle requires the right strategies… and the right solutions.

Brands need to engage customers between purchases with the right experiences at the right times, and ensure their journeys are simple, seamless, and captivating. And executing these one-of-a-kind customer experiences can only be built with smart, connected solutions.

A successful brand makes at least 50% of its sales from return shoppers, and Yotpo’s Retention Marketing Platform can help them get there. The platform empowers brands to understand their customers better and engage them effectively at every touchpoint. With unified, data-driven solutions for loyalty, SMS and email, reviews, and subscriptions, Yotpo helps brands of all sizes deliver winning, cohesive experiences that drive eCommerce growth and customer retention.  

When it comes to driving sales, their mission is simple: to make return shoppers a bigger piece of the pie for you. That’s why they recently launched 60 product and feature updates to help you take your retention strategy to the next level. See what’s new at Yotpo.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

All 59 Episodes!

🎧Listen Now 🎧

Catch up on some old episodes! I took this week off to completely redo our setup, and I’m looking forward to hearing what you think about the new and improved version next week for Episode 60!!!

App Highlight - Recharge’s Affinity Portal 

Recharge’s new Affinity portal empowers merchants to make no-code customizations while customers can easily enjoy a mobile-friendly interface to manage their subscriptions.

Shopify’s Theme Editor

With the Affinity portal, you can easily use Shopify’s Theme Editor to customize the portal without writing any code.

Recharge Extensions

For those on the Pro or Custom plan, you’ll have access to Extensions that allow you to use:

• Slots: Add custom content and functionality to different areas of the customer portal (i.e., product cross-sells or loyalty programs)

• Events to create personalized flows, such as a custom cancellation experience

Order Management (Order Emphasis instead of Subscription)

Older portals emphasized subscription management instead of order management. Now, the Affinity portal shows all upcoming orders instead of active subscriptions, making it easier for customers to take actions such as rescheduling, skipping, or swapping and deemphasizing canceling the subscription.

Multi-Currency and Multi-Language

Customers can checkout in their currency and continue to be charged in the same currency on subsequent orders while also supporting language preferences.

Upcoming Events

A LOT is coming up, both virtual and in-person!

• Conquering Conversions in Q2 with ShipBob on May 25th, where I’ll present specifics around Electriq’s Email & SMS Marketing tactics.

• Private Dodger Stadium Suite with Recharge on June 13 in LA. There is extremely limited space for merchants, so please RSVP ASAP if you’d like to attend, but no guarantees that we’ll be able to accommodate you.

• DTCxRetain June 14-15, where I’ll host a retention marketing breakout session. If you’re a brand, use the code ELECTRIQBRAND for a free pass!

• Transactional Email & SMS Masterclass on June 21st with Malomo, where I’ll dive into how Electriq creates personalized transactional journeys that improve retention and increase LTV.

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