6 Shopify Personalization Strategies That Will Elevate Your Retention Rate

Think about the brands you love for a moment. What is it that makes you loyal to them? Well, the products, for starters. If they are high-quality and cover your needs in a fantastic way, you’re going to continue purchasing them. However, there’s another factor that’s even more compelling, and that’s recognition.

As customers, we like to feel valued and recognized for our loyalty. When you’re a business owner, it’s important to recognize your customers and make them feel special. And what’s the first step? Personalization, of course! 

Personalization strategies will allow you to elevate your retention rate by making your customers feel recognized. Whatever kind of business you have, personalization strategies need to be a priority. Why? The statistics speak for themselves. 65% of American customers consider that personalized experiences have a greater impact than advertising. 

Additionally, 93% of customers are more likely to buy again from a business if they receive outstanding customer service. Personalization strategies have a great impact on retention rate and even a 5% increase can boost your sales up to 95%. 

Now, there are many ways you can personalize the customer experience to positively impact retention rates. Today, we will discuss 6 of the most effective personalization strategies that you can apply to your Shopify store very easily and watch your retention rate go up!

6 Effective Personalization Strategies

1.Make Personal Recommendations

Your Shopify store needs to be personalized from the second your customers visit your homepage. With the help of cookies, your store will already be able to guess what a returning customer wants. 

That’s why greeting them with personal recommendations based on browsing history and past purchases is such a great idea. Personal recommendations will buy you many loyalty points and it’s not difficult to set up “recommended for you” sections. 

Just make sure you provide a shortcut to the checkout page to prompt them to make a purchase. If you want to learn more about effective personal recommendations, read here. 

2. Greet Customers Via Live Chats

Live chats are very useful and they are a great way to greet your Shopify store visitors in a friendly way and offer assistance with whatever they need. Knowing your customer’s name and using it when you approach them has always been an effective way of creating a bond. Think of your favorite restaurant or coffee shop; if you’re a regular, they know your name and they always greet you, making you feel special. 

You can do the same in the online space with a live chat and a friendly greeting that addresses your visitor by name. You can even ask them how they’re doing or say something nice to create that familiarity. 

If you are not recording personal data on your store, you can still use cookies to greet returning customers with a “welcome back message. Depending on your live chat’s geolocation capabilities, you can even greet visitors in their local language. 

Using an omnichannel support tool like DelightChat can help you get easier access to your social media messages and comments, emails, WhatsApp and live chat, all from a single dashboard.

3. Set Up a Rewards Program for Customers

When you know the kind of products specific customers prefer, you can set up a rewards program using that information. A Wirecard study showed that customers are 75% more likely to purchase again from companies that offer reward programs. 

These programs are not difficult to create and they can increase the success of your Shopify store. Additionally, this is one of the best long-term personalization strategies because they will turn one-time customers into loyal, repeat buyers over time. 

Soon enough, loyal customers will become brand ambassadors because you have rewarded and cultivated their loyalty over time using your rewards program. Here are a few popular ideas to consider: 

• Provide discount codes customers can use on their next visit. 
• Provide a discount on recommended products after 5 visits.
• Provide big discounts for customers and the friends they refer to your store.
• Free shipping if the purchase is before a specific date.

Once your customers are into your rewards program, they will become a part of the brand community and you must value them as brand advocates. The more exclusively your rewards program feels, the better!

4. Personalize Your Email Retention Campaign

Email is easily the best way to communicate to your customers and let them know all about rewards programs. Email is considered to be an effective method to increase retention rates by 80% of business professionals who use it. 

So, it’s no wonder that it’s the preferred method of communication between brands and their customers. These are some of the personalization strategies that you should include in your email retention campaigns:

• Send emails thanking customers for their purchase after their first buy.
• Provide personalized gift guides during holidays.
• Send them a heartfelt message on their birthday or to mark the holidays and don’t push for a purchase. 
• Send “we miss you” emails when they haven’t visited the store in a while. 
• Send email surveys to ask customers what you can do better. 

All of these personalization strategies for email retention campaigns can be used throughout the customer’s journey and they will be very effective together. The point is to make your customers feel valued and motivate them to return to your store and purchase again. 

5. Work on Your Social Media Presence

Social media platforms are a great way to reach customers in a personalized way. No one can deny that social media is vital to the success of any e-commerce business, so you need to invest in it and create a social media presence that’s engaging. 

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and even TikTok offer so many amazing opportunities to retain your customers. Here are a few ideas you should apply to your social media strategy to improve your retention rates: 

• Reply to customers personally. An active social media account will receive hundreds of comments, direct messages, and posts, so you want to take the time to reply and show that you care about feedback. 
• Treat your social media channels as a community. Creating groups for people to discuss your products and access exclusive offers and updates is a great way to foster community. 
• Be active on social media. Making occasional posts won’t get you very far in terms of retention. You want your customers to be in touch with your brand, which requires you to stay active and remain a part of the online conversation. Make posts often and provide valuable content. 

6. Give Your Brand a Personality

So far, we’ve discussed many personalization strategies that are aimed at customers. But what about you and your brand? You can also benefit from personalization! 

When you contact your customers, you need to feel human to them because it improves customer experience. They want to feel like they are talking to someone, which is why many brands have developed unique personalities. 

Anything that improves customer experience will have a positive effect on retention rates, so you need to work on personalizing your brand and your storytelling abilities. Here are some of the things you can do to improve your brand personality: 

• Make a compelling “About Us” page that tells your true story.
• Provide pictures of yourself and your staff. 
• Make a connection between your brand mission and your customer’s needs. 
• Develop a unique voice and use it consistently in communications with customers, whether it’s via social media, live chats, emails, blog posts, etc.

Customers respond well to authentic stories, so showcasing your unique personal story is a great way to encourage connection between them and your brand. 

Features That Will Boost Your Personalization Efforts

Now that you know what the 6 most effective personalization strategies are, here are a few apps that will give you a boost and help you get started! 

• Loyalty Program

AiTrillion Loyalty Program will help you set up amazing rewards programs for your customers so you can cultivate long-term connections. This app will help you build a points system, referrals, and exclusive access for your customers so they get motivated to come back over and over. 

• Product Recommendation

AiTrillion’s product recommendation feature will allow you to customize your store entirely. You’ll be able to create a product recommendation section for customers and a compelling About Us page. You’ll also be able to collect data with a straightforward customer form, use over 70 templates, and more. It’s super easy to use thanks to its drag and drop system, it’s affordable, and it provides a ton of value. 

• AI-Powered Analytics

AiTrillion has amazing analytics that will make your life a lot easier. It provides everything in one place so you can keep track of all your marketing campaigns. Additionally, it allows you to set up automated live chat responses that can be 100% personalized. Overall, this is a great way to stay on top of replies and comments.

• Email Marketing

AiTrillion is one of those email marketing platforms that offer a lot of powerful features. For one, it will allow you to segment customers based on their location, purchase history, and subscriptions, which will help you craft personalized emails. You will also be able to run multiple campaigns at once and reach customers at every stage of the journey.

Conclusion

If you take all these effective personalization strategies and apply them to your Shopify store, you will not regret it and it will be worth the effort. Your retention rate will go up, you will reach more customers, and your business will grow more and more each day!