In today’s competitive digital landscape, it’s more important than ever for DTC brands to focus on building strong relationships with their existing customers in order to drive sales and grow their business.

Why is it important to retain customers? Retaining existing customers is more cost-efficient than acquiring new ones and can help you to scale your business faster. This graph from Shopify illustrates this by showing that a store with a 5% monthly retention rate (light purple) grows slower than a store with 10% retention rate (dark purple) as a result of the increased revenue from retained customers.

Finding platforms that fit into your tech stack and assist you in retaining customers is not always a straightforward task. So, if you’re a Shopify merchant and you’re looking to improve customer engagement, increase brand loyalty, or boost sales, these apps will provide you with the tools you need to achieve your goals.

Recharge

Subscription services are important for DTC brands because they provide a predictable revenue stream which can help to increase customer retention. 

Recharge reports found that subscription brands retain up to 42% of their customers after 1 year while ecommerce brands (in general) retain an average of 1% of their customers after 1 month. 

There’s no doubt that a subscription offering enhances your brand affinity amongst loyal customers and provides a smooth user experience. Our favourite subscription platform is Recharge as they offer a powerful and user-friendly app that allows you to set up and manage a subscription service for your products. Customers have the ability to sign up for recurring deliveries of your products on a schedule of their choice, which can be customised and updated at any time. This not only improves customer convenience but also helps to increase retention as users are more likely to stay subscribed to a service that is tailored to their needs. 

Klaviyo

Email and SMS marketing is critical for retention in the DTC space. These channels allow you to communicate directly with customers and keep them informed about new products, promotions, and other updates from your brand. Regular communication helps to keep your brand front-of-mind for customers, which can help to increase repeat purchases.

The ultimate email service provider (ESP) for Shopify merchants is Klaviyo, as its extensive Shopify integration allows brands to utilise advanced behavioural segmentation. The ability to target specific groups of customers based on their behaviour and engagement with your brand allows you to create highly personalised and relevant campaigns. In turn, you’re more likely to resonate with your customers, which can help to increase engagement, sales, and overall customer retention rates.

Klaviyo also offers a variety of other features such as abandoned cart recovery, automated email and sms workflows, and advanced analytics which can help you to optimise your campaigns and better understand your customers. With a robust back catalogue of integrations, Klaviyo offers merchants plenty of options for connecting their data and getting the most out of their analytics. 

Are you a Klaviyo member? If so, you may want to read up on these 3 advanced Klaviyo features.

Loyalty Lion

Loyalty Lion is a powerful app that can help DTC brands to foster customer loyalty and retention. It offers a comprehensive loyalty program that allows customers to earn points for various actions such as making purchases, leaving reviews, and referring friends. These points can then be redeemed for rewards such as discounts, free products, and other perks. This not only incentivises customers to make repeat purchases and engage with your brand but also creates a sense of exclusivity and special treatment for loyal customers. 

The extensive Shopify integration offers a variety of features such as segmentation, personalised messaging, and real-time analytics which can help you to understand your customers better and optimise your loyalty program. Loyalty Lion also allows the creation of customised rewards, and tiers which easily integrate with Klaviyo and Recharge. If your brand is looking to build a robust loyalty program and improve customer retention, look no further than Loyalty Lion.

And there we have it, our top three apps to foster loyalty & retention for your Shopify site. As an agency, we manage these applications, allowing you to implement them for your business. Visit this page to read more about email, retention and sms marketing, and to get in touch.