The Best Shopify Tech Stack for Building Customer Loyalty

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As Shopify brands compete for customer attention, loyalty has become the most valuable currency. Creating a truly people-first approach to customer experience is the key to building a community of shoppers who make purchases over and over. But, it isn’t just about instilling a sense of commitment between buyer and seller. It’s also crucial to offer a level of personalized service that demonstrates consistency to the highest degree in order to build trust and ultimately encourage shoppers to come back and continue to spend more.

Effective customer support, and the service reps who are behind the scenes making it happen, requires a well integrated technology stack. To truly foster a “customer loyalty” Shopify tech stack that makes their support team shine, brands need to find the most agile and compatible partners and integrate wisely, thereby creating a system where customers feel taken care of and happy to spend more.

Let’s take a look at three key aspects of service that a loyalty-driven tech stack should help solve for Shopify retailers, including some insights from industry leading partners in these areas.

Communication, Inside and Out

Proactive communication should not just be used in the context of customer outreach. Internal systems that work well with one another are the first step toward nurturing customer loyalty. This means having one hub that can integrate data, marketing, ad, payment, and messaging platforms.

Customer service platforms that are well integrated and streamline communication prove more successful in serving customers. When these systems function well, customers trust that they’ll be served better time and again. For instance, Dan Caldwell, senior strategic partner manager at Klaviyo, notes that their database “integrates seamlessly with a customer’s [Shopify] tech stack, [giving them] the full story on every customer that visits, and then, from the same platform, uses those insights to automate personalized email and SMS communications in a way that makes people feel seen.” This is the ideal execution of internal system communication to deliver an ultimately better customer experience.

Talk Directly, Listen Carefully

The most straightforward approach to building loyalty is by being present for customers when and where they need help through omnichannel, 24/7 support that’s guaranteed to follow through on every conversation.

Growing channels for support, like SMS and chat, represent major areas to invest in for companies and their customer loyalty initiatives. Blake Imperl, head of partner community at SMS service Attentive, says that “over 70% of consumers want to engage with merchants over text for customer service. Through customer service integrations, we enable merchants to have those conversations over text, which lead to some outstanding results.” To that end, he also noted that “consumers who engage in two-way conversations over text spend about 31% more on average and are more likely to come back and buy again.”

Increasing revenue generation from customer service takes more than just expanding to new channels. As Shopify Plus Partner Dennis Gorya from Tidal Commerce puts it, “payment processing is one of the most underutilized levers of customer experience. It’s why larger platforms like Shopify Payments and Amazon have so much inherited trust accrued, creating a foundational boost.” With the right tools, brands can more accurately choose and integrate the best payment options that take into account customer information to ensure the utmost confidence in the payment process.

Prove Your Worth

Ecommerce now operates as a “loyalty economy,” with the greatest value coming from the most consistently engaged customers. This demands that brands invest in programs that help the customer feel appreciated and valued.

When customers feel motivated by loyalty through a rewards program, it becomes a win-win situation for both the shopper and the brand. Here’s how Alex Rosen, senior strategic alliances manager at Yotpo, puts it: “When integrated with a customer support platform like Gladly, reviews content and loyalty history are surfaced to the customer’s support profile, giving agents the ability to conduct more personalized conversations, driving agent efficiency and improving customer satisfaction.”

Praise from existing customers also boosts outreach to new customers. As AdRoll’s Senior Partner Marketing Manager Lindsay Martinez notes, “gathering social proof from purchasers is key to driving net new sales. Ensuring you are gathering and showcasing product reviews that include user-generated content, on your site and in communications with customers, will lead to greater trust and more sales.”

A lot goes into cultivating customer loyalty. By properly selecting the ultimate tech stack to deliver a high-quality, engaging, and effective customer experience, your shoppers will feel a deeper sense of loyalty to your brand. Not just because they believe in your product or service, but because they’ve found a brand they can rely on time and time again for a top-tier experience.

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