How Can Shopping Apps Help Shopify Stores Boost Customer Retention Rate

Acquiring customer undeniably is one of the biggest goals for eCommerce brands. After all, that is what drives revenue generation. However, retention is as important — if all your customers are one time shoppers, the potential order count becomes exhaustive because there are only so many people you can acquire. 

But even after being that important, brand struggle to keep their customers coming back for more. And mind you, offering endless discounts is not a solution. 

While retargeting campaigns have been a go-to strategy for Shopify stores to boost customer retention, we’re here to talk about the one underutilized strategy — building an eCommerce mobile app. 

But before we go into how an eCommerce mobile app can boost customer retention, let’s do a quick recap of why retaining customers is important. 

Recap: What is customer retention for Shopify stores and why is it important? 

Customer retention for Shopify stores refers to the strategies and actions a brand has to take to keep their existing customers engaged. The objective of customer retention strategies is to stay on top of the consumer’s minds, nudging repeat purchases. 

Here’s why leading brands focus on customer retention: 

• Acquiring a new customer can cost five to seven times more than retaining an existing one 

• Existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more than new customers  

• Increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can boost profits by 25% to 95% 

• Retained customers have a higher customer lifetime value (LTV), as they are more likely to make repeat purchases over time 

• Repeat customers are more likely to refer friends and family, with 77% of consumers being more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from friends or family 

Now, traditional customer retention strategies include personalized marketing, loyalty programs, exceptional customer service, and consistent communication. However, to truly optimize these strategies, many Shopify stores are now leveraging digital marketing expertise, such as NYC PPC company services, to target and engage their existing customers more effectively. By integrating paid search campaigns with retention efforts, brands can ensure they remain visible and relevant to their most valuable audience segments.

But recent studies and surveys have found that mobile apps can help boost a brand’s customer retention — and it’s no different for Shopify stores. Let’s see how! 

How can shopping apps help Shopify brands improve customer retention? 

Here are some of the ways in which we see Shopify stores using Appbrew features to boost customer retention: 

Seamless shopping experiences 

On average, we spend about 3 hours and 15 minutes on our mobile devices every day. We have gotten so used to the small screens and app functionalities owing to social media, that shopping apps almost feel natural to us. 

And this is quite evident in data — there’s a significant difference in average session time on website and app. 

Our client data reveals substantial increases in session duration when comparing web to app usage: 

• Minimalist, a personal care brand, saw a 458% increase from 1 minute 12 seconds on web to 6 minutes 25 seconds on app 

• Suta, a fashion brand, experienced an 822% jump from 1 minute 3 seconds on web to 9 minutes 22 seconds on app 

• Salty, an accessories brand, witnessed the most dramatic rise of 1590.91%, with web sessions lasting 55 seconds compared to app sessions of 9 minutes 30 seconds. 

With eCommerce apps, Shopify stores can offer online shoppers an intuitive way to explore their products with a clean, user-friendly design. Mobile apps are optimized for quick loading times as well to reduce user frustration — and it’s because of frustration that many customers leave your online stores. 

The smoother the shopping experience, the more likely the customer becomes to come back for more sessions. 

Create a touchpoint with social login 

Most of us use social media on our mobile devices; which means, we’re almost always logged into our accounts. 

With mobile apps, Shopify stores can offer an easy social login feature to online shoppers. The easy way to sign up or sign in, leads the shoppers to product discovery faster - at the same time, you get more customers into the CRM. This gives you both the data and the channel that can be used to run retargeting and remarketing campaigns to bring back shoppers. 

Studies have found that shoppers who are retargeted are at least 3 times are more likely to engage with the brand compared to users who are not retargeted. 

Personalized shopping experiences  

Mobile apps have the capability to let users set up preferences right from the start and can also track engagement more closely. From the online shopper’s location to the products they’re interested in, have previously bought or wishlisted, there’s a plethora of insights that brands can use to personalize shopping experiences. 

Shopify stores can tailor the in-app shopping experience for shoppers with in-app promotions, product recommendations, location-specific offers, content suggestions and more. This can keep the shoppers engaged, nudging them to explore more products per session. 

We have found that online shoppers explore 3x more products when using a shopping app as compared to an online website. 

App push notifications 

With email and SMS inboxes becoming too cluttered, and social media being all too noisy, it’s becoming harder for brands to reach their customers in a timely manner. This is where app push notifications come in.

Owing to the nature of the app push notifications and the format of delivery, it is proven that this form of communication can boost engagement by almost 88%. And the good thing is that in eCommerce, there are several opportunities to send app push notifications that customers welcome with open arms. 

Shopify stores can send notifications for products back in stock, abandoned cart, post purchase notification, shipping update, and more. 

Checkout pages are better optimized 

eCommerce apps offer a far better checkout experience compared to their website counterparts, which directly contributes to improved customer retention. By using the same Shopify-integrated checkout system, apps provide a familiar process with significant performance enhancements. 

The app's optimized architecture dramatically reduces loading times. This creates a seamless and quick transaction flow. When this frictionless experience is offered, cart abandonment goes down, repeat purchases are encouraged, which eventually helps build customer loyalty. 

The convenience of stored payment information and user preferences within the app further streamlines the process, making each subsequent purchase even more effortless for users. 

Multiple payment options 

Talking about checkout — according to Statista, the global mobile payment market was valued at approximately $1.3 trillion in 2023 and is projected to reach around $3.5 trillion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 17%. 

Surveys have found that 57% of mobile users make mobile payments at least once a week, indicating frequent usage — that’s shopping online in one way or another. 

With a mobile app you can embrace more consumer-friendly payment options like digital wallets. From Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal and others, you can make it a lot easier for your shoppers to complete purchases. The more seamless the shopping experience from start to finish is, the more likely they are to shop again. 

In-app customer support 

Mobile apps offer more accessible customer support options. The in-app chat feature can enable shoppers to seek shopping assistance and recommendations as they browse products — all without having to switch channels or wait for the longer turnaround times. 

About 73% of consumers have reported that having access to in-app chat support improves their overall satisfaction with a brand. And with improved customer satisfaction, a boost to your retention rate comes in automatically. 

Engage with in-app videos 

Almost 73% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after watching a video that explains the product or service. In fact, it was found that product videos can increase user engagement by up to 100% compared to static images or text alone. 

It was also found that 75% of all video views globally occur on mobile devices, reflecting a significant shift from desktop and other devices. That’s where mobile apps come in again! 

From adding product videos to how-to guides, influencer collaboration content and customer testimonials, shopping apps can weave in video content easily, combining it with the commerce experience. This immediately boosts engagement and conversions, while also improving retention as they’re able to make more informed purchase decisions. 

Ready to boost customer retention? Time to turn your Shopify store into a mobile app! 

Mobile apps are rapidly gaining traction among eCommerce businesses across industries. Leading brands can be seen leveraging their ability to provide interactive and personalized experiences to build engaged communities of online shoppers, boosting customer retention rates. 

And launching a mobile app has never been easier. 

With Shopify apps like Appbrew, you can use a no-code mobile app builder to convert your online store into a high-impact, conversion-ready shopping app for your customers. With additional retention-focused features like app specific promotions, push notifications, video commerce and more, Appbrew puts you on the fast track to improving your customer retention rates. 

Ready to turn your Shopify store into a mobile app? Book a demo of Appbrew today.  

Frequently asked questions 

What is a good customer retention rate on Shopify?

According to research, a good customer retention rate for eCommerce businesses is around 25-30%. But this varies based on the industry a brand is in, their competition and their ideal customer persona’s purchasing habits. 

What is a good eCommerce app retention rate? 

Although this may vary by industry, mobile apps on average have a 30-day retention rate of about 42%. Studies have found that the 90-day retention rate typically averages around 25%. But this also depends on the brand’s re-engagement strategies to retain customers. 

What percentage of companies have mobile apps? 

According to research, about 48% of businesses today have a mobile app to connect with customers. Leading brands Nike, Zara, H&M and many others can be seen shifting their focus to mobile apps lately owing to the increase in mobile shopping. 

How to convert a Shopify store into a mobile app? 

While you can choose to build an eCommerce app from scratch with the help of a developer, the best way is to use a Shopify mobile app builder like Appbrew. With a drag and drop, no-code mobile app builder, the app comes with a set of themes that can be customized to help you brand your audience’s shopping experience and keep them engaged with features like native subscriptions, lightning fast checkout, automated push notifications, in-app live chat, video commerce and more.