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Although we weren’t able to make it out to Unite this year, we were able to catch all the goodies and new releases on the Unite Livestream! Before the conference wraps up tomorrow, we have put together a list of the 5 most notable releases that will be affecting Merchants starting in Q2 of 2018.
Shopify Payments Fraud Protection
Unfortunately, fraudulent orders are a reality, and they have been a pain in the butt for Merchants for years. Shopify Risk Analysis has been around for quite some time now to help mitigate that risk. Previously, if an order was placed via Shopify payments, it would alert the merchant of the risk level [low, medium, high], and the merchant was then able to decide if they wanted to fulfill the order. If they did, they were at risk for potential chargebacks and also the loss of the products that were shipped for that order. Because of this risk, merchants now spend a lot of time verifying each sale, ensuring that they will be minimizing any potential loss.
This is going to change for the better.
Shopify Payment Fraud Protection will offer a chargeback protection. IE: even if a high-risk order is made, Merchants can feel safe knowing that if a chargeback occurs, Shopify will manage the interactions with the financial network and cover any kind of chargeback fees. As a result, merchants have the benefit of being slightly less cautious when fulfilling orders, and will buy back their time knowing that chargebacks are protected under Shopify Payments. Please note: you will have to be using Shopify Payments for this, not a 3rd party processor like 2checkout or PayPal.
Shopify Ping
Ping is to Shopify like iMessage is to iPhone. Ping is all about a streamlined connection between Merchant and Customer while building stronger relationships. There has been much fragmentation when implementing 1 on 1 marketing apps in the past. ManyChat, Re-Cart & Kit are just some examples of the dozens of apps that attempt to execute 1 on 1 marketing, whether through messenger or SMS. Ping streamlines the process by pulling messages from all apps you already use, resulting in less time switching between them and more time spending interacting with each customer.
“We’re trying to facilitate a strong relationship between the buyer and the merchant,” says Thornton in today’s conference. “As part of that, merchants are thinking about the speed at which they can get back to buyers on their conversations. Messaging is so instant, so people expect instant responses, and if you’re dealing with multiple platforms you’ll often let some balls drop. Having it all consolidated makes the merchants who aim for success achieve it quickly.”
The result of this will be a streamlined process. Whether you are doing dozens, hundreds or thousands of orders a month, you can ensure that your sales and customer service process is streamlined in your Shopify account for yourself and your employees to manage.
Advanced Discounts
This one may be our favourite. No matter which vertical you are in, you can’t argue the fact that you are doing your best to provide real value for your customers. Oftentimes, this means creating compelling upsells, advanced discounts and attractive cross-selling offers.
Previously, Merchants had to subscribe to apps much like Ultimate Special Offers or Bold Upsell to implement these tactics. Effective as they are, (we use them across all our client stores) they can sometimes get costly (up to $49 USD/month).
Though we do not know how customizable the native Advanced Discounting will be, it’s a free alternative to the apps on the marketplace, and makes life easier for smaller merchants who are looking to trim the fat and avoid bogged down site speed.
Shopify Dynamic Checkout
This feature was technically released on April 3rd. The Dynamic Checkout feature is actually quite genius and we are surprised it wasn’t implemented sooner. If you’ve run an Ecommerce store for a while, you know the most painful thing to look at is the revenue lost during the checkout process. If you’re optimized, you’re still looking at a 30% drop off between the “Add to Cart” phase and the “Initiate Checkout” Phase, and another 20% drop off between the “Checkout” phase and the final purchase.
A partial reason for this drop off is the raw amount of time spent checking out. If you could simplify the checkout process by making it quicker and easier, conversion rates would be boosted and you’d be leaving less money on the table.
Dynamic Checkout aims to tackle that problem head on by providing users with a “Buy Now” button right next to the “Add To Cart” button. Similar to Ebay, it operates by offering the user 2 options to checkout (think ‘Bid’ versus ‘Buy Now’ call to actions).
Dynamic Checkout is available for all stock (free) Shopify themes. Check out our friends at Out Of The Sandbox who wrote an in-depth article on how to implement it on your storefront.
Shopify Marketing Campaigns
This is the biggest announcement for new Shopify Merchants. If you’re new to the game, you may be lost on how to drive qualified traffic to your store. There are a lot of technicalities in setting up your Facebook Ads Manager or your Google Adwords, Merchant Centre or Analytics. The good news is that Shopify is rolling out a system to make your lives easier.
With this tool, you will be able to make simple ‘Reach’ campaigns on Facebook and Google using pre-set keywords and stock product photos. This feature is a great basic necessity for those who are not willing, nor have the time to learn the ropes of driving traffic.
However, if you are a merchant who has implemented any sort of paid promotions or advertising in the past, this tool still cannot beat out the sophistication needed for multi-touchpoint effective campaigns. Further, if you have or require large budgets, you should not rely on this tool to meet your sales objectives. Here at UW Media, we pride ourselves on creating effective campaigns that bring in consistent revenue.
This is implemented through:
✅Creating thumb-stopping visuals,
✅Building cold and warm audiences to resonate with your product or service, and
✅Executing multi-touchpoint campaigns, segregated by time.
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