How important is the customer experience to the success of eCommerce retailers? According to a survey conducted by Accenture, almost half of consumers having a frustrating experience with an online store are likely to refrain from using that retailer again. As such, any Shopify digital marketing strategy must involve a smooth, enjoyable online shopping experience.
A key stage on any buying journey is the point of sale, and thanks to Shopify's UI POS extensions - backed by third-party apps - eCommerce store owners have the technology to positively enhance the merchant experience. In this blog, we look at how these technologies can be implemented.
Build Precise POS Workflows That Deliver Sales
Shopify POS UI extensions allow you to extend apps into the checkout process and take the guesswork out of digital marketing strategies for point of sale. Allowing precise POS workflows to be built, superior buying journeys can be enjoyed without negatively impacting performance. The advantages of using Shopify POS UI extensions include:
- Increased app performance due to quicker loading times
- Improved customer engagement via integrated workflows
- Simple setup to access new opportunities
Smart Grid is the name for Shopify's POS app home screen, and it's here that you can add various different 'tiles' that each represents the features, third-party apps and products that are accessed most often. The newest additions to Shopify's extensions are the Modal and the Tile.
The Modal Extension
Providing more space in which to work on your eCommerce Shopify Marketing Strategy. Allowing for the visualization of all relevant information in one place, Shopify's new Modal extension point comprises a full-screen display.
Up until now, eCommerce store owners have had to maintain multiple CSS files in order to keep abreast of Shopify's design system and styling updates. Modal extension components provided allow users to create POS UI extensions that perfectly match a Shopify POS experience.
Furthermore, when an update occurs in the component library, the relevant extension gets changed automatically, meaning no hassle at all.
The Tile Extension
Shopify's Smart Grid Tile extension point opens the aforementioned Modal, inside which you'll find the primary app functionality. It also displays info about the extension and is fully dynamic, making it able to respond to amendments made in your app's backend or to the cart itself.
The tile also offers a great Smart Grid shortcut. Used in digital marketing strategies for point of sale, the tile extension makes it possible to set up a 30% discount app that's triggered when someone buys more than 3 items.
The tile automatically identifies that there are over three products in the cart and becomes enabled - showing up as a very welcome and significant discount to the purchase.
Additions to Shopify's UI Extension API Capabilities
These latest additions to Shopify's UI extension capabilities are built upon an already existing rich resource for digital marketing strategies for point of sale. The popular eCommerce provider already offers a number of checkout customizations, such as:
- Upsells of products, such as donations and free samples
- Additional fields for customization of customer orders, e.g. attaching a gift message
- Informational displays of messages, disclaimers and warnings, e.g. ‘We don't ship to PO boxes’
Joining these features are new checkout UI extension APIs that include:
- Session Token API - Shopify's Session Token API gets around the problem of verifying and authenticating network requests - something that was previously not possible without the required permissions. The platform's new session token API offers a signed token that the app server can verify.
This functionality is particularly useful in regard to other features, such as loyalty reward apps or other services that need to maintain security. With a session token API, the buyer's identity can be easily determined by the loyalty app via the signed token, allowing it to access the necessary loyalty point balance details and make updates. - Querying the Storefront API - Another highly useful POS UI extension that can be used as part of your Shopify marketing strategy is the Querying the Storefront API. This allows for relevant results relating to things like currency conversions, recommended products, collection, and product tags to be easily retrieved.
When a query is provided, Shopify manages the access tokens, with this direct API applicable to all app types, and that's including non-sales channel public apps. - Editor Preview API - The Editor Preview API is also a recently released checkout UI extension API, and it's a feature that lets you know if an extension is operating inside the Checkout Editor or on a real-world checkout. It also offers an improved editor experience.
Essentially, this API helps to make sure that a UI extension preview operates correctly within the editor in order that it can be correctly configured. - Gift Card APIs - Highly recommended for Shopify digital marketing strategies for point of sale are Gift Card APIs and Discount Code APIs. These functions allow both the writing and reading of gift cards and discount codes from within the checkout area.
In practical application, this lets retailers give buyers the ability to redeem discount codes and gift cards at the point of sale while also obtaining confirmation that they've been applied.
Keeping Customers Happy & Abandoned Cart Rates Low
When putting together your Shopify digital marketing strategy, it's important to place sufficient focus on the experience offered at the point of sale. This critical moment can go one of two ways; 1) a confirmed conversion or 2) a cart abandonment. With close to 70% of all shopping carts left incomplete, it’s easy to see that it doesn't take much to turn a sale into a lost customer.
If you're looking to enhance the checkout experience your customers get, it’s important to bear everything we've covered in mind. Shopify's range of POS UI extensions is the key to offering a seamless and positive experience that keeps your customers happy and your abandoned cart rates low.
