👀 The growth hack for Shopify merchants that no one is talking about

I got a tantalizing email from Shopify the other day: “Turn your $6.97 into $69.70”. My first thought was ‘Whoah, they are really pushing Shop Cash these days’. My second thought was ‘Not surprising, given the success of Shop Cash campaigns we’ve run for AdTribe clients’.

If your business is built on Shopify, I highly recommend exploring Shop Cash Campaigns. These campaigns are a not often talked about, but highly effective revenue and new user acquisition driver that AdTribe clients have seen a lot of success with. I’m going to share a Shop Cash case study from one of our clients, but before I do that, let me rewind all the way back to the beginning and give you some more context.

To start, what is Shop App?

Shopify launched the Shop app in April 2020. The app was actually a revamped and rebranded version of the Arrive app, designed to track Shopify orders, but also discover new brands through a feed of recommended products, with the ability to purchase directly within the app.

While Shopify has never shared exact data, Statista has estimated that the app has approximately 11 monthly active users. While this number is peanuts compared to the monthly active users of Walmart.com (estimated 450 million MAUs) and Target.com (estimated 165 million MAUs), for small businesses to get exposure to even a fraction of a percentage of 11 million users, it could be a game changer.

Ok, so what’s Shop Cash?

Shopify launched Shop Cash in 2023, a rewards program that gives customers making eligible purchases 1% in cashback rewards that can be redeemed on purchases within the Shop app. Harley Finkelstein’s statement on Shop Cash: ‘Shop Cash represents the next evolution of Shop, connecting independent brands to more shoppers, and rewarding those shoppers for being loyal fans”

I recommend poking around the Shop app to get a better understanding of how the program works. (And added bonus, you may discover some unclaimed Shop Cash that you can use on a purchase for yourself!)

While Shopify and Finkelstein don’t explicitly mention Tik Tok Shop as a competitor, as I’ve discussed in a past newsletter, Tik Tok Shop is a growing behemoth and Shop Cash is Shopify’s best vehicle for competing with Tik Tok for consumers’ share of wallet.

Tell me more about Shop Cash campaigns.

Shop Cash campaigns let brands increase the value of a customer’s Shop Cash on their respective stores. Brands create a Shop Cash campaign by setting campaign parameters that specify maximum user acquisition costs. After a campaign is set and live, the Shop Cash offer is shown to new customers (existing customers are excluded from campaigns). Acquisition costs are only paid when a conversion is completed. Because you set your acquisition cost targets, Shop Cash Campaigns are a relatively low-risk way to drive brand awareness among potential new customers. By boosting a customer’s Shop Cash value, you are targeting a subset of people further down the conversion funnel, who are already in a browsing and shopping mode.

Requirements to run a Shop Cash campaign:

• Brand must be based in the US.

• On a Shopify Plus Plan (for brands not on Shopify Plus, there is the option to sign up for early access when the program becomes more widely available.)

• Using a US Shopify Payments account.

• Eligible to sell on the Shop app. Eligibility guidelines are listed here.

• Have ability to meet the minimum daily budget of at least $300.

Set up is super easy and takes less than an hour:

1. Set your target acquisition cost

2. Once your campaign is live, monitor performance and scale CPA up or down depending on how aggressive you want to be with the acquisition.

Some campaign optimization tips:

1. Make sure you respond to all the reviews to keep your store rating high. Low ratings leads to low conversion rates.

2. Customize your storefront on the Shop app for a fully branded experience with your logo, brand colors, and high quality product images.

3. Create a post purchase offer to reward loyal customers.

Shop Campaigns have been a secret weapon in helping our client Biker Jewelry Shop acquire more new customers and grow revenue. When Shop Cash campaigns first launched, we recommended to their team that they test a campaign. We helped them set up their campaign, monitored performance, and optimized the campaign on a regular basis.

Here’s a snapshot of their sales performance the month before we launched the Shop Cash campaign:

And here’s a snapshot sales performance the month we launched the campaign🚀:

And check out a snapshot of our ongoing and past Shop Cash campaigns with Biker Jewelry Shop.

What we’ve been discussing around the AdTribe Watercooler

• Shopify launched 100+ new features in their latest product update, which are aimed at helping their merchants be more productive, creative, and effectives. We’re doing a deep dive and will be sharing a recap of our favorite features in an upcoming newsletter!

• A lot of brands fall into a pattern of excessive spending to elevate their revenue, causing a detrimental rise in new customer acquisition costs. How focusing on first-order profitability instead of top-line revenue can transform your strategy for sustainable success.

• Meta is offering free ongoing monthly or quarterly Brand Lift Monitoring to help advertisers understand the long term impact on brand lift from performance driven ads.

Want a FREE ad account audit or get help on implementing and optimizing a Shop Cash campaign?

Do you own or operate a DTC brand? We’ve giving away 5 ad account audits for FREE. No strings attached. We usually charge $1500 for an audit. Reply to this email with the phrase “I want an audit!” for a chance to win one of our audits.