So like us, you’ve now signed up to Shopify and if you haven’t already click here to signup. You’ve hopefully chosen your theme too (see our last blog post on themes) and now you need to think about what Shopify plan is best suited for your business. Well you have three core plans to choose from…
Shopify has three main plans for selling online – Basic, Pro and Unlimited. All three offer the core features every store needs to get up and running such as the ability to sell online, Facebook store integration, unlimited products, discount codes and unlimited storage. However, there are some significant differences that we want to touch upon (this is not an exhaustive list but our top differences)…
The first is credit card rates for taking payments with the Basic plan charging 2.2% plus 20p, the Pro charging 1.9% plus 20p and the Unlimited 1.6% + 20p. These may look like small increments but as your store grows this extra margin on sales could really help you boost your stores profits, so make sure you consider how much you expect to take once you launch.
One of our favourite features only included on the Pro and Unlimited plans is the ability to add ‘Abandoned Cart Checkout’. This is a feature that can really accelerate your conversion rate and shouldn’t be underestimated. It works like this:
Someone adds your products to their cart and starts the checkout process. However, for some unknown reason they don’t complete the checkout - maybe they’ve have to rush out, maybe their computer crashed, their dog knocked over a drink, who knows. This great feature will automatically email the customer in either 6 or 24 hours time reminding them of the checkout they abandoned and with a link right back to their cart to finish where they left off. It’s a proven way to increase conversion and we’ve noticed the difference with many stores we build for clients. If your noticing people not completing their checkout then try this feature – you’ll be amazed at the results.
Professional reports (available on Pro and Unlimited) can also be a very valuable tool. Although it has some overlap with Google Analytics, it gives you some real value by drilling into your customers shopping experience and were not just talking about the standard stuff such as where they came from and how long they spent on your site. We mean details such as payment methods used, sales by traffic referrer and cart trends. This data can really help you hone your stores user experience to the perfect formula, making your store a pleasant experience for all.
The Pro and Unlimited plans also give you the Gift Cards feature. Most major retailers allow you to purchase gift cards of different values that can then be given to others to spend on your site, and this feature does just that. It’s a great way of increasing revenue and building loyalty amongst your followers. Note, this is different to discount codes available on the Basic plan, which allow you to give unique codes out for money off your products.
A final word of advice is that you can always move from plan to plan at any point; so don’t feel like your forced to stick with one. If your sales start rocketing then you can quickly move from Pro to Unlimited with a click of a button. It’s also worth noting there’s a Shopify Plus plan too, which we haven’t covered here. If you’re a larger retailer needing a more enterprise level platform then this may be for you. If so, get in touch with our experts and we can advise you of the options available.
We hope this latest post in our eCommerce Masterclass Series has helped you in deciding which Shopify package best suits your business.
From all the team at Smart Cookie Design
