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How many minutes of exercise did you get last week? How many servings of vegetables? Research shows your answers aren’t reliable: Social desirability bias is the tendency to exaggerate preferred behaviors, and it’s just one of the factors known to distort self-reported data.

Researchers account for reporting bias by analyzing survey results alongside data gathered through experimentation and observation. Marketers take a similar approach with behavioral marketing. Behavioral marketing strategies focus on what customers do—not what they say they’re going to do—to help you better understand your customers and run more effective marketing campaigns. 

What is behavioral marketing?

Behavioral marketing is the practice of gathering information about customer behavior, analyzing it, and using these findings to serve current and potential customers with more relevant marketing messages. It can help you personalize your customer experience, boost conversion rates, and improve return on investment (ROI) on marketing spend.

Types of data used in behavioral marketing

Common types of customer behavioral data include:

• First-party data. First-party data refers to information captured on digital marketing channels you own, like your website or a mobile app. It includes information from site visitors (e.g., clicks, views, purchase history, and on-site search history) and data from past interactions with your business, like service calls or in-store transactions.

• Second-party data. Second-party data comes from business-to-business data-sharing partnerships. A running apparel company and a sports drink company might agree to share information about purchases, for example.

• Third-party data. Businesses purchase third-party data from data aggregators or other customer data providers, like a search engine or social media platform. It includes browsing history, search history, and information related to online purchasing behavior. 

Types of behavioral marketing

Behavioral marketing can provide granular, real-time data about what motivates your customer base. Here are behavioral marketing tactics that could help to increase sales:

Product recommendations

Use behavioral marketing data to offer personalized product suggestions. Product recommendation tools can simplify the process by integrating with your online store, analyzing behavioral data to identify products that an individual customer might want or need, and automatically targeting them with messages like “Suggested for you” or “See your personalized recommendations.” 

You can also use personalized suggestions to target customers as they shop. Two popular strategies are upselling and cross-selling, which analyze session data and cart contents and invite customers to add complementary or higher-tier items to their orders. Apps like Frequently Bought Together use behavioral data to suggest products customers are likely to find interesting.

A beauty company might suggest that a customer upgrade their morning skin care set to the more expensive day and night package, for example. Or, an apparel company might recommend a three-pack of dress socks to go with a new pair of oxfords.

Email marketing

Email marketing campaigns can use behavioral data to deliver targeted messaging. Take abandoned cart emails: You configure a marketing automation platform to follow up with customers who add a product to their cart but don’t complete a purchase.

You can also monitor user engagement with emails to determine what relevant content looks like for a customer. For instance, a pet supply company might incentivize email sign ups with an introductory promo code, and then send a welcome email that includes links to four resources: a guide for new puppy owners, a list of tips to minimize cat-litter tracking, an article on canine chew toy safety, and a guide to enrichment activities for gerbils, ferrets, and mice. 

The business can then automatically tailor subsequent emails based on user clicks. A customer who visits the new puppy guide receives articles and product suggestions designed for aspiring puppy owners, and a customer who selects the small-animal option receives your monthly rodent-focused dispatch.

Targeted ads

Some ad vendors, including Google and Facebook, let you create ads for specific user groups and serve them based on behavioral criteria, like search, browsing, and purchase history. 

Retargeting ads, for example, serve users with content featuring products they’ve already viewed online. A company installs cookies on its site that attach to a visitor’s browser. When the user moves on to other sites, the installed cookies tell ad platforms like Google Ads to promote products from recently visited pages. 

Search engine marketing (SEM)—which is the practice of paying to rank highly for strategic keywords—is also a form of behavioral marketing. Search behavior is a valuable data point for marketers because it can indicate consumer intent to buy products. A cutting-edge headphones brand can pay to appear at the top of the search engine results page for high-intent searches like “best noise-canceling headphones.”

How to identify the most important behavioral signals

Lars Lofgren, co-founder and chief growth officer of performance marketing agency Stone Press, stresses the importance of knowing the behavioral data points that drive value for your company. 

“When I think of actions that are really important, there are really only two that matter,” Lars says. The first, he says, is whether a person has previously purchased within your category: “If you’re selling hiking shoes, you want someone who’s bought another hiking product. They’ve just shown that they’re very receptive.” Even better? Lars recommends looking for people who have bought in your category very recently and asking: “How do I get them to buy something else?”

Of course, Lars cautions: It’s really hard to kind of get that concentrated buyer segment. So you can broaden your lens with the second signal, which is about broader search behavior. According to Lars, anyone doing a product search is demonstrating high intent. That’s why he pays special attention to searches for specific product types and reviews. The buyer conducting these searches has already decided to purchase something. They’re not looking for persuasion—they’re in the funnel and actively searching. “If I can somehow get my marketing in front of those people, then away we go,” Lars says.

Tips for using behavioral marketing

These tips can help you design and run effective marketing campaigns:

Use behavioral data to segment audiences

You can leverage behavioral data to segment both prospects and current customers into specific audience groups based on the intent they signal with their actions. Then, you can target them with marketing messages tailored to that intent. This is known as behavioral targeting. 

While demographic targeting makes broad assumptions about customers based on factors like age or geographic location, behavioral targeting responds to specific customer actions, like clicking a “Learn more” button or enrolling in a free webinar. You can even combine behavioral and demographic data to create hyper-specific customer groups and target them with niche content.

Personalize, personalize, personalize

Behavioral data improves your understanding of customers, which can help you personalize the customer experience and boost satisfaction. Research shows that personalization is a key driver of satisfaction and loyalty: 71% of consumers expect personalization, which they define as brand experiences that make them “feel special” or demonstrate a company’s commitment to relationship-building. Additionally, 78% of consumers say that personalization makes them more likely to repurchase from a company and that it increases the likelihood they’ll recommend a company to others. 

Personalization work could encompass serving tailored product recommendations, marketing messages, targeted promotions, and post-purchase follow-ups. You can use AI marketing tools to support these efforts, but just make sure to keep a human in the loop to ensure that your content is both accurate and appropriate.

Be transparent about tracking

Asking customers for their consent to track behavioral data and explaining how you plan to use it can help you build and maintain trust with them. Disclosure is also mandatory for businesses with customers in the European Union and an increasing number of US states. 

Build trust and maintain compliance by greeting new site visitors with a privacy and preferences pop-up window that informs them of their information-sharing options. 

Use specialized software

Marketing automation software can maximize the value of behavioral data and simplify the work of running behaviorally targeted campaigns. Here are a few types to consider: 

• Segmentation tools. Tools like Shopify segmentation can automatically segment customers based on user behavior and demographic data, letting you create distinct groups like repeat clients or high-value customers. They can also analyze behavioral patterns and uncover factors linked to purchasing behavior.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) tools. AI-powered personalization softwarecan automate behavioral marketing processes like data collection and sentiment analysis. You can then use that data to automate personalized product recommendations and upsells.

• Customer feedback tools. Feedback tools streamline and automate the process of collecting feedback, helping you evaluate the impacts of your behavioral marketing efforts. Some tools can also analyze feedback and integrate with your CRM to store information about customer preferences, which you can use to improve your personalization efforts. 

Let’s say you run a small business and are starting a podcast. You decide on a format and think of a list of episode ideas and potential guests—your content is essentially locked in. You think you’re ready to launch soon but haven’t considered how your podcast will sound or look. What type of thumbnail art will you use? Will you include music in your intro and outro? This is when it becomes useful to talk about branding.

Podcast branding is the practice of creating a distinct personality for your show. It’s the audio and visual identity of a podcast. From your logo and cover art to the theme music and social media presence, podcast branding can help listeners recognize your show anywhere it appears. 

What does podcast branding encompass?

Branding your podcast involves defining the following aspects of your show:

• Values. The values underpinning your show and your promise to listeners are the foundation of your podcast’s brand. For example, will your show embody the value of journalistic rigor, promising to get to the bottom of complex stories? Will you value inclusion, promising to create space for diverse voices to share their experience? 

• POV. The point of view of your show and the voice of your host(s) shape the overall branding. For example, will your host take a critical eye to their topics and use a serious tone with guests or bring an upbeat voice and entertaining banter? 

• Visual identity. The visual identity of your show includes color palette, typography, logo, and use of imagery. 

If your podcast ultimately serves as a marketing channel for your core business, your show’s brand should feel synergistic with your business’s brand. It can have its own nuance and personality, but it should align with your core brand values and support your brand promise to customers. 

Your podcast’s brand will come to life across all of your audio and visual touchpoints, including your intro music, the content of the show itself, your cover art, and your supporting visual assets. 

How to develop a brand for your podcast

Here’s what you need to consider when cultivating a brand strategy for your podcast:

Define your target audience

The brand marketing strategy you create for your podcast starts with understanding your target audience. Who are they, in terms of age, location, profession, and more? What do they care about? What beliefs do they hold? What values do they share with your brand? Outline listener personas—representations of your ideal listener. If you run a business and have already created buyer personas for your business, you can leverage those here. 

Develop a visual language

Your logo, cover and thumbnail art, podcast homepage, and other assets should be eye-catching but easy to read. All of your elements should be used consistently across channels. If your podcast is a marketing channel, consider how its visual identity will tie into your core business’s branding. 

Your podcast cover art is especially important, since it will appear on podcast directories like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. When it comes to cover art, you can take a small, medium, or large approach in terms of effort:

• Small effort. You can simply use your logo as your cover art. 

• Medium effort. You can treat your cover art like album art, with eye-catching colors or imagery, but keep the cover art the same for every episode. 

• Large effort. You can develop custom art for every episode, corresponding with the content. If you opt for this option, make sure the style of imagery stays relatively consistent. You might find inspiration in cover art from the show Criminal, which includes a pen-and-ink illustration for each episode, and Twenty Thousand Hertz, which uses a consistent digital illustration style featuring bright colors. Though the content changes in each episode, every piece of episode artwork is in the same style, so it’s quickly recognizable.

Create consistent audio branding

Starting a podcast means developing a literal brand voice. Your brand’s sonic identity, or audio brand, sets the tone through music, the host’s voice, sound effects, and ambient noise. 

For example, WNYC’s On The Media—a podcast that investigates the relationship between journalism and current events—uses a fun, jazzy intro song that evokes old-school public radio shows. The host’s voices are warm but authoritative, making the show’s audio brand straightforward and approachable. On the other hand, Spooked, which tells modern-day ghost stories, features a dramatic and stylized voice. The moody, dark music and sound effects make it feel as though you’re hearing a ghost story around a campfire.

Leverage social media platforms

With millions of podcasts out there, the sheer number of options can be overwhelming to listeners. And if you’re just starting out, podcast platform algorithms (which can introduce your podcast to new audience members) may not be in your favor. 

To help new listeners find your show, invest in podcast marketing—particularly social media. This can mean creating profiles on popular platforms like TikTok or Instagram, posting weekly on the same day to build anticipation, paying to promote your posts or run ads, and sharing clips that tease a shocking moment on your feed. 

Your podcast’s social media profiles and posts should match your overall brand identity. Though the format and approach may differ among platforms, it’s important to create consistency in your social media clips, visual brand, and tone so your show’s identity is always identifiable.

Study analytics

If you don’t know how your audience listens to podcasts, it’ll be hard to grow your audience. Podcast apps’ built-in analytics can tell you how they listen to your content and how they find it. For example, Spotify provides data on how listeners found you, whether through the home page, search, or other features.

You can also post surveys on social media and encourage your followers to provide details on what search engines they use to find new shows, what podcast apps they use, and what kinds of social media platforms they’re on so you can build audience engagement where they already are. It will be easier to increase your podcast’s reach if you carve out a space where potential listeners spend their time.

Customers can provide your business with a wealth of information, but collecting their feedback can be challenging in ecommerce. Online shoppers often complete transactions without ever interacting directly with your team. Whether they’re ecstatic or annoyed, they may not feel compelled to leave a product review.

Survey apps can bridge this gap. Sending online surveys over email or SMS shortly after product delivery can give you invaluable insight into customer satisfaction and product quality. You can also follow up with questions after customer service interactions to see how well your support team is doing. Learn what to look for in a survey app and find the best tools to integrate with your ecommerce store.

What to look for when choosing a survey app

While market research companies have long relied on surveys, you can use similar tools to gain valuable insights into your business. Survey apps have evolved to meet the needs of online retailers, offering features tailored to the digital shopping experience. When choosing a survey app, consider these features and factors:

• User-friendly interface. Look for survey apps with intuitive dashboards, charts, and graphs—you shouldn’t need to be a programming wiz to create a survey. 

• Personalization. Select a tool that allows you to create branded surveys with your logo, brand colors, and fonts for a consistent brand experience.

• Pre-built templates. Choose a survey app with templates like post-purchase feedback or customer satisfaction. It should also support survey question formats like multiple choice, rating scales, and open-ended responses, which can capture both quantitative and qualitative data from your survey respondents.

• Triggered survey deployment. Choose a survey app that automatically sends surveys based on specific triggers, like after a delivery or support ticket resolution. This timely outreach can boost the number of participants who complete surveys.

• Multichannel distribution. Your survey app should be able to deploy surveys using various channels, including email, SMS, and on-site pop-ups. This multipronged approach can help you reach each customer where they’re most likely to engage.

Best survey apps for ecommerce stores

Looking to gather customer feedback for your online store? Consult this list of best survey apps you can download from the Shopify App Store. While some are specifically designed for customer surveys, others are versatile form-building apps that can serve multiple purposes for your business.

Asklayer

Asklayer helps you collect targeted customer feedback through on-site, exit, and post-purchase surveys. This survey app offers more than 15 question types and unlimited surveys, allowing you to create comprehensive questionnaires tailored to your specific business needs. It also offers advanced features like skip logic (which automatically skips questions that don’t apply to the user) and question randomization, which help you gather more nuanced insights. The app’s per-question reporting with in-app charts makes it easy to analyze results, while the option to export raw data gives you the flexibility to perform deeper analysis.

Pricing: Free for up to 25 responses per month. Paid plans offer tiers of more responses each month for $29 (200), $35 (1,000), and $74 (3,000 responses.)

Grapevine 

Grapevine helps you make data-driven decisions by collecting crucial customer feedback. You’ll find a variety of question types, including Net Promoter Score (NPS), to gather comprehensive insights. This survey app stands out with its checkout survey targeting, allowing you to tailor surveys for new, returning, or all customers in multiple languages. With unlimited surveys and responses, you can continuously refine your approach to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Pricing: Grapevine costs $25 per month, with a 28-day free trial.

Nerdy Form Builder

Nerdy Form Builder provides a powerful toolkit for creating customizable forms to gather customer information. The app features multi-step form functionality (so you can break up a form into multiple, shorter pages) and pop-up options, allowing for more engaging and interactive data collection. The builder also includes unique field types like date pickers, range sliders, and image selects, enabling more precise information gathering. Nerdy Form Builder provides styling customizations for businesses looking to maintain brand consistency to match their shop’s aesthetics. 

Pricing: Nerdy Form Builder offers a free plan. The paid plan costs $5 with a 15-day free trial.

Zigpoll 

Zigpoll is a versatile survey app, helping you gather customer insights at crucial touchpoints—post-purchase, during checkout, and even for abandoned carts. You can set up surveys without coding, and the AI-powered analytics help you derive actionable insights from customer feedback. This app extends beyond basic surveys by enabling outreach through email and SMS, integrating with your existing marketing tools. For businesses with a global presence, Zigpoll offers multi-language support so you can connect with customers worldwide.

Pricing: Zigpoll provides a free Basic plan for 100 responses, with paid options ranging from $10 to $100 per month, offering between 200 and unlimited responses.

POWR

POWR offers a straightforward way to gather post-purchase feedback and insights. This online survey app allows you to create multiple surveys or polls quickly, using pre-built templates and various question types, including dropdowns, multiple choice, and star ratings. 

It’s useful for pinpointing what drives sales or causes customer loss, with features like instant email alerts for responses and easy integration with Google Sheets. For businesses concerned about data integrity and quality, the app includes reCAPTCHA to prevent spam submissions.

Pricing: POWR offers a limited free plan to get started; paid plans range from $9.99 to $17.49 per month.

Fairing

Fairing offers Shopify merchants a comprehensive solution for gathering customer insights through post-purchase surveys, focusing on attribution and NPS. The survey app can correlate responses with customer lifetime value, providing a deeper understanding of your marketing impact. 

It can also tailor surveys based on customer type or product purchased, and the option to translate surveys for international audiences. Fairing also integrates with popular tools like Triple Whale, Klaviyo, and Google Sheets, ensuring that survey data fits into your existing workflows.

Pricing: Fairing has paid plans that range from $49 to $199, with a 14-day free trial available across all plans.

Powerful Contact Form Builder

Powerful Contact Form Builder is a multipronged tool that allows you to place forms on different pages of your site, including product, collection, and cart pages. You can also use it to create specialized forms like customer account registrations and wholesale order forms. The survey app offers a range of integrations, including with popular email marketing tools like Klaviyo and Mailchimp, as well as with productivity tools like Google Calendar and Google Sheets.

Pricing: The app offers a free plan with basic features; paid plans range from $9.99 to $19.99 a month, with a seven-day free trial.

Qikify Contact Form Builder

Qikify Contact Form Builder provides a no-code solution for creating various forms to improve customer interactions and drive sales. You can use the app to create forms for multiple purposes including Contact Us forms, wholesale order inquiries, and surveys. The flexibility in form display options, including pop-up, bubble, or embedded formats, adds to its appeal. 

Qikify also offers advanced features like reCaptcha integration, skip logic, and form scheduling. For businesses wanting to streamline their processes, the app offers in-app submission management and syncs with popular email marketing tools.

Pricing: Qikify Contact Form Builder offers a free plan with basic features; paid plans range from $5.99 to $7.99 a month, with a seven-day free trial.

Worldwide, people are feeling more uncertain about the safety of their personal information online. A 2023 survey found that 68% of respondents felt more at risk of identity theft than in past years.

As a business owner, you’re responsible for keeping user data safe from prying third-party brokers, and failure to do so can open you up to legal issues—not to mention damaged consumer trust. You can avoid these outcomes by investing in privacy and security protocols that protect your business and provide transparency to your customers.

Here are some of the best privacy apps you can start using today to help boost your ecommerce security.

What are privacy apps?

In the context of ecommerce, privacy apps are security solutions that protect your customer’s personal data and ensure your company meets all data privacy regulations. Having control over what data your website collects is key to avoiding a data breach that can negatively impact consumer sentiment.

Data brokers are entities that sell personal information to third parties. They’re diligently on the lookout for financial details, personal information, browsing habits, and transaction records other companies can leverage for monetization.

Privacy tools mitigate leaks of private data. In addition, these apps can generate privacy policies and consent agreements to clearly define how your business will use and collect cookies. This gives your customers the ability to opt in or out of certain data collection.

Top privacy apps

As an ecommerce business owner, you need reliable privacy tools to manage consumer data, comply with ecommerce laws, and build trust with customers. All compatible with Shopify stores, these are the best privacy tools available to install within minutes:

Consentmo

Consentmo complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a European Union data protection law. As such, the application offers cookie consent banners, transparent user agreements, opt-out verbiage, and a cookie scanner to identify all data that internal and external sources collect.

The cookie banners are customizable to match your brand’s color scheme and design, avoiding pop-ups that detract from your aesthetic. Plus, you can change all information about data collection and content into different languages to ensure global inclusivity.

Pricing: The free version provides a basic cookie banner, compliance pages, mobile device compatibility, and chat support. For more advanced customization and AI assistance, you can upgrade to Standard ($7 per month), Plus ($19 per month), or Enterprise ($31 per month).

TinyCookie

Designed with EU merchants in mind, TinyCookie is a GDPR app that prioritizes clear communication regarding tracking cookies. The one-click, customizable cookie bar installation makes integration with websites and mobile applications a cinch.

The app offers preferences and rejection information with a redirect to your full terms and conditions pages that TinyCookie also generates. The application stores all consent forms that your customers agree to, compliant with the European ePrivacy directive, Meta pixel, and Google Consent Mode V2.

Pricing: The free plan will get you started with the fully customizable cookie bar, content translation, and a preferences pop-up. If you want Google Consent V2 compliance, Shopify privacy API integration, live chat support, or the cookie scanner function, you’ll need to upgrade to the Basic version for $7 a month, or the Advanced option for $12 a month.

NoSpy

Specializing in spy extensions including AliHunter and Shopify Raise, NoSpy keeps data safe from prying eyes. Whether it’s product pictures, web copy, or customer information, NoSpy disables right-click and copy functions to keep third-party entities from reusing and selling customer data.

Pricing: NoSpy provides a three-day free trial to become familiar with its product. For $14.99 per month, the paid services allow you to block spy extensions, disable keyboard shortcuts, and safeguard images.

Pandectes

Pandectes boasts a robust, fully customizable cookie bar. It also sends email messages to inform your customers of user privacy updates. The auto-blocker function automatically scans for third-party entities. Plus, this application is compatible with Shopify, Google, Facebook, and mobile devices.

Pricing: The Basic plan is free. For Google compatibility and advanced blocking technology, you will need a paid plan. Plus is $9 a month, Premium is $25 per month, and Enterprise level is $35 a month.

Avada

A versatile tool for building websites, ecommerce shops, and compliance resources, Avada is a go-to application for data security. Third-party embeds such as YouTube videos, Google fonts, and Soundcloud links all collected data about your users. Avada takes action against this cross-platform data collection by prompting your visitors to consent to all cookies before seeing these various links or videos. Its Privacy Element tool clearly defines what data your website will collect and creates check boxes for users to easily grant access to various features.

Pricing: Avada’s free version offers a cookie banner, data-sales opt-out, and auto-scanner. The Professional ($9.95 a month), Advanced ($23.95 a month), and Enterprise ($34 a month) tiers are compatible with Meta and TikTok compliance, cookie management, and an auto-fit theme function if you need more powerful tools.

Nova

Known for ease of use and excellent customer service, Nova offers software tools to create cookie banners and GDPR compliance documents with customization options. You can choose to cater cookie banners to EU clients only or align your settings to a global audience depending on compliance laws in your specific location. Plus, customization does not require editing code within your website, allowing you to easily edit styles in a few clicks.

Pricing: Nova is free for Shopify users.

GDPR Legal Cookie

GDPR Legal Cookie, is a privacy service provider designed for both app platforms and websites, catering to a wide array of merchants. A one-stop shop for legal compliance, GDPR Legal Cookie generates cookie and privacy policies, cookie and consent banners, and terms and conditions pages. Additional features include a whistleblower management tool to report data leaks, a consent database to store and review consent records, and a register that clearly defines how you collect and store customer data.

Pricing: A free version is available for development stores. For more functionality, you can opt for plans ranging from $2.99 to $14.99 per month, each with a seven-day free trial.

When browsing through online jewelry stores, do you ever wonder where these businesses get their merchandise? Most likely, a large number of them are dropshipping their products.

If you’re interested in selling jewelry online, read on to learn what dropshipping is, and how you can set up a jewelry dropshipping business of your own.

What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a business model that splits the duties of sales and order fulfillment between two different companies. One company maintains a storefront—usually an online ecommerce store—that showcases products, interacts with customers, and processes online sales transactions. The other serves as a supplier and fulfillment manager, keeping items in stock and shipping them out to customers when those customers place an order.

As an ecommerce store owner, you can set up a dropship program that lets you sell high-quality products without needing to stock them in a physical location. Your dropshipping partner does that for you.

How does dropshipping work in the jewelry industry?

Jewelry dropshippers operate an online jewelry store that they independently curate. They choose different styles of jewelry to sell—anything from fashion jewelry to costume jewelry, men’s jewelry or women’s jewelry—or they hone in on a single style. They then partner with a jewelry supplier (or multiple suppliers) who can source and ship jewelry pieces when a customer orders them.

The ecommerce store charges retail prices to their customers and then pays their suppliers a lower price for the jewelry products and any associated fees. The supplier ships the product to the customer. Meanwhile, the dropshipper pockets the difference in prices charged. Shopify has an in-depth guide on how to start dropshipping that goes into more detail about the process.

3 advantages of dropshipping jewelry

1. Low startup costs
2. The ability to offer many different products
3. Wider acceptance of buying jewelry online

Many ecommerce merchants find that a dropshipping store is the easiest way to get into the jewelry business for the following three reasons:

Low startup costs

Unlike in a traditional retail jewelry model, dropshippers do not have to buy a lot of stock from wholesale jewelry suppliers. They only pay suppliers when jewelry items are sold, and they don’t worry about the storage or security of fine jewelry. This lowers several key barriers to entry.

The ability to offer many different products

As a dropshipper, you can enter contracts with many fulfillment companies and sell different trendy products. You can have one supplier for your rose gold jewelry, another for your sterling silver jewelry, and yet another for your crystal necklaces. This allows you to reach a broad market of customers from the same online storefront.

Wider acceptance of buying jewelry online

Customers spend well north of $22.5 billion in the US on online jewelry purchases in 2024. They may expect generous return policies that let them send back items they don’t like. Still, this shifting attitude lets you compete directly with traditional retailers who might have more resources.

Challenges of dropshipping jewelry

Finding reliable suppliers

It can be difficult for jewelry dropshippers to find reliable suppliers who ship desirable products in quality packaging at reasonable factory prices. When you do find such suppliers, they may charge membership fees or require minimum order sizes.

With platforms like Shopify Collective, you can directly partner with good jewelry brands and curate collections in your store. No more generic products from random marketplace suppliers. 

Highly competitive landscape

The other challenge for online jewelry store owners is competition. As wholesale dropshipping has expanded, many entrepreneurs have set up jewelry ecommerce stores, selling everything from gemstone keychains to gold earrings. To stand out from the competition, you must find a niche, whether that’s impeccable selection, fast shipping times, or unbeatable prices.

How to start dropshipping jewelry

Many ecommerce entrepreneurs use a Shopify store to start a dropshipping business because of the platform’s built-in order fulfillment tools, its ability to generate compelling landing pages and product feeds, and the many Shopify Apps that connect you to dropshipping suppliers. To set up a store, start with Shopify’s online store builder.

Next, you’ll need to find reliable suppliers who can fulfill your jewelry store’s dropship orders. The online jewelry niche covers many items, from fashion accessories like earrings to practical items like keychains, so you may need to partner with multiple suppliers. Some of the best jewelry dropshippers have backup suppliers they can pivot to if their top option can’t fulfill an order.

Once you’ve found the right partners and launched your ecommerce website, you’ll curate the jewelry items you want to sell online, creating a collection that reflects your brand. You’ll then need to market your online store, emphasizing the traits that make you stand out from the pack.

This may involve a combination of search engine optimization (SEO), Google ads, social media marketing, email marketing, and more. The goal is to drive traffic to your online jewelry store, where your pricing and selection can convert curious visitors into paying customers.

7 top jewelry dropshipping suppliers

1. Shopify Collective
2. Sprocket
3. Richard Cannon Jewelry
4. Alibaba and AliExpress
5. Worldwide Brands
6. Pierce Body
7. Brands Gateway

The most successful jewelry dropshippers have reliable fulfillment partners who can source the best items, offer fast shipping times, and charge reasonable rates. Many dropshippers import products from overseas, which keeps costs low. Others source their jewelry items domestically.

Here are some dropshipping suppliers with a background in fulfilling jewelry orders:

1. Shopify Collective

Shopify Collective is a dropshipping platform built into Shopify. It’s a high-end version of dropshipping where you can partner directly with established jewelry brands and sell their products in your Shopify store. You sell at your chosen price point while the brand handles the fulfillment. 

Looking at Larroude’s experience, they successfully integrated luxury jewelry from high-end brands like Retrouvai through Shopify Collective, creating a seamless shopping experience alongside their core shoe business. Larroude added six new product categories to its store, resulting in a 21% revenue increase one month after launching Collective. 

2. Sprocket

Found in the Shopify App Store, Sprocket makes it easy to select quality products to sell on your Shopify ecommerce site.

It has a worldwide network of suppliers in locations that include the US, Europe, Australia, and Brazil. Sprocket is not a jewelry-exclusive platform, but many online stores use it specifically to dropship jewelry items.

3. Richard Cannon Jewelry

Richard Cannon Jewelry, or RC Jewelry, has a dropshipping program in addition to its main retail arm. It costs $29.99 per month to be a dropshipping affiliate, but there are no minimum order thresholds. The company specializes in fine jewelry, including items made with gold, silver, and diamonds.

4. Alibaba and AliExpress

Alibaba and AliExpress both have robust dropshipping operations. While they’re part of the same company, they cater to slightly different audiences.

Alibaba focuses mostly on business-to-business (B2B) transactions, like retailers who want to order large quantities of a product to sell under a private label or white label.

AliExpress is more oriented toward individual purchasers and smaller orders, which may be more helpful when you’re just getting started. Consider installing the DSers Shopify app to help you get started with AliExpress dropshipping.

5. Worldwide Brands

Worldwide Brands is another general-purpose platform, covering not just jewelry but many other dropshipping products as well. Established in 1999, it sets high standards for its dropshipping manufacturers.

Many of the Worldwide Brands vendors require large orders with bulk payment upfront, so while the platform is synonymous with quality, it may pose financial hurdles for some.

6. Pierce Body

Pierce Body focuses on the specific niche of piercing-related jewelry, like earrings, nose rings, navel rings, and studs. You can purchase these items at wholesale rates with a $200 order minimum.

7. Brands Gateway

Estonia-based Brands Gateway focuses on high fashion but offers many items for jewelry dropshippers, including cufflinks, brooches, and bracelets. Some of its partners include big-name brands like Gucci and Swarovski.

You can integrate Brands Gateway with your Shopify store for rates starting at $149 per month when billed annually.

Whether you’re hosting a virtual event like an online product launch or an in-person gathering like a pop-up shop, event marketing can be a powerful way to engage with your customers. But how do you ensure they know when and where your events are happening?

You could manually send out individual invitations by email or even rely on word of mouth—but that’s time-consuming and inefficient. Or, you can use an event calendar app that integrates with your online store or website. An event calendar app lets you set up a centralized calendar, giving visitors a clear understanding of your schedule, and even enabling them to RSVP or purchase tickets directly.

If events help you promote your products or services, explore these calendar apps to streamline your scheduling operations.

Top event calendar apps for Shopify

Here are some of the top event calendar apps to consider downloading from the Shopify App Store.

Shop Events Calendar

Shop Events Calendar is a mobile-friendly app that seamlessly integrates with your Shopify store. Create unlimited events across multiple calendars for different store locations. Install Shop Events Calendar onto your Shopify admin dashboard and easily sync it with other calendars, like your Google Calendar or Apple Calendar. Shop Events Calendar uses the latest Shopify themes to ensure the calendar’s style matches your store.

Pricing: With a seven-day free trial, Shop Events Calendar costs $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year.

Appointment Booking Cowlendar

Specifically designed for Shopify, Appointment Booking Cowlendar offers seamless integration with your Shopify store. It transforms your Add to Cart buttons into Book Now buttons for both in-person and virtual events through platforms like Zoom or Google Meet.

Group booking features let multiple customers reserve the same time slots. The app also sends email notifications and reminders to visitors who book specific appointments or reservations.

Pricing: Enjoy a free plan offering unlimited calendars and bookings, or upgrade to the Pro plan for $14.99 per month to unlock additional features like email reminders, rescheduling options, and multi-day events.

Tipo Appointment Booking

Tipo Appointment Booking is a free event calendar app designed specifically for Shopify and easily syncs with other calendars like Google Calendar. It lets you manage and track appointments from a single dashboard and set up specific calendars based on the types of events you plan to host. You can set up customized booking forms, multiple appointment types, and automated appointment reminders for events or services like consultations, workshops, or online courses.

Pricing: The free plan offers unlimited events for a single user or employee, while the Pro plan costs $6.90 per month and allows unlimited employees to create events.

Events Calendar by InlightLabs

Events Calendar by InlightLabs easily aligns with your store’s branding through design, colors, and typography customization options. It’s available in multiple languages and adjusts time zones based on your visitors’ locations. Events Calendar also features a community calendar tool that lets you collect, review, and approve events suggested by your visitors. It also has the ability to sync with external calendars like Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar

Pricing: The app offers a free plan with one calendar per store and up to 10 events. The Professional plan costs $10 per month and includes up to three calendars with unlimited events. The Business plan, at $25 per month, adds extra features like time zone controls and syncing with five external calendars like Google or Outlook Calendar.

Mahina Event Calendar App

Mahina Event Calendar App has a user-friendly interface for creating customizable calendars on your ecommerce store. This app makes it easy to set up calendars with RSVP features and custom email responses for event registrants. Mahina includes a tool that connects products to events, allowing you to sell them alongside tickets. For example, you can highlight a product with its launch event and offer it for sale during that event.

Pricing: The free plan includes up to five events. The Standard plan, at $9.99 per month, offers unlimited events, additional theme layouts, and recurring events. For $19.99, the Premium plan adds RSVP management and customizable email responses for invitees.

Event Calendar by Elfsight

Event Calendar by Elfsight lets you create unlimited events, tag them for easy categorization, and upload custom pictures or videos. This app lets you group product launch events, allowing potential customers to easily filter relevant events on the calendar. It also integrates with Google Maps to display the exact locations of your in-person events.

Pricing: After a free seven-day trial, this app costs $5.99 per month.

Evey Events & Tickets

Evey Events & Tickets specializes in ticket sales. You can sell tickets directly from your website for a variety of events, including seated conferences and virtual classes. When customers buy tickets, they receive customized tickets in PDF form (or via the Wallet app for Apple devices). Use the app to check in attendees as they arrive.

Evey lets you customize calendars and tickets with your company logo, colors, and typography. It also includes attendee management features like resending, canceling, and voiding tickets, and customizable messages for attendees. You can also group events together to make it easy for potential customers to filter specific events on your calendar.

Pricing: The free plan has unlimited events and ticket type, but charges a $1 fee per ticket sold. The Standard plan is $49 per month for unlimited events and charges 50¢ per ticket sold. The Professional plan costs $189 per month and includes all Standard features plus reserved seating and Shopify POS integration. It has a fee of 25¢ per ticket sold.

Event Calendar: Tickets & RSVP

Event Calendar: Tickets & RSVP is designed for users who regularly sell tickets for events like classes, workshops, or webinars. It offers customizable form inputs for information like emails, phone numbers, or even dietary requirements for events with meals. Because it fully integrates with Shopify’s checkout flow, Event Calendar makes it seamless for potential customers to browse events and buy tickets from your online store.

Pricing: A basic plan costs $39.99 per month for one team member, 1,000 RSVPs, and $1,000 in ticket sales. Scale-up versions of the plan are available at $60 and $199 per month.

Experiences: Events & Tickets

Experiences: Events & Tickets automatically integrates with any Shopify store theme to align with your online store’s design. You can set up one-time or recurring events, ticketing features, and customizable email or text message reminders for events. It integrates with thousands of other apps like Zapier, MailChimp, and Zoom, and includes a customer support service for any help you need with the app.

Pricing: A Basic plan costs $9 a month plus 1% of booking revenue for up to 100 bookings or $1,000 in monthly revenue. The Premium plan is $39 a month and 0.75% of booking revenue for up to 1,000 bookings or $10,000 in monthly revenue. The Preferred plan is $129 per month and 0.5% of booking revenue.

If you’ve ever been unsure about what to give someone for their birthday, chances are high you’ve opted for a last-minute gift card. Gift cards are the go-to gift for anyone stumped on what to purchase for loved ones on a special occasion. Physical gift cards make great stocking stuffers, and a digital gift card is perfect for sending to long-distance friends or when you need something for your family instantly.

For retailers, gift cards are an opportunity to make money from both gift-givers and new customers. In 61% of cases, customers using gift cards spend past their gift amount, averaging $31.75 over the card’s value. If your ecommerce brand hopes to bring in more customers and revenue, gift card apps may be a solution.

What are gift card apps?

Gift card apps are third-party apps businesses use to issue and manage physical or digital gift cards, in-store or online credit, and customer loyalty programs. These apps save business owners time and provide customers with a way to pay beyond using a major credit card.

Many gift card apps offer additional features to improve the customer experience. Depending on the app, your customers may be able to customize their gift card with a personal message, choose or create a unique gift card design, and schedule delivery of multiple gift cards in advance.

It’s possible some of your favorite brands already use this technology. Some well-known brands that use a gift card app include Skims, Good American, Milk Bar, and Allbirds.

Top gift card apps for ecommerce

Here are some of the best gift card apps store owners can use to create, manage, and distribute gift cards:

Shopify

You can create gift cards for your ecommerce store directly within the Shopify app. Simply log in to your admin and navigate to Products > Gift cards > Create gift card. You’ll need to create pre-set dollar amounts for gift cards you list publicly on your store. Gift cards are available to Shopify store owners at all plan tiers.

Govalo Gift Card Suite

With Govalo, you can offer customizable digital gift cards, corporate gift cards, subscriptions, and store credit to customers, as well as offer customers a tool to track balances. Enterprise users get additional features, including API access, white-glove service, monthly insight reporting, a negotiable volume rate, and an annual billing option.

Pricing: For the free tier, a 2.9% fee is taken from each gift card’s value. The Premium subscription is $79 per month with a 2.25% fee, and the Enterprise subscription is $399 per month with a 1.5% fee.

Vify Professional Gift Cards

Vify Professional Gift Cards is an app that manages gift cards and gift vouchers. It offers a free account with basic features: email configuration, gift card management, custom product pages, and a custom redemption page. Other features include the option to create plastic gift cards, reminders for expiring gifts, a page where customers can review their balance, and a bulk gift card upload option.

Pricing: Free plan available, plus three paid subscriptions ranging from $9.99 to $29.99 per month, offering advanced gift card options. All paid plans include a 14-day free trial.

GV: Gift Cards Loyalty Rewards

The GV: Gift Cards Loyalty Rewards app allows for the following card types: branded, bulk, digital, physical, reloadable, and store credit. It allows customers to choose custom dollar amounts, and you can upload your own designs, create check-balance pages, and add the option for gift messages, expiry dates, and reminders.

Pricing: Free plan available.

Gift Card Factory

With Gift Card Factory, ecommerce stores can offer their customers digital or reloadable cards or store credit. Customization features include custom emails, balance pages, gift messages, expiry dates, and reminders. There’s also a gift card import functionality.

Pricing: Four subscriptions range from $19.99 to $199.99 per month, with varying numbers of gift cards included. All plans offer a 14-day free trial.

Imagine this: After months of tireless work and more knitting-related injuries than you’d like to admit, you’re finally launching your custom dog sweater company. You know there’s no shortage of brands and Etsy sellers specializing in canine apparel. However, after struggling to find a sweater for your own 100-pound Bernese Mountain dog, you realized there was a gap in the market for cozy garb for big dogs. 

Bolstered by your savvy design eye and sharp business acumen, you decide to develop a company that sells sweaters for non-diminutive pups. Recognizing your unique value proposition, you lean into the big dog approach when developing your brand identity and marketing. Within a few months of adopting this brand positioning strategy, sales have taken off so exponentially that you can barely keep up with demand. 

In this example, you’ve used an effective market positioning strategy to set yourself apart from other brands and boost your bottom line. So what specifically is marketing positioning and how can you use it to successfully position your company and beat out your competitors? Read on to learn more. 

What is market positioning?

Market positioning refers to the practice of establishing a brand’s unique value proposition that sets it apart from its competitors. Once you stake out what your brand stands for and what you can provide your target audience, the competitive positioning and marketing strategies will start to fall into place. This process involves finding and carving out a competitive niche to differentiate your company in a compelling way to target customers, leading to better brand awareness, more shoppers, and higher sales. 

Why is market positioning important? 

Creating a positioning strategy can be helpful in many ways, including: 

• Enhanced brand awareness. With a differentiated brand and a strong identity comes more brand recognition. A strong market positioning strategy helps a company get in front of shoppers by surpassing competitors in providing direct value to them.

• Improved customer acquisition. Having a unique product makes it easier to explain your appeal to customers, and a clear position can make it easier to generate buzz—online and offline. Successful market positioning can help lower customer acquisition costs (CAC) and attract prospective customers.

• Higher customer loyalty. Through cultivating a specific niche in the marketplace, you’ll establish yourself as the go-to destination for your product or service. When a target customer comes back time and again, odds are they’ll start bringing other people along too. 

• Increased sales. More customers and increased brand loyalty translate directly to higher sales, meaning more for your bottom line. 

Types of market positioning strategies

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to market positioning. When it comes to effective brand positioning, a company can take many approaches, including: 

Price point positioning 

Whether you’re a luxury brand thriving on exclusivity or a discount retailer with a devoted following of bargain hunters, price point can play an integral role in brand identity. A company can leverage its pricing strategy to entice more shoppers.

Quality positioning

Highlight the quality of your products. Note how they’re better than your competitors in a compelling positioning statement. Quality positioning emphasizes areas like product craftsmanship, manufacturing, and materials. 

Competitor positioning

Going head-to-head with your competitors is a brand positioning tactic that you can use to highlight your brand’s specific advantage. This is the type of strategy you might see in commercials for dish soap or feminine hygiene products that directly show a product performing more strongly than a competing brand.

Usage positioning

Usage positioning allows companies to focus on the specific applications and unique benefits of their products. This marketing strategy focuses on providing hands-on proof that demonstrates exactly how your product works and why that’s important. 

Availability positioning

Just being accessible during a specific time or in a particular region can be instrumental in making headway among consumers. Availability positioning involves leaning into logistical elements to set your company ahead of your peers. For example, if your coffee machine is compatible with coffee pods consumers can find in most grocery stores, you can position your product as more accessible than machines that require specialized pods.

Novelty positioning

Novelty positioning works for products or services that are especially innovative, compelling consumers by sheer force of being groundbreaking or offering cutting-edge technology. 

How to develop a market positioning strategy

1. Conduct a competitive analysis
2. Determine your target audience
3. Identify your value proposition
4. Set your brand identity
5. Craft your messaging
6. Track the impact
7. Reposition as needed

Settling on an effective market positioning strategy doesn’t just happen overnight. Here are the steps you can take to create your own: 

1. Conduct a competitive analysis

The best way to beat out your competition is to intimately know the ins and outs of how they operate. Conducting extensive market research in order to understand your top competitors will help to identify gaps where your brand can really shine in market positioning.

Take the olive oil company Graza. After doing extensive research on the market, founder Andrew Benin saw an opportunity to capitalize on the household cooking staple. “This is in every single pantry, it has massive household penetration,” Andrew says in an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “There was no brand affinity for sure. This was the opportunity to say, well, there’s a different way of doing this, a different way of positioning something that everyone already knows about.”

2. Determine your target audience

Identifying your target demographic is essential when developing a market positioning strategy. Conducting extensive user research and analyzing data to understand consumer perceptions will help inform your approach and lead to better results.

3. Identify your value proposition

After you’ve conducted a thorough competitive analysis and set your target market, the next step is identifying your value proposition. What does your brand bring to the table and how does this resonate best with your audience? Lean into these findings to carve a competitive niche. 

In the case of Graza, Andrew created a sleek, distinctive bottle design, thus positioning the olive oil as being suitable for both garnishing and cooking, which helped Graza make gains in the market.

4. Set your brand identity

Build upon your unique value proposition to craft a brand identity designed to highlight your strengths. A strong brand identity encompasses how you showcase your company to the world and spotlights your core values.

For Lindsay McCormick of the eco-conscious toothpaste company Bite, her brand identity centered on sustainability. Her eco-friendly toothpaste brand has since evolved to provide a suite of environmentally friendly products. “From the very beginning, we wanted products that were not only better for our bodies, but better for our planet, and more efficacious too,” Lindsay says on the Shopify Masters podcast. 

5. Craft your messaging

Consistency is key when developing to build a market positioning strategy. Utilize your messaging strategy across mediums and campaigns to really drive brand identity home. Just make sure to tailor it to each platform rather than approaching everything as a one-size-fits-all fix.

6. Track the impact

Deploy focus groups and collect feedback from consumers to determine if your brand identity and messaging are moving the dial. Let the results inform how you move forward or revise your plan. 

7. Reposition as needed

Your unique value add may change over time as your product or service evolves. Make sure your strategy keeps up with the transformation of your company. 

Tailoring your products to consumers via personalization can increase engagement and improve retention. A 2024 Deloitte study found that around 75% of consumers prefer brands that offer personalization, and they spend nearly 40% more with those brands.

You encourage that additional spend by offering customers a chance to participate in the design process. Providing customization options and a high-quality product configurator invites consumers to tell you what they need, so you can deliver on individual expectations and gather valuable consumer intelligence. Here’s what product configurators are, how they benefit businesses, and five features to look for in your own.

What is a product configurator?

A product configurator is a software tool that customers can use to modify products during the online ordering process. The tool displays customization options, calculates final product costs, and generates visual representations of finished products,allowing customers to experiment with designs and purchase personalized products.

Key features of a product configurator

Not all product configurators are the same—and the best option for your business depends on your product type, budget, and business needs. Here are features to look for as you evaluate options:

User-friendly interface

An intuitive product configurator can help customers build trust in your company and encourage them to explore your product catalog. A clunky tool can damage your brand reputation. Even the most motivated customers can be turned away by a confusing configuration process.

Look for a tool that outlines customization options, makes it easy to apply or change selections, and helps customers produce high-quality final designs. For particularly complex products, consider tools that walk customers through the product customization process in steps and filter available options based on their compatibility with a customer’s previous selections.

Price calculation features

Product configuration tools calculate the total product price based on a customer’s choices. Choose between dynamic and static options: Dynamic tools update item cost in real time, and static ones provide a quote as the final step of the customization process.

Consider dynamic pricing if you want customers to see how their choices affect the final product price. For example, a custom armchair might jump from $800 to $1,400 when a customer selects leather upholstery but drop to $1,100 when they pass on the included ottoman.

On the other hand, static pricing conceals the relationship between individual selections and total price, and retailers often use it for more complex pricing structures. Withholding a quote until the end of the process can help businesses avoid confusing consumers with counterintuitive price fluctuations.

Product visualization tools

A good online product configurator helps customers envision what they’re purchasing. Your needs will depend on what you sell: A service-based business might use icons to represent selected add-ons, while a high-end jeweler might invest in 3D product models and augmented reality views.

If appearance is a major selling point for your product, look for a tool that supports dynamic visualization. Instead of generating one final preview image, these tools update a base product model in real time, encouraging customers to experiment with styles and allowing them to integrate visual feedback into the design process.

Integrations

Select product configurator software that integrates with your online store and checkout system. For example, apps like Custom Product Builder and Kickflip allow Shopify stores to provide simple customization options, and tools like Threekit provide full 3D and AR visual customization. Look for tools compatible with multiple platform types, including inventory and supply chain management systems, customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and ERP systems.

These integrations can reduce administrative labor, optimize inventory management, and store information about customer preferences, helping you fulfill customer orders efficiently and improving future sales and marketing efforts.

Design validation

Product configurators guide customers toward compatible customizations and ensure you can produce a customer’s designs. You can create configuration rules when you set up your tool. For example, you might specify that a stool can have three or four legs, but not more or less, and not three and four at once.

Some advanced configurators also use product data to generate performance projections, such as how much electricity a custom range will use in a year or how many tons of product a warehouse shelving system can support.

Benefits of using a product configurator

Here are some of the ways in which a product configurator can benefit a business and its customers:

Reduced barrier to purchase

Product configurators provide transparent pricing and help customers visualize custom products—both factors that can lower the barrier to purchase. Advanced visualization techniques like 3D product modeling and AR can prove particularly beneficial if you sell products intended for certain spaces, charge upmarket prices, or don’t accept returns.

A jeweler might use 3D modeling to let a would-be bride or groom scrutinize a custom engagement ring from all angles, for example, and a home goods retailer might use AR to let shoppers view custom furniture in their homes.

Higher customer satisfaction 

Research shows that customers expect personalized experiences, reward companies that offer them by making purchases, and experience frustration when those expectations aren’t met. Product configurators can increase customer satisfaction by providing an efficient, user-friendly customization process and ensuring that customers understand what they’ll receive. They also provide valuable data about customer needs and preferences you can use to personalize future marketing strategies.

Reduced lead time

Configurators can speed up the custom product purchasing process, helping you close more sales and efficiently deliver finished products. A manual process requires customers to wait for quotes from a sales department before placing custom orders. Quotes can take several days—enough time for a customer to lose enthusiasm for a purchase or opt for a faster-moving competitor.

Product configurators provide instant quotes, allowing customers to proceed with orders immediately. Design validation and automatic order creation can also speed up the production process. These help you avoid costly mistakes by reducing the risk of human error during the design process and ensuring that new customer orders immediately enter the production queue.

Increased operational efficiency 

Configurators save time and lower costs, helping you stretch your business resources further. Instead of constantly working on quotes, sales reps can focus on larger business and marketing goals, like earning more top-of-funnel leads, developing existing accounts, or pursuing higher-value prospects. You can also use integrations to reduce administrative labor and optimize inventory management and marketing processes.

Increased customer engagement

Creating new designs is fun. That’s why we have LEGO, paper dolls, and seemingly infinite Fortnite skins. Enabling customers to experiment with designs adds entertainment value to the customer experience, encouraging engagement with your products and brand.

Offering an engaging shopping experience can also encourage referrals and word-of-mouth marketing. Prospective customers don’t need to be active buyers to build positive associations with your brand that can lead to sales later. Some companies also invite customers to share their finished designs on social media, which can further increase awareness of your brand.

Effective product configurator examples

Many ecommerce businesses use configurators for custom or made-to-order products. Here are two product configurator examples:

Scout Design Studio

Texas-based Scout Design Studio sells new and vintage furniture, art, and lighting from an 18,500-square-foot warehouse in the Dallas Design District. Its online product configurator uses 3D modeling and dynamic visualization to allow customers to configure products from its custom line, Scout Bespoke. The configurator offers multiple product views and high-quality images for more than 20,000 product variations.

Veneta Blinds

Australian blind and shutter retailer Veneta Blinds offers custom window fittings, allowing customers to customize elements like materials, colors, fit type, and control mechanism. It offers five blind types and sizes to buyer specifications, using a multistep product configurator to help navigate billions of product variations—744 billion per product type, to be precise.

The configurator provides basic product visualizations and guides customers through a nine-step decision-making process by displaying relevant customization options at each step. The configurator displays price information twice—once upfront, listing the minimum cost of each blind type, and again at the final stage after a customer enters exact specifications for height and width.

In 1984, Domino’s Pizza introduced a stunning promise: Delivery in 30 minutes or less, or your pizza is free. The policy was short-lived. In 1993, a jury slapped Domino’s with a $79 million fine after finding the time crunch resulted in reckless driving. The possibility of free pies ended shortly thereafter. 

It sounds good on paper, but going from zero to pizza in less than half an hour is a logistical nightmare. Even a massive chain like Domino’s is challenged to prep, bake, pack, and chauffeur meals across town on such an ultra-tight timeline. 

Local delivery has a lot of moving parts, and it can be a daunting prospect for small business owners. Thankfully, if you’re planning to use in-house delivery services to get your product to clients, you can cover the costs of the added hassle by charging delivery fees.

What is a delivery fee?

A delivery fee is an additional charge local businesses—most commonly restaurants—apply to delivery orders to help cover the operating costs of bringing a product directly to customers. Customers pay a little bit extra for the convenience of delivery and businesses are able to offset delivery expenses. 

As a business owner, offering local delivery can provide access to a wider customer base and increase the number of products you sell, helping you earn more money. This model is most common for restaurants, but other types of businesses use it, too (think furniture stores, flower shops, and specialty coffee roasters). Some of these businesses may use a third-party service like Postmates to handle delivery—in which the service provider is the one charging the fee.

🌟Which shipping method should you use? Learn about the eight types of shipping, what they mean for your business, and when it makes sense to use them.

What do delivery fees cover?

Delivery fees are intended to help cover the costs of providing delivery—gas, labor, wear, and tear. Exactly what the fee covers—and who gets it—varies depending on how the delivery service operates. 

If a local business provides delivery services themselves, the business owner determines how much to charge for delivery and keeps 100% of the fee. In third-party food delivery apps like Uber Eats or Postmates, the delivery company keeps the fee and uses it to cover their expenses, while drivers keep customer tips.

Local on-demand delivery options for small businesses

Depending on your goals, you may not need to build a brand-new delivery system from the ground up. Many businesses outsource delivery logistics to third-party delivery services. These are the most common methods restaurants use to add delivery—and the fee structure varies for each.

In-house delivery

In-house delivery services, also known as first-party delivery systems, are completely owned and operated by your business. Customers order directly from your business, and an employee delivers the product. Operating an independent delivery program gives you more control over your profits and the customer experience. 

Advantages

With a first-party system, you decide how much to charge for delivery and keep 100% of the profits. This system also helps you conduct quality assurance. 

Delivery drivers work for your business, so management can communicate with them directly to ensure products arrive on time and in good condition.

Drawbacks

Implementing an in-house delivery program requires a significant upfront investment. Expenses may include training costs for delivery people, insurance fees, and delivery vehicle maintenance. 

Best for

In-house delivery systems may be best suited to high-volume restaurants with multiple locations, local subscription-based businesses, and businesses that specialize in high-ticket items. 

In-house plus on-demand delivery

With this system, you own and operate your own ordering system and outsource delivery logistics to a third-party company. Instead of hiring and training your own fleet of delivery people, you pay a flat fee to use a pre-existing network of drivers. A prominent example is Uber Direct.

Advantages

Working with an on-demand delivery service helps you save on some of the expenses of building a delivery network, including hiring and training drivers. This system often leads to a lower average delivery cost per order compared to an entirely third-party system.

Drawbacks

As with a first-party service, businesses using this delivery model are responsible for developing their own online ordering systems. However, unlike a completely self-owned system, companies need to pay for and place their trust in another business to operate. 

Best for

Established businesses with a large base of loyal customers can benefit from this system. You can use this system to provide a boutique ordering experience with less complexity than an in-house system.

Third-party delivery

In a third-party system, you outsource the majority of delivery logistics to a specialized company. These companies typically provide an ordering platform in addition to a coordinated network of drivers. They’re almost exclusively used for food delivery. Uber Eats and GrubHub are well-known examples of third-party delivery systems.

Advantages 

Using a third-party delivery system removes many of the logistical and financial roadblocks you might face when introducing delivery. And when it comes to ordering takeout, many customers use delivery platforms like search engines—participating in a delivery network may boost a restaurant’s visibility with customers.

Drawbacks

Partnering with a delivery company can cut into your profits—these services collect 10% to 30% of the total order cost. Using a third-party system can also pose a reputational risk—if your delivery partner messes up an order, customers could blame you.

Best for

Third-party systems are a powerful tool for attracting customers. Delivery companies provide access to a large network of customers that can help new restaurants and small establishments grow their business. 

Other factors to consider when choosing a delivery strategy

Offering local on-demand delivery increases business expenses no matter which method you choose. If you don’t charge more for delivery orders, these new costs will come out of your profits. When selecting a delivery strategy, it’s helpful to consider how much of this expense you’d like to pass on to consumers. 

Third-party delivery services tend to be the most expensive for customers. In addition to delivery fees, third-party platforms often add service fees or other charges to the order subtotal. By the time the tax is tacked on, consumers may be suffering from a bit of sticker shock. This can create an inaccurate impression of your prices. 

With first-party or hybrid delivery models, your business shoulders the majority of the financial burden at the outset. After the system is up and running, you may earn more money from each delivery order. 

Starting a limited liability company (LLC) can be a wise choice for a small business or startup. You can start an LLC in any state, even if you don’t physically live there—it depends on which benefits work best for your business.

Ohio offers lower maintenance fees than states like California, which charges owners $800 annually whether the business is active and profitable or not. LLCs in Ohio don’t need to file annual reports, saving you from submitting yearly summaries to the secretary of state.

Ohio LLCs receive several tax advantages, including job creation tax credits and single-level taxation that helps you avoid corporate double taxation. While setting up an LLC in Ohio requires paperwork and filing costs, the payoff can be worth it.

What is an LLC?

A limited liability company (LLC) is a type of business entity that protects business owners from lawsuits and debtors. The company—not you personally—becomes responsible for legal and financial matters. One or more individuals can be LLC owners, also known as “members.”

A single-member LLC has one owner, while a multi-member LLC has multiple managing members. Your LLC name serves as a legal name for documents and shows your business’s management structure.

How to start an LLC in Ohio

1. Choose an idea for your LLC
2. Name your Ohio LLC
3. Create a business plan
4. Get a federal employer identification number (EIN)
5. File your Ohio articles of organization
6. Choose a registered agent in Ohio
7. Obtain business licenses and permits
8. Understand Ohio state tax requirements
9. Prepare an Ohio LLC operating agreement
10. File an Ohio BOI report
11. Examine business insurance options in Ohio
12. Market your LLC

1. Choose an idea for your LLC

First, choose a viable business idea. Whether you’re starting a side business or have bigger goals, consider what products or services you could offer. Research your competition, analyze potential demand, and review your funding to find the most feasible option.

Think about your skill set or what unique offerings you could bring to the market. Market analysis helps you measure what you have to offer against existing competition.

2. Name your Ohio LLC

When setting up your LLC, choose a name that meets Ohio’s requirements:

• Include the required suffixes: Your LLC name must contain the key phrase “Limited Liability Company” or its abbreviations “LLC,” “L.L.C.,” “Limited,” or “Ltd.” The name can’t include government entity terms like “IRS” or “CIA,” slurs, or names that are already in use. To use words like “insurance” or “doctor,” you’ll need additional paperwork and proof of professional licenses.
• Make the name unique: Use the Ohio state website’s business name search to check if your name is available. If you’re opening a bakery or sporting goods shop, try searching keywords like “muffins” or “sports” to see active businesses with those terms. While you could modify existing names, a unique name helps avoid customer confusion.
• Reserve the name: If available, file Form 534B to reserve the name for up to 180 days for $39. Consider reserving a matching domain name too—this prevents others from using your web address for unrelated purposes. Website hosts like GoDaddy offer free domain name searches.

Note that your LLC name doesn’t have to match your public business name. In Ohio, you can use a trade name (also called DBA or “doing business as”) for marketing. For example, “Howard Edgar Schwartzmann, LLC” could operate publicly as “Party Town USA.” However, if you plan on keeping your LLC and trade name the same, consider carefully when choosing your name.

3. Create a business plan

While not required for forming an LLC, a business plan helps banks and investors take you seriously. A strong plan outlines your:

• Company goals and timeline
• Business background
• Mission and agenda
• Marketing strategy
• Operations plans

4. Get a federal employer identification number (EIN)

An EIN works like a Social Security number for your business. You need this free IRS-issued number for:

• Your taxes: You’ll need a government-issued identification number to file taxes for your LLC. An EIN officially separates your business entity from your personal taxes.
• Your business bank account: To open a business bank account, you’ll need an EIN. LLCs must keep personal and business finances separate. 
• Your employees: An EIN is required to hire employees. If you plan to hire employees, you can apply for an EIN on the Internal Revenue Service website.

Apply for your EIN through the IRS website at no cost. Most applications process immediately, giving you your EIN number as soon as you finish.

5. File your Ohio articles of organization

To officially form your LLC in Ohio, file articles of organization (Form 610, formerly 533A) with the Ohio Secretary of State. Foreign LLCs need Form 533b.

You’ll need to provide:

• Your name and mailing address
• Your LLC’s name
• Your statutory agent’s details and signature (person authorized to receive official documents)
• Business purpose (optional)

The filing fee is $99 for both domestic and foreign LLCs. Standard processing takes two to seven business days. If you’re in a hurry, Ohio offers expedited service for an extra fee, with processing in one to two business days.

6. Choose a registered agent in Ohio

While you don’t need to live in Ohio to form an LLC there, you do need a registered agent (or statutory agent) to act as your point of contact with the state. Your agent must be either:

• An Ohio resident
• A corporation authorized to do business in Ohio
• You (if you meet state requirements)

Your agent must be available during business hours to handle government correspondence, tax documents, and legal paperwork. Registered agent service fees start at around $49, though some charge hundreds of dollars. Research your options carefully before selecting a representative.

7. Obtain business licenses and permits

Some businesses need specific licenses or permits to operate. For example: 

• Retailers selling tangible goods or taxable services need a vendor’s license from the Ohio Department of Taxation for sales tax collection. Animal rescue businesses may need environmental permits from the Ohio EPA.

Visit Ohio’s government website to check which licenses your business category requires.

8. Understand Ohio state tax requirements

Know your tax obligations to avoid unnecessary headaches and possible fines. Key requirements include:

State sales tax:

• Basic rate: 5.75% (may vary by county)
• Required if you have a vendor’s license

Commercial activity tax:

Applies to businesses earning more than $1 million.

Annual minimum taxes based on gross receipts:

• $150,000 to $1 million: $150
• $1 million to $2 million: $800 plus CAT on earnings over $1 million
• $2 million to $4 million: $2,100 plus CAT
• More than $4 million: $2,600 plus CAT

9. Prepare an Ohio LLC operating agreement

While not required, an operating agreement helps multiple-member LLCs and larger enterprises run smoothly. This document outlines your business’s mission and goals, each member’s roles and responsibilities, and the distribution of shares, profits, and losses.

Your operating agreement should include your company’s legal name (including DBAs), business mailing address, and statutory agent address. Add a brief statement about your business mission and purpose.

Include clear statements about each member’s role and responsibilities, including ownership percentages, distribution amounts, and titles. Detail the process for accepting new LLC members and handling member exits. You may also specify your business duration—whether short-term or indefinite—and your tax status, such as S corp or C corp election.

10. File an Ohio BOI report

Since January 1, 2024, most new Ohio LLCs must file a BOI report within 30 days of formation. This requirement stems from the Corporate Transparency Act to prevent financial crimes.

File your BOI report directly with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) (not the Ohio Secretary of State). The report must include details about beneficial owners who control 25% or more of the LLC or have substantial control over operations.

For each owner, you’ll need to provide their full legal name, date of birth, address, and an identifying number from a passport or driver’s license. Take care with this filing—providing false information or failing to file can lead to penalties.

11. Examine business insurance options in Ohio

Your business type determines which insurance coverage you need. Physical locations need protection against property damage or customer injuries, while digital businesses might focus on cybersecurity coverage. Here are the main types of insurance to consider:

General liability insurance protects your business against customer injury lawsuits, property damage, copyright infringements, libel claims, and advertising injuries. Consider this coverage if you have a physical location.

Professional liability insurance (also called errors and omissions) protects owners when their actions cause financial damage to customers or clients. This coverage helps with contract breaches, negligence, and missed deadlines. Interior design businesses, accountants, real estate companies, and consultants often benefit from this protection.

If you store sensitive information electronically (like Social Security numbers and passwords), cyber liability insurance helps protect against data breaches, electronic theft, and fraud. It can also help cover data recovery expenses.

Workers’ compensation (workers’ comp) covers medical bills and lost wages for employees injured at work. In Ohio, you must purchase this coverage through the state, not private insurers. Any business with at least one employee needs workers’ comp, though some businesses are exempt— including sole proprietorships, general partnerships, and LLCs designated as sole proprietorships or partnerships.

12. Market your LLC

An effective marketing plan can help ensure your business makes money. Marketing helps people discover your brand, services, and products— directly impacting your success.

Build a website to stake your claim in the digital space and give potential customers a way to learn about your offerings. Buying a domain name is one of your first steps to building that online platform.

Invest in advertising based on your market research. Whether you use billboards, digital ads, flyers, or social media posts, choose strategies that will work best for your business.

Leverage social media platforms like X and Instagram to reach your target audience and assess how your demographic engages with different types of content. Draw users to your business by offering promotions, deals, or discounts when they participate in social media polls, write reviews, or sign up for email lists.

Track key metrics to gauge your marketing success. Revenue, sales growth, and customer retention numbers show whether your techniques are working. Tools like Google Analytics track web traffic and time spent on your site, helping you monitor customer behavior. You can also use SEO tools like SEMrush to track competitors’ outreach and keyword use, which helps optimize your own SEO strategies.

Is an LLC right for you?

Whether you’re just starting a business or looking to change your current business structure, an LLC can help you save money. Here are the key benefits of forming an LLC:

• Liability protection: Like LLCs, sole proprietorships and general partnerships benefit from pass-through taxation. However, only LLCs separate your personal assets from business liability. This protects you from lawsuits and shields you from personal liability for your partners’ or employees’ actions.
• Investment opportunities: An LLC designation can give your business more credibility. If you need fundraising or significant upfront capital, an LLC that shows fiscal responsibility may access small-business loans more easily than sole proprietorships.
• Structure: Unlike corporations with boards of directors, LLCs are managed directly by members or appointed managers. This gives small-business owners more flexibility in daily operations.
• Taxation: LLCs avoid corporate double taxation, where businesses pay corporate taxes on earnings and shareholders pay personal taxes on dividends. While LLCs offer multiple taxation options, they typically benefit from personal income tax rates, since business profits count as owner income.

Benefits of forming an LLC in Ohio

Planning on starting a business in Ohio? Forming an LLC might be your best move. Here’s why:

Personal asset protection 

An Ohio LLC keeps your personal assets safe. If your business faces legal issues or debts, your home, car, and savings stay protected.

Tax flexibility

Ohio LLCs receive pass-through taxation and avoid double taxation. The state offers favorable tax conditions, with no corporate income tax and a 3% pass-through entity tax. 

Simple formation process

Starting an Ohio LLC costs $99—lower than many states. You’ll mainly need to submit articles of organization to the Ohio Secretary of State.

Profit distribution flexibility

Distribute profits among LLC members as needed, regardless of ownership percentages. This lets you match distributions to member contributions and responsibilities.

Access to business incentives 

Your Ohio LLC may qualify for various programs, including tax credits, grants, and workforce development support.

Form your LLC in Ohio today

Setting up an LLC in Ohio offers numerous advantages, including asset protection, tax benefits, and credibility at low startup costs and with no annual maintenance fees. Ohio provides a cost-effective environment for entrepreneurs to establish and grow their companies.

After forming your Ohio LLC, start selling online with Shopify. Create a website, secure funding, and grow your brand using Shopify’s business tools—from customizable templates to payment processing and inventory management. Shopify provides the resources to launch your LLC successfully.

*This post is for information only. You are responsible for reviewing and using this information appropriately. Requirements are updated frequently and you should make sure to do your own research and reach out to professional legal, tax, and business advisers, as needed. Businesses outside of Ohio will have different steps and requirements. To sell products using the Shopify platform, you must comply with the laws of the jurisdiction of your business and your customers, the Shopify Terms of Service, the Shopify Acceptable Use Policy, and any other applicable policies.

As a business owner, there’s always that moment in developing a new relationship with a client when it comes time to sign a contract. 

As expensive, boring, and confusing as they can be at times, contracts ensure everyone is on the same page. Cementing the terms of your deal in writing means you can refer back to them at any time—and gain clarity that can prevent issues from cropping up later on.

If you’re in need of a business contract template to get you started, you’ve come to the right place.

What is a business contract template?

A business contract template is a ready-made document that lays out the basics of a business agreement. As a starting point for creating contracts, it helps you save time and avoid missing any important details.

Templates provide a handy starting point for owners, managers, legal teams, and businesses large and small. Many legal websites, business software programs, and law firms offer templates for common business documents.

What makes a good contract template?

A good contract template covers everything to guarantee a smooth transaction, whether you’re sealing the deal with a new supplier or bringing on a freelancer.

In general, a good contract template will include:

• Names and contact info of everyone involved
• Details about the goods or services being offered
• How and when payments should be made
• How long the agreement lasts
• What each party needs to do
• How to end the contract if needed
• Ways to solve disagreements

Templates can be great starting points, but they all need adjusting to fit your situation. It’s always a good idea to have a legal expert review the final document before using it to facilitate a business deal.

10 business contract template tools

1. SignWell
2. Legal Templates
3. Signaturely
4. Rocket Lawyer
5. ClickUp
6. The University of Texas at Austin
7. Jotform
8. PandaDoc
9. Bizee
10. Oneflow

Here are 10 business contract template platforms to explore:

1. SignWell

SignWell is an electronic signature software program that offers a ton of business contract templates. Its templates come from analyzing more than 25,000 sales documents representing $2 billion in winning sales. You can find templates for:

• Marketing agreements
• Web design contracts 
• Retainer agreements
• Sales contracts

Pricing: There is a free plan available that comes with one template and three documents a month. Paid plans start at $15 a month. 

2. Legal Templates

Legal Templates is a website dedicated entirely to contract templates. In addition to offering templates for real estate, personal, and estate planning purposes, Legal Templates has business contracts such as: 

• Partnership agreements
• Limited liability company (LLC) operating agreements
• Non-disclosure agreements 
• Employment contracts 

They also offer templates for other business-related documents, such as business plans, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), and business proposals. 

Pricing: You can sign up for a $9.99/month plan that’s billed annually, or pay $49.95 on a monthly basis following a free trial. Both plans provide full access to more than 140 legal forms.

3. Signaturely

Signaturely is another online signature software with a wide range of free contract templates. Its templates cover various business needs and have been reviewed by legal experts and proofreaders.

On it’s website, you’ll find templates for:

• Digital marketing proposals 
• Owner financing contracts
• Termination letters
• Shareholders agreements
• Rental agreements

Pricing: The Personal plan offers one template per month for $25/month and the unlimited Business plan for $50/month following a free trial. 

4. Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer offers an interactive, guided system for creating customized business agreements. The template starts by asking you a series of questions. It will gather specific information about the business transaction, such as:

• The type of agreement (sale of goods or services)
• Details of the parties involved
• Specific terms of the transaction (e.g., payment terms, delivery details)

As you answer these questions, Rocket Lawyer generates the appropriate clauses and populates the contract with your information.

Pricing: Rocket Lawyer has plans starting at $19.99/month (billed annually) following a free trial. It also has other add-on services for additional costs.

5. ClickUp

The project management software ClickUp has more than 1,700 business templates available for download. You can find contracts for everything from simple business contracts to addendums and employment contracts. To use these templates, you’ll have to sign up for a free ClickUp account. 

Pricing: ClickUp offers a free plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $10/month. 

6. The University of Texas at Austin

Whether you need a speaker agreement or interagency cooperation contract, The University of Texas at Austin has free templates to cover it. On its website, you’ll find more than 20 business contract templates for download. To use them, you’ll have to make a Box.com account.

Pricing: Free.

7. Jotform

Jotform has more than 200 contract templates you can build and sign within the platform. From influencer contracts and loan agreements to requests for proposal (RFP) and nonprofit donation contracts, Jotform has a free contract template for most business situations.

Pricing: The free plan comes with five forms a month. Paid plans with more features start at $39/month.

8. PandaDoc

The document automation platform PandaDoc has a library of standard contract templates to save you time. Want to secure an AI partnership? There’s a contract for that. Planning to work with an artist on your next project? There’s also a contract for that. 

To use the PandaDoc templates, you’ll need to create a free account. No credit card required.

Pricing: The Starter plan comes with five templates a month and costs $35/month after a free trial. 

9. Bizee

Bizee is an online platform designed to help new business owners form LLCs, S corps, C corps, and nonprofits. It offers a contract template library with common legal contracts, partnership agreements, and employment agreements. 

Pricing: Bizee’s template library offers nine free templates with its free plan. The price of paid plans depends on your business’s state and structure. 

10. Oneflow

Oneflow’s free business templates cover categories like:

• Service contracts (e.g., accounting services, agency agreements)
• Vehicle-related contracts (e.g., car rental, car sales)
• Business agreements (e.g., partnerships, non-disclosure agreements)
• Employment contracts
• Lease agreements
• Proposals (e.g., marketing services, web design)

Pricing: Free PDF contracts with a Oneflow account. You’ll automatically get a 14-day free trial. When it’s over, you’ll get all the basic features, like e-signing and uploading PDFs, free forever. 

Advantages of business contract templates

While each business deal is unique, templates help speed up the creation of legally binding agreements. Having a reliable contract template can make a big difference. 

Here are some advantages of using them: 

• Saves you time. Templates cut down the time it takes to create contracts from scratch. You start with a pre-made structure and just fill in the specifics.
• Makes contracts consistent. Using templates helps keep all your contracts similar. This makes them easier to understand and manage across different deals or partnerships.
• Highlights important details. Templates often include all the necessary parts of a contract. You’re less likely to forget important details that could cause problems later.
• Can be cost-effective. When you use templates, you don’t need to pay lawyers to write every contract from the beginning. This saves lot of money, especially for smaller companies.
• Easy to customize. Good templates are flexible. You can adjust them to fit different situations without having to rewrite the whole thing, which is handy when dealing with various contract agreements.

Disadvantages of business contract templates

It’s easy to turn to online contract templates as a quick and cost-effective solution for your legal needs. However, this approach has its disadvantages:

• Unknown authorship. With free templates, you often don’t know who drafted the contract or their qualifications. Someone without proper legal training or industry expertise may have created the template.
• Potential industry mismatch. The template may not be specific to your industry, potentially missing crucial provisions or including irrelevant ones that don’t apply to your business.
• Potential jurisdictional issues. The contract may be written for a different legal jurisdiction, making it potentially incompatible with the local laws and regulations where your business operates.
• Outdated content. Without a date on the template, you can’t determine how old it is. This is problematic because laws, industry standards, and business practices change over time.
• Complex legal language. You may not fully understand what the contract says due to complex legal terminology. Even small words can significantly change the meaning of clauses, which can be risky if you’re not trained in legal language.

Bottom line on business contract templates

Business contract templates save you from writing everything from scratch, keep your agreements consistent, and cut down on legal costs. That said, it’s always wise to have a legal professional review any finished contract before you sign it. That way, you can deal with fair, enforceable contracts and avoid legal troubles down the road. 

Single-serve pods or whole beans? Light roast or dark? Late-night study session or early morning school drop-off? Millions of people around the world drink coffee, but they don’t all do it the same way.

That’s why Propeller Coffee Co. used customer segmentation to customize its messages. By presenting different product mixes, subscription frequencies, and shipping rates to different audiences, it was able to achieve a remarkable increase in email marketing conversions and sales.

If you want to drive similar results, you can use a few different types of audience segmentation to inform your marketing strategy and grow your business.

What is audience segmentation?

Audience segmentation is the practice of categorizing your audience into groups based on their characteristics or behavior. Organizations use these groups to create personalized marketing campaigns.

Traditional marketing campaigns rely on mass messaging. These campaigns work best for products with a singular appeal to a broad audience, like toothbrushes. If, however, you wanted to market toothbrushes designed for different needs (people with sensitive gums, parents of small children, etc.), customer segmentation would allow you to tailor your messaging so it resonates with different customers.

Ultimately, creating audience segments enables you to deliver more personally tailored content to your target audience, driving stronger results.

Types of audience segmentation

There are four main types of audience segmentation. You can use these as isolated segments or layer them to create more niche audiences:

Demographic segmentation

Demographics are the most basic segmentation criteria. Demographic data includes qualities like age, gender, ethnicity, income, and educational background.

Demographics provide an excellent foundation for analysis but are more powerful when combined with other segmentation criteria. For example, think about your high school classmates from your hometown. Although you’re the same age, have the same starting education, and grew up in the same area, would you say your values, lifestyles, and reasons for purchasing are identical? Unlikely. That’s why it’s often important to layer other segments on top of demographic segmentation.

Geographic segmentation

Geographic segmentation is an important subset of demographic segmentation, grouping audiences based on location. It allows you to separate marketing efforts by region with localized language, regional shipping rates, and local holiday promotions. You can identify audience segments that get as granular as a ZIP code or as expansive as a continent.

You might use a geographic audience segmentation strategy to advertise promotions based on local holidays or climate. For example, in the winter, an outerwear brand might target audiences around Vancouver with raincoats while showing parkas to people in Chicago.

Behavioral segmentation

Behavioral segmentation groups people based on their online actions. Part of this involves tracking what they do on your website, but it extends further than that.

Behavioral data encompasses purchase history, social media usage, Google searches, ad views, and more. Use this information with your content and customer journey maps to match your message to their needs.

For example, knowing purchase history, such as how long ago customers purchased a consumable product, can help you email them at precisely the right moment they need to replace it.

Psychographic segmentation

Psychographic segmentation gives you clues into the “why” behind your customer’s actions. Marketers typically gather this data through consumer research, like surveys, to get insights into customer personality types, lifestyle choices, guiding values, and beliefs. Then, they use interest-based targeting and tailored messaging to align with each group’s motivations.

You may know that your audience likes particular brands on social media, but do you know why? Are they family-oriented or individualistic? Are they adventure-seekers or homebodies? The messaging you use will depend on the reasons behind their purchase decisions.

How to use audience segmentation

Define audience segments

Use online and offline tools to identify concrete audience groups. Web analytics tools give you insight into your customers’ online activity and demographics, while traditional research methods like focus groups and surveys help uncover deeper motivations.

You can also let customers segment themselves by incorporating preferences and interests into your email signup forms. Then, group customers according to categories like average order value, new subscribers, or interests.

Personalize content

Once you’ve segmented your target audiences, make your marketing efforts count by personalizing content that speaks to each group. You typically only have a brief moment of attention, so ensure your message hits home.

For example, in an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast, Aaron Zack, former vice president at Propeller Coffee Co., discusses the benefits of customer segmentation. “We look at customer segmentation analysis in terms of product mix, purchase rate, AOV, LTV, and abandoned cart rate to get an understanding of how people are marking purchases or not,” he says.

The company used that information to personalize its product offerings and promotions depending on where a customer lived. “After several months, we were seeing a consistent 175% increase in email marketing conversions,” Aaron says.

Align segments with marketing channels

Choose the right channel for each particular segment. For example, the social media posts or channels you use to reach each generation will likely differ. You can reach Gen Z audiences on TikTok, but baby boomers are more likely to spend their time on Facebook. Understand your audience’s preferences and meet them where they are.

If you sell office supplies to office managers, you might want to reach them when they search on Google, and focus on SEO/SEM tactics. However, if you sell unique supplies like bullet journals to students, you may have better success on Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram.

Segment your online advertising

Online advertising platforms like Meta Ads can create audiences that include or exclude users based on information from their social media profiles. Ecommerce tools like Shopify Audiences can also generate custom audience segments for advertising platforms, based on their algorithm’s selection of customers who are most likely to buy from your store.

Create or upload audience groups in your ad platform based on your chosen criteria. You can also set ad budgets by audience to ensure you spend appropriately for each group. For example, if you know that one segment tends to make higher-value purchases than another, you can spend more on them, assuming their ad conversion value will likely be higher.

Optimize your website for your target customers

Create custom landing pages to target specific audience segments. Use these pages to showcase various product offerings and messaging that resonates with them. For example, if you sell home décor, you could create one landing page that appeals to families and another to young couples.

So you have a great product, but no one’s heard about it. Want to get your brand message out there? Digital PR is one answer for getting online visibility—visibility that can turn into real sales. And with ecommerce sales projected to surpass $6.3 trillion in 2024, it’s no wonder PR pros focus their pitches on online and digital media.

“If you have a product that can be talked about in publications, and you’re not on an affiliate platform, you are completely losing out on maximizing all the press opportunities for the brand,” says Lauren Kleinman, founder of the PR agency Dreamday.

Below is a look at the benefits of running a digital PR campaign and how you can start building brand awareness for your company using digital PR strategies—with advice from Lauren along the way.

What is digital PR?

Digital public relations is the practice of managing a company’s brand reputation online. Digital PR strategies include coordinating product reviews, setting up interviews, networking with bloggers and online journalists, creating and distributing digital press releases, using influencer marketing, and pitching and publishing digital PR content—all of which help build brand awareness with target audiences. Digital PR campaigns might also include common digital marketing tactics for search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, influencer marketing, and social media marketing.

A huge part of digital public relations is affiliate marketing—the practice of coordinating people outside of your company to discuss your products in exchange for a sales commission. Lauren describes affiliate marketing partners as existing in three categories:

• Top-of-funnel partners. This includes heavyweight publications like Vogue or The New York Times.

• Mid-funnel partners. This includes bloggers, social media influencers, and sub-affiliate networks.

• Bottom-of-funnel partners. This would include loyalty- or coupon-based programs like Rakuten and Honey.

Digital PR vs. traditional PR

Digital PR efforts focus primarily on reaching audiences via online channels, whereas traditional PR focuses on outreach to traditional media outlets, often via live press briefings or press releases. Most PR specialists combine digital and offline methods to manage brand perception.

Lauren explains that there’s a difference in methodology between digital and traditional, too. Traditional PR firms are more retainer-based, focusing on a list of contacts with whom they have established relationships. Digital PR, on the other hand, is more data- and performance-based and relies on modern media monitoring tools and analytics tools.

Lauren shares an example scenario for a digital PR firm: “OK, these are the top five publications that performed best for this brand in the past,” she says, “[so] we’re going to go really hard after [them] this quarter in whatever way we can.”

Digital PR vs. link building

Link building is an SEO strategy dedicated to increasing the number of quality backlinks to your content—in other words, getting websites to link to your content. Link building can boost organic rankings in search results based on how many links you get directing readers to your content, as well as the quality of those links. When reputable publications link to your site, Google perceives you as creating quality content and will direct more traffic your way.

Link building is part of a digital PR strategy. While a content marketing team might be responsible for creating quality content to improve a brand’s reputation, a digital PR specialist might send that content around to news outlets, popular blogs, and influencers, looking for coverage and links.

Why is digital PR important for businesses?

Digital PR is more than just a promotional tactic to get traffic to your content—although that is one of the goals. Let’s take a look at the benefits of digital PR to shape your brand’s online identity:

• Create brand awareness. A digital PR campaign can deliver your brand’s key messages to a wider audience. Better brand visibility means more potential customers who know your name.

• Boost traffic to websites. Digital strategy tactics, such as link building and SEO, can help boost your website traffic so you have more chances to convert visitors to customers.

• Increase social media followers. A social-focused digital PR campaign—with brand mentions, influencer shout-outs, and users creating content around your brand message—can increase your followers. “Instagram and TikTok have broadened the additional surfaces … that PR can live on,” Lauren explains, making the platforms complementary to digital PR activities.

• Earn high-quality backlinks. The more relevant media outlets link to your content, the better your brand perception will be—especially with Google’s search engine algorithm.

• Generate sales. Online PR will improve brand awareness and your online reputation—and that’s a good thing, since 81% of consumers need to trust a brand to consider buying. Better brand visibility and brand image might just be your secret recipe for converting your web traffic into sales.

How to create a digital PR campaign

1. Set your KPIs
2. Identify your target audience
3. Establish relationships
4. Mine existing content
5. Develop new content
6. Track and readjust

A strong digital PR campaign has many components and requires diligence and patience. “There’s no free PR,” Lauren says. “You have to work for it.” Here’s how you can craft a digital PR strategy that will help skyrocket your brand’s online reputation:

1. Set your KPIs

A plan is nothing without a measure of success. Figure out what it is you want your PR to achieve, and make sure your strategy builds toward these goals. Possible key performance indicators (KPIs) include a boost in web traffic, more sales leads, increased followers on social media platforms, or a set number of high-quality backlinks when you create content.

2. Identify your target audience

The more you know about your target audience, the better. Find out where they go to consume content, and what kind of content they respond best to. You can’t create relevant content if you don’t know who you’re talking to.

3. Establish relationships

The foundation of a good PR team or digital PR agency is a network of bloggers, journalists, websites, and newsrooms who can get you media coverage. Build up your base of media outlets that you can send press releases and content to so you can get positive media coverage.

4. Mine existing content

Don’t reinvent the wheel for your PR—if you have existing written or video content, think about how you can repurpose and repackage it for off-site purposes. “Our team will … clip Instagram stories or posts, which kind of qualify as press in their own right,” Lauren says, “when it’s the right person sharing to their audience about a product.”

5. Develop new content

Once you’ve taken stock of the content you do have, identify new approaches and content ideas to further increase brand awareness. Lauren recommends sharing interesting founder stories, examples of your brand’s cultural relevance, and impressive metrics. For instance, her firm created a press release that client Fly by Jing had sold over a million dumplings in its first two months. Using these as content prompts can help kickstart your PR strategy for driving brand awareness.

6. Track and readjust

With your KPIs in mind, assess your PR strategy’s performance regularly. Use social media analytics, Google Analytics, and other data-driven tools at your disposal to make sure you’re on track. If you’re not hitting your goals, reassess your strategy, using greater brand awareness and brand loyalty as your guiding lights.

Have you ever felt like a mind reader was determining the advertisements you see on web pages and social media? It can be a little spooky when, once you take an interest in a particular product, it suddenly seems like relevant ads for the item are everywhere. Turns out, there’s nothing supernatural going on: You’re just experiencing a successful search retargeting campaign. This type of marketing strategy can be an easy, cost-effective way to connect with a target audience. Learn more about setting up retargeting ads to provide your next customer with relevant content.

What is search retargeting?

Search retargeting is a digital marketing strategy that targets an audience on the keywords related to a product or service they previously used in search engines, regardless of which websites they originally landed on as a result of their search.

Search retargeting is an automated process. After a user searches a keyword, the search engine anonymously collects the search query data using cookies or other tracking technology. Advertisers then use this data to display relevant targeted ads for that user as they navigate across websites and social media.

This allows users to learn about your brand for the first time when they are actively seeking more information on a product your company offers. Ideally, the display ad reminds a user of their interest in the item, or they discover your brand and revisit your site when they are ready to make a purchase.

Search retargeting vs. site retargeting

Search retargeting and site retargeting are digital advertising strategies to engage potential customers. Both strategies can enhance the customer journey and increase conversions, but they focus on different stages in the ecommerce conversion funnel and different target audiences based on user behavior.

Search retargeting displays ads based on search behavior, to users who have shown interest in your products or topics through their search engine queries, and aims to bring new visitors to your site. With search retargeting, advertisements can remind potential customers of their interest and encourage them to visit your website for the first time as a solution to their problem. Search retargeting results in display ads appearing in the margins of other websites.

Meanwhile, site retargeting advertises to users who have previously visited your website, demonstrating an interest in your particular brand, and it typically guides users to revisit and move down the sales funnel. This might include completing actions like purchasing items in their shopping carts or signing up for a newsletter. Site retargeting utilizes paid ads at the top of a search results page.

How to set up and use Google search retargeting

1. Start a new campaign
2. Set audience targeting options
3. Determine bidding
4. Create ad groups
5. Create search ads
6. Analyze the results

Google search retargeting campaigns involve displaying your ads to users who have previously searched for relevant keywords through the search engine. Google keeps all the first-party search data collected in-house, so the only way to utilize it in your marketing efforts is to leverage Google Ads. Setting up search retargeting with Google Ads involves these straightforward steps:

1. Start a new campaign

If you don’t already have one, create a Google Ads account. Navigate through campaigns to click “New campaign” and select “Search” as the campaign type.

2. Set audience targeting options

After creating your campaign, select your targeting options. To determine your target audience, consider the people who might be interested in your business: Are they likely to be ready to buy a product or sign up for your newsletter?

Google Display Network targeting lets you adjust your audience preferences based on location, language, interests, demographics, and online activity. Location is an important factor in determining your target audience, since it’s possible to omit irrelevant locations to save on advertising spend (for example, if you don’t ship internationally). Or if you are marketing something location-specific, such as a product launch event, choose “people searching for your targeted locations” in the location options.

3. Determine bidding

Targeting will determine who sees your ads, but “bidding” refers to what action you want users to take when they see your ad. Are you hoping to increase your overall website traffic? Then choose “Clicks” when setting up bidding in your Google Ads campaign. Focused on sales or leads? Choose “Conversions.” With the “Conversion value” option, it’s even possible to target a specific return on ad spend.

4. Create ad groups

After selecting your campaign settings, you’ll create “ad groups,” which are groups of specific keywords relevant to the term potential customers will search for on Google. Let’s say you own a stationery business. You might create an ad group named “birthday cards” and target keywords like “birthday card,” “30th birthday card,” and “birthday card for mom.” Then you would create your ads for these products and link to the birthday card page of your website. You might also create a different ad group and set of associated keywords for other products, such as planners and other types of stationery and greeting cards.

5. Create search ads

Now you must create customized ads for each ad group. Arguably, the most important part is to thoughtfully create your keyword lists for search ads. Include your keywords in the ads’ headlines and descriptions. It’s valuable to focus on long-tail keywords (search terms that are several words long, rather than just a one-word term) because these are more likely to relate to a specific set of users.

It’s best practice to create three different ads for each ad group. Aim to write three headlines with corresponding descriptions, which can include up to 90 characters to describe your product and entice customers to learn more. When you create ads for search, remember that they are display ads, so the visuals play an important role. Use high-quality, relevant branding photography.

6. Analyze the results

Congratulations! You’ve activated Google search retargeting for your business. View the results of your ads in the Overview or Campaigns page in your Google Ads account. Take these steps to improve your existing search campaign and better strategize for a future retargeting campaign:

• Analyze the click-through rate. If you need to improve your click-through rate (CTR), write engaging ad text and prioritize including keywords. Utilize keyword research tools to inform your decisions.

• Track conversions on your website. Good average ecommerce conversion rates vary depending on the business and industry, but if yours is below 0.5% you likely have room to improve.

• Improve your retargeting strategy. Gain insights from the high-performing keywords, which will inform where to keep focusing your efforts. If a keyword is underperforming, remove it from the campaign.

Identify themes or trends through your website’s platform to discover the user’s customer journey. If someone visited your site through search retargeting, you may want to know what other pages the user viewed on your website.