5 retention basics every growing Shopify store needs

Before you start: know your number

Open Shopify Analytics and find your returning customer rate. It's the simplest measure of whether people come back. Check it before you change anything, then again a couple of months later, so you know which of these actually helped.

1. A post-purchase email flow

This is the cheapest retention tool you have, and most stores under-use it. A short automated sequence after the first order does most of the work:

• A thank-you email with anything useful about the product: how to use it, care instructions, what to expect.
• A reminder when it's likely time to reorder, or a suggestion for a product that goes with what they bought.
• A small incentive on the second order if they haven't come back after a few weeks.

Shopify Email and Klaviyo can both do this. Set it up before anything else on this list.

2. Reviews from real customers

Reviews help new visitors decide, but they also bring existing customers back: asking for a review is a reason to email them, and a customer who writes one is more invested in your brand.

• Ask once the order has arrived and been used, not the day it ships.
• Make it easy: one click to a star rating, then an optional comment or photo.
• Reply to negative reviews publicly and politely. How you handle problems is what new visitors read most closely.

3. A loyalty program

Once a meaningful share of your orders come from returning customers, a loyalty program gives them a reason to keep choosing you. Keep it simple at the start:

• Points on every order, with a first reward customers can reach by their second or third order, not their tenth.
• Let customers see and use their points where they shop: on product pages, in the cart and in their account.
• Add VIP tiers later, once you know who your best customers are. Higher earning rates for big spenders are easy for customers to understand.

Before you pick an app, check how its price changes as your order volume grows. Many charge by orders per month, so the cheap plan you start on can get expensive as you succeed.

4. A referral program

Your happiest customers already recommend you. A referral program gives them an easy way to do it and a reason to: typically a discount for the friend and a reward for the person who referred them.

• Make the reward worth sharing, but keep it smaller than what it costs you to win a customer through ads.
• Put the referral link where customers already look: their account page and the post-purchase emails.
• Turn on fraud protection. Referral programs attract people creating fake accounts to collect rewards, so limit how often codes can be used and watch for unusual spikes.

5. A returns process that doesn't undo everything else

Returns are part of retention. A customer who has an easy return is more likely to buy again than one who had to fight for it.

• Write a clear returns policy and link it from product pages and the footer.
• Offer an exchange or store credit before a refund. It keeps the customer, and the revenue, with you.
• Make sure rewards follow refunds. If a refunded order keeps its loyalty points or referral reward, you're paying for a sale you didn't make.

Where Habit fits

Habit covers numbers 3 and 4, and the last point of number 5: points, VIP tiers and referrals with fraud checks, with points reversed automatically when an order is refunded. It's one plan at $49/month with no order limit, and it installs in about 10 minutes. Emails and reviews need their own tools, and you should set those up first.

Not sure you're ready for a loyalty program yet? Read Do you actually need a paid loyalty app? To compare what loyalty apps would cost at your order volume, try our price calculator.