Shopify customer retention: 7 strategies + examples

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Wouldn’t it be great if there were a way to increase your customer lifetime value and purchase frequency? That’s what Shopify customer retention does.

Shopify retention targets existing customers with post-purchase offers, rewards, and personalized content to encourage additional purchases. Your goal is to get one-time buyers to purchase two, three, four, or countless times.

Join us below to discover seven Shopify customer retention strategies, plus tips and examples for nailing your approach for maximum revenue.

What is Shopify customer retention?

Shopify customer retention is a marketing strategy that targets existing customers for repeat purchases. Building repeat purchase habits increases revenue, strengthens relationships, and turns buyers into brand advocates.

Top Shopify stores have strategies to target existing customers at optimal moments, such as follow-up emails after orders, rewards for frequent buyers, and exclusive discounts. They also track retention rates to measure engagement.

You can calculate your Shopify customer retention rate with this formula:

Customer retention rate = (X retained customers ÷ X starting customers) × 100

Let’s break it down with an example:

• You start the month with 100 customers
• 15 of those 100 customers make another purchase during the month
• You also gain 25 new customers during the month
• Your total customer count at month-end is 125

Your retention rate is therefore: 

15 customers who returned ÷ 100 starting customers × 100 = 15%.

The retention rate only tracks the number of your original customers who came back to buy again. New customers gained don’t affect this calculation.

Why customer retention is the secret to growth on Shopify

“Make the most of what you have” is one of life’s great mottos, and it couldn’t be any more relevant than growing your Shopify store.

The customers who return and buy again are extremely valuable to your business because they contribute the most sales and revenue. Additionally, they are loyal, giving you an edge over competitors without additional marketing.

Imagine two stores: 

• Store A attracts 1,000 new customers/month, each buying once
• Store B acquires 300 new customers but keeps them returning for three purchases each
• Store B generates nearly equal revenue with 70% fewer acquisitions
• Store A’s higher customer acquisition costs and churn mean lower profits

Retention turns your business model from customer hunting to relationship building. You spend less time convincing strangers to trust you and more time delighting people who already understand your value.

Of course, you still need to acquire new customers. But once they’ve purchased, retention multiplies their value, reducing the pressure to find new buyers.

Proven Shopify customer retention strategies

Your best customer retention results will come from consistent follow-up after the first purchase, using email sequences, loyalty rewards, and personalized messaging that keeps customers engaged.

Follow these strategies to retain more customers:

Build an engaging post-purchase email flow

Post-purchase emails maintain momentum after checkout with order confirmations, shipping updates, and product care tips. These touchpoints build trust when customers feel uncertain about their purchase decisions.

Omnisend automates this critical sequence with pre-built workflows that trigger based on purchase events. Templates include thank you messages, delivery notifications, and follow-up emails asking for reviews or offering complementary products.

Here’s an example of a thank you email from pet product retailer Homes Alive:

Launch loyalty or rewards programs

Loyalty programs create a psychological investment in your business. Customers earn points for purchases, reviews, or referrals with redeemable value. Those savings could give you the edge over competitors selling similar products.

Members will likely spend more per order and visit frequently because they work toward rewards. Programs with tiered benefits — basic members get points, and VIP members receive exclusive perks — encourage additional participation.

Another tactic to increase loyalty is gamification, such as competitions, Wheel of Fortune forms, and gift emails, to make your program feel less transactional.

Nutrition brand BUOY uses gift emails to reward its most loyal members:

Send personalized product recommendations

A customer’s purchase history reveals buying patterns that you can use for personalized suggestions. For example, someone who bought running shoes might want moisture-wicking socks next.

Your Shopify store automatically collects purchase information that your email marketing platform (e.g., Omnisend) can sync.

Email automation can suggest related items, send restock notifications for consumables, or promote seasonal collections based on past preferences, increasing relevance and conversion rates among new and existing customers.

Fashion brand Forever 21 sends product recommendation emails with discounts to re-engage new customers:

Create VIP customer segments and offers

Identify your top 20% of customers by purchase frequency or total spend, then treat them like VIPs. These buyers deserve exclusive perks that make them feel appreciated.

Give VIP customers early sales access, reduced free shipping minimums, double rewards points, or first dibs on new products. Acknowledge their status in emails with messages like “As one of our valued customers” rather than generic blasts. 

For instance, Salomon Japan segments customers by interests (ski, snowboard, outdoor, running) and loyalty program level to send highly targeted emails, including automated birthday and tier progression emails that grow membership and retention.

Here’s how its workflow looks in Omnisend:

Use SMS marketing to drive re-engagement

SMS marketing bypasses crowded email inboxes to reach customers with urgent messages, such as flash sales, reminders about items left in carts, and point expiry alerts.

Text messages work perfectly for re-engaging customers who’ve gone silent on email. In Omnisend, you can trigger them based on customer behavior patterns, such as cart and browse abandonment, and set delays to avoid communication fatigue.

Check out this workflow for a replenishment reminder:

Offer fast, responsive customer service

Quick support prevents negative experiences from turning into lost customers. Resolve issues using live chat, email tickets, and detailed FAQs before problems escalate.

Response time matters more than perfect solutions. Answer live chat within minutes, reply to emails within hours, and create self-service resources for common questions. 

For instance, Omnisend includes 24/7 customer support for technical assistance and campaign optimization guidance across all plans.

Promote limited-time offers to past buyers

Time-sensitive offers create FOMO that tackles purchase hesitation and inertia from satisfied one-time buyers.

Segment customers by purchase timing and product category, then send targeted flash sales with catchy subject lines, such as “You loved this — now 30% off for 48 hours.” Scarcity messaging works particularly well with past buyers who understand your product offerings.

You could also combine limited-time offers with reward program promotions, like offering 20% off if your customer signs up.

Best Shopify customer retention apps

These are the best Shopify apps to retain and nurture your customers:

1. Omnisend — best for retention automation

Omnisend lets you create email, SMS, and push notification automation flows that nurture customers after their first purchase. 

Pre-built post-purchase workflows for cross-sells, order follow-ups, replenishment reminders, anniversaries, and more ensure a minimal learning curve and fast setup.

You can personalize every message with customer information and incentivize additional purchases in emails with dynamic product listings and discount codes. For example, your email could mention the customer’s name and offer a 10% discount code.

Features

• Ecommerce automations: Automate email, SMS, and push notifications
• Customizable triggers: Trigger automations on customer actions, purchase events, engagement, page views, segment changes, order fulfillment, and custom API events
• Segmentation: Group customers into unlimited segments for appropriate targeting
• Personalization: Add customer information to all messages
• Reporting: Track all crucial retainment metrics, including predicted CLV, revenue, orders, and average order value (AOV) per customer

Pricing

• Free: 250 contacts, 500 emails, and 500 web push notifications/month (includes all standard features)
• Standard: $16/month for 500 contacts, up to 6,000 emails/month, $1 gifted SMS credits, and unlimited web push notifications
• Pro: $59/month for 2,500 contacts, unlimited emails, and bonus SMS credits equal to the price of your monthly plan

Why choose it? 

Choose Omnisend as your Shopify app for better customer retention. It automates customer retention across email, SMS, and push channels with pre-built workflows that personalize messages using customer names, purchase history, and dynamic product recommendations.

2. Smile.io — best for loyalty programs

Smile is the best customer retention app for Shopify for customer loyalty programs with points, referrals, and VIP tiers that encourage repeat purchases and reduce customer acquisition costs.

Features

• Points program: Customers earn points for purchases, reviews, social shares, and referrals, which they can redeem for rewards
• VIP tiers: Multiple membership levels offer exclusive perks and rewards for your highest-value customers
• Social engagement: Reward customer activity on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook to expand brand visibility
• Points bonus events: Run limited-time promotions that drive sales during specific periods or product launches
• Omnisend integration: Sync loyalty data to create personalized email campaigns and customer segments automatically

Pricing

• Free: Up to 200 monthly orders with basic points and referral programs
• Starter: $49/month for 500 orders with advanced branding and customizable emails
• Growth: $199/month for 2,500 orders with bonus events and product rewards
• Plus: $999/month for 7,500 monthly orders, then $5 per additional 100 orders

Why choose it?

Choose Smile for an easy loyalty program setup without coding. The VIP tiers and points system keep customers returning, while the referral program brings quality new shoppers to your store.

3. ReConvert — best for post-purchase upsells

ReConvert creates post-purchase upsell and cross-sell offers after checkout completion, maximizing order value and driving customer retention.

Features

• One-click upsells: Customers accept offers without re-entering payment information during checkout
• Thank you page customization: Add upsells, surveys, and bonus offers on order confirmation pages
• Product bundles: Create packages with discounted pricing to increase AOV
• Checkout blocks: Insert upsell offers directly into the checkout process before purchase
• A/B testing: Test different upsell offers to optimize conversion rates and revenue
• Omnisend integration: Sync customer birthday data collected at checkout to trigger birthday automation emails

Pricing

• Development: Free for development stores with all features included
• Upsell Basic: $4.99/month for 49 orders plus 0.75% of upsell revenue
• Upsell Premium Pro: $14.99/month for 199 orders plus 0.75% of upsell revenue

Why choose it?

Choose ReConvert to generate revenue from existing orders with post-purchase upsells featuring one-click acceptance.

Other Shopify customer retention metrics you should track

Customer retention rate alone doesn’t tell you the complete picture of customer loyalty. Combined with other metrics, you get a clearer view of customer behavior patterns, revenue opportunities, and potential problems before they damage your business.

These additional metrics will provide greater insight into how your customers behave and respond to retention tactics:

• Returning customer rate (RCR): The percentage of customers who have made at least two purchases during a period. Aim for 20-30%, depending on your product type and typical customer journey length.
• Customer lifetime value (CLV): Calculates each customer’s total revenue across their shopping history. Higher CLV justifies spending more on acquisition and retention efforts for those segments.
• Purchase frequency: Shows how regularly customers return to buy again. Customers buying monthly generate more predictable revenue than those purchasing yearly, while infrequent buyers need stronger retention strategies.
• Churn rate: Reveals when customers stop buying permanently. Monitor quarterly churn patterns to identify at-risk segments and deploy win-back campaigns before losing valuable customers.

Turn customers into repeat buyers

Shopify brand growth depends less on constant new acquisitions and more on keeping existing customers engaged. Once someone buys from you, they’re ripe to purchase again when approached with the right message at the right time.

Your messages across email, SMS, and push notifications create familiarity that generic outreach can’t match. Welcome messages, product recommendations, and timely follow-ups build genuine connections rather than one-off transactions.

Customers naturally return for more purchases when they recognize your brand, trust your communications, and feel valued with personalized experiences.

Start your retention strategy today with Omnisend and see how intuitive it is to build automated messages that encourage additional purchases.

Shopify customer retention FAQs