Are You Aware of the True Cost of Loss of Marketing Signals in Your Shopify Store?
In today’s digital age, Shopify merchants are heavily reliant on its technology and app store to streamline operations, reach customers, and stay competitive. For many e-commerce businesses, Shopify has become the go-to platform for creating and managing their online stores – there are 1.7M Shopify stores globally today.
However, there’s a hidden challenge that often goes unnoticed until it’s too late – the efficiency of your tech stack that comes with a hyper-automated solution like Shopify. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the consequences of tech stack inefficiency, with a particular focus on Shopify stores, and explore how to monitor and ensue efficiency and costly car crash scenarios.
Do You Really Know The Gaps in Your Marketing Signals?
In the world of e-commerce, your marketing signals are the lifeblood of your business. They guide your decisions, drive your strategies, and ultimately determine your success. Your marketing signals encompass a wide range of data and insights, from customer behavior to conversion rates.
But here’s the question: How often do you check for gaps in your marketing signals?
In the context of e-commerce, it’s not just about using platforms like Shopify, it’s about recognizing where the gaps in your marketing signals might be hiding. These gaps can be elusive, yet they hold the key to unlocking your business’s full potential.
Imagine you’re running a Shopify store, and you notice a drop in website traffic. You investigate your tech stack—your website’s theme, apps, and integrations—but find no issues. However, a closer look at your marketing signals reveals that your social media campaigns have been inconsistent, causing the traffic decline.
The Unseen Impacts
Many businesses might not fully understand the intricate details of their tech stack or the potential consequences of inefficiency. In this blog post, we will delve into marketing issues, specifically two marketing issues. One such issue often arises when themes or changes the tech stack. Let’s examine two crucial scenarios that are widely used by most/all merchants having $1M+ GMV (100K+ merchants):
1. Theme Updates
Shopify app store offers a plethora of themes and apps that businesses can use to customize their online stores. However, when you update your theme, it’s not just a simple facelift. Most theme upgrades involve rewriting or updating a significant portion of the code. This can have far-reaching effects on your store’s functionality, especially when it comes to third-party integrations.
Consider this scenario:
Your #1 cost to revenue factor is your marketing spend. You’ve invested in marketing efforts to drive traffic and conversions. However, after a theme update, critical integrations like Klaviyo, Blotout, or Meta Pixels get obliterated (probably because the update code snippets were critical for signals that drive revenue). What do you think if you missed a week of “Add-to-Cart” signals to your Klaviyo or Meta – how would your remaking engine works?”
With a GMV of $75 million, thus brand tested its new Shopify. Regrettably, the theme testing disruptions led to a loss in Purchase event tracking, resulting in an estimated daily loss of approximately $25,000 in revenue impact, underscoring the urgency of addressing and rectifying these issues.
Are you really set up to detect these issues on time? What does it typically cost you per event?
2. GitHub Incompetence
GitHub is a powerful tool that allows developers to collaborate and manage code changes effectively. Many Shopify users leverage GitHub to update their sites and integrate custom code seamlessly. However, issues can arise when changes made through GitHub clash with the nightly builds performed by Shopify.
With a GMV of $50 million, this e-commerce brand relies heavily on Klaviyo for revenue generation. Unfortunately, not detecting an issue with Klaviyo resulted in a daily revenue loss of approximately $7,000.
The root of this problem is often the lack of robust version control. Without clear version control practices, important code can be the nightly build process. This can lead to functionality disruptions, customer experience issues, and sales opportunities.
Without tight processes, or with new engineers on your team, issues like these often arise. The converse is also true i.e. mistakes happen even having a tenured team and with tight processes. Are you set up to detect these issues?
Ensuring Efficiency and Resilience
Now that we’ve highlighted some of the potential pitfalls of tech stack inefficiency, let’s explore how to monitor and ensure the efficiency and resilience of your Shopify store.
1. Regular Monitoring
Regularly monitor your website’s performance and integrations. Keep an eye on how theme updates or app changes affect your site’s functionality and user experience. Testing is key to identifying issues before they become critical.
2. Version Control
Implement robust version control practices, especially when using GitHub integrations. This ensures that changes made to your code are tracked and managed effectively, reducing the risk of unintentional overwrites.
3. Backup and Rollback Plans
Have backup plans in place, including the ability to rollback to a previous version of your theme or code. This can be a lifesaver when unexpected issues arise.
4. Collaborate Carefully
When working with third-party developers or agencies, ensure that they follow best practices and communicate effectively regarding code changes and updates.
5. Stay Informed
Keep up-to-date with Shopify’s guidelines and best practices for theme updates and app integrations. The Shopify documentation, such as the theme updates and GitHub integration guides, can be valuable resources.
Efficiency and Resilience Made Simple
with OTB’s SaaS OS Intelligent Platform
While implementing the strategies and best practices mentioned above can significantly reduce the risks associated with tech stack inefficiency, there’s an even more efficient and cost-effective way to address these challenges: Out of The Blue’s (OTB) B2B Continuous AI-driven SaaS OS Intelligent Platform.
OTB, powered by OTB’s B2B Continuous AI-driven SaaS OS Intelligent Platform analytics, offers a smarter and quicker OS solution to ensure the efficiency and resilience of your Shopify store’s tech stack. Here’s why OTB AI-driven SaaS OS Intelligent is the right choice:
Continuous and Comprehensive Monitoring:
OTB provides 24/7 monitoring across all your digital properties, eliminating the need for manual oversight. It ensures that you’re always aware of any deviations from the norm.
Automated Root Cause Analytics (RCA):
Instead of spending valuable time pinpointing the source of issues, OTB’s automated RCA swiftly identifies problems and their origins, reducing downtime and minimizing revenue losses.
Translation of Metric Changes:
OTB only detects changes in metrics but translates them into clear insights on how they impact your top line and bottom line. This allows you to prioritize actions based on their potential business impact.
Cost-Effective:
By leveraging OTB’s B2B Continuous AI-driven SaaS OS Intelligent Platform, you can achieve all the benefits mentioned above more costly compared to manual efforts. It saves you valuable resources, both in terms of time and money.
In conclusion, while manual efforts to ensure tech stack efficiency are essential, embracing a SaaS OS intelligent e-commerce platform like Out Of The Blue (OTB) is the smarter choice.
Out Of The Blue’s, B2B Continuous AI-driven SaaS OS Intelligent Platform works for you 24*7 behind the scenes to drive time-critical interventions – to drive top-line growth and costs – so that direct-to-consumer companies can do what they do best – understand their customers and deliver delightful experiences!
