Crisis Management for Your Shopify Store

Shopify is an all-in-one commerce platform that provides a complete solution to build, manage and scale online stores. Its content management system offers numerous features that cater to marketing, sales, customer engagement, and shipping.

Every business encounters unexpected challenges that can affect productivity and morale. The key to dealing with these situations is to have effective tactics and procedures in place.

1. Observe

If you’re a Shopify store owner, there will come a time when your platform goes down. In most cases, when this happens, you’ll be able to visit the Shopify status page (or check their social media pages) for updates. However, if you’re sitting in front of your computer hitting the refresh button over and over again, you may be wasting your time and actually hindering efforts to resolve the problem.

It’s important to understand that, just like any website or web-based service, your Shopify store is powered by servers, which are basically fancy computers. And just like any computer, they can go down for a variety of reasons.

As a result, it’s crucial to have backups of your data and know what to do in the event of an unexpected challenge. This will help you avoid losing sales and customer confidence.

Unexpected challenges in your store can be caused by many things, from software issues to hosting problems. Some of these issues are more complex than others, and some require a larger budget to resolve. For example, a data breach can cause major financial loss and damage to your reputation.

Another common unexpected challenge is slow site speed, which can lead to conversion rate drops and lost revenue. To prevent this, you can optimize your website by using a Shopify plugin for page speed and SEO, or by hiring a professional to help you with the task.

2. Evaluate

As a Shopify merchant, you will have to deal with unexpected challenges from time to time. For example, a technical glitch may cause your store to go down, and you might lose orders. To avoid losing a lot of revenue during these times, you need to build your business model so that it can take a hit from a few lost orders here and there. This way, you can focus on improving your store and make it stronger so that you won’t have to worry about downtime in the future.

Another potential challenge for Shopify stores is a data breach. This is a nightmare for eCommerce owners, as it can lead to financial loss, reputational damage, and operational downtime. However, there are ways to prevent a data breach in your Shopify store. These include monitoring mentions of your brand and products on social media and other platforms, implementing security measures, and using tools like Mention to identify possible vulnerabilities.

In addition to the above, you can also focus on increasing customer retention and engagement. This will help you keep the customers that you already have during a recession. To do this, you can use different strategies and incentives. For instance, you can offer discounts to loyal customers. Another strategy is to optimize your Shopify store for mobile devices. This is important, as many shoppers access eCommerce sites through their smartphones.

Lastly, you can use a cart recovery plugin such as Retainful to convert abandoned carts into sales. This can be done automatically by sending emails to customers with a discount when they have left items in their carts. This can help you get more revenue from your existing customers during a recession.

3. Communicate

Even though Shopify is one of the most robust eCommerce platforms in the world, it’s inevitable that unexpected challenges will happen from time to time. Depending on the magnitude of the challenge, it’s important to create an effective crisis communication plan. This will help to minimize reputational damage and ensure that customers feel informed and supported.

The first sign that something is amiss with a store is often when a visitor can’t access the website or login to the administration panel. Once they notice that the website is down, they should look for a status page or social media updates to see if and when it will be back up.

It’s also a good idea to use this downtime as an opportunity to improve processes or systems that will make it easier to recover from future outages. For example, a store owner may want to invest in a system that allows them to manage multiple eCommerce marketplaces at once. This would allow them to sell their products on different platforms without needing to liquidate stock on a secondary market.

In addition, a system that makes it easy to manage omnichannel product data is essential. This will enable a business to create and distribute content that matches buyer personas across all channels, which will result in higher conversion rates. For example, a product information management solution such as Littledata will provide a one-click process for enabling Enhanced eCommerce tracking in Google Analytics and then providing actionable insights that drive growth.

In order to maximize sales potential, a store should also be equipped with an abandoned cart recovery tool like Retainful. This plugin will allow a store to re-engage shoppers who have abandoned their carts and convert them into revenue with automated emails.

4. Manage expectations

With the average eCommerce return rate hovering around 33%, processing returns is a big headache for retail businesses. From the Shopify admin, merchants can manage orders, send shipping instructions and return labels to customers, restock returned items, and refund payments to consumers. However, handling these tasks manually can take up to an hour per day, which can significantly affect your productivity.

Shopify is a great platform for startups and small businesses that want to launch an online store. Its competitive prices (starting at $5 per month for its basic ‘Starter’ plan) and a huge range of apps make it an excellent option for those new to eCommerce. However, some of the key features offered by other eCommerce platforms can be missing from the Shopify experience.

For example, the platform doesn’t allow you to offer a wide range of product options and variants out of the box. If you want to add more, you’ll need to know how to code or pay for an app. This isn’t a problem if you sell products that are easily described, but it can be an issue for those who need more flexibility in their offerings.

Another area where Shopify is less flexible is in the way it handles file uploads. If you sell t-shirts or mugs, for instance, you’ll need to allow your customers to upload their own designs. In order to do this, you’ll need to be able to process the uploaded files and print them on demand.

Another thing that can be difficult with Shopify is responding to customer queries via email. While the eCommerce platform has a built-in email client, it’s not as easy to use as some of its rivals. For example, it can take up to 10 hours to reply to an email – which isn’t ideal for a business that relies on customers to provide feedback and support.

5. Take action

When a crisis situation arises in your Shopify store, it’s important to take immediate action. This can help you minimize damage and maintain customer trust. It also helps you manage expectations, demonstrate transparency, and build relationships with stakeholders. In the aftermath of a crisis, you should also review and learn from the experience.

Natural disasters, data breaches, and shipping delays are just a few of the many potential crises that can impact your e-commerce business. These situations can disrupt operations, cause loss of revenue, and damage your reputation. To protect your Shopify store from these situations, you must have a crisis management plan in place. This plan should include identifying and evaluating possible crisis scenarios, establishing a team, developing messaging, training your team, monitoring the situation, responding quickly and transparently, and assessing the outcome.

It’s also important to create a quality checkout experience, even during a crisis. This can be as simple as disabling the fields that aren’t relevant to your business (like shipping rates) or creating a clear and concise terms and conditions page. Finally, make sure to reach out to customers who have had a negative experience and work with them to resolve the issue. You can do this by offering refunds, providing support, or even giving them a discount on their next order. By taking these steps, you can show your customers that you care about them and are committed to making things right.

Shopify Development Trends: Most Shopify store owners focus on their digital marketing alongside their web development. Keeping up with the cutting-edge Shopify Apps in ensuring a frictionless checkout for their online store, with additional tools to fill the Shopping Cart. Online shopping continues to grow year-over-year as the user experience improves with tailored customer service practices. Behind the scenes, are Shopify partners such as TheGenieLab. We are helping business owners and shopkeepers to drive continuous improvements through digital marketing services. Furthermore, they are providing Web Development in Shopify, BigCommerce, and other eCommerce store architectures. If you need a hand in any aspect of eCommerce, feel free to reach out to use at wish@thegenielab.com