Thousands of business owners always choose to use pre-existing platforms such as Amazon and eBay, to set up online stores. However, with time, owning an online store gets expensive because of numerous fees. It's not uncommon to see online store owners breaking away from online marketplaces to set up their websites. Shopify is one of the most helpful apps when setting up a website for an online store.
So now that you have your Shopify website, how do you attract customers? How do you move from an online platform to an independent website while maintaining clients? The answer is Kit. Kit is an app that changes the way you market your online Shopify store by doing all the heavy lifting for you. Here's how it works:
What Is Kit
Kit is an automated virtual assistant that creates, manages, and promotes ads to boost visits to your Shopify store. It works mainly by running insightful suggestions by you via SMS messaging. Once the app has been launched on your social media platforms and Shopify store, it communicates via text.
It works almost like a personal assistant. This it does by sending you messages to ask if you need a specific marketing task done. It can analyze the type of products you have and your regular customers to make branding decisions.
It's like having a worker to run your shop when you're busy on vacation or running errands. At the same time, it also manages campaigns by finding an audience and coming up with creative ads. You only need to approve its suggestions through a few clicks, and it does the work for you.
Kit is also highly compatible with apps, thus integrating all aspects of marketing to boost sales.
How Much Does it Cost
Kit is absolutely free. You would think that with all the marketing help it does that it would cost an arm and a leg. Kit is free once you have a Shopify store. There's no need to spend money hiring marketing staff who don't always get the job done.
Main Features of Kit
Business Reports
Keeping track of analytics in an online store is more difficult compared to a physical store. Kit makes this process easier by monitoring ads and keeping track of your business goals. It also looks at how many users interact with your platform and uses this information to boost sales.
To get business performance reports, just enter the number ‘1' via text. The app then automatically generates reports on data within the last 24 hours to 31 days. To view how well your ads are functioning, enter ‘2'. Kit will generate all your ads, and you can select an ad to view its performance.
You can enter the number ‘3' to check how far you've gotten towards your goals or start a new goal journey.
Interact With Customers
Customer experience goes beyond the moment they purchase from your store. Kit helps you interact directly with your clients by sending them messages to review their purchase. It also enables you to send ‘thank you' messages via email to show clients that they're appreciated. This method indirectly markets your store and builds longer relationships with your clients.
Typically, marketing applications send a thank you email to a client immediately when they purchase a product. However, Kit waits about 24 hours to send such messages. The messages are personalized by Kit to appear ‘hand-typed' to make the clients feel special and seen. The message is only sent to first and second-time buyers to avoid making the message look automated.
Kit also asks for and monitors rates and reviews on your products. Whenever a consumer purchases an item, the app prompts them to review the product and rate your service. This can then help you improve the customer experience at your store. It also gives alerts whenever customers are dissatisfied and allows you to respond to complaints.
Prepare and Run Ads
Kit allows you to run ads on Facebook, Instagram, or via email campaigns. Kit is a free app, but running ads on social media platforms isn't free. Apps such as Instagram bill you directly to your Instagram account and not via Kit.
Before you run ads with Kit, it's essential to set a campaign budget. Kit will then create the ads based off of your budget, from available templates. Advertisements are usually as cheap as $25 or less for two days. Ads that cost more than $30 usually run for about seven days or more. Most ads only run for a maximum of 14 days.
If you don't have the money to run ads on social media, you can still use kit to post updates.
Create Discounts
Discounts are a great way of luring consumers to your product. Kit helps you create, manage, and promote discount codes for items in your store. The cuts usually run for a certain period, and it's launched immediately when you create it.
The discount code can be used by both old and new customers as many times as they want. The application just prompts you to input information on the discount before it runs and promotes it.
You may need to specify:
- The name of the discount code
- How much discount the consumer will get
- Who is eligible for the discount, e.g., People who spend a minimum amount or who buy a product.
- The type of discount, i.e., free shipping, a certain percentage off, or a fixed amount off.
Goal Setting
Kit helps you set your goals for your store and then enables you to attain them, within a time. For example, if your goal is to sell 100 products in a year, Kit increases ad campaigns to get you more clients.
The type and number of ads that Kit runs are based on your set goals for that period. However, you can still run the app effectively without setting goals. Kit is also able to suggest and set goals, especially when you're just starting a business.
It can set one of the following goals for you:
- Make your 1st sale
- Increase monthly sales by 10% each month.
- Sell your 10th, 25th,50th, or 100th item.
The app also reminds you of your goals periodically and celebrates you when you achieve them.
Posts Social Media Updates
Kit monitors any changes you make to your store and then posts updates on social media platforms. For example, if you add a new product to your store or if you have discounts, the app posts on your Facebook page. This helps attract new clients and keeps your current customers up to date.
Kit also monitors which products are not being bought and then posts about the product on social media. Promoting slow-moving products helps you clear stock and informs customers of items they may not have seen. The same concept also applies to bestseller products and high priority items.
Compatibility With Other Applications
Integrating Kit with other apps reduces the amount of time you have to put into IT-related aspects of your store. Kit is especially compatible with most Shopify apps so that it fully works on all aspects of your store. These areas include language translation, SEO managing, reviews, among others.
Here is a brief description of the apps that are compatible with Kit:
1. Modalyst
This app helps dropshipping businesses find the best suppliers for their products. The app also recommends the best products to invest in when you start dropshipping. Kit works with Modalyst to send you recommendations on the best products based on your newest products.
It also looks at your best sales and makes suggestions based on products that are selling fast.
2. Venntov
Venntov is an SEO manager app that increases your appearance on Google search results. Customers rarely check the 2nd page on a google search, so Venntov places your store on the 1st. Kit works with Venntov by alerting you via text whenever you have a broken link or error.
You also get alerts on how many people are interacting or seeing your store on their search list. Kit eventually gathers this information and uses it to create business reports.
3. Yotpo
This is a marketing app that monitors customer reviews, referrals, and repeat purchases. It then uses this information to build special loyalty programs for consistent visitors to boost sales even more. Kit then turns Yotpo reviews and award programs into social media posts and ads.
4. Kit Karts
About 80% of online shoppers usually abandon shopping carts. Kit Karts come in to ensure that customers complete their shopping and purchase your items. Kit informs you of all the abandoned carts and gives suggestions on methods to nudge customers to finish buying.
5. Pixc
Your images are the selling point of your product. A bad picture can wade off customers even for an exceptional product. Pixc has now partnered with Kit to detect photos that need editing and automatically edit them. Kit sends you notifications on the need for editing, and then Pixc edits them once you approve.
What Do the Reviews Say
For a relatively new app, Kit is doing quite well in terms of reviews. The app has an average rating of 4.3 stars from 1386 reviews. 1016 users gave the app a five-star rating and have great things to say about Kit.
One user narrated how she had no prior experience in marketing when starting her business. She then installed Kit and was able to market her store like any marketing executive.
Despite its good rating, about 155 people gave the app 1 star.
Most of the complaints are generally small tweaks that are seen with any application. The app developer, however, usually engages such users to help fix the problem.
On our part, we'll give the app a 4.6-star rating. Our rating is based on the fact that it has numerous tools that are hard to come by. It is also highly compatible with apps used on Shopify and even non – Shopify apps.
Running a store is difficult during its infancy stages. You've probably already spent a lot of money getting your product, and you're tight on cash. Kit is the employee you never knew you needed. The minor errors that emerge with its use are common when using any application and can be fixed. Don't extra on marketing when you can have all the features of an expensive app on Kit.
Conclusion
With Facebook and Instagram being the largest social media platforms, Kit puts you on the frontline of advertising. There's no doubt that Kit will attract thousands of potential customers to your Shopify store.
Running a business is difficult, especially when you are just starting. Kit takes the load of managing the advertising and marketing and automatically does it for you. Before Kit, business owners would have to look for influencers and expensive campaigns to boost their sales. Now, for only U.S. $0.00, you can take marketing to the next level.
As a business owner, it's your responsibility to explore new frontiers to boost your business. Don't spend extra on marketing when you can have all the features of an expensive app on Kit. The Kit app is a definite game-changer in the marketing space.