Looking to Grow Your Shopify Store? Modern Product Protection Can Help

Shopify’s The Future of Ecommerce 2022 report amplified a call to action that growth-focused merchants can’t afford to ignore: 

In order to succeed and grow in an ecommerce landscape that becomes more competitive each day, you must be able to differentiate and diversify.

The report goes on to explain that more than half (52%) of global shoppers are more likely to purchase from a company that shares their values. To be fair, keystone factors like price point, product availability, shipping options, in-store experience, etc., still matter, but today’s customers want a value-driven experience.

Modern product protection is an essential, value-added service centered around an elevated consumer experience — one that meets customer expectations and reinforces your commitment to quality as a merchant. Moreover, offering protection plans is a strategy for sustainable growth, and here are some reasons why.

How product protection helps Shopify store owners scale

There’s no single source of truth for how to grow your Shopify store, but there are tested strategies that can help you reach the next level of success. Modern product protection is one reliable way to achieve scale for Shopify merchants of all sizes.

Product protection is low-lift, incremental revenue

Every store owner wants to increase profits — revenue is typically the first thought when a merchant talks about growth. But it can be hard to achieve revenue growth without spending any money.

Modern product protection changes that. For example, Extend requires no startup fees and operates on a revenue share model, meaning that for every plan sold on your Shopify store, you get a cut of the profits. 

The Extend Product Protection app on the Shopify App Store makes implementation a breeze, and we even offer dedicated resources to help you with an efficient and painless launch. 

More importantly, because Extend is a trusted Shopify Plus partner, you gain peace of mind knowing that your modern product protection provider has been vetted and is committed to your growth. It’s a win-win!

“Extend has proven to be an efficient way to boost revenue and drive trust among consumers…simple setup and requires little to no attention. We did a lot of shopping around for extended warranty partners and glad we picked Extend!” — Shopify merchant testimonial

Value-added services are the expectation

With an estimated 12 to 24 million ecommerce sites worldwide, customers can afford to be selective with where they spend their money. As a result, value-added services like live chat, customer rewards programs, and product protection are becoming less of a “nice to have” and more of an expectation.

In fact, Salesforce reports that 66% of customers expect a merchant to understand their wants and needs before they begin their online shopping experience. Simultaneously, customers want to have peace of mind that their purchased products will last — or at least that they can purchase extra protection for when they need it.

Product protection helps Shopify store owners deliver maximum value to their customers throughout the entire customer lifecycle. It serves as reassurance to customers who may be on the fence about buying a product online. And after their purchase (and depending on the terms of their purchased plan), they know they can easily file a claim for a repair or replacement if a covered issue arises.

“Having the ability to offer product protection plans from Extend also shows that we stand behind our products.”
— Hilton Blieden, CFO and Head of Operations, NewAir

Product protection keeps customers coming back to your Shopify store

Customer acquisition costs continue to increase: in the second and third quarters of 2021 alone, there was a 15% increase in cost per click for paid search ads. With more merchants setting up shop online, costs like these aren’t likely to drop anytime soon.

Shopify store owners can combat rising customer acquisition costs by turning their attention to their existing customer base and improving retention. In fact, increasing retention by just 5% can lead to at least a 25% increase in profit. 

Product protection helps drive loyalty and retention. Our internal research shows that customers who purchase an Extend plan from a merchant repeat at a rate 4.5% higher than those who didn’t purchase a plan.

Part of what drives that customer retention is a hassle-free claims filing process that saves customers time and stress — and sends customers back to your Shopify store for a replacement product (should a replacement be necessary). 

Traditional protection plan providers often require so many cumbersome steps that customers are left feeling frustrated and unmotivated to complete their claim filing process. For example, some extended warranty providers require customers to register their product protection plans within 30 days of their original purchase. The process isn’t streamlined, and it’s lengthy with multiple individual steps, including creating an account and confirming it via email. 

Compare that to modern product protection that’s both efficient and effective. Extend customers can access our online assistant Kaley to start and finish their claims — most of which are decided in mere minutes and don’t even require a copy of a receipt. Such a smooth process leaves customers feeling good about their purchase and more likely to return to your Shopify store.

Program-specific data is used to help optimize your product protection offering

Shopify offers robust reporting on your store’s performance and growth, but there’s always room for improvement — especially when it comes to meeting the unique needs of your customer base with product protection.

After your Shopify store is up and running with Extend product protection offers that complement your item catalog, your merchant success manager meets with you on a regular basis to help identify opportunities for improvement. They review everything from attach rate, which is an indication of protection plan program performance, to sitewide conversion rate, which is impacted by protection plan sales. Together, you create a plan and continue tracking performance.

Such attention to your store’s performance is unique to a modern provider like Extend — you won’t see more traditional product protection providers offer this level of customized attention. Moreover, you won’t see the same growth trajectory without the specialized focus on analytics and optimization that come with product protection from Extend.

A digitally native, full-stack approach supports your growth, no matter how ambitious

It doesn’t matter if your growth goals stretch as far as the moon or just to your neighboring markets — a complete, tech-focused product protection program will help you get there.

For Extend, that breaks down into a handful of components:

• Ease of implementation with the Extend Shopify app and dedicated onboarding resources
• Flexible program creation including the ability to offer customized plans that meet merchants' unique needs
• Optional comarketing expertise to help you sell more plans and increase revenue, including a focus on post-purchase and digital marketing

When you partner with a protection plan provider like Extend, you’re getting more than just coverage for your products; you’re unlocking your full potential with your customers’ best interests in mind. That leads to powerful, sustainable growth!

Take your Shopify store to the next level with Extend

Achieving any kind of growth for your Shopify store is difficult to do alone. But it’s also challenging to know which partners are truly equipped to help you reach your goals. 

Extend is redefining the product protection experience with innovative programs that guard your customers from an array of product failures that traditional providers may not cover. We can handle everything from offer merchandising and optimization to claims adjudication and an amazing end-to-end customer experience. Our goal is to give Shopify merchants more time to do what they do best: sell their products.

To learn more about Extend product protection and how it can help your Shopify store scale to new heights, click here to set up a custom demo.

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