Shoppers want options. Anything from product selections and incentivized bundles to free shipping and easy returns can factor into what Shopify stores customers choose to patronize. Giving the people what they want can be a win-win situation: Your shoppers are happy, and so is your bottom line.
Although handling returns is a pain point for many sellers, there are ways to make this practice benefit you. One of the best ways to offset the negative impact is to offer Shopify store credit for refunds.
What Is Shopify Store Credit?
With online sales, returns can be common, especially for products such as clothes. When customers request a refund, issuing store credit is an alternative to reimbursing their original payment method. Your customer will get their money back for refunded items, with a catch: They can only redeem it in your store.
There are other forms of store credit as well:
- Buy now, pay later
- Customer rewards or incentives
- Gift cards
By offering each form of store credit, sellers can see multiple measurable benefits. Customers appreciate this option, too.
How Can Issuing Shopify Store Credit Benefit Sellers?
You might wonder if offering the store credit option for returns is worth the potential hassle. It absolutely is — it addresses several seller pain points while making most customers happy.
Some of the largest online retailers have store credit set as the default reimbursement method. That should tell you something important about how beneficial this option can be.
Hold On to Your Revenue
Sellers of all sizes want to keep their hard-earned money. After making a sale and depositing your funds, the last thing you want to do is to have to give up the money in your bank account.
However, sellers who don’t have a convenient returns process often lose customers:
- 55% of American adult e-commerce shoppers who don’t like the seller’s return policies abandon their carts.
- 81% of this same customer base won’t make a purchase before researching how easy it is to return purchased items.
Offering Shopify store credit and a customer-centric returns policy lets you get and keep the money from initial sales while satisfying customer expectations.
Build Customer and Brand Loyalty
Especially for small or new e-commerce businesses, building, retaining, and expanding a loyal customer base is a cornerstone of your success. Issuing store credit is a great way to accomplish these goals:
- Customers appreciate your flexibility, making them more likely to patronize and recommend your store in the future.
- Because they will have to use their credit in your store, you have another opportunity to earn their business.
- Even if the card funds are reimbursing customers for a previous expense, shopping with a “gift” card is exciting for many shoppers.
Consider using store credit as part of your overall marketing package to increase your potential benefits.
Encourage More Spending
Shoppers who don’t use cash are likely to spend more. Similar to placing orders using credit cards, if a customer has $35 in store credit, there’s a good chance they will purchase more than $35 of merchandise.
When consumers don’t see an immediate debit in their checking account but get their goods anyway, human psychology makes them think on some level that they aren’t spending “real” money: “I bought a $60 blouse, but I had $35 of Shopify store credit, so it’s like I only spent $25.”
This holds true even if the credit wasn’t a gift but a refunded purchase. Think about how that mentality can increase your sales.
How Can You Promote Shopify Store Credit?
Many consumers enjoy having and using store credit, whether it’s from a refund or an award or gift card. You can encourage buyers to choose store credit as their reimbursement preference by:
- Telling them they can receive their refund the same day
- Pointing out that refunds to original payment methods often take several days
- Offering discounts or promo codes that are only available when using store credit as payment
Awarding customers after spending a certain amount with a store credit voucher is another strategic way of promoting the use of store credit while boosting your sales.
Why Should You Use an App To Automate Store Credit?
Unless you have low sales and returns volumes, processing refunds manually isn’t feasible. It takes time away from doing more important tasks, meaning you’re paying employees to perform a simple function that an app can do.
If you choose the right app to integrate with your Shopify store, you can automate several functions to personalize a customer’s shopping experience in real time:
- Customized rewards
- Upselling and cross-selling
- Automatic discounts
- A painless refund process
- Shopify store credit as a payment option during checkout
Along with offering credit, you can also use tools to inform customers that they are a certain dollar amount away from getting free shipping. A lot of people will buy more products so they don’t have to pay shipping charges, so this tactic is likely to increase your sales by giving buyers a good deal.
How Can ADG Help You Utilize Shopify Store Credit?
ADG provides several robust apps to simplify your Shopify store management and increase your sales. These apps are highly customizable to let you fine-tune your strategies, while the ADG dashboard lets you consolidate all the Shopify discounts you offer. See how it works with the ADG demo store.
ADG has several price points so you can choose the one that suits your needs best. For more information about ADG’s available apps, how they can help you facilitate Shopify store credit, or other questions, contact ADG today.
FAQs
Can You Give Store Credit on Shopify?
Yes, you can offer credit at your Shopify store! Detail the information about store credits in your refund policy, including any restrictions, expiration dates, and the way customers can use their Shopify store credit during checkout.
How Do You Issue Store Credit Instead of a Refund on Shopify?
If you process refunds and returns manually, simply choose store credit as your reimbursement option and complete the transaction as you usually would. You can also select an app to integrate with your store to automate the process.
with 200+ 
reviews 