$30K/Month, Should I use this app? (Could make a lot of money, maybe)

Shopify Discussion
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1

I Found a free shopify app that seems interesting but i have some concerns, would be happy to get your advice.

How it works: after someone place a purchase in yoru store, he automically get a SMS Message with link to track the order (like ‘Hey ____, to track your order, download to app via this link: ______)

The app is a mobile app, the customer connect his order and then can track it, and in the app he also have a feed page, where I (as the store owner) can design the feed that he sees, like SHOP app (with products, collections, banners. etc), and sends him push notifications (about sales etc).

Now all that sounds good… I give the customer the option to track his order and get another sales channel to directly send him notifications and increase the LTV.

When the customer sees a product he likes in the app, it sends him to the product page (outside the app) and if he place an order the app get 10% commission which is fair (10 ROAS without paying in advance).

BUT,
Here’s my concern:

2 Days After the customer receive his package, he gets an SMS + Push notification from the app to leave a review to the product, so others can benefit too.

In the app there’s a ‘Community’ page where my customer (mens fashion in this case) can see also see image review of similar products like he purchased from my store, but of another store (he can scroll and see thousnads of image reviews of relevant image reviews of products of others fashion stores…)

So I will also be exposed to my competito’s (that use this app) customers too in that page…

So,
In one hand - I get a way to connect with my customers + my products reviews get impressions all around the app, from different stores customers, and i can get new customers (If I remember correctly the app have around 10M Consumers which is a pretty nice audience, and my store is in english).

BUT in the other hand - if I will make my customers downloads this app, they will be exposed to other brand’s products, and I may lose customer retention for my brand…

(If I want to be featured in the app, I must enable the auto SMS that my customers get, there’s no way to disable it unfortunately).

I really don’t know if I should do it or not.
I will be happy to get your advice / experience on this.
Thanks!

2

Hi @Aviv3255 :waving_hand: How much do you want to delegate vs give some other business control over your business.
People buy into these abusive platforms for some idea that isn’t guaranteed at all, then end up complaining about how much control they have over things.
They don’t even make anything themselves, the worst type of middlemen, they just insist on themselves until they enough clout to burn the ladders and close the gates.

What’s the actual math tho. It’s not like this platform is guarantee’ing you more income.
Is there any reason you can’t be on the platform to get NEW customers but also not force your PRIVATE customers somewhere they don’t want to be.
That’s the problem, these platforms are setup to bleed your business as much as possible.

Don’t be annoying with apps

First for your ACTUAL customers not some hypothetical maybe customers why can’t this just be a literal page on the site as is.
What’s the actual reason beyond technical inability to DIY doe this have to be an app:
do you need to use their phones accelerometer, trying to get access to their private contacts list, etc etc etc ad nauseum

Paying for the privilege to live in Walled Gardens

You really need to do the research around using such platforms, getting access to new audiences never comes with an equivalent long term trade for the merchant.
Especially if this is some dropshiping type product.

The app is just like SHOP, someone elses walled garden building themselves up on your back through network effects and gatekeeping.
Glorified malls of yesteryear that ALWAYS slowly esnhitify themselves to consumers detriment and the merchants.
How many things is business locked into: shopify, and how many other apps for your workflows, AND how many apps are external apps locking in your customers elsewhere.
Then there’s nasty business practices that’s just a way to give competitors sales data / training data.
And that’s not even getting into what’s going to happen with LLM commerce(chatgpt etc) to businesses that make customers deal with bad UX/UI or expect customers to do work and jump through absurd hoops .

What’s the actual goal

If goal is LTV and getting customers on YOUR SITE isn’t it weird to force customers onto yet another DIFFERENT platform.
Or make them jump through another hoop onto another piece of software instead of just using the website.

Then there’s just what level of obnoxious you want to insist on yourself with:
are customers begging to have an app just to buy some thing X.
Do you personally install every app pushed on you and have an app for every single merchant you buy things from or do you just use the website.

DIY long term investments and moat building

If your making several 6 figures a year only use such things as a prototype if you want build your own software for customers to have the OPTION for on-device convenience for tracking orders in some way that can’t just be done with a website.
Don’t be so cheap you don’t invest in your own business while literally passively giving everything to some middleman platform.

Algorithmic starvation

Such things are made to take from you not support you.
Unless your big enough, strong branding, and have a moat(s) that make customer being exposed to competitors irrelevant ; even when that exposure is actively done as a way for a third party platform feed on your work to get your customers to buy as much as possible from competitors.

The meta goal is to get new customers to YOU and AWAY from such places that are curated landfills.
Not send your existing customers off into the dark.

3

Everyone thinks they need a new app for everything nowadays. Why not take advantage of what Shopify already does, and its own Shop app? Does exactly the same thing. Automatic notifications, tracking, updates, in-app Store browsing.

I’ll tell you straight up from a customer who has seen these types of texts to download some app to track my order, that I have never done so and never will. Not only that, but it is burned into memory to not do business with them again in the future. If you cannot get your sht together and provide basic notifications with what you already pay for, you don’t deserve my money. It’s not on me the customer to sign up for another app. It’s on you the merchant to sign up for whatever app and provide me with the details of my order.

So, I don’t think this is a good idea. Don’t push people away.

4

Hi there @Aviv3255 I don’t think it’s a fair trade or arrangement to be honest so you should just go for an alternative tracking app without the addition encumbrances this one has.