A customer list is essential for email and SMS marketing. Many Shopify store owners likely struggle with building one.
"I can't seem to collect customer email addresses." "I want to use coupons to encourage email sign-ups."
If you're an owner with concerns or needs like these, we recommend "Privy," a marketing tool that integrates with Shopify.
This article explains Privy's features and benefits, from installation to usage, in an easy-to-understand way. Please use it as a reference.
What Is "Privy," a Marketing App You Can Use with Shopify?
Image source: Privy | Shopify App Store
Privy is a marketing tool used by over 10,000 brands, excelling at customer list acquisition. Worldwide, it delivers over 150 million messages each month, contributing to the acquisition of over 1.5 million customer contacts every month.
Privy is particularly strong in its integration with Shopify, and it has earned over 15,000 five-star reviews.
Main Features of Privy
One of the biggest reasons Privy is so well regarded is its highly customizable pop-up feature. With a rich set of templates and flexible display-condition settings, you can show pop-ups at the optimal moment and efficiently build your customer list.
You can also use its coupon-issuing feature to run promotional campaigns tailored to your store's goals. Furthermore, it comes equipped with advanced email and SMS marketing features. By integrating these features together, you can roll out effective marketing initiatives.
A Note on Privy | Not Available in Japanese
Privy is highly customizable and functional, but unfortunately its admin screen doesn't support Japanese. There's no issue using Japanese text in the content you want to display in a pop-up, so Japanese businesses can use it with peace of mind as well.
Since browser translation features have become quite accurate recently, we recommend using them when working with Privy. That said, be aware that some parts may be translated into somewhat unnatural Japanese.
Benefits of Adding Privy to Shopify
Here are three benefits of adding Privy to Shopify.
Benefit 1. Build Your Customer List Efficiently with an Advanced Pop-Up Feature
Privy lets you display pop-ups at effective moments thanks to a wide variety of templates and flexible condition settings. Combined with coupons, this gives customers an incentive to sign up for your list.
Notably, features like Spin to Win (a roulette wheel that varies the discount rate) and mini-quizzes let you encourage list sign-ups while entertaining customers. These types of pop-ups are a feature not found in other tools.
Benefit 2. Prevent Cart Abandonment and Contribute to Higher Sales
Privy isn't just a tool for building a customer list. A feature called "exit-intent campaigns" displays a reminder or coupon when a customer tries to leave the site with items still in their cart, helping prevent them from leaving.
You can also send abandoned-cart emails to customers already on your list. These features can be expected to help boost sales.
*Cart abandonment refers to a customer adding a product to their cart but not completing the purchase.
The blog article below introduces several cart-abandonment countermeasures you can implement on Shopify. Please use it as a reference.
Benefit 3. Improve LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)
Privy has email and SMS marketing features that let you reach out based on the customer list you've collected. Sending personalized coupons based on purchase history, and automated follow-up emails, can encourage customers to make repeat purchases.
Making use of these can be expected to drive repeat purchases and steadily increase the amount each customer spends.
Privy Pricing Plans
Here's an explanation of Privy's pricing plans. Privy has three pricing plans: the Convert plan, which doesn't use newsletters or SMS; the Starter plan, which allows newsletter delivery; and the Growth plan, which allows both newsletters and SMS delivery.
The Convert plan incurs additional charges based on pageview count. The Starter and Growth plans incur additional charges based on the number of contacts.
We've summarized the price and main features of each plan in the table below for reference.
| Plan Name | Convert Plan | Starter Plan | Growth Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price |
From $24/month Additional charges apply beyond 10,000 monthly pageviews |
From $30/month Additional charges apply beyond 1,500 contacts |
From $45/month Additional charges apply beyond 2,000 contacts Additional charges apply beyond 75 SMS contacts |
| Pop-up display | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Landing page | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Cross-sell display | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Free shipping bar display | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Countdown timer | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Advanced targeting | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Email delivery | ✗ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Segmentation | ✗ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Reporting | ✗ | ◯ | ◯ |
| SMS delivery | ✗ | ✗ | ◯ |
| Support | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
* As of January 2025
Privy offers a 15-day free trial. If building a customer list is a challenge for you, it's worth giving it a try.
How to Connect Shopify and Privy, and Create an Account
By connecting Shopify and Privy, you can use pop-ups and coupons created in Privy directly on your Shopify store. This section explains how to connect Shopify and Privy. Privy's screens don't support Japanese, so if you're not comfortable with English, it's a good idea to use your browser's translation feature to translate it into Japanese.
Install the Privy app from the Shopify App Store.
Image source: Privy | Shopify App Store
Your Shopify store will show an installation confirmation again, so click "Install."
Image source: Shopify admin
Create your Privy account. Enter your Business name and Phone number, then click "CONFIRM."
Image source: Privy
A sync confirmation with your Shopify store will appear, so click "Continue."
Enter your account information again. What you entered earlier will carry over, so add your address.
Select your store's product industry, the marketing tools you use, your number of contacts, and your intended use.
That completes account creation. Importing contacts from Shopify will be pending review and approval from the compliance team. Review typically completes within 1–2 business days, so just wait it out. In the meantime, you can still create coupons and pop-ups.
Privy as a Shopify app is purely for data integration — the actual configuration is done in Privy's own admin screen.
How to Actually Use Privy
Offering a coupon in a pop-up to encourage email sign-ups is the basic way to use Privy. Here, we'll explain the specific usage for "creating a coupon" and "displaying a pop-up."
Note that Privy's screens unfortunately don't support Japanese. If you're not comfortable with English, it's a good idea to use your browser's translation feature. Some parts may end up with slightly odd translations, but this won't significantly affect the setup.
Creating a Coupon
Just showing a pop-up to collect email addresses won't be enough to get customers to sign up. That's why it's common to offer an incentive in the form of a discount coupon.
Create a coupon from Privy's admin screen. Select "Coupons" at the top of the screen, then click "+New Coupon."
Image source: Privy
Under "Coupon Title and type," enter the coupon name in Title. The coupon name can be in Japanese. For Source, select Shopify. For Type, choose either "Master Coupon" (a single code shared by everyone) or "Unique Coupon" (a different code for each customer).
This time, we selected Master Coupon.
Under "Configure discount rules," configure the conditions the coupon applies under. The fields will vary depending on Discount type, but the main settings are as follows:
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Code: set the coupon code
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Discount type: choose from Fixed Amount, Percentage, or Free Shipping
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Discount value: enter the discount amount or percentage
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Applies To: choose All Product or Specific Collection
In "Set a schedule," configure the coupon's start and end date/time.
Once all settings are complete, click "Save Coupon" to finish.
Let's confirm that the coupon has synced to Shopify. Select Discounts in the Shopify admin. The coupon you just created should be displayed.
Image source: Shopify admin
As highlighted in the red box in the image, you can see it was created in Privy and is properly synced.
Displaying a Pop-Up
Next, let's create a pop-up using a template to collect email addresses. From the top of Privy's admin screen, select "Convert," then "Templates."
There are 39 templates available, which you can narrow down using the following filters:
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GOAL: email collection, announcements, etc.
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TYPE (display format): pop-up, full-screen, etc.
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Collection: recently added, mini-quizzes, etc.
Select a template you like and click "Get Started" to move to the editing screen.
The editing screen is very simple and intuitive. You can swap out the default image, change part of an image, or change the colors and fonts. Let's change the English text to Japanese.
Let's also check how it looks on mobile devices.
Next, select "Settings" in the flow at the top of the screen.
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Triggers and Visibility (display conditions): display upon scrolling, display after a certain amount of time, etc.
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Audience Targeting (display targets): target all visitors, or target based on country, order amount, and more
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Scheduling (display period): show at all times, or set a start and end date/time
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Coupon (coupon selection): select the coupon you want to apply
Next, select "Follow Up" in the flow at the top of the screen. Here you can configure what kind of follow-up to send to customers after they sign up with their email address, etc. By default, a "thank-you-for-signing-up email" is sent. If you want to add more follow-up messages, click "+ Add Email to Series." Once you're done configuring, turn on the "Status" switch to make it "Active."
Once all settings are complete, click "Activate" at the top right of the screen. The coupon has been created.
Let's check it on the actual store screen. In this template, "Save 20%" is displayed in the left corner of the screen, and clicking it displays the pop-up.
Once you register your email address, the coupon code was displayed.
As a test, we added a product to the cart and proceeded to checkout, and the coupon code was applied.
There are many other display options available as well, so try them out to fit your own operations.
Use Privy to Aim for Higher Sales on Your Shopify Store!
This article explained "Privy," a marketing tool capable of displaying pop-ups and running email/SMS marketing.
Privy is a great match for Shopify stores, and used effectively, it can be expected to drive long-term sales growth. It's a strong ally for stores that struggle to build a customer list.
Use this information as a reference and consider giving it a try.
