Shopify is a cloud-based e-commerce platform used by more than one million businesses around the world. Although some parts of Shopify are easy-to-use – like their drag and drop website builder – other parts – like their business management tools – are not quite as easy to catch onto.
That’s why Shopify offers a ton of customer support options.In this article, we’ll delve into the various aspects of Shopify support services, as well as when the support services Shopify offers may not be enough to meet your needs. At that point, you may want to hire a third party Shopify expert vendor, like us at SEO Design Chicago. We can start a Shopify store for you, migrate your existing website to Shopify, manage Shopify for you or train you and your staff on how to make the best use of Shopify. 
Dozens of clients of SEO Design Chicago have said they’re glad we became their Shopify partners.
Before you reach out to us though, you may want to know what you can do on your own.
Table of Contents
24/7 Customer Support: A Huge Perk of Shopify
Shopify wants to make their software easy to use. And when it gets tricky, they offer a lot of support, including 24/7 customer support services. Regardless of one’s time zone, Shopify’s support team is always ready to assist users with any issues they may encounter.
The problems can be technical in nature, or related to payment processing problems. Their goal is to help businesses operate smoothly without unnecessary downtime. And they’re not doing it because they’re nice. They charge you money for their services, and they want to make sure you don’t flee to their competition.
Live Chat: Instant Solutions
Picking up a phone to talk to someone is so pre-pandemic. And wait music – who needs that? While Shopify offers phone support, they also offer live chat support features so users can connect with support representatives in real-time.
This instant communication channel is invaluable for businesses facing urgent issues that need immediate resolution. It’s often faster than speaking to someone on a phone. You can start a chat by selecting the “Chat with an agent” option on the help center. Available 24/7, a representative will be available to assist you in real-time.
Email Support: For Stuff You Can Handle without Deep Conversation
For less urgent matters or complicated problem-solving, Shopify’s email support is a valuable support service. Business owners can explain basic concerns and even attach screenshots to help support representatives better understand the issue. This form of communication allows for a more thoughtful reply for issues that aren’t pressing, but are annoying. For example, if you keep getting the same error message, but it’s not essential for the day-to-day functions of your business, an email could work. Just expect a 24-48 hour reply. If you need help faster, chat or call.
Tutorials: Help Guides You Can Work Through at Your Own Pace
Shopify recognizes the importance of empowering its users to find solutions on their own. After all, they provide tools for people to customize independently. That means that they realize their customers need to educate themselves to some degree.
And they give you that education for free. Seriously – their instruction is often better than what you could learn at a university. The platform’s help database is a scholar’s dream come true. It’s composed of articles, tutorials, videos, screenshots and guides covering a wide array of topics, from setting up a store to customizing themes to selecting the right business management tools and learning how to use them.
Community Forums: The Real Deal
Help tutorials created by Shopify are written by Shopify. So they explain things in ways that don’t highlight any of their platform’s shortcomings. This may not even be intentional. They simply may not see what regular users see as roadblocks and barriers.
That’s why Shopify offers community forums and discussion boards. Shopify doesn’t monitor them, so users can share their experiences – whether good or bad. They can get advice, and learn from one another. The community forums also provide a platform for networking, collaboration, and the exchange of best practices. Imagine this scenario: I own a garden center in Maine. You grow seeds in California. How can we work together to support each other’s businesses?
Shopify Plus Priority Support: Fast IT Support for Bigger Businesses
Recognizing the unique needs of bigger businesses, Shopify offers priority support for Shopify Plus users. This level of support ensures that high-volume merchants receive faster personalized assistance, dedicated account directors, and expedited issue resolution. The Shopify Plus Priority Support is designed to meet the demands of large-scale operations, including additional security protocols and help. All you need to get this level of support is enroll in the Shopify Plus plan. That plan price varies according to a businesses’ needs. You can call Shopify for a quote, or call us and we can help you estimate what it may cost you.
Educational Resources: The Power of Teaching
Success on Shopify goes beyond technical support; it requires a deep understanding of the platform’s tools – their limitations and perks. Rather than handle every single customer’s questions on a case by case basis, Shopify knows it’s in their best interests to offer group training and educational sessions. So Shopify offers a variety of educational resources, including webinars, tutorials, and how-to manuals. These resources and events save you time and Shopify time. And as we all know, time equals money.
The Regular Old Phone: This May Surprise You
There isn’t a toll-free number to contact Shopify Support. We know – so digital, right? You can, however, talk to a real person by requesting a call back from an agent by selecting the “Request a call” option in the Help Center. Talking to a real person is not available 24/7, but you can leave a message and an agent will call you back as soon as possible. This option is best if you prefer to discuss your issue over the phone and need a more in-depth conversation to solve your issue. We recommend this for discussing certain tools in your store that are not working properly and complex issues you can’t figure out on your own.
Third-Party Experts: Why You May Want Consultants
While Shopify provides robust support services, some users may require specialized expertise for advanced customizations or specific business needs. That’s when third party vendors, like us at SEO Design Chicago, come into play. We know everything from Shopify web development to design to marketing to strategy.
Shopify is fairly easy to get started with, especially when it comes to creating a simple website. But you don’t want to stick with a pre-designed template as is. If you don’t customize a theme with unique colors and branding, there’s a good chance another online business will be using the same template.
Third party vendors like us can also take you to the next level of Shopify. They offer website templates, but more importantly, they offer business management tools. Experts like us – we’re small business owners ourselves – can help you figure out what business management tools you need, and which you don’t. We’ll teach you how to use the Shopify version of these tools, which isn’t always easy to understand.
What Else SEO Design Chicago Can Do for You
One mistake people often make is thinking that once a site is set up, they don’t need to update it unless they want to add new products, pages, or services. This is not true. Google can detect how often a site publishes new content.
That’s why we maintain a blog. Part of our support for your Shopify store can be content creation. We work with dozens of writers, photographers, designers and videographers to create compelling online content, which you can then post to your blog.
We can also teach you how to re-use that content for your social media. You don’t want the content to be exactly the same but there are ways to double your investment by using it twice – maybe even more – across different platforms.
AI creates generic content, which Google can recognize. Google doesn’t like AI produced content, and dings websites that use it too much.
If you don’t want to need content for your website, we can provide other types of content too:
- Targeted content marketing
- Sponsored content that increases traffic to your brand
- Email marketing and newsletter creation
- Geographic landing page creation and optimization
- Social media content creation that can be shared among various platforms
- Optimized product descriptions for ecommerce pages
- White papers
- Copywriting services
- Technical writing services
- Print products like pamphlets, catalogs or brochures
- Tagline writing
- Writing and design for paid digital ads
Contact Us Today!