Shopify Advertising: How to Drive Traffic to Your Store
Shopify advertising is the paid promotion of a Shopify-powered store through Shopify’s marketing tools, connected services, and external advertising platforms. Store owners use channels such as search ads, social advertising, and ad networks to reach potential customers and drive them to relevant product pages. Campaign costs and setup requirements vary by channel.
This guide covers the costs of Shopify ads, 12 practical promotion methods, and external advertising formats you can use alongside Shopify’s own tools.
What Is Shopify Advertising?
There are two main ways to organize advertising for a Shopify store: through tools connected to Shopify and directly through external advertising platforms.
Shopify’s marketing tools and apps help merchants create campaigns, contact subscribers, connect advertising accounts, and measure results. The Shopify App Store is a directory of apps that support these activities; installing an app does not automatically buy advertising or bring visitors to your store.
Shopify also offers Shop Campaigns, an advertising program for eligible merchants. It can promote products on Shop and other supported placements, with charges linked to attributed customer orders. Shopify’s marketing overview explains these options.
External advertising means arranging campaigns directly with an advertising platform or network. You choose the audience, destination page, budget, and available ad format in that platform’s account.
These approaches can work together. You might use Shopify to manage products and customer messages while running acquisition campaigns through an external platform.
For the wider strategy across store platforms, see our eCommerce advertising guide.
How Much Does It Cost to Advertise on Shopify?
There is no single price for Shopify ads. Your subscription, marketing tools, creative production, and advertising spend are separate parts of the budget.
Some marketing features are available with your Shopify plan, while apps and services can have additional subscription or usage charges. Advertising is not automatically covered by the store subscription. For example, Shop Campaigns charges are billed according to orders attributed to those campaigns.
External advertising platforms use different payment models:
- CPC, or cost per click: you pay when someone clicks the ad.
- CPM, or cost per 1,000 impressions: you pay for ad delivery.
- Acquisition-based charges: the service charges for a qualifying customer acquisition under its attribution rules.
PropellerAds supports CPC and CPM buying, with automated bidding and optimization options depending on the format. Its published terms state that account deposits start at US$100, depending on the payment method.
Your actual spending depends on the offer, target country, competition, and campaign settings.
Before choosing a budget, work out how much remains from an order after product costs, delivery, discounts, and other expenses. That gives you a more useful starting point than choosing the cheapest available click.
The format comparison below shows the published deposit and review requirements for PropellerAds formats.
12 Ways to Promote Your Shopify Store Outside the App Store
You do not need to begin by installing more apps. Start with the audience you want to reach and the message most likely to interest them. Explore these Shopify marketing strategies that combine paid acquisition with other ways to attract and retain customers.
1. Run search ads for specific buying needs
Search ads can reach people looking for a product or a solution your store offers. Build campaigns around clear buying needs, such as “adjustable desk lamp” or “waterproof walking backpack.”
Send each visitor to the most relevant product or collection page. Someone searching for a particular item should not have to search your whole store again after clicking.
2. Promote products through Shopping ads
Shopping ads let customers see product details before visiting your store. A useful starting point is a small selection of available products with clear images, accurate prices, and enough margin to support advertising.
Keep product information consistent between your feed, landing page, and checkout.
Social advertising can introduce a product to people who are not actively searching for it. Show the item in use, demonstrate a useful feature, or answer a common question.
Start with a clear offer and a small set of creative variations. Comparing different messages for the same product makes it easier to understand what attracted the audience.
You can buy advertising directly through social platforms or explore Paid Social Ads through an external provider such as PropellerAds.
4. Create short product demonstrations
A short video can explain what a photograph leaves unclear. Show how the product works, what comes in the package, or how it fits into an everyday routine.
For example, a desk lamp video could demonstrate its adjustable angle and lighting controls. Use the video in organic content or paid campaigns, with a link to the matching product page.
5. Work with relevant creators
Choose creators whose audience has a reason to care about your product. Audience fit and the quality of their content matter more than follower count alone.
Agree on the deliverables, payment, and permission to reuse the content before work begins. Give each collaboration a trackable link so you can distinguish store visits and purchases from general engagement.
6. Build an affiliate program
Affiliates promote your products in return for an agreed commission on qualifying sales. This can suit publishers who create reviews, comparisons, or specialist shopping guides.
Clearly define the commission, eligible orders, return rules, and permitted promotional methods. Provide accurate product information and usable images so partners can describe the offer properly.
7. Bring subscribers back with email
Email can reconnect you with people who have agreed to hear from your store. Separate messages by customer interest rather than sending the same promotion to everyone.
A first-time subscriber might need a product introduction, while a previous buyer might want a complementary item. Abandoned-checkout messages should answer practical questions, such as delivery costs or product sizing, and stop once the purchase is completed.
8. Retarget visitors who showed interest
Retargeting means showing ads to people who have already interacted with your store. Product viewers, cart abandoners, and past customers are different audiences, so they shouldn’t automatically receive the same message.
This requires working tracking and audience collection. Shopify supports app pixels and custom pixels through its customer events tools, but you must check and test each advertising provider’s setup.
Exclude recent buyers from campaigns promoting products they’ve already bought.
9. Reach additional audiences through external ad networks
External networks let you buy traffic beyond search engines and the social accounts you manage directly.
Choose a format that suits the offer. A short notification can introduce a simple promotion, while a landing page reached through a Popunder Ad has more room to explain a product.
Begin with a defined product, audience, and spending limit. The next section explains how external networks fit into a Shopify store’s setup.
A relevant newsletter or specialist website can introduce your store to an established audience. A home-office newsletter, for example, may be a useful setting for a desk accessory offer.
Ask what the placement includes, where the link appears, and what reporting is available. Use a dedicated tracking link and a relevant landing page to assess the response.
11. Publish content that answers buying questions
Product comparisons, size guides, care instructions, and practical demonstrations give shoppers reasons to visit beyond a discount.
Build each piece around a question your audience actually asks. A guide on choosing a desk lamp can naturally lead to products that fit different needs.
This is an organic promotion method rather than paid advertising, but it can also provide useful landing pages and creative ideas for campaigns.
12. Encourage customer referrals
Give satisfied customers a simple way to recommend your store. A referral offer might reward the existing customer, the new buyer, or both after a qualifying purchase.
Keep the conditions easy to understand, and track completed orders rather than relying on shared links alone. Include any reward or discount in your acquisition-cost calculations.
Together, these methods give you several ways to promote a Shopify store. Choose a manageable starting mix so you can see which activities contribute to purchases.
External Advertising Networks for Shopify Stores (Including PropellerAds)
An external advertising network connects advertisers with audiences across its available traffic sources. Campaigns are managed in the network’s dashboard, while your Shopify store remains the destination.
You do not necessarily need an app from the Shopify App Store to send paid visitors to a live product page. However, conversion reporting, retargeting, and automated optimization can require additional tracking work.
Before launching, make sure the landing page works on mobile, explains the offer clearly, and makes delivery and payment information easy to find. Our guide to eCommerce website templates can help you assess the store layout.
PropellerAds
Disclosure: This article is published by PropellerAds and includes information about its own advertising services.
PropellerAds is a multisource advertising platform. It provides a self-serve platform where advertisers configure campaigns, targeting, budgets, and available optimization settings.
Its current formats are Paid Social Ads, Interactive Ads, Telegram Ads, Popunder Ads, Push Ads, and In-Page Push Ads. These offer different ways to introduce products and bring visitors to a store.
For a Shopify merchant, the basic approach is to choose an offer, select the relevant format and audience, and direct traffic to a matching product or landing page. This is external advertising, not a Shopify app or a claim of a built-in Shopify integration.
PropellerAds also provides pixel-based retargeting. Using it with a Shopify store requires a compatible implementation and testing; buying traffic does not automatically create a cart-abandonment audience.
How this differs from Shopify Audiences
Shopify Audiences creates audience lists for supported external advertising platforms. It is an audience-building tool, rather than a separate advertising network. For more context, see our comparison of marketplace vs. social commerce ads.
According to Shopify’s eligibility guidance, it is available to eligible Shopify Plus stores using Shopify Payments and based in the United States or Canada.
Compare Ad Formats for Shopify Store Traffic
The table below shows how each PropellerAds format can support product promotion. The audience descriptions explain who the format reaches; they do not mean every visitor has already visited your store or is ready to buy.
| Format | What it can do for a Shopify store | Audience type | Minimum deposit | Launch timing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paid Social Ads | Bring traffic from social feeds without managing separate social advertising accounts | Social audiences reached through the platform’s supply partners | Account funding from US$100, depending on payment method | Launch follows campaign approval |
| Interactive Ads | Engage people through supported quizzes, taps, swipes, and short flows before the store visit | Users interacting with an offer before reaching its destination | Same account-level deposit | After approval; review generally takes minutes to hours, sometimes up to 24 hours |
| Telegram Ads | Introduce products to audiences within Telegram Mini Apps | Telegram Mini App users | Same account-level deposit | After approval; the campaign guide allows up to 24 hours for moderation |
| Popunder Ads | Open an offer in a background window or tab, giving the landing page room to explain it | Website audiences discovering the store or offer | Same account-level deposit | Same published campaign-review guidance |
| Push Ads | Present short product offers and reminders | Users who opted in to notifications; previous store visitors only when appropriately targeted | Same account-level deposit | Same published campaign-review guidance |
| In-Page Push Ads | Introduce products through notification-style website placements | Browsing audiences without notification opt-in | Same account-level deposit | Same published campaign-review guidance |
The deposit is added to your advertising account; it is not a separate charge for each format.
Choose the format around what the shopper needs to understand. A straightforward offer may fit a short message, while a product needing more explanation benefits from a landing page that answers questions before asking for a purchase.
See how to launch these formats for your Shopify store.
FAQ
Shopify advertising is the paid promotion of a Shopify-powered store through Shopify’s marketing tools, connected services, and external advertising platforms. Shopify ads bring potential customers to the store through channels such as search ads, social advertising, and external ad networks. The Shopify App Store provides supporting apps rather than advertising traffic itself.
There is no universal price range for Shopify ads. Costs depend on the offer, target country, channel, and campaign settings, with advertising spend separate from subscription and app charges. External networks may charge per click or per 1,000 impressions. PropellerAds account deposits start at US$100 depending on the payment method. See the format comparison for details.
Shopify offers marketing tools and services, including Shop Campaigns, that can help eligible stores run advertising. You still need to select or approve the setup, provide a budget, and meet the service’s requirements. A Shopify subscription alone does not mean advertising campaigns are running for your store.
Choose a product or offer, prepare its landing page, and select a channel such as search, Shopping ads, social advertising, creator partnerships, or an external ad network. Set up measurement before spending and compare results against your costs. The 12 promotion methods above explain the main options.
Push Ads can suit short product offers and reminders. Returning previous visitors or following up on abandoned carts requires appropriate tracking and audience targeting; notification opt-in alone does not establish that someone visited your store. See the format comparison for the difference between Push Ads and In-Page Push Ads.
Shopify advertising focuses on promoting stores built on Shopify, while eCommerce advertising covers online stores on any platform. For the broader approach, see our eCommerce advertising guide.
Conclusion
You can promote a Shopify store through several channels without making the App Store the starting point for every campaign. Choose an offer, prepare the destination page, and test a channel against completed purchases and acquisition costs.
Explore our eCommerce advertising platform to compare external formats for your next campaign.
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