Building a branded app vs. third-party Shopify app shell: What’s better?

A branded Shopify app is no longer a luxury—it’s a growth driver. While many Shopify store owners default to third-party app shells, the true customer loyalty, retention, and revenue growth often come from a custom-branded experience.

Introduction

Store owners using Shopify aspire to having a branded app to increase customer retention and engagement, as well as lift their brand prestige. Many customers of Shopify, however, use third-party apps, assuming they’re cheaper and faster to implement. However, what if the big loyalty, revenue, and growth really comes from having a custom, fully-branded app exclusively made for your consumers?

This post explains in detail Why a custom, fully-branded native app as opposed to a third-party app shell, should be an essential asset for ambitious ecommerce brands. Constructing a custom app is easily affordable and more impactful than ever, thanks to apps like Twinr.

The Core Divide: Custom Branding & User Experience

A branded app is built for one and only one retailer: yours. The app made for you features your logo, your color palette, and your custom-designed features, providing a seamless addition to your already cohesive brand. A third-party app shell, on the other hand, is a generic cover. It’s often a “one-size-fits-all” concept with your logo slapped on to the front.

Why is that the case?

McKenzie and company say that uniform branding at different points of a customer journey can lead to a 23% increase in revenue. Apps that align with a company branding help customer trust the apps more and interact and purchase more.

Control Over User Experience & Features

It is your office and with a comfort branded app. You get the entire control the User Experience with the ability to customize onboarding a personalized to each customer and even putting in country specific notifications. in addition, you can customize the app to include exclusive loyalty rewards.

You’re right. Minimal. the absence of branded apps. They have a template apps that these apps have limited no to customization in them to allow a store to include their unique features more especially to a store that wants to have a gamified loyalty store that uses personalized shopping filters.

Consider the example of a yoga apparel store that uses Twinr. They incorporated their loyalty program right into the app and during that quarter, they boosted their repeated sales by 30%. That kind of control on a loyalty program is rare in other branded apps. It only happens with a fully branded app.

Cost & Time — The Hidden Truths of “Quick & Cheap”

Many founders think that completely shell options are lower cost and faster to deploy. At first glance, the logic makes sense:

• Shell apps: set, install, configure and launch
• Initial cost is barely a blip, considering the option is free or subscription based

However, the initial cost is a lie. The hidden costs will show up eventually in lack of flexibility, diminished adaptive growth, and lack of evolvement capability of your app.

You can create a true branded app in days with tools such as Twinr. No more weeks or months. Instead, you get complete app construction control and customization for a reasonable cost. The end ROI is much greater.

Statista states that a good solid branded app is a wise investment as it increases customer lifetime value. Unfortunately, settling for shells means you will probably get stuck in a framework that is so tight it is not adaptable with all or any of the features, usability, monetization and revenue constraints.

The Importance of a Branded App for Customer Engagement and Loyalty

A custom built and branded mobile application provides greater engagement in terms of retention and overall interaction with the app.

This is the case because of the following reasons:

• Tailored experiences where engagement can happen through custom loyalty offerings, mobile coupons, and specialized content emoted through push notifications.
• Functional and straightforward as everything is integrated in the app and customized for the user. Navigation is user-friendly with smooth transitions and mobile optimized functionality.
• Brand alignment where all attributes of the app are in line with the company brand elements, including the logo, colors, and suite of user interface.

Around 20% of loyalty can be attributed to consistent and personalized elements of engagement with a company, according to an analytics report by McKinsey.

Demonstration:

Using Twinr, an integrated branded health and loyalty app was developed for an organic skincare store. With tailored mobile coupons and notifications, there was a 45% increase in customer retention.

Customer Insights and Data Ownership

The ability to own customer data is incredibly valuable.

• Data is integrated easily with branding and is accessible through Twinr.
• Many shell apps ignore data ownership and make it almost impossible to access the customer data.

As a tip:

Using Twinr, there is a clear means to analyze and obtain customer information, making targeted marketing and optimized growth possible.

Growth & Revenue — Building for Scale

The true value of a branded app becomes noticeable as your store scales.

• Having Enhanced loyalty programs, personalization for shopping, and timely notifications causes more frequent and larger purchases.
• Operation on the app ensures users stick around longer—statistically, users spend 4 hours/week on branded apps, while they spend 1.5 hours on shells. (Statista).

Keep in Mind: A shell’s limited customizability might be useful for the time being, but it limits your potential to be flexible and continue to grow aftermarket. Having a completely customized branded app is the key for long term success.

A Cost-Effective Approach with Twinr

You might be asking yourself, “Is building a branded app time-consuming or too expensive?”

Twinr is the no-code platform where you can build a customized branded app in a matter of days at roughly the same cost as shell’s subscription.

• Each of the affordable tiers is designed for growing brands.
• The drag-and-drop editor requires no coding.
• You have full control over branding, features, and updates.

All in all, Twinr allows you to keep your app’s branding, engage your users extensively, and scale without financial strain.

Real-World Success: How a Shopify Store Tripled Repeat Business

Dissatisfied with a shell app due to low engagement, Shopify dropshipper “EcoGear” decided to make a change. They upgraded to a branded native app built with Twinr and began using personalized push notifications, and introduced *special VIP and *loyalty reward* programs.

What did they achieve?

• Tripled the repeat purchase rate, compared with the previous rate, in 6 months.
• Customer lifetime value increased by 30%.
• Revenue continued to increase due to brand recognition.

What can we take from this?

Having a fully custom app is a must. It can be a powerful tool for brand development.

The Bottom Line

Using shell apps for instant results may be convenient, but this option is unsustainable.

• Create an app with fully customized features.
• Build the app you’ve always wanted, with your branding, and the features you need, in days using no-code platform Twinr.
• Encourage customers to stay engaged, increase their LV, and support continued growth.

It is clear that with the current competitive nature of the online selling environment, using shell apps is poorly optimizing your resources. Success relies heavily on controlling the user experience.

FAQs

Q1: Is building a branded Shopify app worth the extra effort?

A1: Yes! Having a loyalty app affects customer retention positively, which improves revenue. Having a loyalty program helps customize features and adds more trust to the app.

Q2: Can I create a fully branded app without technical skills?

A2: Absolutely. Twinr possesses a no-code builder which helps you create and customize the app to your preferred styles and features.

Q3: How long does it take to build a branded app?

A3: Just days—with Twinr, you can go from concept to launch within a week, depending on complexity.

Q4: Would a branded app improve customer retention?

A4: Yes. The retention of customers does improve, especially through personalization. Custom branded apps keep customers engaged and devoted, especially through a seamless experience, which apps typically provide.

Q5: Do branded apps cost more than shell apps?

A5: No. Twinr has Cost-effective options which are typically cheaper than shell subscription costs, and provide more control and potential for growth.