How To Boost Ecommerce Retention And LTV With No-Code Mobile Apps — Gaurav Parvadiya | Why AI Powers E-commerce Growth, Why Retention Beats Acquisition, Why Push Notifications Win, How To Use App Data Smartly, How To Build No-Code Apps (#433)

In this episode, we dive into the challenge of keeping customers coming back to online stores.

Gaurav Parvadiya, founder and CEO of Twinr.dev, shares how mobile apps are changing the game for brands. He explains how apps can drive engagement, repeat purchases, and long-term loyalty by reaching customers directly and offering a more personal shopping experience.

He also reveals strategies for using mobile apps to boost customer retention and explains how no-code tools make creating an app easy and affordable.

Topics discussed in this episode:  

• Why customer retention is more important than acquisition. 
• What makes mobile apps different from mobile websites. 
• How to get customers to download your app. 
• Why push notifications are a powerful marketing tool. 
• What a no-code app development process looks like. 
• How to build an app in just 2-3 weeks. 
• What the perfect customer for an app development is. 
• How to use app data for informed decisions. 
• What role loyalty programs play in a mobile app. 
• Why AI is becoming vital for e-commerce. 
  
  

Links & Resources 

Website: https://twinr.dev/
Shopify App Store: https://apps.shopify.com/twinr-mobile-builder
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurav-parvadiya/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/twinrbuilder

Get access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at https://tinyurl.com/4mf8nk7b

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Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;21;02
Gaurav Parvadiya
Using no code tools in 2025 is the best idea. Rather than going through a traditional approach, sending a post notification is way more cheaper than sending it. SMS or email. Those same users were spending three weeks more than the website. You can convert your website into mobile apps within just 2 to 3 weeks on percent. Users will be shopping using.

00;00;21;03 - 00;00;24;28
Gaurav Parvadiya
Yeah, if it is saying.

00;00;25;00 - 00;00;49;12
Claus Lauter
Hello, welcome to another episode of the E-commerce Coffee Break podcast. Today we're tackling a challenge every online store owner knows to, well, keeping customers coming back. We'll explore how mobile apps are changing the game, helping brands drive engagement, repeat purchases and the long term loyalty. Joining me today is Gaurav Parvadiya. He is the founder and CEO of Twinr.dev, where he helps DTC brands boost retention and lifetime value with high performing native apps.

00;00;49;15 - 00;01;01;28
Claus Lauter
There's over 15 years, and Sasson E-commerce is on a mission to take mobile growth simple and accessible for online retailers. We have a lot to cover, so let's dive in. Hi Gaurav, welcome to the show.

00;01;02;01 - 00;01;04;27
Gaurav Parvadiya
Hey, Claus, thanks for having me.

00;01;05;00 - 00;01;12;03
Claus Lauter
First question. DTC brand struggled to keep customers coming back. Why do you think retention is such a big problem?

00;01;12;06 - 00;01;34;25
Gaurav Parvadiya
I think, nowadays, you know, like, retention is becoming more and more important than acquisition, and retention is more problematic because customers are checking or maybe, you know, like considering 2 or 3 different omnichannel before buying something. So I was I was just reading at, 2024 or Bbc.com reports, which is the one of the big event for any e-commerce companies out there, right?

00;01;34;27 - 00;02;04;00
Gaurav Parvadiya
And the report was that before someone making a purchase decision, right, the e-commerce company needs to touch base with them through different or at least three omnichannel minimum. Maybe it can be like email, SMS, WhatsApp, mobile application and whatever the omnichannel is they are following, right? So I think that's why if the e-commerce businesses are not really having multiple omnichannel and only focusing on like maybe marketplace selling or maybe the website selling, I think it's becoming a problem for them.

00;02;04;02 - 00;02;22;02
Claus Lauter
No, I totally agree. I think, if you observe yourself when you're shopping, you know that you're comparing and you're looking up reviews and on different channels if you find a better price. And so so it's really important to be omnipresent on every channel that is out there. Now a lot of stores have or brands only have a online store as a presence.

00;02;22;02 - 00;02;29;11
Claus Lauter
That might be not enough. How do you capture them on other platforms, like for instance, on mobile?

00;02;29;14 - 00;02;56;22
Gaurav Parvadiya
I would say that, see, for in my experiences, I have worked with a lot of e-commerce brands. Right. So sometimes what happens that people think about that? Okay, I'll build my custom mobile application traditionally start from scratch and everything. Nowadays, in this fast moving world, I learn things of that. So that's a better idea, because when I was when I was working for some of the big companies, let's say a loyal guy is one of the, big health, healthcare brand in North America.

00;02;56;25 - 00;03;17;20
Gaurav Parvadiya
Right? Then there is a Hudson Bay as well. There is a Taiwan Nio, for example. I have built a mobile application for all these brands. And their mobile applications are built out of their website. I mean, they did not build anything from scratch. They're just converted their website into mobile. Right. And then their mobile applications was like within like two, three months on.

00;03;17;22 - 00;03;32;29
Gaurav Parvadiya
So I would say that if you are thinking of building a mobile applications or building operations on different omnichannel, using a no code tools in 2025 is the best idea. Rather than going through a traditional approach or maybe any older approaches.

00;03;33;01 - 00;03;48;27
Claus Lauter
I wanted to have a little bit more into the mobile side of things. So as you said, it's just not a mobile version of a website, and app can do so much more. There's so much more features that you can, offer to your customer. Talk me through what you actually can do with an app.

00;03;48;29 - 00;04;08;20
Gaurav Parvadiya
Of course. I mean, it's not just like displaying the website into the mobile app. It's like blending two things together, right? There will be a native elements as well, which is like model for mobile elements and mobile kind of a user experience. Plus there will be a website elements together as well. Even nowadays you visit Amazon. It's a it's a blend of two things together Amazon application as well.

00;04;08;23 - 00;04;24;02
Gaurav Parvadiya
Right. But you don't really realize that. Also in terms of engagement features you can send, you can send post notification to your users, which is like mobile specific features only. You can't really do that on the mobile, but you can do this with the web browser as well. But of course, it's not like similar to the mobile applications.

00;04;24;03 - 00;04;33;12
Gaurav Parvadiya
Then a lot of other engagement features like in-app messaging, rich media notifications, lots of different things that you can you can do with the mobile apps.

00;04;33;15 - 00;04;49;13
Claus Lauter
Now retention obviously is much cheaper to get a customer that you already have back to use to, buy from you than acquire a new one. Paid advertising has become really expensive. What kind of strategies using a mobile app to get people back to your brand.

00;04;49;16 - 00;05;09;00
Gaurav Parvadiya
So there are multiple strategies that we have implemented with our customers. For example, or I have seen that e-commerce brands are doing it to one of the best ways you build your mobile app. Okay. And then on the website, you launch mobile exclusive discounts or the mobile exclusive products, and then you grab your customer from website to the mobile app.

00;05;09;02 - 00;05;31;24
Gaurav Parvadiya
Now to get the discount that customers will download the mobile application as well. Now once they download it, okay, you have a free hand to send them notifications whenever you want it, and at least the customer or the visitor of your mobile application will be reachable to you on opposed to. Let's say that someone is visiting your store on the mobile browser, this one as they will leave your website.

00;05;31;26 - 00;05;50;19
Gaurav Parvadiya
There is no way that we can reach out to them, except if you are capturing their email address, let's say. Right. So there are two differences here. The next thing is usually, you know, like as I said, like they run mobile exclusive products, mobile exclusive discounts and everything, right? They try to provide, loyalty discounts on the mobile devices.

00;05;50;19 - 00;06;25;05
Gaurav Parvadiya
So usually what they do. Okay. You are our loyal customer. Okay? I mean, I'll be sending you some of the discount offers on mobile application. First, if user is buying from the mobile apps, it's very good for them because they know they are still on the on the mobile applications. Correct. So these are the certain things. And and the main thing here is that when you have a mobile app, let's say okay, then sending a push notification is way more cheaper than sending an SMS or sending sending an email because mobile applications or because emails can go to spam emails, then go to promotions.

00;06;25;05 - 00;06;50;22
Gaurav Parvadiya
A user might not get notification for that, but mobile notification will always land on the users lock screen on lock screen, so they will always receive it. There is no chance that they will not receive it. Like same thing for the SMS. Like you will be spending like maybe $0.001234 per message. It's very costly. And of course it is performing well, but at the same time, cost is very high as well.

00;06;50;25 - 00;07;11;22
Claus Lauter
I never thought about it, but absolutely true. Push notifications, obviously on the mobile phone and everyone's checking their phone all the time, so people will see it. As I said, an email might end up in a spam folder and you won't see it. So I think that's a huge benefit there. Now, all listeners might ask themselves is like, I have a Shopify store, why should I?

00;07;11;22 - 00;07;26;12
Claus Lauter
Or how can I get all this information, over into a mobile app? And I think that app development and it wasn't a POS was a very lengthy and expensive process that has been changed. Tell me where app development instance in 2025?

00;07;26;14 - 00;07;48;02
Gaurav Parvadiya
In 2025? There are two things. One thing is generative. AI of course is there, but generative AI is good if you are building the last company. For example, let's say, okay, well, if you want to build, if you want to build a dating application or you do not have a website, you are only looking for the mobile applications where you are only focusing on one product or one channel at a time, then generative AI is good for you.

00;07;48;04 - 00;08;11;21
Gaurav Parvadiya
Now, if you come to the retail or e-commerce is okay, the first thing they will do is build their websites, of course, because it is required for them to correct. Now, after building a website, building a mobile application in 2025 is using any knock knock or the platform is only that you can convert your website into mobile apps within just 2 to 3 weeks on, you can get you can have your mobile application on Appstore and Playstore within just two three weeks.

00;08;11;21 - 00;08;27;12
Gaurav Parvadiya
I mean, and in terms of cost, let's say there are three factors here. First of all, this time, okay? Instead of like spending six months on developing, traditional application, you are just coming to tell you what, you will be doing it within 2 to 3 weeks, only that you are saving a lot of time here.

00;08;27;12 - 00;08;50;17
Gaurav Parvadiya
And you are, you are building it very fast. The second thing is the money, the investment that you are doing here, the traditional development might cost you maybe somewhere around like 30, 40,000, $50,000 based on your complexity. While in the code side, it's like maybe with couple hundred dollars, maybe like 200 or $300 a month, you can start the basic, subscription and you can go with it right.

00;08;50;20 - 00;09;13;28
Gaurav Parvadiya
And the maintenance, because mobile traditional development does not stop at the first version. When you add something in the website, you add new features. You will need to develop the same thing on the mobile application as well. So ultimately you will be spending at two different places. While in the knockout places, you will be working on the website, adding new features on the website and it will be automatically synchronized into mobile application as well.

00;09;13;28 - 00;09;25;28
Gaurav Parvadiya
So you don't really you are not really reinventing the wheel again and again, right? So you are only focusing on the website and the mobile application will follow that. So I think that's what you should do in 2025.

00;09;26;00 - 00;09;44;26
Claus Lauter
Now it makes perfect sense. Now you're obviously helping brands with this whole process getting this up and running. And a lot of brands might be just overwhelmed. Tell me about the due process steps from the first idea of that. You want to have an app and then the whole flow. What's involved. Do I need to do any kind of homework?

00;09;44;26 - 00;09;47;09
Claus Lauter
How does it work?

00;09;47;11 - 00;10;06;28
Gaurav Parvadiya
So usually what we do with our customers when they come to us, we set up, onboarding session with them. We understand, business that how much, visitors they have on their website, what kind of their brand is, what kind of product they are selling and everything. Right. Based on them. Based on that, we assign our team members to build their mobile applications.

00;10;06;28 - 00;10;29;17
Gaurav Parvadiya
Ultimately, the first version of the mobile application will be built using our team itself so that they basically, work with customer itself to get the first version out and build everything, prepare the application UI, user interactions and user experience and everything together based on the brand personas and everything. The second step is to decide their marketing strategy.

00;10;29;17 - 00;10;52;24
Gaurav Parvadiya
Now, building a mobile application is the first step, but the second step how I'm going to get more mobile application download, right? So that's what we do next. We prepare a strategy for them based on, again the same thing data, geography, locations, data, brand values and data visitors on the website and everything. We decide the strategy that okay how you going to get your first thousand customers on the mobile.

00;10;52;26 - 00;11;15;19
Gaurav Parvadiya
Right. And then we help them build their engagement strategy as well. That okay. How frequently used to send, push notification to your users. Okay. And then we have our own AI system which, which recommends them that okay. Now the BCM is coming. Right. So, yesterday itself, we send the notification to all of our customers that, okay, this is your 90 days plan to get prepared for.

00;11;15;22 - 00;11;38;19
Gaurav Parvadiya
Correct. So you should start working on that as soon as possible. So that is our process. Basically, you just come to our setup of the onboarding session because we talk together. We understand your business. We help them understand everything from start to end, from building, from engagement, from getting downloads on the applications and, and also analyzing the data and then taking informed decisions that, okay, now what is next?

00;11;38;19 - 00;11;40;08
Gaurav Parvadiya
Now.

00;11;40;11 - 00;12;02;29
Claus Lauter
I want to touch a little bit on the on the data itself. There's tons of different data points. You know, the brands are using a different tech stack every one. Some are on WooCommerce, some on Shopify, other platforms. How do you compromise or how do you bring this data together, so that the brand can really find out how successful the app is.

00;12;03;02 - 00;12;29;16
Gaurav Parvadiya
So first thing is, we do have our, we do have our own analytics dashboard. Okay. So ultimately, whatever the core level of data, that mobile application requires, we are providing from our side. The second thing is, we also help them integrate Google Analytics. What if they are using any third party integration, like, for example, Mixpanel or Shopify users are mostly using Klaviyo, for their marketing automations and everything.

00;12;29;16 - 00;12;47;16
Gaurav Parvadiya
So if they are looking for those kind of customized or sorry for integrations as well, we help them integrate those platforms as well. Now our analytics will provide them and the information that okay hub users are navigating through the mobile apps like which, which pages they are visiting, which tabs they are visiting, how much products they are adding to the cart.

00;12;47;19 - 00;13;15;05
Gaurav Parvadiya
And, based on those data and collectively, the data that that they have available in other analytics platform, they combine all this information together and take certain decisions that okay, now for the mobile application, I should use this strategy particularly. And then we have certain automations as well. We have our integration with Shopify directly, which helps that which helps us, get the data from Shopify and directly, you know, like feed into our system and build some informed decisions out of it.

00;13;15;08 - 00;13;38;10
Claus Lauter
I think this is really valuable in user communication. That might be auto confirmation. It's very handy. It's always there basically in your pocket. We were talking about, retention. So bringing people back I want to talk a little bit about loyalty. How do you use a app for loyalty programs or bringing people back through these?

00;13;38;13 - 00;13;57;14
Gaurav Parvadiya
Yeah. So as I said, like we provide integration with a lot of different loyalty platforms. And some of the platforms are very popular, and I would say like 90% of the Shopify users or maybe the WordPress users or maybe BigCommerce users are really using it. Okay. The second thing is, if you want to integrate it separately in the mobile app, you can do that as well.

00;13;57;14 - 00;14;17;20
Gaurav Parvadiya
That's your choice. If you have already integrated loyalty features in your website, it will by default available in the mobile application as well. The main difference here is when you have integrated it into the mobile application, only you can brag about it on your website that okay, download our mobile app and be a loyal customer and we will be giving you extra loyalty discount for this, right?

00;14;17;23 - 00;14;35;20
Gaurav Parvadiya
If you have integrated on your website as well, plus on your mobile application as well, let's say then also it's not a bad idea. Of course it's still a good idea, but the main thing is that, you will be sending loyalty notifications to your mobile application users directly. That okay, because you have purchased something, earlier, right.

00;14;35;22 - 00;14;53;25
Gaurav Parvadiya
We have this product, coming again, and you can get 20% discount, 10% discount on that. Now, instead of sending them an email or maybe, you know, like it, it can go to a game, spam and lot of different things. Mobile application notifications can be more engaging and it can have a better, conversion rate as well.

00;14;53;27 - 00;14;56;17
Gaurav Parvadiya
Right. So so those are the differences here.

00;14;56;20 - 00;15;16;22
Claus Lauter
Okay. Now let's talk about if we are talking about mobile is that that is a marketing strategy for it. Obviously you need to get people to install, the mobile app. Can you give me an example or showcase or a case study of a brand that you work with and you don't necessarily need to name the brand and what kind of results they saw?

00;15;16;24 - 00;15;37;05
Gaurav Parvadiya
I know about some of the brands that we are working with, this all around, like, I would say at least 30 to 40% jump into the revenue after switching to mobile applications. Okay. The only reason is when someone, someone has downloaded their mobile app. Okay. So let's say that in the first month, 1000 people is downloaded their mobile app.

00;15;37;06 - 00;16;00;29
Gaurav Parvadiya
So those same users were spending three x more then, more. Then the website. Right. Because you were you are sending them post notifications, you are sending them in-app messaging, you are touching. And the main thing is up here in 2055, I think the main thing is about personalization. So the push notification that you are sending, you can send the notification to like a hundred thousand users together.

00;16;01;01 - 00;16;20;03
Gaurav Parvadiya
You need to personalize something that okay based on the user behavior, based on their search history, what they are doing, and collecting all these different different data points and the third party data. Then after, sorry, the first party data, then only you can decide that, okay, now this user segment will receive this notification. This user segment will receive this notification.

00;16;20;06 - 00;16;45;26
Gaurav Parvadiya
Right. So that's what and this is a real case study again for our one of our customer. They are in Middle East, and specifically in Middle East and European countries, post notification. And the WhatsApp is the best performing channel. Yeah. WhatsApp is best performing channel for them. It's emerging, I would say, and specifically from 18 to 30 years old, particularly for this age group.

00;16;45;28 - 00;16;55;13
Gaurav Parvadiya
It is very, very popular in Europe and Middle East. So I would recommend it to any listeners who are in Europe and Middle East. Right. Digital channels.

00;16;55;15 - 00;17;10;27
Claus Lauter
No, I would totally agree. I mean, if you want to get to me, and you have me on WhatsApp, then you get to me. So that's definitely something that that in a lot of countries. I know that from all my traveling as WhatsApp is the number one channel to to reach people more than SMS or anything else.

00;17;10;29 - 00;17;25;17
Claus Lauter
Now when we talking about and that's what I want to find out from you is about the platforms. You say that you can be on iPhone. That's one app and you can be on Android. That's another one. How is the process to get approved there? And so any costs involved with that?

00;17;25;20 - 00;17;45;16
Gaurav Parvadiya
Not really any cost involved with that. You just need to open, App Store and Google Play Store accounts to be on the App Store and Google Play. Right. And, for Google plays like $25 for lifetime fee. And, for Apple, it's $149 per year. You'll be paying that, but after that, there is no any extra cost here.

00;17;45;18 - 00;17;47;23
Claus Lauter
Okay. So that's very straightforward.

00;17;47;25 - 00;17;49;08
Gaurav Parvadiya
Yeah, it's very straightforward.

00;17;49;11 - 00;17;56;26
Claus Lauter
Who's your perfect customer? Either specific needs or industries that you work more with than others.

00;17;56;28 - 00;18;12;27
Gaurav Parvadiya
We are focusing on, e-commerce and retail businesses and news companies. So, that's our, primary customers and our all the features are actually surrounding for these two categories only. We are not really focusing on any other categories for now.

00;18;13;00 - 00;18;24;01
Claus Lauter
Okay. We already were talking a little bit on the onboarding process. Can you give me some kind of timeline and how many steps are involved to before you can get up and running.

00;18;24;03 - 00;18;43;09
Gaurav Parvadiya
So the timeline is around 2 to 3 weeks, based on, if they have their apps or Playstore account setup and how ready they are and what what what process they are already they have prepared earlier. Right? So usually step one is to, you know, like connect with them, understanding about their business and preparing the plan of building the mobile app.

00;18;43;09 - 00;19;03;14
Gaurav Parvadiya
That okay, how many screens will be in the mobile app, what will be the user flow in the interaction. So everything that's step one. Step two is just executing that plan that okay, now we have the plan available. So let's build the mobile app okay. After that the third step is to set up data, engagement and the push notification strategy and everything.

00;19;03;17 - 00;19;09;18
Gaurav Parvadiya
And the last step is to get it on App Store and Play Store. So all these things can be done within just 2 to 3 weeks only.

00;19;09;21 - 00;19;20;19
Claus Lauter
Okay. So that's, very quick. And if you start now for all business, it will be ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. How does your how does your pricing structure work?

00;19;20;22 - 00;19;39;25
Gaurav Parvadiya
We have a pricing structure based on, different features. So we have three different prices. Standard premium in the enterprise. Right. Or standard plan in the premium plan are more for us small businesses where they are just getting some protection on the website. And they have they are generating some of the revenue from their website and everything.

00;19;39;27 - 00;20;06;10
Gaurav Parvadiya
Enterprise is model where they have like, million users per month, visiting their website and they are generating a lot of revenue more then around somewhere around like $5 million revenue they are generating. Okay. So those are those those comes into our enterprise, group. And then, our initial prices are very low. So for example, if you are if you are going with a premium plan, it's like hundred and $25 per month, and then you will be paying based on users only.

00;20;06;10 - 00;20;15;01
Gaurav Parvadiya
So if you have like 100,000 users visiting your website or mobile application per month, you will be paying around $1,020 extra. That's it.

00;20;15;04 - 00;20;32;14
Claus Lauter
Okay. Oh, that's not very affordable. With the numbers that you just mentioned in your case study. That's the budget to quadruple their their revenue. I mean that's a no brainer at the end of a day. Very cool. Before we come to the end of our coffee break today, is there anything you want to share with our listeners that we haven't covered yet?

00;20;32;17 - 00;20;59;27
Gaurav Parvadiya
The only thing is because the world is moving towards AI, right? So building and people and also again, the same thing I was looking at, in 2024 data and the expected results for 2025, I would say like 60% users will be purchasing using, using AI this year. That's what, all the bigger e-commerce companies are expecting.

00;20;59;27 - 00;21;22;28
Gaurav Parvadiya
Analytics companies are expecting even Shopify as well. Okay. So recently Shopify has launched a date on, system. If you want to build an AI agent for your website, you can do that as well. So I would say that, for any e-commerce businesses, integrating AI into their, system or into their e-commerce stores will be becoming more and more important.

00;21;23;00 - 00;21;46;17
Gaurav Parvadiya
Even after 2025, it will become more and more because they are expecting like 60% users will be shopping using. Yeah, which is insane. I mean, right. So that's that's I think one of the main thing in 2025 that, if you are not yet thinking about it or if you are not really considering that you are literally leaving a lot of revenue behind, in for BCM 2025.

00;21;46;20 - 00;22;07;11
Claus Lauter
Yeah, I totally agree. I'm surprised that the numbers that high, but I think people are just shifting over more and more to AI and getting used to ChatGPT and Gemini and whatever's out there and just using this to to start shopping heavily now. And obviously it's absolutely no brainer to be available on your mobile, on a mobile device and an app is a perfect way to do so.

00;22;07;13 - 00;22;11;11
Claus Lauter
Where can people go and find out more about you guys?

00;22;11;13 - 00;22;20;21
Gaurav Parvadiya
They can find more about us on twitter.dev. That's our website. They can directly go there and set up a demo with us, and then, we can talk more about it.

00;22;20;23 - 00;22;34;14
Claus Lauter
Excellent. I will put the links in the show notes, as always, and you're just one click away and a whole lot of listeners will reach out to you. I said, I think an app is an absolutely no brainer. You need to have that if you want to grow, if you want to really catch people on mobile devices, wherever they are, you should be there.

00;22;34;19 - 00;22;36;10
Claus Lauter
Thanks so much for your time today.

00;22;36;12 - 00;22;37;28
Gaurav Parvadiya
Yeah. Think it was nice meeting you.