There are so many benefits to using Shopify as a platform for your e-commerce store.
The first and most notable advantage is using an app store that offers virtually everything you could think of!
Starting out on Shopify may seem daunting, but once you know which apps and tools to look for, you will be able to set up a professional online shop in a flash. Here are the best Shopify apps to use to help your e-commerce store grow and thrive.
Loox
Loox is a product reviews app that allows you to collect photo reviews from your satisfied customers and display them on your online store. Product reviews have been proven to strengthen brand identity and boost sales through strong social proof, and Loox offers a wide range of tools to achieve these objectives. The app connects to the apps and sites you might already use to maximize the impact of your product reviews.
Loox is ideal for apparel and accessories eCommerce stores as people love posting selfies when they look good. By integrating this photo review app, you can provide an easy-to-use platform to showcase your products to real customers who love your brand.
EcoReturns is the world’s first AI-powered returns solution that helps Shopify brands reduce, automate and manage returns in an eco-friendly way.
AI-Powered Returns Reduction
- Incentive engine encouraging customers to exchange, choose store credit and keep the item instead of returning
- AI-powered fraud prevention identifying orders with high return risk and flagging potentially fraudulent orders
- Deeper analytics providing insights on return reasons, most returned products, customers that return the most, and much more
Automation
- Brands can automate returns, exchanges, refunds, label generation, pickups, and more, freeing up valuable resources and saving upto 80% on operational costs
ChatGPT-Powered Returns
- EcoReturns is the first-ever ChatGPT-powered returns solution that offers its ChatGPT returns widget to merchants, which can be easily integrated into their websites. This widget facilitates personalized support for shoppers during the returns and exchange process, drastically reducing response times and enhancing the overall customer experience.
Plug In SEO
Plug In SEO is a free Shopify app (with paid plans available) that helps you make the most of trending search keywords on Google. Up to 35% of online purchases begin with a simple Google search, so it makes sense to optimize your store for search engines to drive as much traffic as possible to your website. If you have a store that sells trending products such as travel accessories, shapewear, or health and beauty products, this app can give you an edge over your competitors as it will boost your rankings.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can be a challenging topic for those who are just starting in e-commerce, which is why tools like Plug In SEO are in such high demand. This app automates major search optimization tasks and checks your store for on-page SEO issues. It can also optimize page headings, titles, meta descriptions, website speed, blog post structures, content catchiness, and other essential elements of your online store to ensure that your site performs well on significant search engines.
Sumo
Email-based marketing is still highly effective in e-commerce, so it is definitely not to be overlooked. Sumo is a Shopify app that can help you to grow your email marketing list using convenient automated tools.
The app provides a complete suite of tools that help you quickly build your email list. The suite includes pop-ups, scroll boxes, welcome mats and bright bars. The app also integrates well with the large majority of email service providers, making it easy to use.
This app is an excellent option for ecommerce stores that like to connect with customers regularly. It’s especially suited to stores that regularly offer discounts, either on a seasonal basis or for specific products at certain times. Those selling clothing, health, or beauty products will certainly benefit, as it allows you to create a contact list and interact regularly with potential repeat customers.
Omnisend
As an e-commerce store owner, your priority should be to convert site visitors into subscribers, and subscribers into regular customers. Omnisend is an email marketing app that can do just that. This Shopify tool offers numerous handy features and can scale with your company as it grows.
It helps users to design attractive campaigns, build their automation workflows across email and other channels, and even targets customers using an intelligent segmentation protocol. All of these features result in more effective, potentially profitable marketing strategies.
Ideal for growth-focused ecommerce brands, Omnisend is an excellent choice for newly established stores. It focuses on customer retention, and while this is important for all brands, it’s especially vital for those who are still making a name for themselves.
PushOwl
If you want to branch out from traditional email campaigns, other communication channels are easy to find. Web push notifications are also highly successful, and this channel allows store owners to reach out to customers in an appropriately timed and personalized manner.
The PushOwl app delivers automated messages to your customers’ mobile devices and desktops to send them news about essential updates. These include factors like promotions and sales, abandoned carts, price changes, and shipping and stock updates.
This app is a must-have if you stock a wide range of products. It allows you to target specific demographics, and means you can segregate your marketing strategy to reach the right people at the right time. Managing a store with multiple product streams can be challenging, but with PushOwl, marketing is far more streamlined.
Smile.io
On average, obtaining a new customer is between 5x and 25x more costly than selling to an existing one. With this in mind, monitoring customer trends and encouraging customer retention is a crucial strategy for any e-commerce store owner. One effective way to turn one-time shoppers into loyal ones is to create a unique and appealing rewards program.
Smile.io can help by giving you the power to design and manage a rewards program of your own. You can use tools like customer referral rewards, loyalty points, and VIP tier systems to keep customers returning. It’s ideally suited to ecommerce stores that offer a wide range of regularly shopped products, or to those that fill a niche such as fitness supplements or natural skincare that ensures repeat buyers.
Smile.io integrates with all major e-commerce and social media platforms, email, and CRM service suppliers, making it easy to use and completely scalable.
Pre-Order Manager
You can take the stress out of adding new products to your online store by using tools like Pre-Order Manager. The app allows you to launch a pre-order campaign that will give you a clear picture of whether or not a new product will sell well.
Pre-Order Manager replaces your traditional ‘Add to Cart’ button with a ‘Pre-Order’ option, which allows you to sell products even when they have not arrived in your store yet. It also enables you to schedule pre-orders for certain products as needed.
If you’re selling hugely trendy items and are not too sure how a new style, gadget, or novelty product will be received, this app will give you insight into what you should look at stocking, and how much you’ll need. It also reduces the risk of you buying too much stock and not selling it timeously.
OptiMonk
Driving traffic to your e-commerce site can be challenging. Unfortunately, a whopping 98% of those visitors, on average will leave your site without buying anything or subscribing to your mailing list.
OptiMonk is an on-site message toolkit that grabs the attention of a leaving visitor with targeted pop-ups. You can use your strategies to showcase special deals or use lead magnets to keep visitors on your website or prompt them to subscribe to your newsletters.
Stores with more expensive tech products or those that offer items that are very popular online will benefit from this app. It captures the customer's attention at the right time, encouraging them to complete their purchase rather than go elsewhere.
Wishlist Plus
A significant majority of the visitors to your website aren’t ready to buy anything. Instead of losing those potential buyers or urging them to spend money immediately, you can use apps like Wishlist Plus to allow them to save their favorite products for later purchases. They can check back in when they are ready or can buy the products you love, which means improved sales for you!
By offering a wishlist function, stores selling luxury goods can see what appeals to customers and what products are most sought-after. On the other side of the coin, stores that sell a wide range of goods can also determine the difference between customers' needs and desires and can use popular wishlist items to determine where discounts should be applied to increase sales.
Getting Ahead In The Marketplace
Each of these apps adds value to your e-commerce store on its own or when used in conjunction. Whether you choose to use all, some, or even just one of them, they can provide greater insight into your target market and assist you in improving SEO rankings, attracting and retaining customers, and making sure your marketing material is seen by the right people, at the right time.
This article originally appeared in the Loox blog and has been published here with permission.
