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The world we are living in has changed dramatically over the years thanks to technology. Nowadays, as an eCommerce entrepreneur, all you need is a laptop and you can start making a real profit. Thanks to a robust platform like Shopify, everyone is able to facilitate an eCommerce business of all sizes and ranges in just under an hour.
But we won’t stop there, and nor would customers. Your store needs to be continually expanding so it can satisfy the diverse needs of millions of people on the internet. Whether it is about increasing sales, attracting more visitors, optimizing the site, logistics, etc. That is when Shopify apps come in and help you with every business’s needs.
Among hundreds of apps available on the Shopify app store, I have gathered a list of the best Shopify Apps that every store needs. They are reliable, easy-to-use, and comprehensive. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Why do Shopify stores need apps?
Shopify alone is powerful. You can set up stores, receive payments, list products, and start selling in an instant. But besides that, there is a community that is always striving to optimize the store’s function. This leads to the Shopify app store, where there are currently 3832 apps available.
These apps are packed with many useful tools for you to increase sales. And they are developed by the most prestigious companies or market experts, so you need not to worry about the quality. You can easily install the apps into your Shopify store with just a click of a button.
So the question isn’t why do your Shopify store need apps? The question is, why not?
If you have thousands of beautifully designed apps that can drive up your conversion rate and optimize your store’s function, you should try them. Not to mention almost half of them are free. Next up, let’s see the criterias to look at before choosing an app for your store.
Before choosing an app
The apps you choose can have many effects on your store’s performance. So don’t make your decision on an app too quickly before considering these factors:
Compatibility: Check carefully if the app you want is compatible with other apps you have. User’s reviews may help a lot here. Look through them to see if any store encountered compatibility problems after purchasing the app from the store.
Website performance: Every time your site is loaded, the apps load as well. And the number of apps your store has negatively affect your site speed. See how heavy the app is before installing and check if you have any inactive apps that you can delete.
Outdated apps: Time changes, and the internet changes even faster. Tech developments are renewed every day, so make sure your choices of app are regularly updated for proper functionality and to avoid problems from the app not working correctly.
Keep things organized: Too many apps can become distracting. While all apps are attractive in their own terms, downloading everything that you think can help is not the solution. Test and choose the one you want to go with, one app at a time. You don’t need three chat apps to effectively connect to your customers.
Now that you know what to consider before adding an app to your store, let’s get to our list of the best Shopify apps.
The best Shopify apps that every store needs (explained)
The Shopify app store has apps for all the needs of an online business. Do you want to improve your customer support? Or perhaps you want to manage your inventory better? Maybe your store needs some updates in security? You can find it here, with all the best Shopify apps below.
Best Shopify apps for SEO
1. AVADA SEO Suite – Best for SEO
SEO is an important part of your website because it not only about search engines but good SEO practices improve the user experience and your site‘s usability. If you are looking for an all-in-one solution to increase the loading page, optimize your site ranking, etc., AVADA Seo Suite will definitely give you a helping hand.
This stunning app supports a wide range of function good for SEO. Here are significant features: Image optimization
- Auto-add Google structure data (rich snippets)
- Meta tags optimization
- Redirect 404 pages
- HTML Sitemap
- Prevent duplicate content
- Site verification
This useful app has helped many Shopify store oner solve their SEO issue and boost their search ranking. There are more and more people using AVADA SEO Suite. We believe that the ranking will increase even it is in a good position now ( rating 4.9)
Pricing plans: Free
2. SEO Image Optimizer – Auto SEO
One of the most popular image search engines is Google Image Search. Therefore, if you want your site to have more visitors, image optimization is essential. That is what SEO image optimizer – Auto SEO is for.
The app covers all the aspects of SEO image optimization, made by the dedicated experts in eCommerce. The features include:
- Alt-Text optimization
- New images checked once per week
- Unlimited image syncing
- Meta tag optimization
- Fix broken links
- Autopilot SEO fixes
Having more than 4,000 positive reviews on the Shopify app store, SEO image optimized is trusted by many store owners. The app also gives you data and automation on SEO so you can save time and do other tasks.
Pricing plans:
- Free – Basic SEO image optimization
- Pro – $24.99/month – Free plan features + SEO optimization and automation
3. Plugin in SEO – Improve SEO
SEO should be the most focused aspect if you want to grow your business, and Plugin in SEO can help you with that. With this app, you as a business owner can discover some of the best ways to boost your site’s rankings. The app is easy to use and won’t require you to learn everything to become a pro.
You are covered with all of the important tasks of SEO like bulk edit, fix meta titles and descriptions, blog optimization, 404 broken links, and more. The app is constantly updated and has over 1,600 five star ratings, so don’t worry and try this app now!
Pricing plans:
- FREE FOREVER – Unlimited SEO, Blog, Speed problems checks, Fix instructions & code, Automatic email alerts
- PLUS – $20 / month, 7 day free trial – Automatic SEO improvements, Free install, Premium support, Structured data, Powerful SEO control, Premium support
Further Reading: 20+ Best Free Shopify SEO Tools & Apps for Shopify
Best Shopify apps for reviews
4. Loox – Collect photo reviews
Loox is a review app that focuses on photos. This allows you to use social proof with photo reviews provided by your customers. Authentic reviews are really important to boost sales and increase customer’s trust these days.
With Loox, you can get the photo reviews hosted on a page of your store, or use a dedicated review page to impress visitors. Loox claims that conversion rate can increase by 91% when products have photo reviews.
The app also allows you to send automatic emails to customers and ask them for photo reviews. In exchange for their precious feedback, you can give them product discount codes to encourage satisfaction and boost sales.
Pricing plans:
- BASIC – $9.99/month – 100 monthly review request emails, Offer discounts, Widgets
- ADVANCED – $29.99/month – 500 monthly review request emails, All Basic features, Integrations
- PRO – $59.99/month – 1,500 monthly review request emails, All Advanced features, Full customization and branding
- ENTERPRISE – $99.99/month – 10,000 monthly review request emails, All Pro features
5. Product Reviews
If there is a fact that can’t be stressed enough, it is that even free apps on Shopify app store are awesome. If you would like to add a simple product review area to your product page, Product Reviews is the choice for you. The area would automatically match your store’s look and feel with Theme-friendly design.
The features don’t stop there as you can do more such as bulk filtering, importing, exporting, SEO friendly review scores and more. These provide a way for your customers to engage with you and encourage more sales for your store.
Pricing plans:
Completely FREE to use
6. Yotpo: Product and Photo Reviews
Product reviews are great, but there is even more social proof that you can achieve from your customers and showcase your business as a trusted brand. Yotpo is an app that is all about building your reputation online by giving you access to reviews and ratings.
With Yotpo, you can collect photo reviews, product reviews, site ratings, and more, using on-site widgets and emails. The app is trusted by over 1,500 store owners, and you can set up the app in just a single click.
Any existing reviews will be imported into Yotpo so you can showcase them across your homepage, product & category pages, and at checkout. It is a simple way to increase traffic and sales instantly.
Pricing plans:
What do you know? The app is FREE to use!
Best Shopify apps for sales
7. Recom.ai – Cross sell and upsell
With a 4.8 rating, Recom.ai is one the best apps available on the Shopify app store for cross selling and upselling. The application uses a rule system or AI to mass-create upsells your whole store’s catalog in just minutes, saving you time doing this manually.
From there, you can customize the way you upsell or cross-sells are displayed. They can appear on whatever page you like, even a 404 page. You can create automatic upsells for items frequently bought together, top-sellers, trending with collections, new arrivals, and more.
Pricing plans:
- 14 day free trial
- FREE – <500 widget views, full functionality, unlimited upsells and cross sells
- $29.99/month – <5,000 widget views, full functionality, unlimited upsells and cross sells
- $99.99/month – <20,000 widget views, full functionality, unlimited upsells and cross sells
- $149.99/month – <100,000 widget views, full functionality, unlimited upsells and cross sells
8. Frequently Bought Together
Frequently Bought Together app can analyze your store’s historical data and then showcase the related products on your product page to increase sales in a cart. There is automatic function or manual picking.
The app has great customer support and offers many customization options for an effortless user experience. Over 1,200 store owners have felt very satisfied using the app and left four-star rating. The developer claims that the app’s AI has been trained with 1+ billion orders to produce the best recommendations.
Pricing plans:
- 30-day free trial
- $7.99/month – Unlimited number of products, traffic, order; Customer support
9. TRUST – Security seals
Sometimes, you need to pay for security or trust seals to make your customer trust your business and feel comfortable shopping on your site. With TRUST, you can get many free trust badges and social proof to increase sales.
The list of seals includes a PCI Compliance Seal, Secure Architecture Seal, Money Back Guarantee Seal, and SSL Seal. These are all really important to convey trust. And you can verify reviews as well to make customers’ reviews legit.
Pricing plans:
- 5-day free trial
- FREE – 1,000 page views, 4 verification scans / year, Seal visibility selection
- BRONZE – $23.98 / month – 10,000 page views, 12 verification scans / year, Verified landing page
- SILVER – $59.98 / month – Unlimited page views, 52 verification scans / year, Seals on checkout page
- GOLD – $79.98 / month – Unlimited page views, 365 verification scans / year, Review widgets
10. PROOFO: Social proof – Sales Pop
To boost customer shopping, there is an effective way which is showing recent transactions or a timer counting down the sale time. This creates a sense of rush for buyers as if they would lose the good deals if they don’t hurry. And PROOFO: Social proof – Sales Pop can help you with just that.
The app can automatically display recent sales or orders notifications as social proof that many buyers are purchasing. There are notifications for products added to cart too – this is more suitable for new stores who haven’t had many orders. You can even custom your own sales pop.
With flexible configuration, you can adjust the sales pop’s design and layout – which will automatically display responsively on various devices: Desktop, Tablet, Mobile. Then you can set specific targets for the sales pop based on the geography, page, position, or product.
Pricing plans:
The app is powerful and FREE to use.
Best Shopify apps for marketing
11. Abandonment Protector – Email marketing automation
Abandonment is a problem that every store will face. The most reliable solution for this is to catch your website visitor’s attention and quickly convert them into new customers. The Abandonment Protector app can do that with its simple yet powerful marketing automation tool. The application will automatically send up to three emails to every customer who leaves your online store without purchasing even if they had some items in their shopping carts. The main features of the app are:
- Automated follow-ups with email sequences based on a customer’s behavior.
- Popups to attract visitors.
- Automatic newsletter with a segmentation tool to increase opening rates.
There is a library of email templates and popup styles for you to choose from, and you are provided with statistics to help you track the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Pricing plans:
- 30-day free trial
- BASIC – $8/month – $3,000 emails, Unlimited popup views, Unlimited subscribers, Emails, Newsletters. After 3,000 emails, you are charged with $1.5 per 1,000 additional emails.
12. AVADA Google Tag Manager – Manage all eCommerce tags
Shopify Google Tag Manager is an important part in improving your site’s performance. It can condense all your site’s tags and prevent your site from failure if any tag experiences a technical problem. And AVADA Google Tag Manager helps you implement Google Tag Manager into the store sites in one-click.
This way, you can gather visitor’s data and view them in one place. Conveniently, eCommerce transaction tracking, Remarketing Ads, Facebook Pixels, etc. are all supported in the application. There are over 70 tags that you can add to your store for better tracking.
Your page’s loading speed would be improved as well. All the script-tags are handled by the app and won’t slow the site down. The app is easy to use and won’t need any coding knowledge to use to its own potential.
Pricing plans:
FREE, good to know
13. Privy – Exit Pop Ups and Email
Privy app is specialized in pop ups, email marketing, sales conversion, and abandoned cart. You can easily create banners, pop ups, and announcement bars with great design in the app. How you present can affect greatly to whether people would click or not.
These all ties into your cart abandonment and exit intent strategy, and the app is integrated with common platforms like Mailchimp, Adroll, and Soundest. Which means you can automate every part of your email marketing campaigns.
Pricing plans:
- 15-day free trial
- FREE – 5000 average monthly page views, Unlimited pop ups, A/B testing, Targeting rules
- GROWTH – $20/month – 10,000 monthly page views, Unlimited pop ups, A/B testing, Targeting rules, Remove Privy logo
- PRIVY EMAIL – $10/month – 1,000 contacts, Newsletters, Abandoned cart emails, Easy design
14. Omnisend – Email Marketing
One of the best email marketing apps on the Shopify App store, Omnisend is the answer for omnichannel marketing automation. The app offers a wide range of tools so you can build a better relationship with your customers through relevant messages.
You can add several channels into the same automation workflow. This way, you can reach your customers on multi channels with personalized messages for different groups of buyers. And that is not all.
You also have tools for list building resources, retargeting ads, target segmentation, and much more. Over three thousand users have expressed the satisfaction through a five-star rating on the app’s page.
Pricing plans:
- Free to install, 14 day free trial
- FREE – 15,000 emails / month, 2,000 emails / day, Email campaign
- STANDARD – $16 / month – 15,000 emails / month, Automation Workflows, 20 advanced segments, SMS campaign
- PRO – $199 / month – Web push notifications, 50 advanced segments, Facebook and Google audience, 6 months live tracking data
- ENTERPRISE – contact for price
15. Kit by Kit CRM
Developed by Shopify, Kit is a powerful tool for automating Facebook ads. Using AI power, the tool helps you build lookalike audiences and create successful ad campaigns to make your visitors purchase.
Now, the app can make ads for Facebook and Instagram, and integrate with many other Shopify apps like SEO Manager or Customer Reviews. You also get quick reports to provide insights on your store’s marketing and sales performance.
Pricing plans:
FREE to use – ain’t that great? Maybe that is why it is among the best Shopify apps.
16. Facebook Messenger Marketing
When Facebook showed up, no one saw how it could change eCommerce forever. Nowadays, if you don’t connect with your customers through Facebook Messenger, you are missing out on a lot of sale opportunities. So install Facebook Messenger Marketing now.
With an app like this, you can do all sorts of things to build a relationship with your customers through Messenger. Such as:
- Sending order receipts
- Launch marketing campaigns to different groups of your followers
- Sending shipping updates
- Alerting any changes of the business
Over two thousand store owners have found the app to be very helpful. And this is because Facebook Messenger has way higher opening rate compared to emails. No coding needed, easy to use, and great results await – That is why you should install this app.
Pricing plans:
Another reason: The app is FREE to use!
Best Shopify apps for shipping
17. Aftership – Order tracking
Another important part of an eCommerce store is shipping. Aftership allows you to track all of your shipments in one dashboard. This means both you and your customers can have all the information needed about an item on delivery.
The app also lets you generate a tracking page for each shipment. The page can then be sent to customers with customization like including your store URL, your brand logo, and even pictures from Instagram.
After looking at the pricing plans, you can see they give almost the same features for all plans. Which is good for you to scale when your store gets more orders.
Pricing plans:
- 14-day free trial
- STARTER – Free to install – 100 shipments per month, $0.5 per extra shipment, Branded tracking
- ESSENTIAL – $9/month – 100 shipments per month, $0.8 per extra shipment, Branded tracking, Email & SMS notifications
- GROWTH – $29/month – 500 shipments per month, $0.8 per extra shipment, Branded tracking, Email & SMS notifications
- PRO – $99/month – 2,000 shipments per month, $0.8 per extra shipment, Branded tracking, Email & SMS notifications
18. AVADA Free Shipping Bar
Customers always feel unsure whether to hit the “buy” button or not, so you need to hit hard with your offer to persuade them. And the last offer of “FREE shipping” before they check out can be it. Which is what Shopify Free Shipping Bar by AVADA does.
The app can help you promote your free shipping with advanced targeting for different countries, devices, and pages. It can also be your Promotion bar or Announcement bar on special occasions like X-mas, Halloween, New Year, Sales, Thanksgiving, etc.
There are 5 preset positions you can place the bar anywhere, and you can add links, buttons, or emoji to entice the visitors. As more customers expect free shipping as part of an eCommerce store, reminding them constantly with this bar can get you extra sales.
Pricing plans:
FREE, ain’t that a sweet deal?
Best Shopify apps for custermer service
19. Lucky Orange – Visitor tracking
To get a better conversion, you need Lucky Orange to start tracking data and optimizing your store’s front page. The average eCommerce conversion globally is only at 2.86%, according to this research, so you need to step up your game or your visitors will never buy from you.
Lucky Orang can provide accurate insights into how the visitors are behaving on your business site. The data comes from user recordings, live chat, dynamic heatmaps, polls and surveys. All are shown in an easy to read dashboard and you can analyze by yourself.
There are forms for polls & surveys that you can use on specific pages or targeted visitors (such as the ones coming from Facebook). They use common questions like “What stopped you from making a purchase” or “Would you like to be contacted for a discount?” to get a response.
Pricing plans:
- 7-day free trial
- STARTER – $10/month – 1 site, 15,000 monthly page views, 2 operators
- SMALL BUSINESS – 3 sites, 60,000 monthly page views, 4 operators
- MEDIUM – 8 sites, 200,000 monthly page views, 10 operators
- LARGE – 16 sites, 500,000 monthly page views, 20 operators
20. Smile.io – Rewards and Loyalty
The more a customer engages with your brand, the better chance you have of gaining another loyal follower. You can do that by enticing rewards programs that benefit your customers. And Smile.io can do that.
There are three styles of rewards program for you to offer:
- The referral program
- The loyalty points program
- The VIP program
All these options provide your customers with a reward to engage with your brand. It is the way you can make buyers spread the word about your store
Pricing plans:
- FREE – 10+ Ways to reward, Points & referral programs, Visual customizations
- STARTER – $49 / month – All Free features, Full design customization, Email editor
- GROWTH – $199 / month – All Starter features, Points expiry, Analytics
- PRO – $599 / month – All Growth features, VIP program, Unlimited Smile Apps
Best Shopify apps for invoice
21. AVADA PDF Invoice – Free PDF templates
As a new product by AVADA Commerce – a well-known eCommerce solution provider, PDF Invoice, Order Printer is a free tool that can generate PDF Invoice, PDF Order, PDF Refund and PDF Packing Slip in just a few clicks. The app is a useful solution for both buyers and sellers. While the buyer can download, save, and print the invoice for various purposes, the store admins can save time generating the invoice again every time the customer needs it. The tool is easy to use right in the store’s dashboard. You can upload/delete/change company logo, set up default company’s info, preview the template, and create more templates for other usages. And the app is free!
Pricing plan:
FREE
Special: Best Shopify apps for dropshipping
If you’ve heard about dropshipping, then you should know having reliable apps is very important. The special type of business requires quick decisions with much research, and the following apps can help greatly.
Recommendation: For more dropshipping apps, you can read our top 12+ Best Shopify Dropshipping Apps.
Oberlo
Oberlo is probably one of the most famous apps for dropshipping on the Shopify app store. This is the go-to app if you want to import and dropship products directly into your store. The app also always keeps your inventory and prices up to date to have fluctuation in pricing.
Made by Shopify, the app is seamlessly integrated into your store and work flawlessly without a hassle. You will get a Chrome extension as well to add products directly from the supplier’s site with just a few clicks.
On the Oberlo dashboard, you will have exclusive access to hand-pick suppliers, hot products, bulk ordering, and better shipping times.
Pricing plans:
- FREE – 500 product limits, Unlimited monthly orders, Automated product pricing, Oberlo Chrome extension
- BASIC – $29.99 / month – 10,000 product limits, Variant mapping, Bulk orders, Affiliate program
- PRO – $79.99 / month – 30,000 product limits, All basic features, Multiple staff accounts
Spocket
If you want an alternative for Oberlo, Spocket is the best option. The app focuses on US and EU suppliers so customers from these regions can receive the order fast. In the current eCommerce market, faster means more customers.
With a 4.7 rating and over 1600 five star ratings, the app is definitely trusted by many. There is also a 24/7 support and branded invoicing so you can showcase your brand to customers when they receive the orders.
The platform has an impressive database for dropshippers to find their desired products conveniently. You have automation options for your Shopify store as well.
Pricing plans:
- 14-day free trial
- FREE – Browse catalogue
- STARTER – $12 / month – 25 Unique Products, Unlimited orders, Real-time Inventory Update
- PRO – $49 / month – 250 Unique Products, 25 Premium Products, Branded Invoicing
- EMPIRE – $99 / month – Unlimited Products, Premium 24/7 Chat Support, Unlimited Premium Products, Unlimited Orders
Printful – Print on Demand
For print on demand market, Printful is one of the leading applications for easy business. All you need to do is design your favorite products, and Printful will have you create custom clothing for your audience in a short time.
The app or the service offers easy print-on-demand dropshipping, a fulfillment warehouse, and an order-creation warehouse. The app is integrated seamlessly with Shopify, and you can access the app’s site to use more services like online designing with ready to use templates.
Pricing plans:
No monthly or startup fees
Wrap up: Choose the best Shopify apps for your store
There you have it, a list of the best Shopify apps that your store definitely needs if you want to grow your business to the next level. Choosing an app is difficult, and picking a list of your favorites is even harder, but you can do that through testing and experimenting.
Just remember that whatever your choices are, how the customers respond to the app is the most important. For example, if you add customer reviews to your checkout, try to measure your conversion rate and see if the app really works so you can avoid unnecessary weight on your store.
So which Shopify app is your choice, and have I missed any gems that are just as great? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below, I read all of them. And as always, best of luck on your eCommerce journey!
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