A Note About Shopify Apps
Below we recommend various Shopify apps. Apps can be a huge asset to your store, but every app also has the potential to slow it down—and thus impact conversions. Be picky about the apps you choose and only install the ones that are either essential to your store functionality or offer a strong return on investment. Note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, which means we can earn a small commission for recommending them (at no cost to you!). All of our reviews are unsolicited and honest based on our experience:
Best Shopify Apps + E-Commerce Business Tools
EMAIL MARKETING
Klaviyo is the top e-commerce email marketing software and the first one we recommend. They made some big updates last year in terms of design capabilities and you can now easily create on-brand emails that look beautiful. We also often use Klaviyo to create abandoned cart and on-brand transactional emails for clients that integrate seamlessly with Shopify (i.e. shipping confirmation, order confirmation, etc.). They also recently launched reviews, which allows you to keep your emails, SMS marketing, and reviews all in one place. Klaviyo has amazing abilities for segmentation and tools for analyzing your data.
Flodesk is another email marketing software and is actually the one we use for our studio as a service provider. Flodesk has a lot less functionality with e-commerce and Shopify integration, but it's also much more affordable and makes it so easy to create on-brand, stunning emails. It's also super easy to use, while some of the other platforms may be more overwhelming with all of the options and data on the dashboard.
Yotpo covers a wide variety of marketing tools for e-commerce businesses: email, SMS, reviews, subscriptions, and rewards. We love how easy it is to integrate between their various apps and our clients see a big ROI from their tools. We have encountered some technical issues with their apps over the years, but luckily their customer support team is always quick to respond and assist. The email marketing software also feels a little more limited with design capabilities, but for simple emails, it definitely does the job. The reviews app allows for review request emails and UGC uploads of photo and video, which can be a huge asset for conversion.
APPS
I love this app from Presidio Creative—it makes it so easy to create an on-brand, engaging quiz for customers to discover the products from your store that are right for them. It works great for skincare and beauty, or anything that will be purchased on repeat.
This app is very simply designed, but if you have products that require personalization, I highly recommend it. It's easy to use and you can set as many fields as you want, as well as do them entirely individually by product. You can add unlimited color and image swatches, custom text fields, file uploads, price add-ons, and more. We've used it for signage, monograms, and more. Their small developer team is super responsive if you have questions.
Upsells and cross-sells can be hugely effective for increasing your average order value. This app is great with a flat monthly fee for bundling products, allowing customers to add multiple products to their cart in one click.
This app is also great for upsells and cross-sells, and it's completely free. To make it on-brand and integrated seamlessly into a store, we typically need to add some extra CSS code.
CONTENT
Quality product photography is an essential key to success as an e-commerce business. But it can be a sizeable investment. If you can invest, absolutely do, but if you are on a more limited budget, Soona is your answer. They offer virtual photoshoots and photos are just $39 each. Also great for video! They have everything you need to create a full shoot—props, models, sets, backdrops, and more. We offer creative direction for their photoshoots if you have no idea where to start, but you can also do it yourself and honestly, the entire experience is so fun. You'll chat live with the photographer as they do the shoot so you can give feedback in real time.
This Shopify app has a low rating on the app store, but from our experience, it's a great way for smaller brands to reach influencers and get more UGC. It's easy to use and allows you to create a page on your site to advertise your affiliate program to influencers, as well as quickly respond to applicants. You can also join the Collabs Network, which allows more content creators to discover your brand so that they can reach out for a partnership.
And that's it! The only other apps we typically install on a client's store are Instagram, Facebook, and other social channels, to allow for seamless shop integration. Apps add a ton of extra code to your store, plus most incur a monthly fee. As much as we can, we use only apps that are essential or offer a large ROI and build in the rest of the functionality directly into the theme.
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