Must-Have Shopify Apps to Build Your eCommerce store

Are you looking to set up a Shopify store? As of August 2021, there were over 1.7 million businesses using Shopify as their eCommerce platform. Building a successful eCommerce store takes more than just a great product. It requires strategic planning, customer engagement, and the right tools.

Shopify apps make your Shopify store more powerful by extending its functionality. There could be some aspects of your business (like email marketing, customer retention, referrals, payments) that needs improvement and these best Shopify apps can tend to that and improve and run them smoothly.

But there are several apps out there and it can be overwhelming for you to pick out apps for each category. That is why we have made a list of the best Shopify apps in the following categories to supercharge your store.

What are Shopify apps?

Shopify apps are tools that help online store owners enhance their businesses. These apps can help with anything from marketing and sales to customer support and inventory management.

Are you struggling to track your inventory? There’s an app for that. Want to offer personalized recommendations to your customers? There’s an app for that too. Shopify apps are designed to make your ecommerce easy so you can focus on growing your business. So why not take advantage of them?

Why are Shopify apps important for your business?

Shopify apps are essential for businesses because they provide tools that can help entrepreneurs achieve their goals. These apps are like magic wands that can help boost sales, improve customer experience, and streamline operations.

There are 6000 Shopify apps in the Shopify app store, and finding the best Shopify app for your store’s needs would be like finding a needle in a haystack. You might need an app to automate your marketing or you might need one to retain your customers. The key is to identify the areas of your business that need improvement and then find an app that can address those needs. By doing so, you’ll be able to save time, increase efficiency, and, ultimately, grow your business. Remember, the right app can make all the difference!

According to a survey conducted by Shopify, merchants who used apps from the Shopify App Store experienced a 30% increase in sales compared to those who didn’t use any apps. This suggests that apps can help merchants improve their sales and grow their businesses.

Email Marketing Apps

One of the best ways for businesses to communicate with their customers is through email. But did you know that email marketing can actually help businesses make more money? In fact, for every dollar spent on email marketing, businesses can expect to earn $42 in return! That’s a pretty good return on investment, right?

Studies have shown that email marketing can drive up to 20% of your eCommerce sales! That means for every five sales you make, one of them could come from email marketing!

We have picked out some of the best email marketing apps for Shopify for you to implement the right one for your business.

Retainful

Looking for an all-in-one automated email marketing app that can help you recover lost sales and grow your revenue? Retainful is an all-in-one email marketing automation tool that helps increase sales and increase the revenue of your shopify store. Retainful’s email automation features can help you reach and target your customers with personalized campaigns increasing customer engagement and lifetime value.

Its abandoned cart recovery email feature helps your customer remind what is left in the cart, encouraging them to complete their purchase with offers and discounts like free shipping. Additionally, its follow-up emails engage with customers after purchase, allowing store owners to collect reviews and reengage.

Retainful’s next order coupon lets you generate coupons that acts as a motivation for customers to make repeat purchases and its referral feature allows store owners to effortlessly acquire new customers by turing exciting customers into brand ambassadors. Both act as leverage to foster customer loyalty.

Key Features

• Personalised Automated email campaigns
• Track Abandoned carts in Real-time
• Automatically send email notifications
• Drag & Drop email editor and personalization
• Single-click recovery link to recover the abandoned product items
• Thank you emails
• Win back emails
• Order follow up emails
• Shortcodes for personalization
• Ask for Feedback/Review and Recommend products
• Pre-built email templates

Pricing

Free version available.

Starter – $19

Growth – $49

Professional – $199

Privy

Privy is an email marketing app for Shopify that comes with a feature called a new item notification that is sent to customers via email or SMS when the shop owner adds a new item to the shop. If you want your customers to engage your customers right from the moment they sign up, you could make use of the automated welcome emails. The app also sends abandoned cart reminder emails to remind the customers of the items that are left in the cart they abandoned.

Privy is popular for list building with the help of popups that can be customized to any extent. In addition, it also offers overlays, banners, flyouts, embedded forms, and a spin-to-win wheel. All of them are for the same purpose – to capture emails.

As hard as it can be to retain an existing customer, it is equally hard to make a new user sign up but the spin-to-win popup makes it all easy. It pops up with a discount and prompts the user to enter their email.

Key Features

• New item notification
• Abandoned cart recovery emails
• Welcome emails
• Spin to win popup

Pricing

Starter – $30

Growth plan – $45

Mailchimp

MailChimp is a great email marketing app for eCommerce businesses, with many features that can help boost sales and engage customers. You can easily sync contacts to create an email list. If you don’t have an email list to begin with, you can create a landing page and ask people to sign up.

With MailChimp, you can create beautiful and professional-looking emails that are sure to catch your customers’ attention. Do you want to send personalized emails to your customers, based on their past purchases or browsing history? MailChimp’s segmentation feature allows you to do just that. MailChimp offers detailed analytics that can help you track your email campaigns’ success and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Key Features

• Contact sync
• Landing page creation
• Attractive email templates
• Segmentation
• Detailed Analytics

Customer Retention Apps

Shopify customer retention apps can help you keep your existing customers happy and coming back for more. Shopify Customer retention apps do a great job of that by making it easy to reward your loyal customers with exclusive discounts or special offers. These apps work by sending out personalized emails to customers based on their past purchases or browsing history.

You can also run loyalty programs and reward your customers based on the referrals they make to increase customer retention.

Rise AI

Rise AI might be the app you need for customer retention.  Rise.ai uses machine learning to analyze customer behavior and provide personalized recommendations, loyalty programs, Gift cards, and promotions to keep your customers engaged and satisfied.

And if you’re worried about customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while, Rise AI has got you covered! It can automatically send emails to remind them of your store and offer incentives to come back.

But that’s not all; the app also has smart pop-ups that offer personalized discounts and promotions based on your customers’ behavior in your store.

Key Features

• Personalized product recommendations
• Loyalty programs
• Targeted promotions
• Customer segmentation

Pricing

Starter – $16.99

Small business – $47.99

Pro – $159.99

Premium – $479.99

Smile Loyalty and Rewards

Smile Loyalty and Rewards lets Shopify store owners create and customize reward programs. These reward programs help Shopify customer retention by increasing sales by making customers place repeated orders. This customer retention app for Shopify instills loyalty in customers and keeps them engaged.

Key Features

• Set points for creating an account, placing an order and posting a review.
• Create a personalized loyalty program
• Encourage users by setting points for coupon expiry

Pricing

Starter – $49/month

Growth – $199/month

Pro – $599/month

BON Loyalty Rewards Referrals

Do you want to keep your customers happy and coming back to your Shopify store? Well, Bon Loyalty Rewards Referrals might just be what you need!

With BON loyalty rewards, you can offer your customers points for various activities, such as creating an account or sharing your store on social media. Plus, they can redeem those points for discounts or free products! This is a great way to retain customers.

But that’s not all; the app also sends notification emails to remind your customers of their rewards and activities. And if you want to attract even more customers, try the referral program feature and reward both existing and new customers!

Key Features

• Points and Rewards
• Notification emails
• Referral program

Pricing

Lite $15/month

Growth $199/month

Professional $349/month

Referral apps

If you are a Shopify shop owner looking for a way to grow your business, look no further than the following best referral apps for Shopify! These apps allow your customers to refer their friends to your store, earning rewards for both parties. Not only does this increase customer engagement, but it also helps spread word of mouth about your business to new potential customers.

Imagine your loyal customers telling their friends about your products and services, all while earning rewards for doing so. Your shop gets the necessary exposure and your customers get satisfied with rewards.

Referrals and Affiliates by Shopjar

Would you be interested in turning your existing customers into brand ambassadors to acquire new customers? Referrals and affiliates by Shopjar is the best referral app for Shopify because Shopjar is all about creating a community of loyal customers who will keep coming back for more. Shopjar offers referral programs with customizable rewards.

Shopjar is one of the best Shopify apps for referrals because it lets you create a referral landing page where the customers can enter their friend’s email addresses to invite them to your store. To make things easier, the app doesn’t require customers to create an account. Customers can log in using their mobile number and OTP.

If you think you need more exposure, you can give the affiliate program a try. It promotes your product, builds the trust of your customers and drives more traffic to your website. Incentivizing your affiliates drives more sales and loyalty among customers and affiliates.

If you also want to reach out to your customers in a way that would be convenient to them, you can try the additional feature of Whatsapp chat abandoned cart recovery. WhatsApp live chat has got pre-built Whatsapp message templates that can be sent for cart recovery, order confirmation and delivery. With the WhatsApp cart recovery feature, you are not restricted to one Whatsapp message; you can send a series of Whatsapp cart recovery messages to make your customer come back and finish the purchase.

Key Features

• Quick referral campaign setup, easy-to-use interface
• Flexible referral rewards – Percentage, Fixed discount, Free Product, Free Shipping
• Landing page for the Referral Program
• Easy registration for referrers / existing customers
• Friends can claim the reward for their first purchase itself
• Popup to showcase referral program on thank you page
• Fraud prevention – Manual reward approval workflow for advocates/referrers
• Referral Portal for Referrers
• Reports – Sales, Rewards, Members, and more
• Unlimited members
• Customizable Email Templates – Invite friends, successful referrals for friends and referrers
• No coding knowledge required

Pricing

Starter $9/month

Referral Candy

How hard is it for you to attract new customers to your shop? You can try the Shopify referral app called Referral Candy. It is for store owners who want to attract new customers, increase brand value, and build customer loyalty through a refer-a-friend program. It’s been around for a while and has worked well in lots of different industries like clothes, healthy food, electronics, and even stuff for babies. And the best part of this Shopify referral app is that if you ever need help, their team is always there to give you tips and make sure things are going smoothly.

You can set up and run your own referral program in under an hour! That means you can start giving your customers discounts or cash rewards right away. So what do you say, ready to try it out and see how many new customers you can get?

Key Features

• Customizable Designs
• Flexible Reward Options
• Automated Referral Tracking
• Multi-Channel Promotions
• Fraud Detection

Yopto

If you’re a Shopify store owner, you know how important it is to get your customers to refer their friends and family to your store. But how do you make that happen? Yotpo is the answer! With Yotpo as your Shopify referral app, you can easily create referral programs that incentivize your customers to spread the word of mouth about your store.

Yotpo offers tons of other features like customer reviews, display social proof, and user-generated content that can help take your e-commerce store to the next level.

Key Features

• Customizable templates
• Adaptable reward structure
• Additional prizes for frequent referrals
• Multichannel support

Pricing

Growth $19/month

Prime $59/month

Powerhouse $199/month

Product & Inventory Management

Every Shopify shop owner knows the struggle of keeping their products organized and inventory in check. Shopify inventory management apps and Shopify product management apps can automatically identify your top-selling products, restock items that are running low, and even set up automatic reorder reminders and can save you time, increase efficiency, and improve your customer experience.

Stock Sync

Stock sync is a Shopify product management app that lets you manage price, handles supplier, and update and export inventory from one place. It is not only for shops that have products and are ready to sell but also for new stores with no products. This Shopify product management app supports XML, Rest API, soap, javascript and JSON.

Key Features

• Add/remove products
• Automatic scheduling
• Supports all file formats
• Set own pricing

Pricing

Basic $5/month

Pro-ProXl $10/month

Enterprise $49/month

Custom Order Status

Custom Order Status is a FREE Shopify app that helps you to create & manage custom order statuses within the Shopify order dashboard and organize the orders better using the custom icons and labels to efficiently increase the workflow.

Key Features:

• You can add icons to give a visual cue to the statuses and manage them easily
• Get a detailed insight into each order with the status history option
• Bulk edit option to help you effortlessly manage multiple order statuses with a single click

The same app is available as a WooCommerce plugin which is being used by 20,000+ online stores. If you are moving from WooCommerce to Shopify the transition would be seamless and synchronized.

CRM

There are apps in Shopify to take care of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). These Shopify Customer Relationship Management apps can help you keep track of all your customer interactions and data in one place, making it easy to personalize your marketing and provide top-notch customer service. Plus, with a Shopify CRM app, you can automate tasks like sending follow-up emails or tracking customer orders, freeing up more time for you to focus on growing your business.

Trust me, investing in a CRM app is a game-changer for any Shopify store. With these best Shopify apps for customer retention apps on your side, your customers will feel valued and you’ll see an increase in repeat business.

Hubspot

Hubspot being one of the best CRM apps for Shopify, saves the day by streamlining your customer relationships, sales process, and email marketing – all from one convenient spot. Plus, with the Shopify integration, you can manage contacts and sales right in the Hubspot interface.

Hubspot can even track how your customers behave and help you find potential leads to grow your business. It’s like having a personal assistant who’s always looking out for your best interests.

Key Features

• All-in-one integration for sales and marketing
• Tracks customer behavior and potential leads
• Build loyalty

Pricing

$800/month

$3600/month

Drip

Drip is for you if you are tired of sending the same generic messages to all your customers. With Drip, you can segment your customers based on what they’re interested in and how they behave.

This means you can send them personalized messages that they’re more likely to respond to. And the best part? This Shopify CRM app tracks how engaged your customers are across all channels – email, social media, SMS, and more – so you can see what’s working and what’s not.

Key Features

• Customer segmentation
• Tracking customer engagement
• Unlimited emails
• Priced based on the number of contacts

Pricing

Starts from $39 per month (for 2500 contacts)

SEO apps

Shopify SEO apps make it easier and faster to integrate with Shopify apps and create the best visibility for your store, helping optimize the website’s visibility and ranking on search engines, leading to increased traffic, sales, and brand awareness. Additionally, these apps provide valuable insights and tools for keyword research, on-page optimization, and monitoring website performance.

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is the best SEO app for Shopify. It offers real-time readability features and SEO analysis to optimize your page for related keywords. This Shopify SEO app structures data to display the best results in Google shopping and search results. This is one of the best apps for Shopify because if you doubt the content, you can always use the duplicate content checker.

If you want help writing an SEO-friendly title and meta description, Yoast SEO has got templates for that too. Bonus points for supporting 27 language keywords.

Key Features

• Content and readability analysis
• Title and meta description templates
• keyword optimization
• Duplicate content checker
• Local SEO

Pricing

$19 per month

Product review apps

According to a recent study by BuiltWith, as of February 2023, there are over 1,000 product review apps available on the Shopify app store. Product review apps are important for Shopify because they provide social proof and build trust with potential customers, leading to increased sales and customer loyalty.

Additionally, they provide valuable feedback to merchants, helping them improve their products and customer experience. The following are the best Shopify apps for product reviews to build credibility for your store and products.

Loox

Loox is one of the best Shopify product review apps. What makes this app an outstanding product review Shopify app is its attractive UI. Loox offers a seamless user experience, for it is optimized for Shopify. It has customizable review widgets and you can also import reviews from popular sources.

Key Features

• Automated review request emails
• Offers and discounts for customers who posted reviews
• Review carousels
• Popup widgets

Pricing

Beginner $9.99/month

Growth $34.99/month

Unlimited $299.99/month

Stamped

Stamped has earned its credibility as the best Shopify product reviews app because it is trusted by Colgate, Rhine and SodaStream in Shopify. It includes 10+ widgets in free plan and includes checkout reviews, product Q&As and more in the paid version. The reviews and user-generated content help acquire new customers. It’s got loyalty and referral programs that help build trust and engage your customers.

Key Features

• Automated review request through SMS
• Incentives for customers for photos and videos
• Net promoter score

Pricing

Basic $23/month

Premium $59/month

Business $149/month

Professional $299/month

Pushowl

Have you ever wondered how you can make your products stand out in a crowded marketplace? Do you struggle to generate customer reviews and build social proof for your products? If so, Pushowl may be the solution you’ve been looking for. One of the key advantages of Pushowl making it one of the best Shopify apps, is its powerful review generation engine. With Pushowl, you can easily collect and display customer reviews for your products, giving potential buyers the confidence they need to make a purchase.

With features like web push notifications, abandoned cart recovery, and targeted promotions, Pushowl gives you the power to reach customers where they are and drive them to take action.

Key Features

• Review generation engine
• Revenue reports
• Post campaign results
• Tracks customer behavior

Pricing

$19/month for 10k+ impressions

Upsell Apps

Have you ever considered the potential revenue boost from upselling to your customers during the checkout process? Best upsell apps for Shopify, like ReConvert and Selleasy, make this process a breeze. With the ability to offer additional products or services with just one click, you can increase your average order value and ultimately grow your business.

But why is upselling so important? Think about it: you’ve already convinced a customer to make a purchase – they’re already invested in your brand. Following are the best Shopify apps in terms of upsell because they offer relevant, complementary products or upgrades is a natural next step that can benefit both you and the customer.

Reconvert

ReConvert is one of the best upsell apps for Shopify. It can seamlessly integrate with your Shopify store. With ReConvert, you can take advantage of your thank you page to offer customers additional products, discounts, and surveys, all while optimizing your conversion rate.

But that’s not all – with ReConvert’s full integration with Shopify’s admin panel, you can easily create and manage upsell offers directly from your Shopify dashboard. This means less time spent switching between platforms and more time focused on growing your business.

Key Features

• Thank you page optimization
• Post-purchase upsells
• Advanced segmentation
• AI-powered Product recommendations

Pricing

Starts from $4.99 for 49 orders/ month

Selleasy

What makes Selleasy the best upsell app for Shopify is its ability to display high-converting pre-purchase and post-purchase upsell offers seamlessly. But here’s the catch: while it may seem like you’re just trying to increase your average order value, in reality, you’re actually providing your customers with a better shopping experience.

What kind of related products or accessories can you offer that would add value to your customers’ lives? How can you create upsell offers that are tailored to their specific needs and preferences? By using Selleasy, you can choose from different flavors of upsell and cross-sell and find what works best for your store.

Key Features

• Product add-ons
• Cart add-ons
• Thank you page add-ons
• Post-purchase upsell

Argoid Upsell Cross‑sell AI

AI-driven real-time product recommendations make Argoid one of the most effective cross-sell and upsell apps for Shopify. Argoid’s personalized recommendation system optimizes user experience using the website’s first-party data.

This includes analyzing user behavior, such as browsing history and purchase patterns, as well as individual product performance, such as click-through rates and engagement metrics. Thus, Argoid is able to serve personalized real-time recommendations that cater to each user’s unique preferences. This increases the likelihood of a purchase. 

These recommendations work to encourage product discovery, cross-sell and upsell, driving higher conversion rates and increasing sales on Shopify.

Key Features

• One app for cross-sell, upsell and personalization.
• AI-powered product recommendations for all touchpoints
• No code is needed; swift onboarding

Pricing

• Growth $249/month 
• Growth Plus $499/month
• Premium $799/month

Payment apps

As an entrepreneur, you know that your Shopify store’s success depends on providing your customers with a seamless shopping experience. That’s why choosing the best Shopify app for payments is crucial to ensure a smooth checkout process.

But with so many payment apps available, how do you know which one is the best fit for your store? That’s where our expertise comes in.

Split- partial payments

Split partial payments offer installment payment options that can increase customer loyalty and sales, and it is one of the best features anyone could ask for in the best Shopify payment app. Imagine being able to offer your customers installment payment options with ease and zero commission fees.

That’s precisely what Split, the best Shopify payment app, can do for you. With seamless sync between orders and stock management, you can streamline your payment process and focus on what matters most – your customers.

Starts: $17.95/month

Key Features

• Halfway installments
• Multiple payment options (e.g two credit cards or a card and PayPal)
• Shared payment option between several recipients
• Email notifications for payment deadline

Pay Whirl Subscription

If you are looking for a hassle-free way to manage subscriptions on your Shopify store then Pay Whirl is your app. It is the best recurring payment app in Shopify that makes it easy to set up recurring payments, manage customer accounts, and even offer flexible billing options like prorated charges and trial periods.

Plus, with integrations for popular payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal, you can start accepting payments right away.

Key Features

• Recurring billing
• Flexible payment plans
• Automated customer management
• Integration with third-party services

Pricing

Business ultimate $249/month

Business plan $149/month

Business pro $49/month

Invoice and shipping apps

When it comes to invoicing, the best Shopify app for invoices is one that is easy to use, customizable, and provides a seamless experience for your customers. Not only does it save you time, but it also adds credibility to your business.

And what about shipping? Which is the best shipping app for Shopify? One that provides real-time shipping rates, automates label printing, and allows you to manage your shipments from a single platform. Don’t let your shipping process become a bottleneck in your business!

Aftership

Aftership builds credibility by connecting various carriers worldwide and sending automated emails to keep customers informed, ultimately making it the best shipping app for Shopify. Users can enter their tracking number in the dashboard and look at the shipping status.

You can also create a monitoring page, Instagram image feed and marketing for branding. You can add your store’s logo and customize colors that aligns with your store.

Key Features

• Branded tracking page
• Register and track in one place
• Automated emails
• Social evidence

Pricing

Essential $11/month for 100 shipments

Pro $119/month for 2000 shipments

Premium $239/month for 2000 shipments

Wrapping up

Boosting sales can be challenging for Shopify store owners. You would be juggling customer support, experience, sales, email marketing, customer retention, referral, product and inventory management.

By choosing the right app for your Shopify store, you can recover abandoned carts, increase customer loyalty, attract new customers, and ultimately grow your business. Remember, investing in the right app can make all the difference in taking your Shopify store to the next level.