There are more Shopify apps than there are days in two years. With over 850 different applications (some may say “too many applications”), it can be overwhelming to decide which ones are important to you. Not every app will be applicable to your store, and of the apps that are, how many of those are truly reliable?
This blog post will focus on three essential apps for your Shopify store, to help you simplify your search.
App Selection Criteria
These top three applications were chosen on the basis of:
- Price: whether or not the application is free, or if it requires a subscription, is it affordable
- Support: whether or not they have 24/7 support
- Reviews: how current customers rated the application
- Functionality: what benefits it brought to your webstore
There are many applications with great price, support, and reviews, so functionality was our main selection criteria. These are the apps we determined have the most bang for your buck.
The Best Shopify App to Increase Sales
Chimpified (MailChimp for Shopify)
Website: https://shopify.mailchimpapp.com/
Price: free for <2,000 email
Support: 24 / 7
E-mail marketing is extremely important in gaining repeat shoppers. In fact, 58% of marketers planned to boost their email marketing budgets in 2014. However you don’t have to increase your budget to begin your email marketing campaign. Chimpified lets you easily connect your MailChimp account with your Shopify webstore, so you can collect and even send emails from your store. Mailchimp is free for <2,000 email subscribers, but if you want to start doing more advanced functions like automating emails, you’ll need to spring for a paid account. They start at just $10 a month.
The Best Shopify App to Process Sales
Order Printer
Website: https://apps.shopify.com/order-printer
Price: free
Support: 24 / 7
Shopify’s Order Printer app allows you to print custom invoices, labels, receipts, packing slips, and more. To customize your documents you’ll need some HTML knowledge, however Shopify’s “Design Gurus” can assist with small changes. The best part of Order Printer is that it’s not a third party app. It’s a genuine Shopify application. This means it comes with Shopify support and runs seamlessly with the platform.
The Best Shopify App for Getting Reviews
Yotpo
Website: https://www.yotpo.com/
Price: free or $30/mo for premium
Support: 24 / 7
Higher review volume and average rating can result in as much as a 50% increase in orders. Reviews are almost as important as price when it comes to purchasing decisions, and Yotpo makes receiving reviews easier. Yotpo will automatically email your customers a certain time period after they purchase and ask them for a review. The basic version of Yotpo is free and is easy to install. If you want to consider trying the paid version, they offer a 30 day free trial.
The Best Behind the Scenes Shopify App
nChannel
Website: https://www.nchanne.com/connectors/shopify
Price: plans start at $199 / mo
Support: 24 / 7
Okay we lied, there’s a fourth app in this list. It’s a little self-promotional, so we felt it best to leave it off the top three.
nChannel isn’t really an “app”, nor is it for companies who want cheap applications or people who run their store as a hobby. nChannel is for retailers who want to win. We can integrate your Shopify webstore with your marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, as well as with your back-end accounting/ERP system. nChannel can integrate your webstore and your brick-and-mortar store, as well.
On top of that integration, we offer product information management, business intelligence, and customer experience management applications.
What to do now
These were just a few of the many applications that can be helpful in your Shopify store. While we kept this list short, if you have the research bug check out Shopify’s App Store for a list of all their available applications. Or, if your still shopping around webstores, check out our blog post comparing the top four ecommerce platforms.
No matter what, having a webstore up is just one aspect of being a multichannel retailer. Do you connect with eBay and Amazon? If you have a brick-and-mortar store, can you offer things like buy online/pickup in store? Becoming a successful online retailer means thinking beyond simply putting your products online, you need to focus on the larger picture.
What are your favorite Shopify apps? Tell us in the comments.
Valuable post for sure! Thanks John 🙂 Shopify just posted a list of 6 tricks to implement before Christmas to up holiday sales. There are some great apps listed there too, so be sure to check it out http://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/18205923-6-tricks-to-increase-your-clients-conversion-before-christmas and happy holidays to you and your readers!
Thanks Nicka, I’ll be sure to check it out.
Good stuff John… Just wanted to suggest PayWhirl as an addition to the list. It allows you do sell subscriptions on shopify (recurring payments) for free (no monthly fees). https://apps.shopify.com/paywhirl-recurring-payments
Awesome guide John thanks! I just came from watching this video on shopify apps, the guy mentions some good ones but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing out on any others! Thanks again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHesyA1vsjA
Yotpo is not affordable app anymore. The essentials features costs hundreds $ per month. Consider to update the article 🙂
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