You’ve developed a meaningful brand, optimized your Shopify site’s content for search engines, you’ve designed each page to offer the best possible user experience, and now you’re wondering what’s next. We’re here to help! Included in this guide are our favorite Shopify apps—specifically those that are completely free to use! Keep reading to find out how these free apps can impact your Shopify store.
Shopify Search & Discovery
The more accessible products and information are on your website, the easier it is for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for. When customers are able to find what they need quickly and easily, they’re more likely to complete their purchase and add recommended products to their cart, leading to both increased sales and average order value.
Shopify’s proprietary, fully customizable Search & Discover app allows you to tailor search results to exactly what your customers are looking for. Just a few of the features this Shopify app offers include custom filtering and refinements, synonym groups to ensure your customers find the result they need, product recommendations, and space to highlight promoted products.
This app works exclusively with Shopify’s OS2.0 themes, custom storefronts, or custom Liquid. It is not compatible with the classic Storefront API.
Shopify Inbox
Keeping in contact with your customers and making yourself available to them for customer support has never been easier. The Shopify Inbox app is completely free and allows sellers to add a live chat feature to their websites. It’s been found that 70% of Shopify Inbox conversations are with customers making a purchasing decision.
With Shopify Inbox live on your site, you’ll experience streamlined communications with your customers at your convenience. Set up live chat instant messaging when you’re available, and gather email messages from interested customers after business hours. To further simplify customer communication, connect messaging from other channels like Facebook and Instagram.
Product Reviews
Did you know that displaying reviews on your site’s product pages can increase conversion rates as much as 10% when displaying a single review and up to 45% when you display five or more? Today’s consumer trusts their peers (other purchasers) more than ever to help them make a buying decision. With this in mind, can you afford not to add the Product Reviews app to your site?
This app is developed by Shopify and installs easily with little configuration needed. Simply install the app, style it to your liking, and match its branding to your site. Once in place, customers will have the ability to leave reviews of their experience with your products and brand.
Boost: Page Speed Optimizer
One of the most important yet most easily overlooked aspects of any website is its technical performance, which includes how quickly the pages of your site load. The faster and more efficiently you can load a page, the better.
With the Boost app installed, you can rest easy knowing that your site is running as quickly and smoothly as possible. And as a bonus, it only takes a few clicks to install—no coding experience necessary!
Customer Privacy
Anyone who owns a website knows that regulations surrounding customer data and privacy are becoming more prevalent in the online world every day. If you are collecting personal data from customers or using cookies to track their interactions with your site, you are required by both the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to disclose that practice and offer customers the ability to opt out.
The Customer Privacy app easily integrates with nearly any Shopify store and makes it easy for sellers to stay in compliance with privacy regulations. Additionally, by offering this level of transparency to customers you’ll build trust with each of them.
Shop Channel
If you operate or have purchased anything from a Shopify website, you’ve likely heard of the Shop channel and app. This alternative payment method allows customers to use saved payment information across any participating Shopify store, speed through an accelerated checkout, and track their orders all in one place.
With its own mobile app, Shop channel houses all of the customer’s information in a single hub, allowing them to access everything they need in one place. There are many benefits from the seller’s perspective as well. From the ability to offer product recommendations to targeted marketing automations to enhanced analytics, sellers using the Shop channel can understand their customer better than ever.
Upsell & Bundle Products
Boost sales and average order values with this all-in-one Shopify app that gives sellers the ability to trigger custom upsell offers with certain products or offer discounts when products are bundled.
The Upsell & Bundle Products app is fully customizable and integrates seamlessly with your existing product page templates. Sellers love this app’s features for the ability to tailor recommendations to customers based on the products they’re already interested in purchasing. Customers love it for the simplicity it brings to the buying experience. Never miss out on an upsell opportunity again!
BixGrow: Affiliate Marketing
One of the most up-and-coming marketing strategies in today’s world of social media is affiliate marketing. Defined as, “a marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals,” affiliate marketing is a great strategy for bringing your brand to new audiences and customer groups.
With the BixGrow app, you’ll have the ability to expand your network of influencers, distribute rewards and commissions for referrals, and manage all aspects of your affiliate marketing program in a single, easy-to-use dashboard. From its seamless setup and integration with your Shopify store to the white-label affiliate portal, there are a million reasons to love the BixGrow app and affiliate program.
Order Printer
High volume sellers often spend too much of their day printing order invoices and packing slips individually. Win back more time in your day with the integration of the simple yet powerful Order Printer app.
Through the Order Printer app, sellers have the ability to print invoices and packing slips in bulk in preparation for fulfilling the day’s orders. You’ll also have the ability to customize your order template with the use of HTML or Liquid coding. This app is especially effective if your site utilizes Shopify Shipping.
Google Sales Channel
Did you know that every seller has the ability to list their products on Google completely free? If you’ve been missing out on this opportunity to get your products in front of more potential customers, it’s time to integrate the Google sales channel with your Shopify store.
By implementing this Shopify app, sellers can use existing data from Shopify product listings to power these free listings on Google—no additional work required! Once your free listings are in place, you can easily boost your reach through paid shopping ads on Google (if you so choose). If you’re new to advertising on Google you may be eligible to earn up to $500 in ad credit with Shopify matching your spending on Performance Max campaigns up to $500 within the first 60 days of your campaign.
No matter which apps you choose to add to your website, the 10 that we’ve mentioned here are a great place to start—especially if you’re on a budget! Drop a comment below and let us know which of these apps has improved your Shopify site most significantly.
