- What's the most important factor when it comes
to choosing an e-commerce platform for your business?
Most people would probably say price,
or how the store looks, or how easy it is to navigate,
and those things are super important, but I would argue
that the most important factor is the ecosystem
that the e-commerce platform offers you.
Yes, that's right,
I'm talking about the app library.
Because here's the thing,
when it comes to growing your e-commerce business,
having access to the right apps
and tools can be the difference between scaling smoothly
and falling flat on your face.
If your e-commerce platform can't keep up
with you as you grow, your business is essentially toast.
The good news is that the Shopify app store
is the best in the biz.
It gives you access to over 6,000 apps and counting
that can help you improve your marketing,
your design, your analytics, and so much more.
So in today's video, I'm going to be breaking down
10 of the best kinds of tools in the Shopify app store
and the best part is that all the ones I'll mention today
are completely free.
And if you're just stumbling upon this channel now, welcome!
Learn with Shopify is an official Shopify channel
that helps to give you all the knowledge that you need
to either start or grow your online business.
So if you're an entrepreneur, make sure that you hit that
subscribe button so that you're not missing out
on any of our future videos.
And for all you new and aspiring business owners out there,
I wanna take a minute to introduce you to a free course
that's designed to help you find your winning product idea,
build your online store, and make sales fast.
After signing up, you're gonna gain access
to 25 video lessons and 30 expert produced playbooks
that will help you take your business
from its first day to first sale and beyond.
- To infinity and beyond!
- If you're ready to take charge
of your e-commerce brand's growth,
then sign up using the link
in this info card or in the description box below.
Now without further ado, let's get into today's video.
(upbeat music)
Now, one thing to keep in mind here
is do not go overboard when it comes to adding apps
to your store.
Yes, these tools can be super helpful
but if you add too many, you're going to slow down
your page load speed, which is a huge problem.
According to one study by Portent,
a zero to four second load time is the best option
for conversion rates and the highest conversion rates
happen on sites with load times of less than two seconds.
So while yes, it can be tempting to load up your site
with all kinds of bells and whistles, try to prioritize
the tools that will give you the biggest impact
for your growth without compromising your site speed.
Don't worry, I've got the recipe you need.
Here are 10 great free options
to improve your Shopify store.
Number one, product reviews.
We all know how important social proof is
for customers when making a purchase, so having some kind
of reviews app on your website is absolutely essential
when it comes to selling online.
The Product Reviews app by Shopify is a simple
and free way to add reviews to your store
and is incredibly easy to install and use.
And because it's created by Shopify,
it's always kept up-to-date and works pretty seamlessly
with your admin panel right out of the box.
It also easily matches your site theme,
which makes it look professional
and integrated on all your product pages.
That said, it is a very streamlined app
and right now, it only offers text-based reviews.
So if you're looking for options
that would allow you to collect photo
or video reviews from your customers,
which can be very dynamic, a couple
of other free options we like in this category
are Stamped.io and Yotpo Reviews,
both of which let you display photos
and do offer a limited free plan.
And while there are more elaborate paid options available
like Loox, if you're just starting out,
I highly recommend starting with something free
and upgrading only when you really need to.
Number two, loyalty programs.
I've talked on this channel before
about how great it can be to offer a loyalty program
to your existing customers, which will help you drive sales
and increase your brand loyalty.
I'll actually link that video down below
if you're curious, but basically, with a loyalty program,
your customers will earn rewards for their purchases
or other actions they take with your brand
and then they'll get special perks
in exchange for being a loyal fan.
It's really not that hard to do
but you do need an app to help you do some
of the heavy-lifting and keep your program well-organized.
Using an app like this, you're gonna be able to create rules
for how your customers can earn points
and then how they can redeem them.
You can also choose what kinds of perks and rewards
are available and then create special pop-ups
and widgets to show your customers their progress
within your loyalty program.
Now there are so many apps in this category
but when it comes to free options,
a few that we like are Game Ball, Smile.io, Rivo, and Joy.
All of these are free or at least have
a fairly generous free plan for new entrepreneurs,
which should be more than enough
to get your loyalty program started.
Number three, page builders.
If you want to create more interesting page layouts
without needing a lot of code,
it can be really helpful to have a page builder installed
on your online store.
Now to be fair, most page builders
do have pretty limited free plan.
Since this is such an in-demand kind of app.
Most of them will only let you create one
or at most a handful of pages using the builder for free.
Still, it is an option worth exploring
since these apps can help you create the exact layouts
and styles that you want for things like your FAQ page,
your contact page, or sales pages
for your various product collections.
PageFly is a very popular page builder with lots
of great styles and tons of options for customization.
But its free plan is limited.
Currently, you can only publish one page at a time.
If you need more, you can try exploring an app
like LayoutHub, which offers three pages
in its builder or a new and up and coming app like Tapita.
There are more robust paid options available like Shogun
but those can be pretty steep when you're just starting out.
So, I'd recommend that you start small,
use the tools available within Shopify and build as you go.
Number four, digital downloads.
Now, while Shopify is mostly built
for physical, product-based businesses,
it can also be a really awesome option for digital products
just by adding one simple kind of app.
These apps will integrate with your Shopify checkout
so you can accept payment,
and then they will seamlessly send a digital product
to your client by email and through a downloads page.
So, this lets you sell things like eBooks or audio files
or software keys through your Shopify store, in addition
to any other physical products that you might also carry.
Again, there are lots of apps in this category
but here are two options that we recommend you check out.
Easy Digital Products and Digital Downloads.
Both of these apps will allow you
to generate custom download links for each of your customers
which will be available to them right after they check out
and then those same links will get sent out to them
by email.
Now, Easy Digital Products does have
a few more customization options available, but it also
only allows you to have three different digital products
in your store.
So, take a good look at both of these apps
before you choose which to go with.
But since they're both free,
there's not that much risk to installing both
and seeing which one works better for you.
Number five, customer support.
The last thing you want is for your customers
to get confused when shopping on your store.
That is a surefire way to lose their business.
Having a way for customers to ask questions
and quickly get answers can be the make
or break factor driving a sale.
And while you can do some of that
through writing great product descriptions
or including FAQs on your pages,
another great option is to include a chatbot on your site.
Luckily, there are some great chatbot app options out there
with pretty generous free plans.
Check out tools like MyAlice, LiveChat, Channel.io
or Tidio, all of which have pretty good reviews
and allow you to add a chat function to your store.
These apps will not only let you manage
incoming customer inquiries through Shopify, but many
of them will also capture your messages
from across your other social media platforms as well
giving you a really good center of operations, and most
of them will also let you automate at least some
of your responses through AI powered chatbots
which can be a great way to quickly
give your customers helpful and timely replies.
Number six, recurring payments.
Did you know that acquiring a new customer can actually cost
up to five times more than retaining an existing one?
That is just one reason why I love
integrating recurring payments or subscriptions
into your business model.
That's true whether you sell handmade soaps
or a wine of the month club,
it's just a really great idea to set up your store to allow
for ongoing payments from your customers without much fuss.
The last thing you wanna do is force customers
to have to return to your site each month
to make a new payment because you're bound to see
some pretty steep drop offs in your conversion rate
if you do.
So if recurring payments are part of your online store,
you're gonna need an app that can handle them.
We recommend that you check out options like PayWhirl,
Yotpo Subscriptions or Recharge Subscriptions,
all of which are totally free to install
and will allow you to collect recurring payments
from your customers.
Now, it's true that some of these apps
will charge you a transaction fee,
but I think that's a pretty small price to pay
for the ease that they offer to both you and your customers.
And remember that you only have to pay
if you actually make the sale.
Number seven, print on demand.
Now, when you're just starting out,
you might not have the cash flow to purchase a whole bunch
of inventory or for that matter, have any place to store it.
That's why Print on Demand businesses
can be a really great way to get your feet wet
and start testing the market for your products
without needing to take on a bunch of overhead costs.
The great news is
that there are some really high-quality print
on demand apps that are totally free to install
on your site and help you generate sales.
Some of our favorites are Printful and Printify,
both of which offer tons of great product options
to print your designs onto.
And they'll handle all the manufacturing
and shipping costs for you.
Of course, you will pay to use these apps eventually
but only once you actually receive the sale
from your customer, which means they're a totally
risk-free way to start a new business.
Number eight, pre-order pages.
We've all seen how useful it can be to use sites
like Kickstarter to pre-sell a product or test out
what the response will be to a new product idea
and the same exact concept applies when you offer pre-orders
on your own online store.
Pre-orders, yes, help you build up hype for your products
but they're also a really smart way to manage your orders
and inventory so that you're not overbuying product
that won't get sold.
And you guessed it.
Apps are an awesome way to make the entire pre-order process
easier for both you and your customers.
Apps like PreOrder Alpha, PreOrder Globo and Timesact
let you advertise pre-orders really clearly on your site,
collect advanced orders, and even offer discounts
to your customers for ordering in advance.
Most of them will also simultaneously allow customers
to sign up to be notified or get back in stock notifications
for other products if they're not quite ready to purchase,
meaning that you're always offering customers multiple ways
to opt in and stay connected to your brand.
Number nine, affiliate programs.
One of the hardest parts of running a new business
is getting the word out about your products
before you have an established audience.
- Your attention, please!
- [Stephanie] Yes, for sure you can use
social media platforms and paid advertising
as a great way to reach new customers,
but without any social proof,
those options are only going to get you so far.
You also want to be able to show that your products work
and are actually trusted by real customers.
And one great way to do that is by setting up
an affiliate marketing program right away.
Using an app like UpPromote or Automizely loyalty
makes it really simple to start an affiliate program
for free.
These tools make it super simple to generate affiliate links
that allow your customers to refer their friends
and receive discounts or other kickbacks
as a thank you for sharing.
You can customize the messaging and the discount amount
and it will generate your coupon codes automatically,
which makes your affiliate program
totally hands off for you as the business owner.
Some of these apps do have order limits on their free plans
and will come with varying levels of customization,
but I think having the option to reward your customers
for sharing about your products can be hugely helpful
for generating traffic in sales.
So, these apps are definitely worth exploring
and installing.
Number 10, email marketing.
Last, but certainly not least, it is definitely a good idea
to have your email marketing integrated
into your online store.
Not only will this allow you to capture new customers
by sending them discounts or coupons by email,
but many of these tools will also let you track
your customer's journey and send them emails
for things like card abandonment,
back in stock notifications, and a whole lot more.
If you're already using an email marketing tool
in your business, then chances are there's an app
for that in the App store.
For example, MailChimp, Klaviyo, and Privy,
all offer great integrations with Shopify and a free plan.
But if you haven't yet started your email list,
I'd highly recommend that you check out Shopify email.
This tool is built by Shopify,
so it integrates perfectly with your online store.
It uses your store colors to create beautiful branded emails
and also allows you to do cool things
like feature your products within your emails
in just one simple click.
Plus it uses the admin panel of your Shopify store,
which makes it super easy to track your conversion
and your click through rates from your emails.
And then when you add in all the easy automations
that it allows for things like your welcome offers
and your first purchase upsells, Shopify email
becomes a really great choice for e-commerce entrepreneurs.
So, I definitely encourage you to check it out.
Alright, so just to wrap it up here,
today we covered 10 types of tools
that are incredibly useful to install
on your new Shopify store.
There are so many categories of apps that you can use
but starting with these 10 options, or at least some of them
should give you great ways to improve your store
even on a very tight budget.
And like I mentioned earlier, be sure to check
for the Speed Tested badge on these app pages
and give priority to those that get the rating
of no impact to your online store.
Controlling your page speed will keep your store running
in tiptop shape and keep those conversion rates high.
And now that you know about some awesome free apps
to improve your online store,
you had better start building one if you haven't already.
It's really so easy to get started with Shopify.
You can literally just enter your email address
and get instant access to the entire platform
without even needing to put in your credit card number.
So if you've been looking for an e-commerce platform
that will be able to grow with you over time,
be sure to click the link in our description box below
to start your free trial today
and start getting your first few sales.
There's no risk to try it out
and I'm sure you're gonna love it.
Now, I know, there are literally thousands
of amazing apps in the Shopify app store,
so I definitely have not covered all of them here today.
If there is a great free app that you love to use
in your Shopify builds, please drop it
in the comments down below and share why you love it so much
so that we can start to crowdsource some great ideas.
There are truly endless ways to enhance
and improve your online store, so I can't wait to hear
about the ones that you love to use.
That's it from me today, but we have a whole playlist
on building a Shopify store specifically,
if you want even more inspiration for designing
or improving your online store.
So, I'll link that one down below as well.
In the meantime, I wanna thank you so much for watching.
I'm Stephanie Pellett and I'll see you soon.
(cool upbeat music)