Must Have Shopify Apps to Supercharge Your Online Store

In the dynamic world of e-commerce, equipping your Shopify store with the right applications can significantly enhance both customer experience and operational efficiency. However, it's crucial to weigh the advantages and disadvantages before integrating new apps into your platform.

Pros
Apps can extend the functionality of your Shopify website beyond the platform’s native features, often speeding up your workflow. For example, the Click and Drop app, discussed later, can save valuable time.

Cons
Every app you add introduces additional code to your theme, which can impact website speed. Although modern technology minimises this issue, unnecessary apps can still cause slowdowns. For example, while Hotjar is useful for analysing customer interactions, it can significantly slow down your site if not actively used.

Finding the Right Apps
If you’re looking for inspiration, visit the Shopify App Store to discover apps that can benefit your store.

Do apps cost? 
Shopify offers many free apps, both from Shopify itself and third-party developers. Some apps come with a free plan and an optional paid upgrade. Always consider the monthly cost before committing to a paid plan, especially if your needs evolve over time.

It’s natural to hesitate about paying for an app, but investing in the right tools can significantly improve user experience. However, always test an app thoroughly before publishing, as rolling back can be time-consuming.

Recommended Apps
Here are some of our top recommended apps. Not every store will need all of them, but they offer valuable features for various use cases.

Apps

Facebook & Instagram
A must-have for most businesses, this app connects your store to your social media accounts for seamless marketing. Setup is straightforward, and it should be one of your first installations.

Trustpilot
This app automatically sends review requests after a purchase. While the free plan offers 50 requests per month, the paid plan starting at £259 pp annually, allows for 200 requests. For smaller businesses, the premium tier may not be cost-effective.

If you’re using the free plan, consider also using Judgeme for displaying reviews on your website since Trustpilot’s free version lacks branding features.

Judgeme
This is an on site review app with a robust free plan and a reasonably priced paid version. It’s a great alternative to Trustpilot, especially if you want to display reviews directly on your site. The best way is to use your Trustpilot credits first and you can then manually import those reviews into Judgeme.

If you intend to use the Trustpilot paid plan long term, then Judgeme would not be required, but it’s always good to have it in mind incase you change down the line. 

Manually importing reviews from Trustpilot to Judgeme is quite time consuming, but it is definitely worth the effort.

Review Setup
Here is our recommend setup using both Trustpilot and Judgeme free versions.

Website Order > Auto Trustpilot review request sent

Review is left > Manually import review to Judgeme

Royal Mail Click & Drop
Ideal for stores that ship with Royal Mail, this app syncs Shopify orders automatically, reducing manual errors and saving time.

It’s important to note that it only syncs once.  So if you update the address in Shopify, this will not update on Click and Drop.

Search & Discovery 
This free app helps manage filters on your collection pages. It’s beneficial to install, even if you don’t need it right away.

Order Printer
A useful tool for printing packing slips. You can customise templates easily, with the option to purchase a custom template (one off fee) from Order Printer Templates app for more advanced features. You then add the code from the purchased template into the first app.

Marketplace Connect
Great for selling on third-party platforms like eBay. It syncs your product listings and inventory between Shopify and eBay.

This app is designed by Shopify and free for the first 50 orders per month, with a small fee for anything above this.

We mostly found the app great, although there are some important points to note when using it.  If you update a field on Shopify, it will then update on the eBay listing, potentially overriding settings specific for your eBay listing, such as a  10% lower price different from your store.

We would recommend carrying out tests and when first implementing monitoring it to make sure all data is accurate.

For example, you might want to show different prices on your Shopify store and on eBay, but then if you go and reduce the item price on Shopify, it will reduce the items price on eBay, by the same amount. This is something that has caught us out a couple of times. So you end up selling an item on eBay for less than you had originally listed it. 

Start with small number of products then slowly increase when you get the handle. Overall it’s a really good app from Shopify.

For best practices, it’s recommended to create the product in Shopify and then sync it to your eBay account. So you manage all the products directly in Shopify.

Analyzify
(Price has recently changed for this app)

Analyzify is the complete turn key analytics setup tracking software that mostly eliminates needing to edit the code or pay a developer. When you update or change your theme you can simply re-add it.  Although Analyzify has recently gone from a one time fee, to a monthly cost, which is very expensive. So we now only recommend it for businesses that are actively growing and  basing decisions on data.

If you are just getting started or only have a small number of sales per month its properly isn’t worth it quite yet. But when your orders start to increase then having more accurate data to base decisions on is very important. Analyzify system will make sure everything is setup correctly, providing you with data you can confidently base decisions on.

Hotjar
Hotjar records customer sessions, offering insights into how users navigate your site. Only keep it installed if actively using it, as it can affect site speed.

You can then rewatch the recordings to see how they interact with your website and if there are any potential barriers to converting that you might have overlooked. You can always check as long as you like but a customer will always find another angle that you hadn’t considered.

Tidio
A live chat app that enhances customer support. The free plan works well for small businesses, but paid options unlock more features as your traffic grows.

Never miss a customer again. Within the app you can also see what pages users have visited and are currently on, as well as if they have an item in their cart ( these features require a monthly fee).

Kalviyo
If you use Klaviyo for email marketing, connecting this app is essential for data integration and retargeting.

We found the integration with Shopify and other tools such as Meta straight forward to setup and had lots of features you could implement without being too technically minded.

Klarna
This app allows customers to buy now and pay later, offering more flexibility for high-ticket items. It does have a slightly higher transaction fee, so weigh the benefits carefully.

You always receive the money like any other order so there is literally no difference from just a normal order. It takes a bit of time to setup, but once done your customers can enjoy another way to pay, reducing abandon carts. 

Smile: Loyalty Rewards Program
A loyalty system can boost customer retention. Smile integrates smoothly with Shopify and offers customisable reward structures. Consider the long-term cost before committing.

It’s so important to entice your potential customers, to make them feel special and enjoy being rewarded when they spend with you.

It’s important to do your research when deciding on a Loyalty app as once you start onboarding customers and running the system it can be very hard to change down the line.

You need to consider the monthly cost of the app long term and carry out full tests before committing.

Smile is a great loyalty app that is Built for Shopify and will not slow down your site and customers can enjoy getting rewards.

It’s important to make the rewards favourable to the customers and not just give them a tiny amount. As if you do give them a tiny amount this could back fire and damage your reputation. 

Final Thoughts
Apps are a great way to extend your store’s functionality at little to no cost. However, be mindful of potential impacts on speed and always test before fully implementing.

If you need help setting up your website or integrating apps, contact Digi Creative—we’re here to assist!

If you would like help setting up any of these apps, feel free to reach out to us by email. We’re excited to hear from you and would be happy to assist. Digi Creative, signing off.