A Guide to Select the Best Shopify Plugins

Over 10 million entrepreneurs across 175 countries in the world have generated $200 billion in sales with Shopify. You can also create an e-commerce website for your business, have access to tools that you would need to start, run and manage your store and have 24/7 support to help you troubleshoot issues.

Leverage Shopify Plugins to add features and personalize your online store, reaching millions across the globe. You can also use Shopify’s 14 days free trial to understand if they are a good fit for your business.

Why Use Shopify Plugins?

Plugins, in general, are designed to extend the functionality of a particular platform. Shopify App is a platform wherein you can access thousands of free and premium plugins and improve your online store’s functionality.

These plugins are designed to cater to specific challenges the merchants face. For example, if your goal is to improve traffic to your online store, enhance SEO, manage your finances, analytics, or boost conversions, there is a plugin available to overcome the challenge.

The different categories of plugins available on the Shopify App are:

  • Finding Products

  • Store Design

  • Places to Sell

  • Sales and Conversion

  • Inventory Management

  • Marketing

  • Order and Shipping

  • Customer Support

  • Reporting and more

How to Select the Best Plugins for Your Shopify Store?

Why do you want to use Shopify Plugins? What objective are you trying to achieve? Having an explicit requirement in place is essential because plugin hunting can be a daunting experience. As mentioned above, Shopify offers plugins under various categories.

Do you want to improve customer engagement with pop-ups, enhance sales, implement a customer loyalty program, or manage the day-to-day activities for yourself? Write down your requirement, and then find a plugin. Do not install a plugin because it is popular. Having multiple similar plugins functions can affect the performance of your store and hinder the customer shopping experience. Do not crowd the online store with multiple plugins.

Once you have narrowed down the plugins, look for customer reviews and how they have helped their business. Next comes the cost. You can either buy premium plugins or opt for a free plugin. There are thousands of plugins on the Shopify App that are free to use. Again, use one only if your store needs it.

Top Plugins for your Shopify Store

Firepush

This plugin aims to remarket, recover abandoned shopping carts with emails, SMS, and push notifications. You can also use these channels to send details about different promotions and discounts. You can create automated emails and connect with your customers at every stage of the buying cycle—for example, order confirmation. Firepush offers free, basic, and pro pricing options to users.

Growave

If you want an all-in-one customer engagement plugin, then Growave is the 5-star plugin you should add. The plugin provides a range of notifications and emails throughout the customer journey. It can be combined with other plugins to improve customer experience. There is detailed documentation present for every step. You can also seek chat support in case of any issues. Growave offers four pricing options, with the first being free and the highest plan being $299/month.

Bizzy Social Proof

You can use this plugin to boost sales and conversions. The plugin displays a notification when an order is placed on the store from real customers. Social proof is the concept behind this plugin, meaning people are more likely to act if others around them perform similar actions. It acts as a physical retail store simulation, creating urgency, a lively atmosphere in the online store. Bizzy Social Proof is available for a monthly plan of $6.99.

Privy

Convert traffic, grow your email list and drive sales with Privy. It is a conversion plugin with email marketing, pop-ups, banners, and SMS tools. You can display and control different pop-up screens like promotional flyouts, spin to win, banners, flash discounts, and announcements. Target audiences based on their behavior, cart products, and value. Privy offers four different pricing options, free, $13/month, $20/month, and $30/month.

Smile

You can implement a customer loyalty program with the Smile plugin. It is used by over 40,000 Shopify stores and is the number one trusted loyalty program. Improve customer retention by offering exclusive offers, discounts, referral bonuses, and more. Increase engagement by incentivizing products review and shopping experiences. There are four pricing options available, with the least being free and the highest being $599/month.

Shopify Plugins can improve the efficacy of your online store. List down the result you want to achieve, and then search for a plugin to help you in the process. You can measure sales and conversion rates to understand if plugins are working for your store. Lastly, help other businesses by writing reviews for plugins that have helped your business grow.