Shopify is going from strength to strength. There are currently more than 500,000 active Shopify stores which have collectively brought in a whopping $40 billion in sales. With a smooth interface, a one-page dashboard, and the ability to create a professional-looking online store without even a modicum of coding ability or technical knowledge, Shopify has become the e-commerce platform of choice for many people.
To further customise your Shopify store and provide your customers with the perfect online shopping experience, Shopify offers an app store with an impressive collection of paid and free apps and plug-ins to do everything from managing your email list to creating a referral program, displaying reviews and other forms of social proof directly on your site, and gives your customers the power to edit their existing orders without having to contact you directly.
Read on for our pick of some of the best Shopify plug-ins to help you nurture your customer base and increase your sales with ease.
Boast Your Reviews With Yotpo
Yotpo is a one-stop-shop for user-generated content. At its most basic, Yotpo can be configured to automatically email customers after their order is complete to gently prompt them for a review. Once the reviews have been collected, Yotpo displays the reviews directly on your shopfront in a small widget, all the while giving you full control to moderate your reviews (no one wants the occasional negative review to be displayed in a prominent position on the homepage!).
As a bonus, Yotpo directs your curated reviews directly to Google Shopping, putting you in front of an enormously wide range of potential customers. In today’s shopping environment where reviews count more than anything to win customers and encourage people to trust your brand, Yotpo is a must-have Shopify app.
Encourage Customer Loyalty With LoyaltyLion
There’s a reason why the world’s biggest supermarket chains and department stores offer loyalty programs: when customers are awarded for their loyalty, they increase their activity and become staunch supporters of your brand. If you’d like to reap the same benefits enjoyed by some of the biggest brands in the world, consider starting a loyalty program with your customers.
Completely customizable, you can set up your loyalty program to reward all kinds of activities taken by your customers, including signing up to your website, making purchases, referring their friends, even liking your social media accounts. Smaller and newer stores can use LoyaltyLion for free, then once you start generating more than 100 orders per month the price increases to $29 monthly.
Manage Your Mailing List With SendinBlue
Getting people’s email addresses is one thing, but knowing how to properly nurture your mailing list is a whole different endeavor. SendinBlue is completely free and, like Shopify itself, requires no coding or web development skills to use. SendinBlue puts the power in your hands to break up your mailing list based on their previous history or any other factors of your choosing, allowing you to create and schedule targeted emails to specific customer groups based on their purchase history or other demographic factors.
Give Customers The Power To Edit Their Orders With Cleverific
Have you ever finalized an online order and then, in a moment of horror, realized you’d made a mistake? Perhaps you ordered the wrong size, forgot to use a coupon or promo code, or entered an incorrect shipping address. Without the power to edit an order, your customers either need to contact you directly (annoying your customers and wasting some of your valuable customer service resources), or they must simply wait for their order to arrive before arranging a return. Cleverific solves this problem, giving customers the power to edit their orders at any time before they have been marked by you as shipped.
With a free two-week trial and an ongoing cost of $19 per month afterward, this is one app you’ll be glad you added to your Shopify store.
Encourage Happy Customers To Spread The Word With Referral Candy
As the saying goes, a satisfied customer will tell nine more people. Imagine then what a satisfied customer would do if they were being rewarded to tell their friends? Referral Candy gives you the power to do just that – reward your satisfied customers for referring their friends and followers directly to you. This clever app gives you a variety of options to choose from for rewards, from discount vouchers to free products, or anything of your choosing, depending on the types of products you offer.
Since happy customers want to tell their friends, use this momentum to your advantage by rewarding them for doing so. And then reap the rewards as your products and your website go viral as one satisfied customer tells their entire network of friends and followers. Starting from $49 per month, Referral Candy can – when used well – bring unlimited new customers straight to your shopfront.
Unlock Affiliate Marketing With Refersion
Rather than concentrating on finding your own clients and customers, why not build an affiliate program and let other people bring customers to your door? With a 14-day free trial and an ongoing monthly fee of $89, Refersion is the only Shopify app you need to create an affiliate program, bring affiliates on board, track your affiliate sales, and pay your affiliates their commission.
Even better, Refersion includes a marketplace with an impressive list of affiliates and influencers looking for new products to promote to their fans and followers. Not only does this app set you up with an affiliate program, but it also puts you in direct contact with people who are looking for products like yours to promote in exchange for a commission.
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If you’re interested in opening your own Shopify store, or want to optimize your existing store to offer the best possible online shopping experience for your customers, the team at Asquared Agency can help. With a wealth of knowledge in all things Shopify, we can help you create a store that appeals to your target audience and displays your unique product offerings in the best possible light. To find out more about how we can help you realize your dreams of running a successful online store, contact us today.