Looking to level up your online business? The best Shopify apps for ecommerce stores can help you do that!
If your online store is on the Shopify platform, one of the best places to look for solutions is on the app store. There’s only one problem: there are over 3000 apps to choose from!
To narrow it down, we put together this list of the best apps for Shopify ecommerce. The solutions highlighted here run the gamut. Using these, you’ll be able to create:
- Loyalty programs
- Referral programs
- Automated returns
- Dropshipping solutions
- Enhanced marketing
- Loads more!
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution (if your brand sells clothes or shoes, you know that well). So before we get to our list of recommendations, we wanted to give you a quick primer on “what to look for” in a solid Shopify app.
What to look for in the best Shopify ecommerce apps
When evaluating the best apps for your Shopify store, there are a few ways to shortcut your search:
- Read the reviews: if an app has limited or bad reviews, consider skipping it.
- Check their homepage: Does the app have a polished & professional homepage? Great! If not, that may be a red flag.
- Peep the price: There are some great free apps out there, but if it seems to good to be true… it often is.
- Compare options: Don’t be afraid to look into other options! Read blog posts, comparison articles, etc.
- When in doubt, try it out: Many apps offer demos & free trials. Invest your time wisely to land a solution that can work well long-term.
Put it this way – we are very confident in this list, but the key variable here is you! When checking out apps & solutions, run through the above five steps. Spending a little time before investing a lot can save future headaches.
With that in mind, let’s get into our list of the best apps to use on Shopify.
The top ten best ecommerce Shopify apps
Without further ado, here are the best apps to add to your Shopify store:
- Loop (Returns & Exchanges)
- Klaviyo (Email Marketing)
- Gorgias (Live Chat & Helpdesk)
- ReCharge (Subscriptions)
- Okendo (Reviews)
- Daasity (Analytics)
- Kustomer (Customer Service)
- Alloy (Automation)
- Rise.ai (Gift Cards & Loyalty)
- Klevu (Smart Search)
What does it take to get on this list? We wanted to create a selection of apps that could handle a wide range of functions. Not every store will need or want every Shopify app on this list.
Are there great tools that didn’t make it on this list? Absolutely! One example: Oberlo, a dropshipping platform. It’s solid, but it runs more like a platform than an app. For this list, we focus less on categories like 3PL, shipping, and dropshipping in favor of the more plug & play options below.
1. Loop(Returns & Exchanges)
Manage returns, exchanges, return labels, store credit & more!
(From $59/month)
Full disclosure: we’re not only the authors of this article… we’re the makers of Loop! Does that make us biased? Only because we strongly believe in our product 🤓
Simply put, Loop is the solution to your product returns problem. If you are running an ecommerce business, chances are you have one of those. A Shopify app that handles returns would be enough, but Loop does a lot more than that.
For starters, you can allow users to exchange for anything. If they bought a shirt, but want to exchange for some pants, that’s possible! Using Loop’s exchange portal, brands can actually drive revenue.
Using features like “Shop Now”, customers are transported to your store where they are able to spend more than they originally paid. That means they can exchange their shirt for some pants and buy an extra pair all at once.
Besides those money makers, Loop allows brands to fully automate their return policies. Not only will this save your team time, but you can sleep easy knowing that your policy will be enforced exactly as you define. It all takes place on your dedicated returns portal, active 24/7.
With a wide-ranging series of integrations, Loop also plugs into your favorite shipping platforms, 3PL’s, and allows you to create custom return labels. There’s a lot more to it than that, so check out our how it works page for a preview of what’s possible (and if you like what you see, take the next step and book a demo)!
2. Klaviyo(Email Marketing)
Grow your business with Email & SMS Marketing Automation.
(Free plan available)
Klaviyo was born out of a simple concept: what if there was an email marketing program designed for ecommerce? Shopify store owners rejoice! This user-friendly platform is all the rage if you want to engage customers and drive repeat business.
One of Klaviyo’s biggest claims to fame: you can really get started in minutes. They offer single-click integrations (over 100 to choose from) and easy data-sync with your Shopify store. No coding is needed.
You’ll drive more sales with ease using a suite of email targeting tools (and SMS messaging too). Klaviyo’s features are designed to help you win customers and keep them coming back again and again.
Klaviyo hosts a ton of automation features. Just build it out, set it, and forget it. Create welcome emails, email series, abandoned cart emails, and anything you can imagine.
3. Gorgias(Live Chat & Helpdesk)
Customer Support, Helpdesk & Live Chat for Customer Service.
(From $60/month + 7-day free trial)
Picture this: all your customer support stuff in one easy-to-manage location. That’s what the Gorgias Helpdesk makes possible. Give this a try, unless you are happy to search through order numbers and crazy-long email chains.
Put all your customer eggs in one basket! With Gorgias, you can easily centralize customer tickets from Facebook, Instagram, Emails, live chat, SMS, and phone calls.
Having everyone on the same page, using an organized & purpose-built system, brands can reduce response time dramatically. Pre-made templates that pull all the right data make things even easier – no more search for order numbers!
Stop wasting time and automate your support. Gorgias’ live chat feature can actually answer simple questions automatically without the need for a customer agent to get involved at all.
4. Recharge (Subscriptions)
We turn transactions into relationships.
(Free plan available)
Repeat purchases are the golden goose of ecommerce. Recharge cuts right to the chase and helps brands quickly enable subscriptions in minutes.
Connect to your existing payment processes and you’re good to go. Recharge also has tools to help brands reduce churn & increase LTV along the way. Brands are happy to increase revenue, while shoppers are empowered to configure their subscriptions and update at any time.
To top it all off, Recharge comes with on-board analytics so you’ll be able to track the success of your subscriptions in real-time.
5. Okendo(Reviews)
Product ratings, reviews, photos/videos, UGC, Q&A, feedback.
(From $29/month + 14-day free trial)
There is no better social proof than customer reviews and user-generated content. Okendo is fast becoming one of the top apps in the space. With paid plans starting at just $29 per month, it’s an affordable solution that’s Shopify Plus certified to boot.
Among its many features, Okendo allows brands to automate reviews, UGC, and more. There’s even post-purchase emails, content capture forms, and rewards engine. To spell it out, this is a post-purchase powerhouse!
We all know the power of reviews to build trust & drive first-time and repeat purchases. Okendo lets you fully exploit this by showcasing reviews throughout your site (on product pages, for example) using customizable widgets. Copy the code, paste it in, and you’re off to the races.
6. Daasity (Analytics)
Simplified eCommerce analytics to grow revenue fast.
(From $199/month + 15-day free trial)
These days it’s easy to fall victim to data overload. You’ve got to check this thing in one place, that thing over there, and keep a million tabs open on your web browser? Daasity is here to change that by putting all your data in one place.
Daasity centralizes all your data from Facebook, Google, Amazon, Shopify, Recharge, and more… what a concept! With everything in the same place, you’ll be able to focus on the ecommerce metrics that matter most.
In fact, that’s part of how Daasity works, they intentionally focus on LTV, margin, CPA, CPO, ROAS, attribution and fulfillment metrics, so you don’t need to monkey around in the back-end. Simply integrate your data streams and watch the magic happen.
7. Kustomer (Customer Service)
Omnichannel Customer Service Platform.
(Free to install)
Ecommerce platforms like Shopify come with some great tools. But they sure don’t have a powerful agent dashboard like Kustomer.
Kustomer is all about speed and efficiency. All team members see the same thing: a dashboard that unifies all customer interactions into a single timeline view. With everything in the right place & in priority sequence, your team just needs to snipe issues as they appear.
Beyond that, there are built-in automations, integrations, and a lot more features to supercharge your customer team. Some big players are using Kustomer, making them the ones to watch in the customer support space.
8. Alloy (Automation)
Save time & automate your store across 100+ apps and platforms.
(Free plan available + 7-day free trial)
What if you could spend time growing your business instead of laboring over mindless tasks over and over again? Alloy can help with that. Think of Alloy like the Zapier of ecommerce – only with less tinkering and more ready to go.
That’s not a knock on Zapier, it’s just that many ecommerce stores need similar automation. Alloy’s team recognized that, and they’ve built a huge library of pre-built workflows to help brands streamline analytics, marketing, customer support, fulfillment, and more.
9. Rise.ai (Gift Cards & Loyalty)
Launch a Loyalty Program w/ Referrals, Store Credit & Rewards.
(From $19.99/month + 7-day free trial)
Rise.ai is a rising app that lets brands create a tailored loyalty program geared around increasing LTV and transforming customers into raving fans.
Using an entire set of loyalty promoting features, brands are able to selectively (and/or automatically) boost rewards to encourage referrals and repeat purchases. You’ll also be able to set advanced credit rules to further incentivize referrals & reward customers.
10. Klevu (Smart Search)
Instant Search + Search based Recommendations & Merchandising.
(Free to install)
If you know anything about online search, you’ll know that search terms are only half the game. There’s another factor called search intent that gives huge insight into customer behavior. Klevu is a nifty app that lets users tap into the customer mindset to deliver the exact results needed to make things happen.
What kind of things? This is ecommerce after all, so you better believe it’s all about the dollar bills y’all. Klevu delivers the right results in the right format to help you move merchandise. It builds on the default Shopify experience and lets you craft customer experience even further.
Wrapping up
How did you do? Hopefully, you’ve found some great new apps to try or buy! If you liked what you read here today, why not share your new favorite Shopify apps on social media? Tag the creators and tell them where you heard about them! I’m sure they’ll be glad to hear from you.
Keep up the good fight growing your Shopify Store – made a little easier with help from these strong apps. Good luck!