Shopify Apps You Need In 2023
Did you know that the average Shopify Store has six apps installed? That may not seem like a lot, but keep in mind that six is just the average and it includes stores with little to no activity that probably have less than three apps installed.
After working on 100+ highly active stores, the number of installed apps is usually quite higher. We’ve even seen a store with more than 30 apps installed! That’s crazy!
At 253 Media, a huge part of our process is app analysis to know what can be cut. Typically we are removing 5+ apps that are either redundant, no longer used (but still installed), or aren’t key performers. Plus, a lot of the time it’s better to build something custom for your store instead of relying on apps that can add up to be a hefty monthly expense.
With that being said, there are still some apps that we’ve found to be incredibly useful and powerful for driving profits to Shopify brand owners.
Keep reading to lead about the eight best Shopify apps that your store needs to unlock maximum profitability in 2023.
It’s no secret that social proof is one of the most important aspects to your store. Because of this, having a powerful Shopify review app is crucial for a high-converting store. Out of all the apps on the app store, Stamped is a great option due to its flexible appearance, automated review collection tools, and competitive pricing.
Monk
Monk is one of the most useful and powerful AOV boosters on the app store and should be go-to option for brands looking to improve their cart sizes and conversion rates. With Monk, you can easily implement a cross-sell, gift with purchase, and a progress bar in the cart to help shoppers get to a specific threshold.
Where Monk really shines is on the analytics side where merchants can gain insights into exactly which upsells are performing and how well they are performing. When it comes to ecommerce success, the profits are unlocked in the data and Monk does an excellent job of giving you the data you need to make educated decisions.
In addition to their features and tools, Monk really stands out with their customer service. Their speed of response and ticket resolution is second to none.
When it comes to subscriptions, Stay.AI (previously Retextion) is one of the most customizable apps and guess what? It works incredibly well. Stay has a flexible suite of tools for Shopify/Shopify Plus stores and as you’d expect with a subscription app, it easily integrates with your store’s 1-click checkout and Shop Pay.
Starting at only $499/mo, Stay AI is a great option for high-performance stores who are looking to maximize subscription growth. Compared to competitors, Stay has a few powerful features that make it the no-brainer choice.
Gift with purchase, automated upsells, built in A/B testing, churn tools, and even bundling capabilities make Stay a top performer for stores that offer subscriptions.
Nothing is worse than having your shopping experience interrupted with irrelevant popups. JustUno overcomes this problem with a personalized approach to data collection.
The more personalized you can be in your marketing, the better you’ll convert. What started off as a simple pop-up tool has evolved into a full-fledged conversion rate optimization toolbox that can help you maximize your store’s conversion rate. Where JustUno shines is through zero-party data collection and segmentation to help you market to your customers the way they should be marketed to.
For example, if you’re a golf brand you’ll have a very different marketing strategy for people who play once a month with a 30+ handicap compared to people who play a few times a week with a single digit handicap. JustUno helps you segment those audiences so you can get more granular with your marketing.
Plus, JustUno is built off rules. This means that you can control when and what people see to make sure that they have a website experience that matches their specific step in the buying journey. This is especially helpful for dynamic brands and brands that have longer sales cycles
Another personalization tool that boasts huge CVR increases as well as lead capture is the quiz builder too, Octane AI. In reality, Octane is a zero-party data collection tool (similar to JustUno mentioned above) however instead of popups, Octane helps you build powerful quizzes and product recommendations.
This is especially useful for stores with larger catalogs where customers have to find the right product for them. If you have a lot of products, it can be super time consuming for shoppers to find the perfect product for their needs. With Octane, you can build a quick quiz that points shoppers in the right direction for their needs.
To make an accurate recommendation, you can build a quiz structured in a way that narrows your catalog down quickly until you only have a couple options (if any) left for customers to sort through.
This dramatically improves shopper product confidence which leads to a drastically higher CVR. Plus you can collect and email for ongoing segmented email marketing.
We all know how important word of mouth marketing is. With Social Snowball, getting your customers talking about your products has never been easier. This simple affiliate platform helps streamline the process of adding new affiliates and actually helps sign up more affiliates!
But that’s not where the platform ends. A huge problem with affiliate links is having them leaked to coupon sites like Honey. This not only lets people get discounts when they shouldn’t (killing your margin) but also makes you overpay your affiliates (killing your margin). With SafeLinks, Social Snowball combats leaked codes to help you maximize your margins while still driving low-CPA affiliate sales.
Triple Whale
If you’ve been in the ecommerce space for a while, you probably remember the good ole days of accurate sales attribution. And if you’ve been here for a while, you probably remember what it was like to rely on Facebook ads dashboard for your sales data.
Unfortunately, those days are long gone and now brands must rely on attribution tools like the industry leading Triple Whale platform. With Triple Whale, you can view all of your data, from all platforms, in one spot. This helps you understand your growth from a holistic perspective as well as an individual platform perspective.
Why is this important?
In 2023, brands need an omnichannel growth approach to win. Because of attribution overlap, none of your channels will line up data-wise which can make it nearly impossible to understand the true performance of your marketing. With Triple Whale, you can compile this data into a global analytics dashboard to see the actual growth of your brand.
In addition to analytics, Triple Whale also houses numerous tools and industry insights that you can use to make educated decisions based on your data along with industry benchmarks that help you understand exactly where to improve.
If you’re serious about optimizing your store’s conversion rate, you need an accurate heat mapping tool that helps you understand exactly what shoppers are doing on your store.
Is there missing information? Are they not seeing key information? With a heat map, you can gain insights into how actual shoppers are navigating your store so you can make updates that actually improve your conversions.
As you grow your brand, remember that more apps does not lead to more profits. In fact, it’s usually the opposite. The best thing you can do for your brand is to analyze exactly what you need to be successful then build accordingly.
Whatever you do, don’t just add apps because you think you need them.
Build your app stack around a few core apps (like the ones listed above) and then focus on driving traffic and optimizing from there!
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