When you’re running your ecommerce business with Shopify, adding apps can be expensive, but they can add so much value to your online store. We are going to walk you through the best free Shopify apps on the market that you need to install today.
Whether you’re using a dropshipping importer, or a tool to help with your email campaigns, you can quickly grow your store– even on a tight budget. These must have Shopify apps have free options but also have paid plans that can grow with your ecommerce business, no matter what your budget is.
So let’s get started counting down the top free Shopify apps on the market.
16 Top Shopify Apps for Your Ecommerce Store [Free Options]
1. Oberlo
What it is: Dropshipping product importer app.
Why you should use it: Oberlo allows store owners to easily import dropshipping products in one click, allowing you to have products for your store the day you sign up. There’s no need to buy bulk inventory, and you won’t have to spend money manufacturing your own products.
This app allows new entrepreneurs to start a low-investment business. You can also process your orders through the app. Once you receive an order, you can process it in only one click as the entire process is automated. This great free Shopify app is perfect for those who may still be working a 9 to 5 job as the workload is very light. It allows you to focus on marketing your store which allows you to grow quickly.
2. Sales Notification
What it is: Sales conversion notification app.
Why you should use it: Sales Notification is one of the best Shopify apps to increase sales of your online store. It gives you the ability to encourage purchases through sales notifications. Set cart notifications to add urgency for customers to purchase along with social proof of the popularity of a product. Even create recent visitors alerts to help your store look busy and professional. The app also lets hide items that you don’t want to display in the sales notifications, such as products that are private or free.
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3. POWR Facebook Chat | Messenger
What it is: Facebook messenger chat app.
Why you should use it: Using this app early on will prove to be very useful for your business down the road. Having a real-time communication channel forwith your customers can help you to answer their questions quickly so they can purchase products with certainty. This live chat app allows you to connect your ecommerce store with your Facebook business profile, meaning your customer service can be a step above your competition. Plus, it gives you the option to set a welcome message, custom icon and response time, which tell people what to expect when they initiate a Messenger chat.
4. Thank You Email
What it is: Gratitude email app.
Why you should use it: Most people spend so much time trying to get a customer that when they finally land the sale they forget to continue marketing to them. Autoketing allows you to send an email to a customer after they’ve placed an order on your store. Since a customer has just purchased with you, they’ll be much more likely to open an email from you – they might even expect it. Introduce yourself as the founder of the company and build a personal connection with your customer, and promote your great brand. Try delaying sending the email so that customers don’t assume it’s automated.
5. Omnisend
What is it: Email marketing app with omnichannel features
Why you should use it: Unlike a lot of email marketing apps for Shopify, Omnisend takes it further than just email. You can create robust automation workflows from easy-to-customize templates, to which you can add several channels: email, SMS, Facebook Messenger, push notifications, WhatsApp, and more.This app helps online sellers send the perfect message to their customers: whether its an email capture popup with a sweet incentive, or a cart abandonment SMS to recover lost sales. Their smart segmentation helps with targeting based on your customer’s data, campaign engagement, and shopping behavior. For ecommerce marketers who need to take email marketing to the next level, Omnisend is definitely worth a try.
6. Sales Countdown Timer
What it is: Countdown Timer App
Why you should use it: It’s one of the best free Shopify apps to boost sales in your store. The app allows you to set up a customizable countdown timer to help create a sense of urgency and encourage visitors to buy. You can choose your start and end dates. Scarcity tactics can also be used with this timer with phrases like ‘only a few products left.’. The app works extremely well with impulse buy products to help you convert the customer. You can change this timer to better suit your store theme. If you have the traffic and need help convincing people to buy this app may help.
7. Product Reviews
What it is: Product Review App
Why you should use it: One of the most essential Shopify apps for building social proof, Product Reviews allows you to add a customer review feature to your product pages. This offers a way to build trust with prospects. Prospects get to hear from your customers directly, so they’re able to make an informed purchase . The app is also SEO friendly, allowing you to add your product review scores in Google’s search.. When customers search via Google, your product score can help encourage click through to land customers you might not have otherwise gotten.
8. Keep Cart
What it is: Abandoned cart app.
Why you should use it: If you find that your customers move from one device to another to complete their purchase, this app is for you. One of the must have free Shopify apps, Keep Cart helps lower abandoned carts by making it easy for customers to shop across various devices. If a customer logs into your store, they’ll easily find the products they added to their cart regardless of what device they’re on. Some people choose to start their search on mobile but buy on desktop or vice versa. Having their cart appear on all their devices helps increase sales by reminding them that there are items in their cart waiting to be purchased.
9. Free Shipping Bar
What it is: Shipping details app.
Why you should use it: When it comes to online shopping, customers want to know how much shipping will cost. If you offer free shipping, you can mention that your store offers free shipping on all purchases. If your store offers a free shipping threshold, you can help increase average order value by being clear about it. By having the bar installed on your website, customers can easily see the shipping details to help ease them into a purchase. The bar is clear and visible allowing browsers to get access to shipping information without having to go through the checkout process. It likely helps lower abandoned carts as well.
10. Smile: Rewards & Loyalty
What it is: Loyalty app.
Why you should use it: It’s important to show your customers you appreciate them. Smile is one of the most popular Shopify apps for rewarding customers by giving them points.They can use their points to redeem special offers such as discounts, free products or free shipping.. In business, it’s much more affordable to remarket to someone who’s already familiar with your brand than to find new customers, which makes this app even more appealing. You can even surprise your customers with special offers on their birthday which helps make their special day more memorable while putting your brand at top of mind.
11. Exit Intent Popups
What it is: Pop-up app.
Why you should use it: Pop-ups can be an extremely effective way to turn your site visitors into email subscribers. With this excellent Shopify app, you can offer a special discount in exchange for new followers or subscribers. This is great for store owners looking to build an email list. The discount incentive helps encourage a purchase which helps convert customers who were only on your site to browse. You can even lower your abandoned carts with their exit pop-ups. Keep in mind that pop-ups can be annoying so be sure to remove any other pop-up apps. You’ll want to check your mobile site when you’ve installed the app to ensure that it works well on the small screen as you don’t want to lower mobile conversions.
12. Plug-in SEO Optimizer
What it is: SEO app.
Why you should use it: While advertising is great for sales, you also want to increase your store’s organic traffic. Having this SEO plug-in helps you better optimize your web pages by giving you suggestions on how you can improve. If you’re on a tight budget, you can master ecommerce SEO on your own with this easy-to-use tool. You’ll know if your image alt-tags are correctly labelled, you can check your website speed, and more. There’s a paid version for those looking to benefit from some extra features. With over 2,300 4.7-star reviews, this is one of the best free apps for Shopify store SEO.
13. Web Push Notifications
What it is: Push notification app
Why you should use it: Push notifications have been growing in popularity. Every time you add new products to your website or new blog posts, you can notify your customers to check it out via their computer notifications. With this free Shopify app, you can let customers know about special promotions you’re having which can help boost sales on your store. You’ll want to make sure you don’t have any other pop-ups on your webpage to reduce mobile issues and to keep the focus getting clicks for notifications. The best part is that when customers abandon the cart, you can send push notifications to bring them back to complete their purchase.
14. Branity Facebook & Instagram Ads
What is it: Automated marketing app
Why you should use it: Branity automates social media advertising. From creating campaigns to self-optimizing audience targeting , it’s the marketing helper every store owner needs. You can optimize performance based on campaign ROI using dynamic budget allocation. Or run a retargeting campaign to help encourage a sale.. You can also easily access reports to determine your sales performance.
15. HelpCenter
What is it: Customer service app.
Why you should use it: Ecommerce customer service is a whole different ball game compared to brick-and-mortar settings. Since customers can switch between channels while posing their query, you need to unify your communications to access user context and purchase history. Help Desk is a customer service app for Shopify that combines three solutions – FAQ builder, HelpDesk ticketing and Live Chat – to help improve the customer experience. Manage all questions from email, chat, social, etc., in one, easy-to-use platform. And publish an informative FAQ page that answers your customers’ questions before they land in your inbox.
16. Jebbit
What is it: Quiz maker app.
Why you should use it: Sometimes, customers aren’t sure what product would best fit their needs. This is where a product-based quiz can make a difference. Jebbit helps you create shoppable quizzes that people love to engage with. With no-code design elements, you can quickly set up a quiz to help people find the best-fit products in your online shop. The app lets you build simple surveys, product match surveys, lead gen forms, personality quizzes, and more. Use Jebbit to deliver personalized customer experiences that boost loyalty for your ecommerce business.
Considerations Before Installing a Shopify App
Shopify apps are a great way to improve your ecommerce store and automate tasks so you can spend more time on other things. But you can run into some problems if you start using more apps. These include:
- Reduced site speed: Each time your website loads so must the apps being used on it. Depending on how many apps you have installed and how taxing they can be to your website, your site speed can be negatively affected. Before installing an app ask yourself if you really need it, and maybe you can delete an old app instead.
- Non-compatibility: Sometimes one app does not work with another one. It is unfortunate but it can happen. Research if other Shopify users have tried the two apps, or reach out to the app developers before installing so you don’t run into any problems. Installing apps without checking compatibility can mean a loss in sales, conversions, and traffic so it is worth the time to look into it.
- Increase in site noise: Apps are brilliant for small businesses and dropshippers but sometimes we are too inspired and include too many apps on our websites. Before long we notice that we have three popup apps, two live chat apps, and an app that is no longer relevant to the site. Before installing an app check that none of your already installed apps can provide the features you are looking for.
- Depreciated apps: Apps serve a purpose and, like with everything in tech, the solution they provide can become outdated and not needed after a while. Do a regular checkup of your apps to make sure they are all up-to-date and supported to make sure nothing negatively affects your website unnecessarily.
Next Steps
There are many best free Shopify apps depending on what you want to achieve so the above list only scratches the surface. Once you set up your dropshipping store with Shopify, take your time to look through the Shopify App Store to learn more about what is on offer. Check out the many categories, and make a list of the capabilities that you want within your website. With the wide range of apps available, the sky's the limit for your ecommerce store no matter what.
Summary: 16 Best Free Shopify Apps You Need to Install
- Oberlo
- Sales Notification
- POWR Facebook Chat
- Thank You Email
- Omnisend
- Sales Countdown Timer
- Product Reviews
- Keep Cart
- Free Shipping Bar
- Smile: Rewards & Loyalty
- Exit Intent Popup
- Plug-in SEO Optimizer
- Web Push Notifications
- Branity Facebook & Instagram Ads
- HelpCenter
- Jebbit
These are just a few of the best free Shopify Apps. What apps do you use for your store? Which are your favorite?
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