20 Best Shopify Add-Ons To Unlock Your Store’s Potential

The article was initially published in WebMeridian blog.

No matter how successful your Shopify store is, there’s always something you can improve, whether related to marketing, design, development, shipping, or financial planning.

The good news is, you don’t have to work alone. With hundreds of ready-to-use add-ons for Shopify, store owners can automate the majority of their daily tasks.

It’s not just about automation. Plugins also give you data-driven insights, content and design templates, and ready-to-deploy bots. With all these tools, you can take your Shopify website to the next level by enhancing its functionality and boosting your customer experience.

The Shopify App Store is home to over 8,000 apps for marketing, shipping, customer support and everything in between. That’s a lot of tools to work through, especially if you are just starting out with add-ons.

Luckily, we’ve done the legwork for you. In this comprehensive guide, we’ve handpicked the top 20 Shopify store plugins for literally any online shop. We’ve categorized them according to their functionality, including marketing, customer support, finances, shipping and security, detailing their features, prices and the problems they solve to help you make an informed decision.

What are Shopify plugins

Shopify plugins are tools that increase the capabilities of a Shopify store, enabling store owners to optimize various aspects of their online business. These plugins, also known as apps or extensions, cater to different needs such as marketing, sales, shipping, customer support and more.

• What is a Shopify plugin? It’s a software extension that seamlessly integrates with your Shopify store to enhance its features and improve its overall performance.
• How do Shopify plugins work? They connect to your store’s data and use it for automation. The seamless integration allows for a more efficient, customized and user-friendly shopping experience for store owners and customers.

20 best Shopify plugins to install in your online store

Marketing

There’s a myriad of marketing Shopify extensions out there. To make your life easier, we chose those that are easy to use, offer pro features and have great support.

Smile: Rewards and Loyalty

Problem it solves: Low customer retention and difficulty keeping customers engaged with your store

Price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $49/month

Features: Flexible rewards program, referrals, VIP options, email and push notifications

Downsides: The widget looks a bit clunky on the page

Smile integrates with your Shopify store to track customer actions, such as purchases and referrals. It uses this data to automatically award points or other rewards based on the rules you set up. Smile syncs with your customer database to send targeted emails and push notifications, promoting your loyalty program and keeping customers engaged.

Omnisend: Omnichannel Marketing Automation

Problem it solves: Difficulty in coordinating and automating marketing campaigns across multiple channels

Price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $16/month

Features: Pre-built workflows, email and SMS marketing, segmentation, multi-channel messaging

Downsides: The interface can be complex to navigate, and some features require a steep learning curve

Omnisend is one of the most popular Shopify eCommerce plugins out there. It gathers customer data like browsing habits, purchase history, and engagement with previous marketing campaigns. It uses this data to create targeted marketing campaigns to deploy across multiple channels. The plugin creates trigger-based workflows, taking a chunk of the manual work off your plate.

Klaviyo: Email Marketing and SMS

Problem it solves: Struggling to communicate effectively with your customers and lack of personalized marketing efforts

Price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $20/month

Features: Segmented email campaigns, automation, ready-to-go templates, ROI tracking

Downsides: Increased reliance on customer data comes with higher privacy risks, and aggressive marketing can lead to unsubscribes or customer dissatisfaction

Klaviyo works by connecting to your Shopify store’s customer data such as personal information, purchase history and browsing behavior. It uses this data to segment your audience into groups, helping to craft high-yield email and SMS campaigns.

This Shopify add-on delivers eye-catching templates and a drag-and-drop editor to design your messages. It also provides automation workflows for common scenarios, such as cart abandonment and post-purchase follow-ups.

Loox: Photo Reviews

Problem it solves: Difficulty in gaining customers’ trust and showcasing trustworthy product reviews

Price: Starts at $9.99/month

Features: Photo review collection, customizable widgets, review request emails, import/export reviews

Downsides: No free plan, can be expensive for stores with high order volumes

One of the best social-listening Shopify apps, Loox integrates with your Shopify store and uses your order data to automatically send emails with review requests to customers after they have received their products. Customers can easily submit their reviews and photos directly from the email or through the Loox interface. The add-on offers cool widgets for showcasing feedback on your product pages, homepage, or reviews page.

Plug In SEO: Automate Your eCommerce SEO

Problem it solves: Low search engine visibility and lack of organic traffic to your store

Price: Free plan available; paid plan at $9.99/month

Features: SEO audit, keyword optimization, metadata editing, SEO issues monitoring

Downsides: Primitive SEO optimization that focuses on covering basic practices; not a substitute for professional SEO expertise

Plug In SEO is your go-to Shopify SEO plugin. It scans your Shopify store’s content, meta tags and other on-page elements to find potential hiccups. It gives you tips on how to fix these issues, like tweaking your titles, descriptions and keywords. Plus, it has a handy editor for adjusting your store’s metadata directly within the app.

Sales

Bold Upsell: Create Personalized Sales Offers

Problem it solves: Difficulty in increasing average order value and maximizing the potential of each customer purchase

Price: Starts at $9.99/month

Features: Customizable upsell and cross-sell offers, in-cart upsells, post-purchase upsells, offer analytics

Downsides: No free plan, limited customization options on lower-tier plans

Bold Upsell is one of the must-install plugins for Shopify. It syncs with your product catalog to create and show custom upsell and cross-sell offers. You can set rules for when and where these offers appear, like during the checkout process, in the cart, or on product pages. The plugin keeps track of your offers’ performance and generates downloadable reports.

ReConvert: Convert Customers Repeatedly

Problem it solves: Missed opportunities to increase sales by not using post-purchase interactions effectively

Price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $4.99/month

Features: Customizable thank-you pages, product recommendations, upsells, countdown timers, social sharing

Downsides: Limited design options on lower-tier plans, sometimes the plugin comes across as overly promotional, and not all stores may benefit from post-purchase engagement

ReConvert is a Shopify extension that focuses on keeping the conversation going with your customers after they’ve made a purchase. It allows you to customize your store’s thank-you page, so customers see custom high-conversion buttons, creative product recommendations, and personalized product sets. These features enable ReConvert to boost your average order value and encourage customers to come back for more. If you’re looking for Shopify apps to increase sales, start with this one.

Shipping

ShipStation: Automate Shipping Management

Problem it solves: Poor management of shipping across multiple carriers and platforms, leading to inefficiencies and errors

Price: Starts at $9.99/month

Features: Centralized shipping dashboard, discounted shipping rates, automation rules, label printing, tracking information

Downsides: May not cater to all shipping providers; complex to set up compared to smaller top Shopify add ons; businesses with few shipments may not benefit from its features

A standout among Shopify shipping apps, ShipStation brings all your shipping info into one dashboard, allowing you to manage your shipments, print labels and track packages all from one place. No more worrying about missing important details or deadlines. ShipStation will keep you in the loop on all things shipping and even send updates to your customers.

Shippo: Streamlined Shipping Solutions

Problem it solves: Difficulty in comparing shipping rates and managing shipments

Price: Pay as you go; monthly plans start at $10/month

Features: Discounted shipping rates, label printing, automated tracking, returns management

Downsides: Some features are only available on higher-tier plans

Shippo integrates with your Shopify store‘s order data and uses it to generate shipping labels and tracking numbers. The plugin connects with multiple shipping carriers, allowing you to compare rates and choose the best option for each shipment. The automated tracking feature keeps your customers informed about their order status.

Finances

A2X for Shopify: Accurate Financial Reporting

Problem it solves: Difficulty managing complex financial reporting for eCommerce operations

Price: Starts at $19/month

Features: Accurate financial reporting, integration with accounting software, automated data entry

Downsides: Fairly expensive for small stores

A2X for Shopify is a financial reporting app that makes it easy to get accurate, automated financial reports for your Shopify store. It integrates with popular accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero, and captures sales, fees and cost of goods sold (COGS).

Sufio: Professional Invoices: Invoicing Solution

Problem it solves: Creating professional, compliant invoices is time-consuming

Price: Starts at $19/month

Features: Automatic invoicing, compliant with international laws, customizable templates

Downsides: No free plan

Sufio automates your store’s invoicing process. It automatically creates invoices for every order, which comply with international laws and can be customized to match your brand. If you’re wondering which Shopify apps you need to save time and be more efficient with your finances, Sufio is one of them.

Sezzle: Increase Sales with Installment Payments

Problem it solves: Customers abandon carts due to high upfront costs

Price: Free to install (fee per transaction)

Features: Installment payment option, instant approval, no interest for customers

Downsides: Sezzle charges a fee per transaction that not all customers will be willing to pay

Sezzle is a Shopify app that breaks down purchases into four equal, interest-free installments for your customers. By making your products more affordable, Sezzle boosts sales and manages the checkout process for you. And the best part? You get your payment upfront, in full.

Design

PageFly: Build Visual Stores

Problem it solves: Bland and uninteresting store design, leading to low conversion rates and poor user experience

Price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $24/month

Features: Drag-and-drop page builder, responsive design, pre-built templates, custom landing pages, product pages and more

Downsides: Truly nice pages still require design skills; the plugin has a steep learning curve for beginners compared to other top Shopify apps

PageFly is one of the top plugins for Shopify. It allows you to design and customize your store using a smooth drag-and-drop page builder. Just choose your industry and color preferences, and replace the placeholder content with your own. All templates are based on UI/UX analysis, so you don’t have to conduct all that research on your own.

Smart Product Filter & Search: Improve Navigation

Problem it solves: Customers having difficulty finding the products they want

Price: Starts at $14/month

Features: Product filters, search bar, collection filters

Downsides: Can be expensive for smaller stores; not an easy-to-install plugin on Shopify

Smart Product Filter & Search is a Shopify app that improves your store’s navigation, making it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for. The extension comes with pre-made filter options, including product type, price and tags, as well as a search bar for quick product lookup.

Customer support

Tidio: Be Always Online

Problem it solves: Limited customer support options and lack of real-time communication, leading to poor customer satisfaction

Price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $19/month

Features: Live chat, chatbots, email integration, multi-channel messaging, mobile app, visitor tracking

Downsides: Limited customization on the free plan, chatbots don’t always provide helpful responses, and increased reliance on automation could lead to impersonal customer interactions

Tidio is a Shopify app that aims to improve customer support and engagement by offering live chat and chatbot functionality. Set up chatbots, automate workflows and prepare support templates to always stay on. To keep track of interactions, Tidio will generate daily, weekly and quarterly reports.

Gorgias: Streamline Customer Support

Problem it solves: Difficulty in managing multiple customer support channels, leading to slower response times and customer dissatisfaction

Price: Plans start at $10/month

Features: Multi-channel integration, automated responses, customer history, live chat, ticketing system

Downsides: No free plan; the paid subscription is expensive for smaller businesses

Gorgias is a customer support plugin for Shopify that pulls all your customer service channels into one place. This lets you manage and respond to customer inquiries from email, social media and your Shopify website all in one spot. It also offers automated responses to common questions, saving you time and keeping your customers happy.

HelpCenter: Build Trust with Customers

Problem it solves: Lack of a centralized place to handle customer inquiries, leading to a decrease in trust and customer satisfaction

Price: Free plan available; paid plans start at $8/month

Features: FAQ builder, ticketing system, contact form builder, customer feedback, multi-language support

Downsides: Limited features on the free plan, and it may not be as robust as other customer support platforms

HelpCenter offers an FAQ builder, a ticketing system for real-time support and automated workflows. All support pages come with templates and built-in functionality.

Security

Locksmith: Protect Your Store

Problem it solves: Lack of control over who can access certain parts of your store, potentially risking sensitive information

Price: Starts at $9/month

Features: Access control rules, private products, memberships, customer tag-based permissions

Downsides: No free plan, may not meet complex security needs, and can be confusing to set up

Locksmith is a Shopify app that helps you control who has access to what in your Shopify store. This could involve locking certain products, pages, or even the entire store. You can set access rules based on customer tags, location, order history and more.

Fraud Filter: Prevent Fraudulent Orders

Problem it solves: Fraudulent orders and chargebacks, which can result in significant losses

Price: Free

Features: Create custom fraud filters; review and cancel suspicious orders

Downsides: Requires manual review of flagged orders; may not catch all fraudulent orders

Fraud Filter is a free Shopify app designed to help you ward off fraudulent orders. Set up custom rules to flag suspicious orders, such as those from specific locations or orders exceeding a certain amount. When an order raises a red flag, you can review it and decide whether to proceed or cancel.

AVADA SEO: Image and Site Protector

Problem it solves: Protecting your store’s content and images from theft

Price: Free; paid plans start at $34.95/month

Features: Image protection, right-click disable, text selection protection

Downsides: Lack of ability to right-click may be uncomfortable for some users

This plugin disables right-clicking and text selection on the site, making it harder for people to copy texts or images. It’s a great way to protect your images and product descriptions from plagiarism.

The Bottom Line: Choosing Best Add Ons for Shopify

Store owners who ignore Shopify extensions miss out on achieving the full potential of their store. Regardless of how you’d like your store to grow, working with Shopify add ons is the fastest way to get there. It takes trial and error to find the tools that work for you, but it’s worth it in the long run.

To address risks and prevent bottlenecks, reach out to WebMeridian. Our experts in Shopify development and customization will choose the best apps for Shopify that will unlock the full potential of your store.