GUEST BLOG
Shopify is the perfect e-commerce solution for both small and large online shops that comes with some great built-in features — but sometimes your businesses need something extra to really make your online shop stand out and provide the best experience for your customers.
The Shopify App Marketplace has tons of easy to use apps that allow you to add some features that are beneficial to you and the way your customers shop online. This ranges from free to paid apps — all depending what you need for your business.
One thing I love is how many free apps you can find in the App Marketplace that can really help you and your business. Today I wanted to share my top 4 Shopify Apps that I install on just about every client’s website so they can benefit from these great features.
- MailChimp for Shopify: https://apps.shopify.com/mailchimp
This is an app that I always install to every client’s shop. The reason? Because having a solid email list is so important for any business. With a growing email list you can easily access previous customers with your latest shop promotions, new products, and any fun news you have to share. It’s a great way to keep your customers informed.This app easily connects your MailChimp account with your Shopify account. Anyone who subscribes via the shop or makes a purchase (option to opt-in via the checkout page) will be added to your email list.Another great tool that is featured with this app is the option of being able to customize emails for abandoned carts, order notifications, and pop-up forms that connect to your email list. All of these tools allow you to create a more personalized experience for customers.
- Showcase – Shop Instagram: https://apps.shopify.com/shop-instagram
One thing I’ve learned about designing e-commerce websites is the importance of visuals. When selling a product or service, great product photos are important. But you also want to display your product in use.So what better way than to show off your amazing products than via Instagram. With Showcase, you can easily embed your Instagram feed onto any page or section of your website. I love incorporating this into any shop design so that it gives that fun added visual to the shop. It increases awareness of your online presence by attracting more shoppers to follow you on other platforms.Showcase offers a free version which allows for a simple feed to be displayed and so far its been the most user-friendly app that I have found. Easily connect your Instagram account with Shopify and embed the feed onto your shop.
- Wishlist Plus: https://apps.shopify.com/swym-relay
Giving shoppers the option of creating a Wishlist is a tool that will help increase your online sales. This is an easy to install feature that will give your shop the option of shoppers to create a list of the goodies they want from your shop.It’s a great tool for holidays when customers love to share their wishlists with friends and family. It also helps remind your customers of items that they love and still haven’t purchased.
- Bulk Image Edit by Hextom: https://apps.shopify.com/bulk-image-edit
I always recommend keeping image sizes consistent so that everything looks clean and organized, but noticed that a lot of my clients were having trouble with this when managing their shop. After getting some feedback, I realized that a lot of my clients don’t have the extra time (or software) to resize and crop all their images before uploading them to the shop.So I did some research and discovered an amazing app that automatically resizes and crops your product photos. This way it creates a consistent look throughout your collection and product pages. This app also has the bonus feature of reducing your image file size (for better loading time) without losing quality.
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No matter how big or small your online shop is, don’t miss out of these great tools that are available that will help increase your shop’s sales and provide a custom shopping experience for your customers!
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Melissa Bandera is the owner of Jelly Design Studio, specializing in web design and development for small businesses and creatives. She loves to collaborate with others to create beautiful and functional websites for shop owners looking to grow their online presence. When she isn’t working on fun web design projects you can find Melissa in her reading nook reading a book and enjoy a good cup of coffee.
