Shopify Conversion Apps for your online store

Shopify's App Store has over 1500+ Apps that fit the Conversion category, each trying to assist in one way or another to convince a lead into a customer. Shopify Conversion Apps range from your ability to view your full-funnel with Google Analytics, to the various tools that cross-sell at the product page level. In this article, we won't be covering the massive portfolio that Shopify Apps has, but more on how to approach and find the conversion apps that would benefit your Shopify Store.

Your Business model matters

When looking at the kinds of Shopify Apps that might be a good addition to your store, it can easily overwhelm you when all the features are available ranging from coupon codes to product reviews. There is the user experience, your digital marketing strategy, your website funnel, and your service model to all tie into your offering. Increasing conversions can be had by using the right tool at the right place in the marketing funnel, especially if you follow the marketing 4Ps and that "Promotion" is a well-thought-out step in your store. Tools start with the SEO and the search engines where you must optimize your searchability, which also enhances your visibility in Google Shopping results. Off-page SEO is very important to be found, then "clicked on" - the language, the keywords, and the products all have an impact. The wider the funnel that has "relevant" visitors from Google searches the more traffic you have to work with.

1. B2B vs. D2C - B2B customers being commercial have very different marketing approaches, purchase processes, and payment methods vs. consumers. Apps would be significantly different in these two different markets. BigCommerce has a B2B Edition which is merged with BundleB2B App and their Enterprise Edition level software - providing all the tools that B2B customers might expect from an eCommerce store. For D2C, you are not dealing with corporate relationships, but with seasonality, and a much wider audience.

2. Niche product vs. commodities - The eCommerce store is built in a generic way, and while tools like product recommendations would work well in a large store (with many products), in contrast, with niche products that may not be required since the product set is small and customers might be more in-tune with the product portfolio.

3. Seasonal promotions - Being more orientated towards consumer seasonality (there is seasonality in B2B as well), combinations of Store Apps can deliver a stronger conversion factor when combined with a promotional event. You can use the likes of Klavyio (Email marketing and data mining) to announce your promotion and set your promo codes (Promo code App) to increase your conversion rate. If the product type is consumable, then a loyalty program could also be added to reward the frequent buyers that keep returning. Lastly, a Countdown timer App will ensure that the promotion period is well communicated and the abandoned carts App can be followed up on.

4. Customer Service Apps - Customer service especially when it comes to returning clients, having live chat software or referral programs can boost sales when the user experience is positive. When integrating with social media, from Facebook Ads, and Facebook Messenger to interact with engaged customers will all add up to engaged customers that are working with your product or looking to buy more products.

Promotion is a key ingredient and a common factor to entice users to convert, anything from free shipping to a free accessory can tip the decision to purchase when it comes to a promotional event. A lot of the Shopify Apps to consider should be focused on your promotional times and how you get the cycle of purchasing in place to be efficient.

Categorizing your Shopify Apps

With the above consideration on how to approach what type of Shopify Apps are going to work well for your funnel, categorizing the types of functionality you would need to consider makes it a logical step. You will most likely end up with a dozen or so for each type, and these would appear at different levels of your funnel. Landing pages, to product pages, will have various features. As an example, you might have Free Shipping for a basket value of $50+ across the whole site, a landing page would highlight the Coupon code for this week's promotion, countdown timers for the promotion duration with upsell/cross-sell items under the product page for users to be exposed to additional related products. That's 5 Shopify Apps working together from the top of the funnel (landing page) to the middle of the funnel (product page). The categories are Promotional Apps (Coupon App), Upsell Apps, and Site-wide Apps (Countdown timer and Free Shipping). All are supporting our digital marketing strategy for the event, and enticement to convert.

Shopify Apps - Testing Functionality

Most Shopify Apps have a free trial period, and it is worth exploring and testing your funnel on a Shopify Free Trial account. What's important is to complement the funnel, and get feedback from others in the company, friends, and family all the way to a proper research focus group on the value of the features. Understanding the customer journey through Google Analytics is a start, but getting the feedback on their on-page browsing and selection or how they decide what is of value on the page requires a questionnaire and proper qualitative analysis.

The Shopify Apps to increase conversion are to be weeded out to the fewest most impactful ones so as not to clutter the pages, but to keep them elegant and clearly communicate the marketing tenets to the audience. Considerations of the brand, user base, and customer experience are all part of the equation.

Conclusion

A lot of the Shopify Conversion Apps have additional features, and some may have a combination that is optimized to particular business models. Keeping your business model as a primary focus to then find the right Shopify Apps to support the marketing strategy is the best approach - Best practices are built into the Shopify Apps, but whose best practice is it? Leveraging industry-leading best practices only works well when it is mapped to your business model, and to make sure it fits inaccurately and adds value, planning, selecting, verification and deployment are all part of ensuring success. If you have questions regarding your Shopify Conversion Apps, feel free to reach out to us at wish@thegenielab.com