30+ Must-have Shopify Apps For 2021 - Explode Your Sales With These!

Shopify is a powerful eCommerce platform that helps you build and easily start an online store. Now only that, it has a whole lot of necessary tools and apps that help you meet your business objectives. Most of these apps can be found in the Shopify App Store, which has over 4000 apps developed by both Shopify and third-party companies. There are still many more apps being developed and expanded by passionate app developers, like us, AVADA.

These apps (both free and paid) are powerful to enhance your store’s functionality in marketing, inventory management, shipping methods, SEO, dropshipping, secure checkout, speed optimization, and much more. A vast ecosystem makes sure Shopify stores of all sizes and industries can find what they need. With so many options present, it can be overwhelming to figure out which best suits your business.

Luckily, I’ve put together a list of 30+ must-have Shopify apps to assist. I categorized them from marketing to customer rewards, from support to inventory management, and from SEO to sales boosters. These are all much-needed aspects of an online store. So, if you are ready, let’s get started!

Must have free Shopify apps

If you are on a tight budget and don’t want to spend much on utilizing, free Shopify apps are the way to increase sales at no cost. Let’s take a look at the must-have free Shopify apps for your online store.

AVADA Email Marketing - Automation Emails

AVADA Email Marketing is top recommendation for any Shopify merchant in every scales. Even when you has just started your business or you are running it for a time but still truggling with your marketing campaigns. This is absolutelty must-try app for you.

There are some outstanding features of the app that need to mention here. Firstly, AVADA Email Marketing is optimized for Abandoned Cart Email (ACE) campaign, you can easily create and run the ACE in a few minutes. Besides, the app supports other automations emails such as Welcome Emails for New Customers, New Subscribers, Unsubscribers.

Why AVADA Email Marketing is so simple to use? As said, you can create email campaign in minutes because the app provides a very user-friendly interface with drag and drop email builder. It’s especially designed for non-tech and non-designers! Moreover, various email templates are pre-made and ready-to-use, which saves admins a ton of time and resources on setting up their email campaigns.

Pricing: AVADA Email Marketing is totally free. You can create multiple email campaigns with unlimited emails counts and contact number.

Oberlo - Aliexpress dropshipping

If you are doing dropshipping and have a hard time finding what to sell, Oberlo is a highly efficient app to dropship from AliExpress - one of the biggest marketplaces in China. Oberlo is developed by Shopify, so it seamlessly integrates into your store. It can help you import products from supplier sites and start selling immediately. It also keeps your inventory and prices updated, so you don’t have to worry about the sudden price change.

With the network of Chinese suppliers, you can ship your products to the customers straight from the supplier’s warehouses. This is great since you can find items at extreme discounts and avoid storage costs. The trade-off is your products having long shipping time since they are sent from Asia.

Pricing: Oberlo is free with unlimited orders if you have less than 500 products in your store. If you add 10,000 products, the price increases to $29.90 per month, and if you have 30,000 products, it reaches $79.90 per month.

AVADA Proofo - Social proof & sales pop

Social proof is among the most driving factors behind a buyer’s decision. To increase your brand trust and encourage visitors to make a purchase, showcasing dynamic customer interactions is one easy way to go. This is why we created Proofo - a sales popup that lets visitors receive notifications of real-time activities made by other customers.

Various types of notifications can be used to inspire trust, motivate purchase, and prove that your business is a busy store with frequent orders. There is Purchase notice, Add-to-cart notice, Sign up notice, Real-time notice, Information notice, Review notice, and Custom notice that you can customize, schedule, and target different types of customers.

The best thing about this app is that it is completely free to get! Proofo is a simple yet powerful app that stores of all sizes can benefit from, especially new ones with low traffic.

AVADA PDF Invoice - Easy billing documents

Being one of the most customizable PDF invoice apps for Shopify, AVADA PDF Invoice is a convenient tool to help create attractive billing documents, invoice templates, and packing slips. This will make your business look more professional and allow shoppers to print their own billing documents for any purpose.

Paperwork always is a time-consuming task for admins, so AVADA PDF Invoice can cut down the workload and let your business work more efficiently with fewer mistakes. With four ready-to-use templates, you can apply and create documents instantly. Customers can also feel safe and relaxed thanks to the bright and good-looking billings.

Pricing:

• Droplet plan: Free for all features and unlimited invoices
• Pond plan: $9 to get a prioritized ticket and live chat support plus removable branding.

EComposer - High Converting Page Builder

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EComposer Page Builder is considered the next generation of Shopify page builder apps. What are the differences from others?

First, the EComposer page editor is super user-friendly with clean UX, UI which is suitable for even dummies, and beginners in eCommerce. Second, EComposer has Section builder that allows you to create any section on any page, and add it to any theme. In other words, the app works perfectly with Shopify themes, giving you the flexibility of designing your page the way you want.

Also, EComposer has a huge extension and app integration library. Only install the add-ons that you need to use - which helps optimize page performance. Plus, you can chat with support 24/7 if you have any questions or issues while using EComposer.

Pricing: Free plan available

Yotpo - Customer reviews

Yotpo is a unique cloud app that helps you build social proof and online reputation. As mentioned above, social proof is one of the most effective methods to convince your audience that your products are loved by many. Yotpo allows you to showcase that by giving access to customer reviews and ratings.

You can collect product reviews, photo reviews, site ratings, and more by using on-site Yotpo widgets or emails. Showcasing good reviews on your website can help increase traffic and sales immediately since it shows other customers’ satisfaction. You can set up Yotpo with a single click and import all your existing reviews from different sites instantly.

Pricing: Free up to 50 monthly orders. There is a Growth Plan at $29 per month for up to 800 monthly orders and a Prime Plan at $299 per month for up to 1,000 monthly orders.

Printful - Print on-demand app

A leading application in the print-on-demand industry, Printful is the easy access pass to open and run your own clothing company. The advantage of print on demand is that you don’t have to start from the scratch, you can use the app to create custom clothing instantly and have them shipped to your customers from the manufacturing place.

With Printful, you can do dropshipping with print on demand products easily, as well as get access to a fulfillment warehouse and your own order-creation warehouse. As a well-known Shopify app being used by almost three thousand Shopify merchants, Printful seamlessly integrates with your Shopify store.

You can even use Printful technology if you are selling through online marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, or Amazon. It is a great option for creative folks who want to sell their own lines of clothing products.

Pricing: Free to use with 24/7 customer support. You only pay per each order’s product.

Auto Currency Switcher - Currency converter

If you are selling worldwide, you should make it as easy as possible for customers to make a buying decision when browsing your products. Auto Currency Switcher will automatically display your visitor’s location currency depending on their geographic location right next to your store’s items. Customers can also switch between currencies for their own convenience. The design is customizable, which is a bonus.

Pricing: Free to use. There is a Premium plan at $9.95/month to add Country flags, IP based country detection, and Round converted prices.

Digital Downloads - Sell digital products

If you are selling online, there is a high chance that your products are online as well. So if you are selling digital products, you can install the Digital Downloads app to attach digital files to a product and start tracking sales or downloads. Much like the Apple store, customers can receive and use digital products instantly right when they purchase. Customers will also receive automatic updates if you upgrade the products.

The app is provided by Shopify, so it should integrate with your store easily.

Pricing: Free to use.

Google Shopping - Sell with Google

An eCommerce business owner will need many channels to promote their products, and Google Shopping is an effective one to generate more sales. This Google Shopping app will link your Shopify store with your Google Merchant Center account and show your products on the Google Shopping page. It will also keep everything up to date with prices and stock levels on both ends automatically.

The app is trusted by over 2,000 merchants and has over 1,500 five-star reviews.

Pricing: Free to install and use

Must have Shopify apps for marketing

Marketing will always be an essential part of any eCommerce business, so if you want to increase your marketing power and bring more awareness to your business, these Shopify apps can help tremendously.

Loox - Photo reviews

Loox is a review app that allows you to add photo reviews of customers to your online store. Products with photo reviews can increase the conversion rate significantly because photos are powerful social proof. Loox lets you show photo reviews on any page of your store (like below a product) or even a dedicated review page.

It can help you send automatic emails that ask customers to leave reviews. In exchange for the valuable reviews, you can offer discounts or promotions each time buyers submit photo reviews. The app has a 4.9-star review on Shopify and is used by over 4,000 store owners.

Pricing: 14-day free trial

• Basic plan: $9.99/month for 100 monthly review request emails.
• Advanced plan: $29.99/month for 500 monthly review request emails and advanced customization.
• Pro plan: $59.99/month for 1,500 monthly review request emails and all Loox integrations.
• Enterprise plan: $99.99/month for 10,000 monthly review request emails and all Pro features.

PushOwl - Web push notifications

Abandoned carts are a big problem for online sellers, and you would definitely want to recover sales from those already-engaged visitors. If you use web push notifications with PushOwl, you can remind the potential buyers about their abandoned carts and encourage them to return and purchase. You can do this by special discounts just for their carts, for instance.

PushOwl lets you send tailored campaigns and reminders, such as back-in-stock notifications or review notifications once a product is shipped. You can customize the notifications with images, buttons, and messages. It is having a perfect five-star rating on the Shopify app store.

Pricing: Free to install and start with up to 500 impressions, After that, paid Business plans start at $19 per month for 10,000 impressions.

Growave - All-in-one marketing app

If you need to reach, engage, and convert visitors in the most efficient way, then Growave is the choice for you. You can get an all-in-one app package to increase customer retention, boost social sharing, and grow your brand. Additionally, you can use its advanced review features to create personalized automated coupons based on reviews to enhance the store’s credibility.

Growave claims to be 4-7 apps in one that includes Loyalty and rewards, Wishlists, Reviews, Social sharing, Community, Questions & answers, Notifications, and more. It currently has a 4.9 star rating on the Shopify app store.

Pricing: 14-day free trial

• Free plan: For stores with up to 100 orders/month
• Starter plan: $29.99/month for stores with up to 500 orders/month
• Growth plan: $69.99/month for stores with up to 1500 orders/month
• Enterprise plan: $299.99/month for stores with up to 3500 orders/month (30-day free trial)

Seguno - Automated email marketing

Need a cheap and effective email marketing method for your business? Email marketing is the answer. Seguno is a good way to implement online marketing and convert new buyers into regular customers by sending emails. You can use the app to send welcome emails, thank-you emails, discounts emails, and much more. This helps you build trust and is especially helpful in the long run to make buyers remember your brand.

Its main features are about sending automated emails and using dynamic recommendations to reduce abandoned carts. You can also generate unique discount codes for marketing campaigns. Seguno app is a good fit for stores that want to show real appreciation towards customers.

Pricing: Free to use with up to 250 subscribers. For 251 - 1,000 subscribers, you will pay $10/month and +$10 for each extra 1,000 subscribers.

Kit - Intelligent Facebook ads

Kit is a personal assistant that can help store owners manage their Facebook and Instagram ads. It acts like a chatbot that can allow you to set up dynamic ads and boost sales significantly. The app is designed by Shopify so you don’t have to worry about learning about Facebook ads extensively since all are managed by Kit. By the power of AI, you can run successful business campaigns while you are sleeping.

Pricing: Best thing about Kit is it is free.

Octane AI - Messenger & SMS marketing

Facebook Messenger and SMS marketing have proven their powers to boost conversion and customer retention for eCommerce stores significantly. This is what Octane AI focuses on. It allows you to manage online messages, recapture lost carts, recommend products, and send push notifications with announcements to your customers. This is indeed one of the must-have Shopify apps for your store.

Pricing: 30-day free trial

• Basic plan: $9/month for all main features
• Pro plan: $209/month for main features + VIP Support, Advanced Targeting, Custom flows, and more.

Omnisend - Email marketing app

Another app for email marketing, Omnisend is a powerful app for those who want to maximize their emails’ potential. Offering automation with omnichannel features, Omnisend can help you create relevant emails for customers. It lets you add several channels into an automated workflow so you can reach customers on a variety of channels with personalized messages.

You also have email templates, list building resources, retargeting ads, segment targeting, and more. Over 3,000 five star ratings on the Shopify app store make it a top-rated email marketing app for all Shopify merchants.

Pricing: Free to install with 15,000 emails/month. The paid plans start at $16/month with more features but still the same number of emails. For more emails, you get custom pricing that can be calculated right on the pricing page.

Sumo - Grow email list

To increase your conversions and sales, growing your email list is really important. And Sumo is a state-of-the-art Shopify app that can help you with that. This marketing and sales tool helps you reduce cart abandonment with effective incentives to find more leads and gain email subscribers. You can send thrilling deals to customers and encourage actions while viewing the results through a robust statistics dashboard.

Additionally, you have dozens of extra features such as customer support and visitor targeting. The app is also compliant with GDPR so you won’t have to worry about regulation or rules. Your site can get a better rank with the app too since it follows SEO guidelines from Google.

Pricing: Free to install with 10,000 emails/month and $500 Sumo-driven revenue. The Pro plan is $49/month or $39/month for an annual subscription, with this you get unlimited emails and unlimited Sumo-driven revenue.

Must have Shopify apps for reviews, loyalty, and rewards

Once you have promoted your business well enough and start getting customers, you will need creative ways to retain their loyalty. By asking for feedback, giving rewards, and representing special member benefits, your business will be able to gain frequent buyers and, more importantly, brand lovers. These are Shopify apps for reviews, loyalty, and rewards.

Smile - Loyalty program

<a href=’https://apps.shopify.com/smile-io target=’_blank’ rel=’nofollow’>Smile</a> provides timely incentives to your customers and gives them rewards for loyalty. It provides a platform for customers to write reviews and share your products with friends and family. It has three styles of rewards program to choose from:

• The referral program
• The loyalty points program
• The VIP program

Through the app, you can create programs to increase customer engagement and increase revenue. Not to mention, these also let shoppers spread the word about your business. The app currently has a 4.7 star rating on the Shopify app store.

Pricing: A free plan is available with upgrades starting at $49/month

ReferralCandy - Referral program

For a new business, there are many marketing tactics that you can use like video marketing or influencer, but word of mouth is still one of the best ways to gain conversions. Your potential customers always trust the opinions of their relatives and friends more than any amazing ads that you can produce. That is why you need to take advantage of referrals.

With ReferralCandy app, you can reward customers for bringing new clients to your stores with incentives like special gifts, coupons, and cash. You can also track your referral data, keep an eye on sales, and customize everything to suit your brand. The app is a must-have Shopify app for tapping into the benefits of word of mouth marketing.

Pricing: $49/month with a 30-day free trial

Form Builder - Unique forms to research

If you want a bridge to close the communication gap between you and the customers, having a form may be a good way to do that and collect customer’s information as well. The Form Builder app gives visitors a way to submit custom forms on your website to ask for new orders, wholesale pricing, or any other inquiry. You just need one click to install the app, and you can add your own branding to the templates.

Pricing: A Free plan is available. The Pro plan is $10/month for more features with a 6-day free trial.

Photo & Social Reviews - Collect and display reviews

Social reviews can help convey trust and encourage customers to make purchases, so what if you can collect and display all kinds of reviews on your site? It is sure a powerful selling method. With Photo & Social Reviews by Kudobuzz, you can collect and display reviews from Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Etsy in the photo, video, or text forms. These are also content that can improve your site’s SEO and enhance your marketing effort.

Pricing:

• Coffee plan: Free for 100 orders per month
• Breakfast plan: $12.99/month for 500 orders per month
• Lunch plan: $19.99/month for 1500 orders per month and advanced features.

Must have Shopify apps for customer support

Now, since traffic is coming to your Shopify store, you will need effective methods to take care of visitors and convert them into customers. Not to mention they are guaranteed to have many questions about price, shipping, rewards, and more, so having these Shopify apps to support customers can make your work definitely easier.

Return Magic - Product return solution

No matter what you sell, there are always dissatisfied customers who would want to return products. In fact, the average return rate in the eCommerce field is about 30%, so you should prepare for that. The Return Magic app helps you deal with the return process efficiently by letting you automate gift card or money refunds, generate and print return labels, offer exchanges, and create automation results to personalize the returns process. This will create a good and comfortable return returns portal for shoppers, which can still come back and buy again.

Pricing: 30-day free trial then $10/month for the basic plan with under 10 returns a month. The price goes up based on your store’s number of returns.

Shoelace - Retargeting customers

Your existing traffic is a valuable source of revenue that you should pay attention to and support whenever you can. With Shoelace, you can create retargeting ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram that make customers remember how great your store is. These ads can educate the audience and motivate them to come back to your site. The ads will be valuable information that is relevant to different stages of the buying process, so it is an effective way to build stronger, long-lasting relationships with your customers

Pricing: It takes $79/month to install the integrations and the pricing plans start at $249/month. The more advanced retargeting method for your ad, the more expensive the plans get.

Point of Sale - In-person sales

If you not only sell online but also in person, then Shopify POS is a great way to handle transactions. If you use Shopify Payment, it will be a powerful combination to receive sales money quickly with no transaction fees. So Shopify created Point of Sale as an official app for you to sell everywhere and create a seamless shopping experience. It has all the essential features for you to sell offline like accepting many payment methods, processing payments through phones, tracking your sales performance. The app also has a sleek design (yay dark mode!) for easy use.

Pricing: Free to install and best for selling at markets, pop-ups, or fairs. The Pro plan is $89/month for each location and best for selling at a brick and mortar store.

Must have Shopify apps for inventory management

Through time, you will be able to find many more products for your Shopify store. Hundreds or even thousands of items can require much time and effort to manage. Well, with these must-have Shopify apps for inventory management, that headache can go away with a click and let you keep growing your business.

AfterShip - Shipping tracking

If you want to track all of your shipping processes from one place, the AfterShip app is the choice you need. It can provide all the information your customer needs regarding the delivery. With the app, you can generate a tracking page for each individual shipment and customize this page with your store’s URL, Instagram photos, and brand logo. It is a convenient way for customers to reach out about their shipments too.

Pricing: 14 day free trial

• Free for 50 shipments quota per month
• Essential plan: $9/month for 100 shipments quota per month
• Growth plan: $29/month for 500 shipments quota per month
• Pro plan: $99/month for 2,000 shipments quota per month

Instagram Shop - Shoppable Instagram feed

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms for selling because almost everyone is using it. But it is also hard to sell because you can’t add product links to the posts. Instagram Shop by SNPT can fix this problem. The app lets you customize your Instagram feed so you can show pictures from your accounts and tag relevant products. This way, customers can see your Instagram photos and shop at the same time. Your Instagram pictures would also link with a ‘Buy’ button to purchase directly.

If your pictures are from customers, it is also a good social proof for your products. You manage your products and marketing effort better through that. This is why Instagram Shop is one of the must-have Shopify apps for your store.

Pricing: Free to install.

TradeGecko - Inventory management

TradeGecko is a popular inventory management app that lets you manage orders and control inventory as your business keeps growing. It helps you manage both retail and wholesale channels with flexibility in customizing options. You can edit your branding and price lists at ease from the dashboard. One more notable thing is that TradeGecko integrates with accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks Online.

**Pricing: 14-day free trial

• Founder plan: $39/month for 1 user and 50 orders/month
• Lite plan: $99/month for 2 users and 50 orders/month
• Small business plan: $249/month for 5 users and 500 orders/month
• Business plan: $699/month for 8 users and 1500 orders/month You save more if you sign up for an annual subscription.

Must have Shopify apps for SEO

If you are selling online, SEO is a must-have aspect. In case you don’t know, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process of improving a site’s ranking on Google search results. So, the better you are at it, the more traffic and customers your store can attract. Here are the Shopify apps for SEO that you need to install for your business.

Plug in SEO - Improve SEO on page

With SEO, you appear at the top of the search page for prospects’ most crucial keywords, which automatically make the audience pay attention. By using Plug in SEO, you have some of the easiest ways to boost your site’s rankings without figuring out everything by yourself. The tool covers many aspects of SEO from rich snippets to blog optimization, fix meta titles, find broken links, update the descriptions, and more.

Pricing: 7-day free trial. A free plan is available for unlimited checks, and the Plus plan is $20/month for automatic SEO improvements and premium support.

SEO Site Audit - Analyze SEO

SEO Site Audit, Benchmark Hero is another app that can increase your SEO presence. Instead of logging into Google Analytics, the app gives you a super detailed breakdown of what is impacting your SEO score and why. Every statistics about Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Google Shopping ads, and image optimization will be calculated to give an overall score. With this, you will have a clearer picture of what to improve with the site’s SEO.

Pricing: Free to use

Image Optimizer + Compression - Image compressor

Do you know that your image size affects your site’s loading speed - which leads to lower SEO? Which is why you need the Image Optimizer + Compression app to optimize your pictures. Also known as Crush.pic, this app lets you compress product images without losing any quality, which is super awesome. Also, you can compress many pictures at once and automatically have alt text for pictures missing it.

Pricing:

• Free: 25mb of images for product images
• Micro plan: $4.99 per month for 500mb of images/month
• Pro plan: $9.99 per month for 2gb of images/month
• Advanced plan: $19.99 per month for 5gb of images/month

Must have Shopify apps to boost sales

Last but not least, these are the must-have Shopify apps to increase your sales numbers. Needless to say, this is what every eCommerce store wants, so install these apps as soon as possible.

SMART Bundle Upsell - Smart upsells

A powerful app with excellent reviews, SMART Bundle Upsell helps you reward customers with a discount or free shipping if they add enough items into their shopping carts. You just need 30 seconds to set up and start increasing the revenue instantly. The app tracks every single item that customers have in the carts so the upsell products would automatically match their buying behaviors.

Pricing: 7-day free trial, then $27/month

VITALS - 40 apps in one

So, this may be a bit overwhelming, but I found an app that contains over 40 other apps inside it, and you absolutely have to try it out. The app is called VITALS and it aims to boost sales by increasing your store’s conversion rate and decreasing loading time. The apps included are product reviews, currency converter, wheel of fortune, product bundles, pre-order, discounted pricing, and many more. I haven’t tried every feature, but the app is having a perfect 5 star rating on the Shopify app and nearly 700 users, so it can’t hurt to try.

Pricing: 30-day free trial, then $29.99/month

Xporter - Data export tool

Are you using spreadsheets to track the inventory? Well, many of us do, so Xporter is great since it is an app that can help export data from your store into a CSV or XML document. This is really convenient to organize things and have a better understanding of data to grow your business. The dashboard has a simple checklist to choose what needs to be exported, and you can export reports online, send through email, or access in Google Sheets.

Pricing: 7-day free trial and plans start at $7/month to a maximum of $45/month

Exit Intent Popup - Popups to increase sales

Right at the moment, a visitor is about to leave your store, you can send a sweet incentive to make him/her stay and turn into a new customer. That is what Exit-Intent Popup can do. The app will launch a discount code or a voucher as an attempt to increase sales. It is also effective for collecting email addresses or feedback from the audience.

Pricing:

• Free plan: 3,000 pageviews/month
• Essential plan: 25,000 pageviews/month
• Growth plan: 100,000 pageviews / month
• Premium plan: 500,000 pageviews /month

Final words

Shopify is one of the most robust eCommerce platforms to start selling online, and its apps are one of the reasons for its effectiveness. So, if you want to set up a business, the above apps can help you enhance not only the store’s functionality but also the customer’s experience. From boosting the revenue to streamlining the selling process, making a profit is easier than ever.

So, have you picked one or more apps for your Shopify store through my article? Remember, the best app is the most suitable for your own needs. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them in the comments section below. And, as always, best of luck on your eCommerce journey!