If you operate an eCommerce store through BigCommerce, then chances are you have spent time exploring their apps marketplace. There are hundreds of apps spread across fifteen diverse categories. There is no shortage of apps to help your business run more efficiently.
Depending on the current needs of your business you can easily spend hours in the marketplace searching to find the best apps to integrate into your store.
Luckily, we have put together a list of apps that will help you manage marketing, customer service, and store maintenance. These areas are crucial to providing your customers with a positive experience and the encouragement to come back.
Here is a list of the best and most essential apps to boost eCommerce earnings and convert customers.
Constant Contact
Having an email list is crucial to any successful eCommerce store. It allows you to contact customers and potential customers over and over again. You can send them everything from information about new products to blog links. This will allow for a greater content marketing strategy.
Constant Contact has an easy drag and drop builder along with pre-made templates. They also have email automation so you never forget to reach out. Constant contact boasts great customer support, tools for beginners, real-time analytics, and an easy to navigate dashboard. The integration is free with BigCommerce however the plans range from $20-$45 a month
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is the preferred accounting software for most eCommerce entrepreneurs. Instead of hiring outside bookkeeping, you can easily integrate the QuickBooks app with your BigCommerce store. QuickBooks runs in the background, and during tax season, can export data collected to be sent to an accountant.
QuickBooks allows you to easily manage sales and income by creating invoices, keep track of bills, expenses, profit, and loss. If you use QuickBooks Online with QuickBooks Payments, you can also connect your bank accounts and credit cards with the software. Again, Quickbooks is free to integrate into your BigCommerce store but does cost a monthly fee of up to $75.
Yotpo Reviews
We talked a great deal about how important reviews are to your eCommerce business here. Luckily there is an app for your BigCommerce store that makes it easier than ever to increase reviews. While Yotpo is an eCommerce marketing tool, the real bulk of greatness comes from the ability to engage people towards reviewing.
Yotpo easily automates marketing features such as review generation, retention and SEO functions. Customer reviews can be generated easier than normal and applied to the right spot, ensuring your audience is seeing the newest and most current reviews. Pricing varies greatly because it is based on traffic volume, products, and domains.
Route
Route is an incredible app that delivers a great post-purchase user experience. Customers have the option at checkout to add Route to their purchase and have their orders protected. Route+ reduces customer hassles through a seamless claims filing process. The app also gives customers the ability to track in real-time where their package is. Route also drives additional post-purchase revenue by providing links to continue shopping on your store through the app.
Route increases customer satisfaction, lowers the cost of customer service, and turns reorders into revenue while extending the lifecycle of merchandise. Best of all for merchants, Route is free. Customers pay about 1% of total cart total to add Route to their purchase and have their item protected.
Campaign Monitor
Formerly Conversio, Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform. Many retailers underestimate how relevant transactional emails are. Think about how often Amazon sends out emails about the package you ordered and they include links to other items you might purchase. Don’t miss out on this chance to promote other products or your brand.
Each receipt email is fully customizable to match your brand identity and is automatically sent after each purchase. Campaign Monitor also has a robust abandoned cart feature included along with google analytics tracking. PLans are based on contacts in your list and start at $20 monthly plus the app itself is $19 a month.
Affiliatly
Affiliatly delivers an incredible BigCommerce app for managing all your eCommerce partnerships. The app also allows you to get the word out about new products. All the affiliate links are generated in-app and allow tracking to see which website visits are due to which affiliate links being shared by partners. Affiliatly also includes a pop-up form that prompts people to sign up for your affiliate program if they run a blog, a very positive thing for content marketing.
LiveChat
We recently talked about the need for live chat in this blog covering trends for the upcoming year. Luckily, LiveChat fulfills that need pretty effortlessly. LiveChat allows you to see what customers are saying, even if they never hit send. There is also an easy way to switch between agents and block visitors as well. LiveChat is $16 a month with no upfront fees but I suggest using the free trial to see if you like it before committing.
Sellbrite
Sellbrite is a multi-channel listing software that synchronizes your inventory across different sales channels. Amazon and eBay can be reached relatively easily through this app. Upload inventory, manage and track sales through each channel while keeping inventory updated automatically. Sellbrite seems to add new features on a consistent basis, so there is always something to look forward to.
Smile.io
Smile.io offers a robust and incredibly easy to navigate and manage your eCommerce store’s rewards program. Plus on top of being super easy to use, Smile.io has the design capability to be completely branded for your experience. You can even improve earning with different VIP tiers to incentivize customers to shop more. Everything from social shares to referrals can increase your customer’s ranking and encourage brand loyalty.
Facebook & Google Easy Ads
One of the best ways to reach your target audience is through Facebook ads. However, if you are new to Facebook ads, it will take some time to master the different elements. Without this mastery, you could spend a lot of money with very little desired effects. Luckily the Facebook & Google Easy Ads app does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. The app condenses the ad structure down to a few easy steps and walks you through it. No experience required!
The app does the same thing for Google Ads as well. The simplicity allows you to rest assured that your ads are being seen by the right people at the right time. The app itself is free but expect to spend a daily budget just like you would without the app on each platform you advertise on.
Google Analytics
Would any list about eCommerce apps become complete if it wasn’t tied to Google analytics in some way? Analytics are important because they allow you to see where your customers are from, what products they spend the most time looking at, their interests and even more. Not only does this allow you to gear your products for them but it can and should influence your content marketing strategy.
One of the best parts of the Google Analytics app is how easy it is to read. You do not need a master marketer to come in and interpret the data for you. The BigCommerce Google Analytics app gives you deep insights to make thoughtful and constructive business decisions. These analytics also show you how well your ads are doing, the sales funnel and insight into advertising ROI. The app is free to install and hopefully, by the time you are finished with this blog it will be integrated with your BigCommerce store.
Conclusion
Being strategic when you run your eCommerce store helps grow your business and achieve the success you want. Based on your goals, BigCommerce apps are available to help you focus on what features matter most to you. From the apps we have shared today, try them out to find which ones meet yours and your customer’s needs. Most of them even have an option for a free trial so there is no commitment.
Of course, if you need help deciding on the apps needed for your eCommerce business, or want a custom function added to your BigCommerce site, NuEthic is here to help achieve your eCommerce goals.