We could start this blog by bragging about Magento’s capability as an eCommerce platform but that is unnecessary at this point. Magento is one of, if not the most known eCommerce platform out there and with good reason.
Despite its capabilities and wide use, many eCommerce entrepreneurs still find it complex, confusing, and hard to use, especially when compared to other platforms as a service, like BigCommerce for example.
We can agree to that.
Magento is unique in that sense.
Magento has always been dedicated to keeping the platform open source. This gives many indie developers the chance to completely reshape the way people use the Magento platform.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that all of us Magento users are spoiled by the different choices, extensions, and customizations for our Magento eCommerce websites. There are a ton of free extensions and an equally impressive amount of paid ones. This lets eCommerce websites on Magento have plenty of choices when it comes to selecting the right tools for the job.
Google Analytics + by Fooman
This first extension is an obvious one. If you are running an eCommerce store, it is important to know how you are performing with traffic and to see where that traffic is generated. You also get an understanding of what is selling and what isn’t.
Most of you have probably heard of google analytics and its imperfections that it has, which is fine because hey, it’s free, right? Fooman’s Google Analytics + has addressed some of these imperfections already.
- Filter reports by customer
- First touch tracking
- Compare multiple stores under the same domain
Really, the extension makes the analytics clearer to understand and better to track. An improvement of just using google analytics.
ShipperHQ
Another great choice right off the bat for your eCommerce website on Magento is ShipperHQ. Logistics are harder than most businesses anticipate when first starting out. Shipper HQ streamlines a lot of this process to create a better experience for your customers.
On top of allowing your eCommerce business to ship with a variety of major shipping carriers, ShipperHQ adds a whole boatload (pun intended) of features.
- Control over rates and options shown in customer cart
- Dimensional shipping
- Real-time cost estimator for shipping
- Date and time approximation
- Address verification
The extension from ShipperHQ can make the headache from logistics disappear and that’s always a positive thing.
One Step Checkout
If ShipperHQ is helping your customers streamline shipping, then One Step Checkout is helping customers streamline buying. People don’t like long checkout processes and each step added is a potential spot for a customer to not buy. There are a lot of great features right out of the box.
- Fully customizable checkout page design
- Customer location autodetect
- Google address auto-suggest
Combining all the buying process into one page, one step essentially will increase your conversion rate.
Best Seller Products
Best Seller Products for Magento from MageBees displays the best selling products from your eCommerce website. These are displayed so your customers can quickly and easily navigate to them.
This extension also includes a widget type device to insert anywhere on your website to direct customers to your best selling products, not just from the homepage.
- Customize product range for bestselling products
- Automatically or manually update
- Manage text and order easily from admin panel
- Show/Hide price, rating, description, add to cart and compare buttons
This extension is a great way to funnel sales and boost conversion rates.
Elasticsearch
Searching anything outside of Google can be cumbersome. This goes for your eCommerce website, and if your customer is not getting relevant search results from your website, it can be off-putting. Elasticsearch puts its effort into solving this for you. It not only enhances your search results but also increases search relevance all while including some other features to benefit your customers.
- Fast autocomplete
- Fast automatic suggestion
- Boost product attributes in search
- Easily manage your index
Just install this extension and improve your customer experience by a large margin.
Stamped.io
Stamped.io is a marketing dream because the people writing your content are happy and loyal customers. So you get user-generated content, which is important for marketing, and you get reviews, which is important for marketing as discussed here. It is a win-win scenario with Stamped.io.
As most of these extensions, Stamped.io is easy to connect to your Magento store and start collecting user reviews almost immediately. These reviews are important to ensure new customers that they are making the right choice of buying your product. They also work really well if you want to brag a little bit about how cool you are to your eCommerce friends.
- Mobile-friendly (some aren’t which is absurd right now)
- Turn reviews into your next advertisement easily
- Social integrations
- Incentives for customers who leave reviews
Reviews are important and Stamped.io makes it easier than ever to integrate those reviews into your Magento store.
Nosto Personalization
It is all about personal experience in today’s eCommerce landscape. Nosto Personalization leverages analytics to predict the best products for individual traffic to your web store, based on real-time analytics and also offers some other features to help convert.
- Onsite content personalization
- Segmentation
- Onsite pop-ups
- Personalized emails
Customers sometimes need guidance on which products to buy. Let the algorithms help and sit back while the conversion rate skyrockets.
TaxJar
Taxes are due in April. Doing taxes is time consuming and who wants to do all that paperwork? Luckily, TaxJar automates all the calculation of sales tax, plus gives you the ability to export reports and filings.
- One-click integration with Magento
- Always on time automated filings
- Instant reports
- Discounts and coupons are accounted for
A great way to save time with a very meticulous task.
Instagram Feed
Instagram is an important channel for any eCommerce business as discussed here. However, sometimes it is better to have an Instagram integrated directly onto your eCommerce website. The Instagram Feed extension widget allows appealing customization and integration of Instagram.
- Display unlimited combinations of sources
- Full control over image size
- Mobile friendly feed
- Design configurations
Instagram should not be overlooked as a sales channel and this is a great way to include it into your business plan.
Social Login
Social Media has been a huge part of our digital lives for some time. It is now more than ever though becoming a huge part of our regular lives as well. It is no longer just Facebook or Twitter. People spend their time on LinkedIn, Youtube, Instagram, etc.
Creating an account for your store might turn some people off but Social Login allows you to import data from Social Media and in a single click, a new account to your store is created.
- Ability to fully control the login button
- Amazing functionality
- Easy to install
- Lets customers seamlessly integrate their Social Media
In this day and age, the need to have ease of access is a necessity and Social Login makes it really easy for your customers to buy products quickly.
LiveChat
If you read the apps needed for BigCommerce in 2020, found here, you already know that live chat is becoming essential to your eCommerce website’s success. Luckily LiveChat fulfills that need pretty seamlessly. Not only can people ask questions about products, but having someone on your website to chat about your brand can lead to a better connection.
- Customizable widget
- Analytics reporting
- Easy integrations of other tools
- Visitor tracking
Customer service is important and LiveChat could be your answer to having a better overall customer satisfaction rate.
Metrilo
We already talked about analytics in this list but there is more to cover. Metrilo is actually a lot more to cover. Metrilo is dedicated to making your eCommerce business Not only does Metrilo have analytical tools, but it is an email marketing platform by definition.
- Great segmentation
- Complete customer profiles
- Email automation
- Excellent CRM
Metrilo helps you acquire and maintain customers, almost on autopilot.
Blog Pro
Blogs are still a great starting point for your content marketing strategy. With Blog Pro, you can have a blog attached to your eCommerce store and help with everything from product reviews to SEO ranking on Google.
- No recurring costs
- Rich design options
- SEO optimized
- Comments section
Content marketing is still booming this year. Blogging is essential for the success of smaller eCommerce businesses specifically and it is about time to start yours!
Conclusion
This list is by no means comprehensive. In fact, there are so many extensions for Magento that we could easily write a blog about them every week and not be done by the year’s end. However, this is a good starting list for most eCommerce businesses. Of course, with Magento being so complex, even installing the extensions you want to include can sometimes be overwhelming.
That’s where NuEthic can help. Not only do we develop Magento websites form the ground up but we can aide you in any extensions you may want to include into your Magento website.