Shopping for ecommerce SEO packages is harder than it looks. Agencies present tiers with similar-sounding names, pricing ranges vary by a factor of ten, and the deliverables listed often describe activities rather than outcomes. For a store owner trying to evaluate options, the variation is genuinely confusing.
This guide breaks down what ecommerce website SEO packages actually contain, how tier structures are typically organized, what realistic pricing looks like, and which signals separate a credible package from one that will waste your budget.
A well-structured ecommerce SEO package covers five core service areas. If a proposal is missing any of them without a clear explanation, push back.
Technical SEO is the starting point for any legitimate package. For ecommerce sites specifically, this means addressing problems that content sites rarely face at scale: crawl budget waste from faceted navigation and filter parameters, duplicate content created by product variants and category pagination, site speed issues caused by large image libraries and unoptimized themes, and structured data markup for product schema and review snippets.
The audit phase produces a prioritized list of issues. Ongoing technical maintenance, which better packages include monthly, keeps new problems from accumulating as the catalog grows or platform updates roll out. Google's technical SEO requirements for site owners provide a useful baseline for what your site needs to meet before content and links can move the needle.
On-page work covers title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure, product descriptions, image alt text, and URL patterns across product and category pages. For ecommerce, this work is particularly impactful on category pages, which target higher-volume keywords and sit higher in the purchase funnel than individual product pages.
A meaningful on-page package specifies how many pages get optimized per month, not just that optimization is included. Vague deliverables here are a sign that the agency has not thought through execution at catalog scale.
Content supports ecommerce SEO by capturing informational intent, building topical authority, and creating internal linking opportunities to product and category pages. Buying guides, comparison posts, and how-to content that connects to product categories drive traffic with purchase intent that converts better than generic blog audiences.
Packages vary significantly here. Entry-level tiers might include two to four blog posts per month. Growth tiers typically include six to ten, plus optimization of existing content as the catalog and keyword landscape evolve.
Link acquisition is what separates sites that rank from sites that do not, all else being equal. Ecommerce link building targets editorial placements, digital PR, supplier and partner links, and category-relevant publications, not directory submissions or link farms.
The cadence matters: a package that promises ten links a month at $800/month total is not building quality links. A realistic growth-tier package might target four to eight high-quality placements per month, with transparency about targets, outreach process, and placement quality.
Every package should include monthly reporting that covers organic traffic, keyword rank movement for priority product and category pages, indexed page counts, and conversion data from organic sessions. Reporting that only shows traffic without tying movement to revenue or conversions is not enough for an ecommerce brand.
You should also have direct access to your own Search Console, analytics platform, and any rank tracking dashboard the agency uses. An agency that reports results through their own portal without giving you direct data access creates a dependency worth avoiding.
Most ecommerce SEO packages follow a three-tier model, though naming varies by agency.
Designed for smaller stores with under 500 SKUs, limited catalog complexity, and lower competition categories. Typical scope includes an initial technical audit, on-page optimization for priority pages, and two to four content pieces per month, usually without dedicated link building or with a minimal acquisition allotment.
Starter packages run $1,500 to $3,500 per month. They are appropriate for stores in early SEO investment stages, stores with clean technical foundations that need content and keyword strategy more than structural fixes, and brands whose categories have moderate organic competition.
The growth tier is where most mid-market ecommerce brands should be operating. Scope expands to include ongoing technical monitoring, broader on-page coverage across product and category pages, six to ten content pieces per month, active link building, and more detailed reporting tied to revenue metrics.
Growth tier pricing runs $3,500 to $7,500 per month. At this level, an agency should be assigning dedicated account management, not rotating staff, and deliverables should be scoped to your specific catalog and competitive landscape rather than a templated monthly checklist.
Enterprise packages serve stores with thousands of SKUs, complex technical environments (multi-market, multi-language, headless CMS, or custom platform builds), and competitive categories where organic visibility translates directly to significant revenue.
Enterprise-level ecommerce SEO starts at $7,500 per month and scales past $20,000 for large catalog operations or brands competing in categories with high organic competition density. At this tier, expect full-team engagement, platform engineers who understand your stack, and content production at a volume that builds meaningful topical authority month over month.
For a detailed breakdown of how these tiers are priced across agencies, ecommerce SEO pricing benchmarks offer a useful reference. WebFX also publishes ecommerce SEO pricing tiers with transparent tier comparisons.
Low-cost packages are not just a budget trade-off. Many create problems that cost more to fix than the money saved.
Guaranteed rankings. No agency controls Google's algorithm. Any package that guarantees specific rank positions is either uninformed or misleading. Rankings are an output of quality work over time, not a deliverable that can be promised.
Link volume without link quality. A package that promises 50 or 100 backlinks per month at entry-level pricing is building links through private blog networks, paid directories, or mass submission tools. These tactics generate short-term gains at best and manual penalty risk at worst. Quality link acquisition is slow, expensive, and relationship-driven by nature.
Templated deliverables. If a proposal describes the same monthly activities regardless of your store's size, platform, catalog structure, or category, the agency is not doing ecommerce SEO. They are running a playbook that may or may not apply to your situation. Ecommerce SEO is specific, and the deliverables should reflect your store's actual technical state and competitive position.
No attribution to revenue. Traffic growth alone is not a success metric for ecommerce. If an agency cannot explain how their work connects to organic revenue or assisted conversions, they are tracking the wrong things.
Vague reporting with no data access. You should own your data. If an agency summarizes results in a PDF without giving you direct access to Search Console, analytics, and rank tracking, they control information you have a right to see in real time.
Matching a package to your store comes down to three variables: catalog size, competitive pressure, and where you are in your SEO maturity curve.
Catalog size determines how much technical maintenance you need. A 50-product store with a clean URL structure has minimal ongoing technical work. A 5,000-SKU store with faceted navigation, seasonal inventory, and multiple product variants needs active technical oversight built into the retainer, not just a one-time audit.
Competitive pressure determines how much link building the package needs to include. Categories like apparel, supplements, consumer electronics, and home goods have well-funded competitors with years of domain authority. Competing in these verticals requires consistent link acquisition, not occasional outreach. Lower-competition niches can move rankings with less link investment and more content.
SEO maturity determines where the agency should focus first. If your site has never had a technical audit, the first several months of any engagement will be dominated by fixes. If your technical foundation is solid and you have some organic traction, the package can shift toward content and link building faster.
For stores just starting to invest in organic search, our ecommerce SEO guide covers the foundational concepts worth understanding before you sign a package. If you are also evaluating individual consultants vs. agency teams, our guide to ecommerce SEO consulting options walks through how to think about that decision.
When comparing packages across ecommerce SEO companies, treat the deliverable list as the minimum standard for evaluation, not the selling point. Ask agencies to explain how each deliverable connects to rankings and revenue for stores at your catalog size. Ask for examples of work at similar scale. Ask how they handle the technical challenges specific to your platform.
The right package is the one scoped to your actual situation, not the one with the most items on the list.
Understanding which package components actually drive results helps you evaluate proposals more honestly.
Technical SEO unlocks indexing. If Googlebot cannot efficiently crawl your category and product pages, content and links cannot help. Technical work is the prerequisite, not the value-add.
Content builds topical authority and captures informational intent. Stores that rank well in competitive categories almost always have content programs that match their product depth. A store selling running gear that publishes high-quality training, gear selection, and injury prevention content signals to search engines that it belongs in that category.
Link building accelerates authority accumulation. Content and technical SEO determine whether you should rank. Links determine whether you do rank, relative to competitors with similar technical quality and content depth.
Reporting that ties all of this to revenue closes the loop. The stores that get the most from SEO packages are the ones that review performance monthly, ask hard questions about which work moved which metrics, and adjust scope when the data suggests it.
EmberTribe works with ecommerce brands on SEO strategy and execution across each of these areas. If you are evaluating where to invest, our ecommerce growth strategy frameworks cover how organic search fits into a broader acquisition mix. For brands comparing agency options, our guide to top ecommerce marketing agencies covers what to look for beyond the SEO package pitch.
There's no question here—we love advertising with Facebook because the platform continues to provide tools for eCommerce markers to reach an ever-broadening audience.
In 2015, Facebook launched Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs), a way for companies to get their ads in front of people who had visited and/or interacted with their Facebook page or website in the past. In 2017, Facebook expanded on this advertising format by launching Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences (DABAs). This tool dramatically expands the potential reach of Facebook ads, helping eCommerce businesses improve ad performance.
DABAs expand on the concept of DPAs. However, instead of showing your ad to people who have previously interacted with your company, with DABAs, Facebook expands that audience to those people who have searched for a similar product or service to the ones you offer and/or who have interacted with a company similar to yours.
Obviously, this changes the dynamics of these ads from simply "preaching to the choir" to exposing your product to those who want what you are selling, but haven't yet heard of your company.
When you're not preaching to the choir, your ads can pop-and-lock their way to reach expanded audiences.
DABA campaigns aren't limited to Facebook feeds alone. They can appear on any of the Facebook platforms, including Instagram and Audience Network. They can be single-image ads, carousel ads, and collection ads. In addition, these ads are available across devices, including PCs and laptops, as well as mobile traffic.
With more than 2.5 billion registered users on Facebook and another one billion on Instagram, the potential of this marketing tool is difficult to ignore.
DABA campaigns are a great tool for reaching new customers aka top-of-funnel traffic. This ad tool considers the user's interest, behavior, and demographic data when deciding what ads an individual user will see. This can be beneficial when introducing a new product or a new marketing campaign. You can get your product information in front of potential customers who have already expressed interest (via their actions) in a product like the one you are promoting.
To make the most of your DABA campaigns, we suggest the following Best Practices:
1. Make sure that you write your ad to appeal to new customers. Since the goal of DABAs is to attract new customers to your eCommerce business, you want to write your ad to draw in those people. Don't assume in your ad copy that the reader has any knowledge or preconceived notion of your product or business.
2. Use demographics to fine-tune your audience. While Facebook and its subsidiaries have more than four billion registered users, it's not likely that all of them will have an interest in your product (unless you’re selling pizza—we imagine that’s a pretty universal sell 😋).
For example, are you interested in marketing to customers overseas? If not, you can limit your ad placement to US users. Are you looking to drive business to your local eatery? If so, then you'll want to hone your demographic information even more, so that only people within driving distance of your restaurant see your ad.
3. If you're using product sets, make sure to include a good number of products in each set. Facebook uses AI with DABAs to "learn" about its site visitors' preferences and extrapolate what products might interest them tomorrow...or next week. By including a large number of products in your set, the Facebook algorithm has room to work its magic and match a broader number of potential customers with products.
4. Exclude your current customers. Since you are looking for new customers with your DABA campaign, you want to exclude the people who have purchased from you in the past. We suggest those who purchased in the last 30 days. This function is found under "targeting". You exclude these people because you don't want your numbers to be skewed by people who already know and like your products.
5. Engage in ad testing to see what's working. Ad testing (which is an umbrella term for split tests and lift tests) will show you if you should replace some of your existing prospecting campaigns with DABAs.
Setting up a marketing campaign using DABA isn't difficult. It just takes a few steps. The good news is that you only have to do most of these steps once.
Dynamic Ads for Broader Audiences can dramatically transform your business. However, it does take a little bit of time and effort to set up.
At EmberTribe, we've been optimizing social media advertising like DABAs for our clients for several years and can do the tedious legwork for you so that you can concentrate on what you do best—interact with your customers.
To learn more about using Facebook ads for eCommerce and how to make dynamic ads for broad audiences work for you, book a call now!
To carve pumpkins, of course. 🎃
It also means we’re all gearing up for a busy Q4 selling season and taking stock of what’s really scary this time of year: costly marketing mistakes that affect the bottom line.
This post is part cautionary tale and part kick-in-the-gourd for eCommerce businesses still trying to hide from the holiday season just around the corner. Let’s break down some marketing mistakes many eCommerce businesses are making right now, and how you can escape their same fate.
😱 Waiting too long to prepare for Black Friday.
We've been talking about Black Friday 2020 since this August, and for good reason. It’s not only because we wanted to will the hot Summer days away, but because all projections estimate that holiday shopping will begin earlier than ever this year. If you haven’t nailed down your Cyber Month sales plan yet, there’s still time...but not much. Some big name stores are going to kick off their sales as soon as November 1 breaks.
😱 Not testing paid ads early enough.
You don’t want the paid ads you’re running for holiday sales to be test campaigns. They should be tested, re-tested, and optimized to reach tried and true status by the time the critical sales dates come around. Give yourself a few weeks to test creative, audiences, and retargeting strategies. By the time Black Friday comes around, your ads should be lean, mean, revenue-earning machines.
😱 Haven’t optimized their website for mobile.
In 2019, 39.6% of holiday season eCommerce spending can be attributed to smartphone and online shoppers. Shopify reported that a whopping 69% of sales over BFCM 2019 weekend were made on phones or tablets. That’s a big (and growing) share of eCommerce spending, and it’s not something you want to miss out on because your website just doesn’t work on a mobile device. Right? Right.
😱 Confusing, inaccurate, or just plain crappy product descriptions.
Remove friction for shoppers by providing thorough, relevant information in product descriptions. This information should answer common questions, speak to your target audience, and maybe even bust a few objections from the get-go.
😱 Not defining your target market.
Not only is targeting everyone, everywhere extremely expensive, it’s also ineffective. Before you can rake in the big sales, you need to understand your customers. Go beyond a one-size-fits all approach and deep dive into demographics, behavioral data, personalization, and testing to define and refine your target market.
😱 Slow page load speed.
How long do you think a visitor is going to sit around waiting for your site to load? Unfortunately, it’s about 3 seconds. In 2018, a Google study found that page load speeds between 1s to 3s saw the probability of bounce increase 32%. 1s to 5s load time bumps that number up to 90% bounce probability. The answer definitely varies by person and perhaps your chances are better if they are a return customer, but why take chances?
😱 Confusing checkout process.
So your customer has added an item (or 5, 10, 15, 20) to their cart and they initiate the purchase process. You’re this close 👌 to making a sale. Why would a customer exit now? It turns out, there’s a lot of reasons. Your checkout process should be easy to complete. Don’t force visitors to create an account, provide unnecessary information, or take them through needlessly long and confusing forms. Online shoppers can be fickle, and your conversions are only as good as sales completed.
😱 No email marketing plan.
Emails aren’t all about making sales in eCommerce. Since your customers don’t get a chance to interact with your store space, salespeople, or product in person, you need to think about how you can build a relationship with customers. Make sure you’re keeping your store at the top of their mind and getting them excited about upcoming sales.
😱 Surprise fees.
$12 shipping?! No, thank you. We’ve probably all added an item to our cart, initiated a checkout, and even entered our address only to find out that shipping is just...not worth it. Be up front with shipping costs or additional fees. Don’t catch customers by surprise with fees they didn’t anticipate. Include copy on your website that gives clear and concise information about shipping fees. Offer estimates if possible. And if you can swing it, offer free shipping to push shoppers over the edge from browser to purchaser.
😱 Not taking enough time to nurture customers.
There are definitely upsides and downsides to the long 2020 holiday shopping season. One upside is that people who would typically do their shopping in stores will be more likely to make eCommerce purchases, and they will be more deliberate about their purchases because they can’t interact with them ahead of time. That means you have more time to reach that customer with the right kind of ads, emails, social media, etc. that will push them to convert. Take advantage of the Cyber Month timeline to catch audiences, nurture your funnel, and make the sale...and invite them to make another purchase before the season ends.
Phew, that’s a lot of scary mistakes. The good news is you’ve still got time to prepare for huge Q4 sales and avoid these mishaps.
You’ve been warned!
Amazon has become the default launchpad for many small to medium-sized ecommerce brands looking to get products in front of buyers quickly. The marketplace's massive reach, built-in logistics infrastructure, and consumer trust make it an attractive starting point. But that convenience comes with trade-offs that many sellers do not fully appreciate until they are deep into the platform.
Selling directly to consumers (D2C or DTC) offers a fundamentally different model. One where you own the customer relationship, control the brand experience, and retain the data that drives long-term growth. Understanding the real differences between these two approaches is essential for building a sustainable ecommerce business.
Amazon offers two seller plans: Professional and Individual. Both carry subscription fees plus per-item selling fees on every transaction. Sellers can handle their own fulfillment or opt into Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), which adds another layer of fees for picking, packing, shipping, and returns handling.
FBA does solve real operational headaches. Returns processing, customer service for shipping issues, and Prime badge eligibility are genuine advantages. For brands without established logistics capabilities, these services can be the difference between scaling and stalling.
But the costs extend far beyond fees. Here is what many Amazon sellers do not account for:
Most ecommerce brands frame this as an either-or decision, but the real question is about strategic emphasis and resource allocation. Understanding the strengths and limitations of each model helps you make informed decisions about where to invest.
Amazon's strengths are undeniable for certain use cases:
The limitations become more significant as your brand matures:
Direct-to-consumer selling provides advantages that compound over time:
The D2C model is not without its challenges:
The most sophisticated ecommerce brands do not choose one channel exclusively. They use Amazon strategically while building their D2C business as the primary growth engine.
Here is how a hybrid strategy works in practice:
Amazon can serve as a product discovery and validation channel. New products can be tested on the marketplace to gauge demand, collect reviews, and generate initial revenue while your D2C infrastructure scales.
Once a customer discovers your brand, the goal is to move that relationship to your owned channels. This is where packaging inserts, brand registry content, and post-purchase strategies become critical. Every Amazon sale should be viewed as an opportunity to earn a future D2C customer.
Early-stage brands might allocate 70% of resources to Amazon for immediate revenue and 30% to building D2C infrastructure. As the D2C channel matures, that ratio should shift. Mature brands often target an 80/20 split favoring D2C, using Amazon primarily for incremental reach.
Track profitability by channel, not just revenue. Many brands discover that their Amazon revenue looks impressive on the top line but delivers minimal profit after accounting for all fees, advertising costs, and operational overhead. That analysis often accelerates the shift toward D2C investment.
If you are ready to invest in direct-to-consumer growth, these are the foundational elements that drive results:
Your website is your most important asset. It needs to load fast, communicate your value proposition clearly, and guide visitors through a frictionless purchase experience. Platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce provide the infrastructure. Your job is to optimize the experience through testing and iteration.
Paid social advertising is the fastest way to drive qualified traffic to a D2C storefront. Start with the platforms where your target audience spends time, test creative aggressively, and scale what works. Build lookalike audiences from your best customers and use retargeting to capture visitors who did not convert on the first visit.
Every visitor who gives you their email address represents a relationship you own. Unlike Amazon customers, these contacts can be nurtured through email sequences, product launch announcements, and personalized offers that drive repeat purchases and increase lifetime value.
Organic traffic through content marketing and SEO is the long-term play that reduces your dependence on paid channels. Create content that addresses your audience's questions, showcases your products in context, and builds the topical authority that drives sustainable search traffic.
Subscription-based models and loyalty programs create predictable revenue and increase customer lifetime value. For consumable products, subscriptions are an obvious fit. For durable goods, loyalty programs with early access, exclusive products, or referral rewards can drive similar retention outcomes.
You should not abandon Amazon overnight. But you should start building your D2C channel with the same urgency you brought to your marketplace presence. The brands that thrive long-term are the ones that own their customer relationships, control their brand experience, and build the data assets that enable smarter marketing decisions over time.
The path from Amazon-dependent to D2C-primary is not instant, but every step in that direction builds equity in a business you fully control. Start with a solid storefront, invest in acquiring customers directly, and use the data you collect to continuously optimize your cash flow and growth runway.
The question is not whether you should sell on Amazon or go D2C. The question is how quickly you can build a direct channel strong enough that Amazon becomes optional rather than essential.
Deciding to launch an eCommerce business is a significant milestone. But before you make your first sale, one of the most consequential decisions you will face is selecting the platform that powers your online store. The platform you choose affects everything from site speed and checkout experience to long-term scalability and total cost of ownership.
Three platforms dominate the conversation for direct-to-consumer brands and growth-stage retailers: Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. Each takes a fundamentally different approach to eCommerce, and the right choice depends on your technical resources, growth trajectory, and operational priorities.
Below, we break down the features, limitations, and ideal use cases for each platform so you can make a data-informed decision.
Shopify has become the default recommendation for D2C brands and for good reason. The platform packages hosting, a drag-and-drop site builder, payment processing, and analytics into a single subscription. You do not need to source separate hosting, worry about SSL certificates, or patch security vulnerabilities yourself.
Shopify is the strongest choice for merchants who prioritize speed, simplicity, and a managed infrastructure. If you want to focus on product, marketing, and customer experience rather than server management, Shopify removes the technical overhead that slows teams down.
WooCommerce takes the opposite approach. Rather than a standalone platform, it is a free, open-source plugin that transforms any WordPress site into a fully functional online store. This architecture gives merchants complete control over every line of code, every design element, and every server configuration.
WooCommerce is the right fit for brands with in-house development resources or an agency partner who can manage the technical stack. If your business model demands deep customization, complex integrations, or a content-driven growth strategy, WooCommerce offers a flexibility ceiling that hosted platforms cannot match.
BigCommerce occupies a middle ground between Shopify's simplicity and WooCommerce's flexibility. It is a hosted, SaaS platform like Shopify, but it ships with more built-in features out of the box, reducing the need for paid add-ons.
BigCommerce works well for mid-market and B2B-adjacent brands that need advanced features without the overhead of managing their own infrastructure. If you are scaling past $1 million in annual revenue and want built-in functionality that would require multiple paid apps on Shopify, BigCommerce deserves serious consideration.
FactorShopifyWooCommerceBigCommerceHostingIncludedSelf-managedIncludedTransaction Fees0.5-2% on third-party gatewaysNoneNoneCustomizationModerate (Liquid templates)Unlimited (open source)Moderate (Stencil framework)Time to LaunchFastSlow to moderateFastBest ForD2C brands wanting speedDevelopers wanting full controlMid-market brands wanting built-in features
Selecting a platform is not purely a feature comparison. Consider these practical factors before committing:
1. Your team's technical capacity. If you have no developers on staff and no agency partner, a hosted solution like Shopify or BigCommerce will save you from the operational burden of managing servers, security patches, and plugin conflicts.
2. Your growth trajectory. Model your costs at current revenue and at two times and five times your current volume. Shopify's transaction fees and app costs scale linearly. BigCommerce's tier-based pricing can jump at revenue thresholds. WooCommerce's costs are more variable but can be optimized with the right hosting setup.
3. Your marketing and advertising stack. Consider how each platform integrates with your paid media, email, and analytics tools. Shopify's native ad integrations and WooCommerce's WordPress-based SEO advantages each serve different acquisition strategies.
4. Your need for customization. If your business model requires a unique checkout flow, complex product configurations, or custom integrations with ERP and inventory systems, the flexibility ceiling of your platform matters.
Shopify gets the EmberTribe seal of approval. Our team of growth experts swear by Shopify's functionality and ease of use. For the majority of D2C brands and growth-stage eCommerce companies, Shopify delivers the best balance of speed, reliability, and ecosystem support.
BigCommerce is a strong alternative for mid-market brands that need built-in B2B features and want to avoid transaction fees. WooCommerce remains the go-to for technically capable teams that require full customization and a content-driven approach to growth.
If you are looking for the simplest path to launching and scaling your eCommerce business, Shopify is the best place to start. But whichever platform you choose, the real differentiator is not the technology itself. It is how effectively you leverage it to acquire customers, optimize conversions, and build a brand that lasts.
Some of our best-performing ads aren't visually impressive, so don't get too hung up on animation or polish, trust the data.
Running "ugly" ads (aka real, lo-fi, less polished) could seem counterintuitive, but if done right, it can help to bring in new customers at a low cost, help convert retargeting audiences, and bring in more traffic to your site.
Consumers trust brands that feel attainable, authentic or aren't big $$$ brands. Ads that are too polished blend in with large companies and often don't attract consumers. Think about the sort of images that you see naturally occurring from other users on your Facebook and Instagram feeds - that is what we’re going for.
If your brand is new, cottage/boutique size, organic, all-natural, "made by moms", etc. then running less-polished" ads could be for you!
Using assets like UGC won't be pixel-perfect but do prove to be very popular and ads consumers trust.
Here are some examples of ads that are producing our best results right now:
Ideas to test "ugly" ads:
Less production time helps you be faster to respond to trends, news, events, new stock, inventory issues, sales etc.
Flashy, polished ads don’t always mean great performance. So test out an “ugly” ad and see if it outperforms. You just might surprise yourself!
In this post, you'll learn:
Whether it’s a cart recovery system, upsells, a messenger bot, or a review platform, the right Shopify App can drive the conversation, streamline your workload, and boost revenue for your store in little more than a few clicks a week.
From improving conversion rates to bolstering consumer trust, you’d be hard-pressed not to find something a simple app can improve in your store.
But all that convenience comes at a cost. With over 1200 apps to choose from – many of which you’d need to pay for, right out of the gate – and no reliable way to test them, enterprising Shopify store owners can quickly find themselves overwhelmed and underwater
👋 This is exactly what we’re here for!
With decades of combined experience across hundreds of Shopify stores of every possible size and type, we’ve narrowed down the list of must-have apps to 26.
We’ve divvied these apps up into the must-have categories your store should cover, and further broken them down by cost and sophistication – so feel free to choose your own adventure with them at that point.
With this list in hand, you can’t go wrong wading into the Shopify App waters.
If you’re a digital seller, these are non-negotiable.
(Not to be confused with the Facebook Sales Channel)
If you want to advertise your products on Facebook (and you do), your best option is hands-down going to be Flexify.
1. Flexify (Free plan available. Additional charges may apply):
Sure, Shopify has the ability to add Facebook as a sales channel, which allows you to connect your product catalog to an ad account. But that will limit you (and any agency you might want to employ hint hint) in your product set creation and image-cropping options. Flexify’s free plan simplifies this whole process and does it very, very well. Flexify recently introduced its new superfeed which removes the need for pagination and can be used for Google, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Facebook.
(Not to be confused with the Google Sales Channel)
Same deal – if you’re into advertising on Google Shopping (and… you probably are), the Google Shopping Feed is your buddy.
2. Google Shopping Feed ($4.99/month. 21-day free trial.) Additional charges may apply):
Shopify has made an app to try to hook stores’ feeds into Google … but by all accounts (um, including ours), it’s awful. Do yourself a favor, skip the Shopify version and head straight to Google’s purpose-built feed app.
Repeat after us: Abandoned cart recovery = Revenue recovery
All stores need some sort of email marketing solution, which is how you’re going to at least start recovering these carts. Here are some of our favorite, low-risk options:
3. Recart ($29/month. 28-day free trial. Additional charges may apply.)
Also includes Facebook Messenger Recovery, where we’ve seen messages getting upwards of 70% open rates.
4. ShopSync (Free.)
If you’ve already got MailChimp as your email provider, nab this app for recovery. Mailchimp removed its partnership with Shopify and the only way to sync the platforms is with this app.
5. Klaviyo (Free to install. Additional charges may apply.)
Robust email platform, works beautifully with equally sophisticated stores, tons of automation options.
Got another email provider in place? See if they have a Shopify app and give it a go. The above are our favorites, but that doesn’t mean an email platform you love won’t perform adequately in its Shopify implementation. We’re just a little more skeptical (and how much do you really love that email provider anyway? 😉).
6. OneClickUpsell ($24.99/month. 30-day free trial.)
Although this app can be quite expensive, we’ve seen the OneClickUpsell app pay for itself many times over if set up properly.
7. Product Upsell by Bold Apps (From $9.99/month. 14-day free trial.)
This app is an awesome way to increase your average order value.
8. Persistent Cart (Free.)
With this app, you can keep your users logged into their cart across devices.
Capturing customers intent on leaving with some sort of promotion or discount can bump up store conversion rates, with less than 10 minutes of work.
9. Exit Offers ($9.99/month. 14-day free trial.)
10. Wheelio (From $14.92/month. 7-day free trial.)
11. Privy ( $10/month. 15-day free trial.)
When you’re good, you’re good. And you want everyone to know it.
We recommend most eCommerce stores have some sort of reviewing mechanism. They help build trust, build social reactions, and build your bottom line.
12. Product Reviews (Free):
Great for a simple review mechanism where you can manually upload reviews from other platforms, like Amazon.
13. Yotpo Reviews (Free to install. External Charges may apply.):
Perfect for a more complex reviewing mechanism – it verifies reviews to give customers a sense of trust, outputs them to your marketing on a kind of modified Facebook Dynamic Product Ad system, and more.
14. Growave (Free plan available. 14-day free trial.)
This all-in-one platform helps small- and medium-sized Shopify stores gather reviews, wishlists, loyalty programs, referrals, social login, and UGC to improve sales.
Live Chat/Messenger Shopify Apps
There are a ton of live chat apps out there and many of them work just fine. Below, however, are a few that we particularly like. Use them to answer questions, bot together some FAQ responses, direct consumers to the appropriate sections of your site or (😱) chat directly to your customers … live.
15. Chatra Live Chat + Facebook (Free plan available)
16. Tidio Live Chat (Free plan available. Additional charges may apply.)
17. Zendesk Support (Free to install. Additional charges may apply.)
18. Shogun (From $39/month. 10-day free trial.)
Custom landing page builder. Easy as pie, can fit your store theme almost out of the box.
19.Zipify (From $67/month. 14-day free trial.)
Smarter sales funnels & landing pages for your Shopify store.
20.PageFly Advanced Page Builder (Free plan available.)
Build landing pages, product pages, FAQ, home pages & funnels.
Every store is unique, with unique challenges. If your special set of circumstances seems to warrant a little something extra, one of these just may hit the spot.
More apps does not equal better store. In fact, more apps can slow your site down, confuse the systems in place, mess with your site formatting and even drive away confused customers (especially on mobile …yikes!). Consider your needs before implementing and monitor your results after 👍
21. SyncTap (Free plan available. 14-day free trial.)
Target highly profitable audiences with your Facebook ads in seconds!
22. Free Shipping Bar by Hextom (Free plan available.)
Top-of-site announcement bar for free shipping or some other sort of promotion (many themes have this as a built-in feature, just by the way. Check yours for it, first!).
23. Back in Stock (From $19/month. 30-day free trial.)
Run out of inventory quickly and often? Capture that audience before they leave the site. A pre-order app can also work well here, but this one is simpler than most.
24. Product Discount by Bold Apps ($19.99/month. 14-day free trial.)
Storewide sales, flash-sales, & scheduled sales with a click. Boom.
25. Recurring Orders & Subscriptions by Bold Apps ($19.99/month. 90-day free trial.)
For shops with a recurring business model.
26. ShipperHQ (from $50/month. 30-day free trial.):
Create an Amazon-like checkout experience with shipping rates and options that make sense, and convenient delivery options your customers will love. Instantly pull delivery dates from carriers, calculate the most accurate rates possible, set up unique shipping rules and restrictions for any checkout scenario, apply dynamic shipping discounts and promotions, automate LTL freight quoting and box selection for orders, and much more.
👉 Pssst: If you choose to upgrade to the paid version of any of these apps, you’ll need to be logged into your Shopify store as an owner to do so.
If you're ready to level up your Shopify store with less hassle and more help, book a call with us.
Most business owners running digital ads are trained early on to focus on ROAS. By definition, “return on ad spend” sounds like it MUST be the holy grail metric of digital marketing. You’ve spent money on advertising with the expectation that in return, you will receive revenue.
However, few words sum up the panic and despair you feel when, in the early days of your ad campaigns, you see $150 in Shopify revenue on one tab and $500 in ad spend on the other.
⬆️ Level up your ROAS with Snapchat ads. →
For most business owners, it’s impossible not to lose sight of the long-term goals.
In that moment, it’s important to take a step back and consider the bigger picture of what you’re trying to achieve, both as a company and in your digital campaigns.
The digital marketplace is complex. There are countless variables that influence whether or not someone buys from you.
😱 Are your analytics lying to you? →
Ad creative, ad copy, price, promotions, free shipping, the purchase process, trust in the brand, trust in the website, customer service, other sites selling the same product, other sites selling similar products, people who sit on a cart to decide – and then forget.
Every one of these variables – and many more – have a direct impact on whether you will get a return on your ad spend. And whether your company will be around in 6 months.
However it’s impossible to know, much less get these critical factors, right if your sole mission statement is to increase ROAS month over month.
Knowing and understanding what creates a growing and sustainable buying process requires time, iterating, testing and repeating – all of which require some ad spend.
No one wants to hear this: investing money to know your buyers’ process and what will make your company successful will lower your ROAS, as some of your money is diverted to testing. But invest, you must.
Founders are engineered to trust their gut, sometimes to a fault. They don’t want to spend money – or time – on iterating and testing because they are sure their assumptions are correct.
💊 Hard to swallow pill: Facebook ads don't always work. Here's why. →
The unfortunate reality is that the longer you begrudge ad spend on testing, the more money you waste on less effective ads, the lower your ROAS, and the longer you’re wasting money and suffering a low ROAS.
For instance, you may have perfected a BBQ rub that you sell out of every weekend at the local farmer’s marketing. You’re positive that as soon as you get your online store up and some ads running, your greatest obstacle will be keeping up with inventory. I mean, people LOVE this stuff. 😋
You get a Shopify account and start to run some ads. The ads are driving a lot of traffic to your site – you may even be getting some adds to cart. Unfortunately, your orders are bumping around 3 a day.
You may have forgotten to account for some of those critical variables or external factors we mentioned – like trust-building elements, shopping flow, technical issues and shipping issues. No one is buying from you for one or many reasons.
This is a classic case of "You don’t know what you don’t know."
Credit: peerinsight.com
However, now that ads are driving traffic to the site, testing various usual suspects, you come to understand that people need some convincing with testimonials, BBQ awards logos, reviews, free samples – and they need free shipping to push past the finish line.
🍨 Get the scoop on conversion rate optimization. →
These external factors can be smoked out as quickly as possible (pun intended, see what we did there?), removing obstacles to people buying – and increasing that flow of ROAS back to you. But more importantly, you’re building a stronger company and a brand with staying power. You now know what’s important to your customers and are removing barriers that frustrate them. This is an exercise in growth marketing!
Let’s say your investment in market research by way of ad traffic pays off, and you get to a comfortable ROAS. It’s tempting to assume you’re good to coast into retirement on the back of your world class BBQ blend.
You may have hit a ROAS that makes you happy, but it’s important to continue viewing that number as one indicator metric of many. Even when it’s trending upward, it cannot become the focal point of your business.
As a growing company, it’s important to turn your attention and an allotment of your ad spend to understanding bigger metric fish: like the lifetime value of each customer.
And what makes one customer more valuable than another, and how do you specifically target more valuable customers?
Which customers are more likely to advocate for your product, resulting in more customers and more sales?
FEATURED RESOURCE: Use this spreadsheet to calculate critical KPIs like CPA, target ROAS, and gross profit.
Your main objective for the first few months of any digital campaign should be to come away with a deadly accurate pulse on your market conditions, your purchasing audience, what compels them to pay for your product and any obstacles getting in the way of paying for your product.
Armed with this knowledge, you can make critical decisions around HOW to market your product in digital ads, through a keen understanding of your audience’s pricing tolerance, preferred messaging and detailed targeting.
For the first phase of your digital campaign, ROAS is simply the cherry on top. You’re building the sundae from the bottom up, starting with:
While any business owner would jump at the above information, few actually get there. Far too many are dissuaded from the testing it takes to uncover this valuable information by one difficult truth: These kinds of objectives are often at odds with increasing short-term ROAS.
Unlocking seven or eight figures of revenue might mean taking a hit on the first few months of ad spend. Brace yourself – it may be even more with big ticket items or those with a long purchase path. That's not a bad thing if you're laying the foundations for long-term success!
🏫 Want to get schooled? Check out our free training resources. →
Your customers move between five or more channels before making a purchase. If those channels feel disconnected, you lose them. An omnichannel marketing strategy eliminates the gaps between touchpoints so every interaction builds toward conversion, not confusion.
For ecommerce brands scaling past seven figures, omnichannel is no longer a competitive advantage. It is the baseline expectation. The question is not whether to pursue it, but how to execute it without burning budget on channel sprawl.
Most ecommerce brands already operate across multiple channels. They run paid social, send email campaigns, maintain an organic search presence, and maybe show up on a marketplace or two. That is multichannel. But multichannel alone creates a fragmented experience.
Multichannel means being present on multiple platforms. Omnichannel means those platforms talk to each other. The distinction matters because customers do not think in channels. They think in experiences. A shopper who clicks a Facebook ad, browses on mobile, and completes a purchase on desktop expects the brand to recognize them at every step.
When channels operate in silos, you see these problems:
Avoiding common mistakes around channel consistency is step one. Building a connected system is step two.
A working omnichannel marketing strategy requires four structural elements. Miss any one of them and you end up with expensive multichannel instead of coordinated omnichannel commerce.
Every channel generates data. The problem is that most brands store it in separate systems. Your email platform knows purchase history. Your ad platform knows click behavior. Your site analytics know browsing patterns. None of them share the full picture.
A customer data platform (CDP) or a well-configured CRM solves this. Tools like Segment or Klaviyo can unify identity resolution across devices and channels, giving you a single customer view that powers every marketing decision.
What unified data enables:
Omnichannel does not mean identical content on every platform. It means a consistent brand story adapted to each channel's native format. Your Instagram creative should feel like it belongs to the same brand as your email campaigns and your product pages.
This requires:
Orchestration is the difference between sending a customer five disconnected messages and guiding them through a coordinated journey. It means your paid media, email, SMS, and on-site experience work together rather than competing for the same conversion.
Effective orchestration looks like this: StagePaid MediaEmail/SMSOn-SiteAwarenessProspecting ads with social proofWelcome sequence after lead captureBlog content with category CTAsConsiderationRetargeting with product-specific creativeBrowse abandonment flowsPersonalized recommendationsPurchaseDynamic product adsCart abandonment seriesUrgency messaging and reviewsRetentionLookalike suppression, loyalty offersPost-purchase and replenishment flowsAccount dashboard and reorder prompts
Choosing the right mix of channels matters enormously. Understanding how different growth marketing channels impact your business helps you prioritize where to invest before you orchestrate.
Single-channel attribution is a relic. If you only credit the last click, you will systematically undervalue the channels that introduce customers to your brand and overvalue the ones that close them.
Modern omnichannel measurement requires:
Tools like Triple Whale and Northbeam specialize in cross-channel attribution for ecommerce brands.
You do not need a single platform that does everything. You need a stack where data flows freely between tools. Here is a practical framework for assembling your omnichannel platform:
Data Layer: CDP or CRM that serves as the single source of truth. This is the hub that connects everything else.
Acquisition Layer: Paid social (Meta, TikTok), paid search (Google, Bing), and programmatic display. These channels should share audience and conversion data with your data layer.
Retention Layer: Email and SMS platforms with behavioral triggers. These should fire based on real-time customer actions, not static schedules.
Commerce Layer: Your ecommerce platform (Shopify, BigCommerce, or custom) feeding product, inventory, and order data back to the data layer.
Analytics Layer: Cross-channel attribution and reporting that pulls from all of the above.
The key criterion for every tool in the stack: does it integrate cleanly with the rest? A best-in-class tool that creates a data silo is worse than a good tool that plays well with others.
Even brands with the right intent get tripped up by execution errors. Here are the most common:
Expanding channels before mastering existing ones. Adding TikTok Shop because it is trending, while your email flows are still template-based and your paid social creative has not been refreshed in months, is a recipe for diluted effort. Master two or three channels before adding more.
Treating personalization as a feature, not a strategy. Dropping a first name into a subject line is not personalization. True personalization means adjusting the offer, the timing, and the channel based on where a customer sits in their journey. When done right, this keeps your sales funnel consistent across every touchpoint.
Ignoring post-purchase as a channel. The transaction is not the end of the customer relationship. Post-purchase email, SMS, and on-site experiences drive repeat purchase rate and lifetime value. Brands that treat omnichannel as an acquisition-only strategy leave significant revenue on the table.
Over-indexing on technology, under-indexing on process. Buying a CDP does not make you omnichannel. Having a clear process for how data flows, who owns each channel, and how campaigns are coordinated across teams is what makes it work.
Omnichannel marketing is not a project with a finish line. It is an operating model. The brands that win are not the ones with the most channels. They are the ones where every channel reinforces the same customer journey.
If you are running paid, email, and organic as separate workstreams with separate teams and separate dashboards, start here:
The shift from multichannel to omnichannel is not about doing more. It is about making what you already do work together. The brands that figure this out first will compound their advantage over the ones still running disconnected campaigns across disconnected platforms.
Omnichannel commerce is where ecommerce is heading. The only variable is how quickly your brand gets there.
.svg){kind=icon}