Introduction

The best shopify app 2023 can change revenue trajectory quickly by fixing a single weak point: abandoned carts, slow pages, weak reviews, poor shipping, or clunky post-purchase flows. In 2023, merchants who used targeted apps saw measurable uplifts in conversion, average order value, repeat purchase rate, or fulfillment speed without rebuilding stores.

This guide explains which apps matter by use case, shows pricing and ROI examples, and gives a 60-day implementation timeline you can copy. me for reviews, Gorgias for support, and Shogun or PageFly for landing pages. Each recommendation includes pricing, expected impact, and an evidence-based way to measure success.

What this covers and

why it matters:

selecting the wrong app wastes budget and slows your site. This article gives a prioritized checklist, concrete numbers to test against, and a repeatable plan so you can add high-impact functionality without guesswork.

Best Shopify App 2023:

top picks by use case

Choosing a top app depends on the problem you want to solve. Below are the most impactful categories for 2023, a top pick for each category, pricing, and a realistic KPI improvement to expect within 30 to 90 days.

Conversion optimization - Page builders

Top pick: Shogun or PageFly. Price: Shogun starts at about $39/month, PageFly free tier then $24/month for advanced. Impact: create 1-2 high-converting landing pages and expect click-to-cart rate improvements of 10 to 30% for those pages.
Example: A brand running Facebook ads built a dedicated collection page in Shogun and saw landing page conversion rise from 1.2% to 1.8%, adding $2,500/month revenue on a $39/month app.

Email and SMS marketing

Top pick: Klaviyo for email and Postscript or Attentive for SMS. Price: Klaviyo free to 250 profiles, then starts from $20/month; Postscript starts at $20/month plus per-message fees. Impact: cart recovery flows typically recover 3 to 6% of lost revenue; welcome flows lift first-purchase rate by 10 to 20%.
Example: A store implemented a Klaviyo abandoned cart flow and recovered $1,200/month on a $29 Klaviyo plan.

Subscriptions and recurring revenue

Top pick: Recharge. Price: Recharge starts at around $39/month plus transaction fees. Impact: subscriptions increase lifetime value (LTV) by 20 to 80% depending on product and churn management.
Example: A supplement brand added Recharge and converted 6% of buyers to subscriptions, increasing average customer LTV by 45%.

Reviews and social proof

Top pick: Yotpo for enterprise, Judge.me or Loox for small to mid-size shops. Price: Judge.me free plan available; Loox starts at $9.99/month; Yotpo pricing varies and can be hundreds per month. Impact: review widgets can lift conversion 8 to 15% and increase return rates for reviewed products.
Example: Using Loox with photo reviews, an apparel store increased conversion on reviewed items from 2.4% to 3.1%.

Customer support and CX

Top pick: Gorgias. Price: plans from $60/month; scaling based on ticket volume. Impact: faster support resolves leads and reduces churn; first response time under 1 hour improves satisfaction and repeat purchase probability.
Example: Switching to Gorgias reduced average resolution time from 22 hours to 4 hours and increased repeat purchase rate by 7% in 90 days.

Fulfillment and shipping

Top pick: ShipStation or Shippo. Price: Shippo transactional pricing and ShipStation plans from $9/month. Impact: reduced fulfillment time and lower shipping cost reduce cancellations and increase margins.
Example: Using ShipStation automation saved $4 per order in labor for a mid-size store doing 800 orders/month.

Dropshipping and sourcing

Top pick: Spocket or DSers. Price: Spocket starts at $24/month; DSers has a free tier. Impact: faster supplier fulfillment and higher quality products reduce refunds and speed delivery by 3-7 days average.

Analytics and behavior

Top pick: Hotjar or Lucky Orange for session recordings and heatmaps. Price: Hotjar free to $32/month tiers. Impact: reveals friction points; a single UX fix can increase checkout completion by 5 to 12%.

Each app must be judged by integration friction, page speed impact, and measurable KPIs. Install one high-impact app per 30 days, measure, then expand.

How to Choose the Right App:

what to measure and when to act

Selecting an app without criteria creates tech debt. Use these four decision filters and three metrics to evaluate any candidate.

Decision filters

Problem clarity: define the problem in one sentence, e.g., “We lose 70% of mobile visitors before checkout.”
Integration fit: check data flows with Shopify admin, Shopify Flow, and third-party analytics.
Performance impact: test before/after Core Web Vitals where possible.
Total cost of ownership: monthly subscription plus maintenance and potential revenue impact.

Metrics to measure

Conversion rate by channel: track changes for pages or flows the app touches.
Revenue per visitor (RPV) and average order value (AOV): measure revenue impact.
Time to value: how fast will the app pay for itself? Target 30 to 90 days.

Evaluation process

Baseline: run a 14-day baseline for the metric you care about (conversion, AOV, refund rate).
Install in a staging environment or on a small set of pages if possible.
A/B test changes for at least 2 full business cycles (minimum 14 days, ideally 30).
Measure and compare against baseline using statistical significance where possible.

Example: Choosing an SMS provider

Problem statement: “Recover abandoned carts from mobile shoppers who ignore emails.”
Baseline: 7-day abandoned cart recovery rate from email flows is 3%.
Hypothesis: Adding Postscript SMS flow will recover an additional 2% of revenue.
Test: Implement Postscript recovery for 30 days, segment mobile users, and compare abandoned cart revenue. If the incremental recovered revenue exceeds Postscript cost plus expected lift in repeat purchases, keep it.

Checklist before purchasing

Confirm Shopify admin access and API compatibility.
Confirm data retention and privacy compliance with GDPR and CCPA.
Confirm app uninstall process and data removal options.
Prepare rollback plan for theme or speed regressions.

Make decisions based on measured impact, not vendor pitches. If an app cannot be A/B tested or its impact isolated, treat it as a minor or experimental add-on.

Implementation Plan:

60-day timeline to install and validate apps

A staged implementation reduces risk and measures value quickly. Below is a practical 60-day plan for adding one major app and two supporting apps.

Week 1 - Planning and baseline (Days 1-7)

Define KPIs and set analytics. Example KPIs: site conversion rate, cart recovery rate, AOV, customer acquisition cost (CAC).
Run baseline reports for prior 14 days.
Select primary app (e.g., Klaviyo) and two supporting apps (e.g., Loox for reviews, ShipStation for shipping).

Week 2 - Install primary app and configure (Days 8-14)

Install Klaviyo, connect to Shopify, enable basic email and abandoned cart flows.
Create a welcome flow and one abandoned cart flow.
Add tracking and ensure events fire in Shopify and Klaviyo.

Week 3 - Validate and run A/B tests (Days 15-21)

Run A/B test on email subject lines and one variation on abandoned cart sequence.
Monitor open rate, click rate, and recovered revenue daily.
Fix any event-tracking gaps.

Week 4 - Add supporting app 1 (Days 22-28)

Install Loox or Judge.me, import existing reviews if available.
Add review widgets to 5 top-selling product pages.
Create an automated review request flow to trigger 7 days after delivery.

Week 5 - Measure combined impact (Days 29-35)

Compare KPIs to baseline. Expect initial lifts: recovered revenue +2 to 5%, review-click conversion +5 to 12% on reviewed SKUs.
Adjust flows and widget placements based on heatmaps and session recordings.

Week 6 - Add supporting app 2 and shipping automation (Days 36-42)

Install ShipStation or Shippo, connect carriers, and set automation rules.
Implement automated shipping confirmation and tracking SMS/email.

Week 7 - Optimize and scale (Days 43-49)

Expand review widgets to all product pages.
Add segmentation in Klaviyo based on purchase behavior and send targeted win-back campaigns.
Reduce manual shipping steps by automations.

Week 8 - Final validation and roadmap (Days 50-60)

Run comprehensive report comparing Day 1 baseline to Day 60.
Calculate ROI per app and decide to keep, upgrade, or remove.
Prioritize the next app based on remaining highest-impact problems.

Example outcome: A store starting at $25,000/month with 1.5% conversion might see conversion to 1.8% after 60 days, recovering $5,000/month additional revenue, with app spend of $120/month, providing a fast payback.

Costs and ROI:

pricing comparison and breakeven examples

Apps charge monthly subscriptions, transaction-based fees, or revenue-share. Below are typical pricing ranges and a simple breakeven example for a small merchant.

Pricing snapshot (typical 2023 ranges)

Klaviyo (email/SMS): free to 250 contacts, then $20 to $200+/month based on contact count.
Postscript/Attentive (SMS): $20 to $100+/month plus per-message costs (0.01 to 0.05 per message typical).
Recharge (subscriptions): $39/month plus transaction fees.
Yotpo: free trials, paid plans often $50 to $300+/month for larger stores.
Loox: starting $9.99/month.
Judge.me: free plan available, paid $15/month for Pro.
Gorgias: from $60/month.
Shogun: from $39/month.
ShipStation: plans from $9 to $159/month depending on order volume.

Breakeven calculation

Use a simple formula: incremental monthly revenue needed = monthly app cost / contribution margin.

If contribution margin (revenue minus variable costs) is 50%, then:

Monthly app cost = $60.
Required incremental revenue = $60 / 0.5 = $120.

Example scenario

Store monthly revenue: $10,000.
Current conversion rate: 1.5% on 66,667 visitors.
Install Shogun at $39/month. If Shogun increases conversion by 0.2 percentage points to 1.7%, incremental revenue ≈ $1,333 additional revenue monthly. For an app costing $39/month, payback is immediate.

Small ROI formula (copy this)

Required incremental revenue = App monthly cost / Contribution margin

License and variable fees matter. For apps with per-order charges (e.g., some subscription or review platforms), calculate based on order volume. For example, if an app charges $0.10 per order and you do 1,000 orders/month, that’s $100/month extra.

Multi-app stacking

Be conservative: assume only 50 to 70% of incremental gains are additive when you add multiple apps. Measure independently where possible.

Upgrade path and hidden costs

Design and developer time for theme changes.
Potential page speed impact leading to ad cost increases.
Time lost to managing app dashboards and data hygiene.

Use short A/B tests and measure revenue per visitor to avoid paying for marginal additions that do not move the needle.

Tools and Resources

Below are essential tools and where to start. Prices are approximate as of 2023 and subject to change.

Klaviyo (Email + SMS)
Pricing: free to 250 contacts, plans from $20/month
Use: email automation, segmentation, abandoned cart flows
Postscript / Attentive (SMS)
Pricing: start $20/month plus per-message costs
Use: cart recovery SMS, promotions, transactional messages
Recharge (Subscriptions)
Pricing: from $39/month
Use: subscription billing for consumables and replenishment
Loox / Judge.me / Yotpo (Reviews)
Loox pricing: from $9.99/month
Judge.me: free and Pro $15/month
Yotpo: free trials; enterprise pricing higher
Use: review collection, photo reviews, social proof widgets
Gorgias (Customer Support)
Pricing: from $60/month
Use: unified inbox, automation, live chat
Shogun / PageFly (Page builders)
Shogun from $39/month
PageFly from $24/month
Use: landing pages, custom product pages, conversion templates
ShipStation / Shippo (Shipping)
ShipStation plans from $9/month
Shippo transactional pricing
Use: labels, carrier rates, automation
Hotjar / Lucky Orange (Analytics)
Hotjar free to $32/month
Use: heatmaps, session recordings, conversion funnels
Spocket / DSers (Dropshipping)
Spocket from $24/month
DSers free tier available
Use: product sourcing, order automation
SEO Manager / Plug in SEO
Pricing varies starting around $20/month
Use: on-page SEO checks, meta data, technical alerts

Pick 2 to 4 core tools first: one growth engine (email/SMS), one conversion tool (page builder or reviews), and one operations tool (shipping or support).

Common Mistakes

Installing many apps at once

Problem: You cannot measure impact and you risk theme conflicts and slower pages.
Fix: Add one major app per 30 days and track a baseline.

Ignoring page speed impact

Problem: Apps add scripts and can increase load time, hurting SEO and conversion.
Fix: Test before and after with Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and Shopify theme inspector. Defer noncritical scripts and use server-side rendering where possible.

Not setting measurable KPIs

Problem: You pay for a subscription without knowing if it works.
Fix: Define one primary metric per app, set a pre-install baseline, and run A/B tests for 14 to 30 days.

Over-customizing out of the box

Problem: Heavy customization increases maintenance and breaks on theme updates.
Fix: Use default templates where possible and document custom code. Keep a staging copy.

Missing data privacy checks

Problem: Apps process customer data and may not comply with GDPR or CCPA.
Fix: Review vendor privacy policies, data retention terms, and confirm support for data deletion on uninstall.

FAQ

What is the Single Best App for Increasing Revenue Quickly?

The fastest revenue wins usually come from email and SMS automation. Klaviyo paired with a simple Postscript SMS abandoned cart flow is often the single highest-impact combination for many stores.

Will Adding Apps Slow Down My Shopify Store?

Yes, each app may add scripts that affect page speed. Measure Core Web Vitals before and after installing an app. Use apps that support server-side rendering or minimal front-end injection and remove unused features.

Are Free Apps Safe to Use?

Many free apps are safe, but review permissions and user reviews. Check whether the app stores customer data off-platform and whether it supports data deletion on uninstall.

How Many Apps Should a Small Store Run?

Start with 3 to 6 apps covering essential needs: email/SMS, reviews, page builder or CRO tool, and shipping or support. Expand only after each app proves ROI.

How Long Before I See Results From a New App?

Short-term gains can appear in 14 to 30 days for email or SMS flows. Reviews and subscription programs typically take 30 to 90 days to show steady LTV improvements.

Next Steps

Baseline your metrics

Export last 30 days of visits, conversion, AOV, and refund rate. Save this as your comparison baseline.

Pick one high-impact category and app

Start with email/SMS (Klaviyo + Postscript) or reviews (Loox/Judge.me). Budget one developer hour for setup if needed.

Implement and measure for 30 days

A/B test minor variations, track recovered revenue, and compute payback using the simple ROI formula.

Iterate and prioritize next apps

If the first app returns >3x monthly cost in incremental revenue, prioritize a second app from the list. Otherwise, optimize the flow before adding complexity.

Best Shopify App 2023