Look, we get it. You want your Shopify store sales to skyrocket. That's the goal of any serious e-commerce entrepreneur. But here's the problem: Shopify has more than 500,000 active stores, and chances are, at least some of these stores are competing with yours.

Luckily, there's an easy way to optimize your store: Shopify plugins. These plugins can help put your store in front of the target audience and improve your customers e-commerce experience. But that's not all. Installing the right Shopify plugin on your site increases the odds of visitors clicking on your products and purchasing from you.

There are many plugins out there, but which ones are the must-have?
Keep reading to find out.

1. AVADA SEO Image Optimizer

Here's an essential part of e-commerce SEO: you should optimize images to show up in search engine results. For example, if you're running a fashion store, you're most likely working with hundreds to thousands of images. Optimizing such images can be a hustle.

That's where AVADA SEO Image Optimizer comes in to make your work easier. With this plugin, you can:

  • Optimize the file size of images (without affecting image quality) for faster loading speeds.
  • Import page structured data.
  • Optimize the image ALT text so the site can rank for specific keywords.
  • Optimize J-SON LD and meta tags.

The best part? This plugin is free, but there's a PRO version at $29 per month.

2. Sendinblue

Email marketing isn't going anywhere. Here's why:

It has an insanely high ROI – a whopping 3800% or simply $38 for each dollar you invest. Sendinblue is the tool you need to up your email marketing game. This plugin lets you:

  • Create beautiful but straightforward newsletters that engage customers.
  • Use custom-made theme templates or use the drag and drop editor to create your own.
  • Create subscription forms fast.
  • Sync contacts with your email lists.
  • Set up a welcome email sequence using built-in automation flows.
  • There's another reason Sendinblue has legions of fans: It's 100% free at its entry level, yet super valuable.

3. Free Shipping Bar

Want to motivate customers to buy quickly by boosting order value? Use free shipping. Matter of fact: 9 in 10 customers agree that free shipping is the top incentive driving them into online shopping.

Simply put: buyers are more likely to go through with an order if it involves free shipping. So, you may want to offer it to those store shoppers that hit a particular threshold. But you don't have to set it up manually; use the Free Shipping Bar to handle everything.

The plugin allows you to:

  • Showcase the customizable bar and change messages as shoppers add more products to their carts.
  • Use a cart goal and progressive messages to promote free shipping.
  • Display various free shipping offers based on the device, pages, time, or country.
  • Use curated holiday themes to boost the customers' mood and increase conversions.

Free Shipping Bar has a free plan and a premium subscription plan for $9.99 a month or $99 a year.

4. One Click Social Login

Let's face it. How did you feel when you visited an online store to make a one-time purchase but were prompted to create an account first? Frustrated, right?

That's precisely how online shoppers feel when you force them to sign up from scratch when they visit your store. In fact, 34% of shoppers exit a website without purchasing anything because of the prompt to sign up for an account. It's also why most don't return.

So, what's the solution? The One Click Social Login helps users to get around this issue by letting them automatically sign up using common social network platforms, such as:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram

So, why's this plugin important?

  • It saves shoppers from the frustration of creating a new account and remembering one more password.
  • It lets you track the number of users signing up per social network.
  • It can boost sales because users will find a reason to keep coming to your site.

The plugin starts at $2.99 per month and has a 15-day free trial.

5. Plug In SEO

SEO is the meat and potatoes of any Shopify store looking to generate traffic and sales. That's where the Plug In SEO tool comes in.

With this plugin, you can:

  • Optimize your pages for on-page SEO using meta description and title, broken link check, image alt text, search console, and more.
  • Scan and fix SEO errors.
  • Boost your store's traffic, ranking, and sales.

This plugin has a free and premium version ($20/month).

6. Recom.ai – Upsell & Cross-sell

Selling to existing customers is a lot easier than selling to new ones. Specifically, you've got a 60-70% likelihood of selling to existing customers and only 5-20% of selling to new prospects. Here's the bottom line: if your store isn't upselling and cross-selling, then you're most likely leaving money on the table.

With the Upsell & Cross-sell plugin, you can:

  • Set up the relationship between most products based on simple rules. That way, customers can see different items based on their behavior.
  • Present alternative products to a shopper who's searching for an item that's out of stock.
  • Let sellers see the recently viewed products after they navigate to other pages.

This plugin charges $19 per month with a 7-day free trial.

7. Wishlist Plus

A wish list option is paramount for your online store, and if you don't have one, that's some cash you're leaving on the table. Think I'm exaggerating? I'm not.

Metrilo did a study and concluded that adding a wish list to your e-commerce store increases sales by 19.3%. That's precisely why you should check out Wishlist Plus and add it to your Shopify store.

Here are some of the reasons you'll enjoy using this plugin:

  • It's super convenient – users don't have to log in to access the tool's features.
  • Users can sync their wish lists across different devices for more convenience.
  • I also love that the plugin displays the number of items users have wish-listed an item, providing powerful social proof to motivate potential customers to buy.

These are among the absolute must have Shopify plugins for your store. Most of these plugins are not complicated to install onto your site but can have a massive impact on your traffic and sales.

The best part? You can customize most of these plugins to suit your needs.