Our Go-To Marketing Tech Stack and Shopify Apps you need for your Shopify Store

Setting up an eCommerce tech stack can be an overwhelming and confusing endeavor. Shopify has pages and pages of apps and tools to pick from that will directly integrate with your store; all of which claim to help you reach your goals and grow your brand. It can make deciding what to use feel like an impossible decision, especially when costs are high, and if budgets are tight.

In order to create value with the technology you’re incorporating into your strategy, you need to have a plan. Adding new software here and there (i.e. using a more ad-hoc approach) can lead to a bloated tech stack that does more harm than good - especially if they are applications you need to download onto your store - slowing down your site load times (which will impact your conversions!), overcomplicating your marketing approach, and creating confusion internally. 

We spoke to several strategists on our team and came up with this list of marketing technology you should consider adding to your stack. While some of these are only applicable to Shopify stores, there is a handful of them that can be utilized with any eCommerce platform. 

Here’s what we came up with:

• Analytics: TripleWhale
• Email: Klaviyo
• Post Purchase Survey: KnoCommerce
• Design: Canva
• Creative Analysis: Motion
• Customer Support: Gorgias
• Upsell: Incentivize
• Loyalty: LoyaltyLion
• Reviews: Judge.me
  
  

Analytics: TripleWhale

Your best friend is data, but only if you can read it and use it in an effective manner. Given that many of these apps and plugins collect all of their own data for their respective purposes, it can get a little complicated keeping it all streamlined. 

TripleWhale connects directly with your Shopify store and centralizes all your data (from Google Analytics, Klaviyo, Facebook, TikTok etc.) into a single dashboard. TripleWhale allows you to track your profit from top-to-bottom, automate reports, make LTV predictions on your customers and keep an eye on individual customer journeys. In a post iOS 14.5 world, it’s not just a good idea, it’s a requirement.‍

We’d strongly urge you to start here to make sure you’re accurately tracking and analyzing everything that comes next.

Email: Klaviyo

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to grow your revenue because the cost stays flat, but only if you have a tool that can help you do it at scale.

Klaviyo allows brands to do everything from creating sign-up forms to collect leads, to segmenting out lists for different email campaigns, to running A/B tests. 

Its user-friendly, highly customizable email builder is really created and curated with marketers in mind. It also seamlessly integrates seamlessly with Shopify, which gives it access to all of your website’s data and allows you to segment your leads based on specific actions that are taken on your store. 

As a bonus, you can export these segments (or entire lists!) to create Lookalike audiences on Facebook (a huge plus considering the impact of iOS 14.5). 

Post Purchase Survey: KnoCommerce

Understanding your customers, how they found you, how they converted, and being able to leverage that information is invaluable for any brand, and KnoCommerce is just the tool to make it happen. Kno allows you to create and run post-purchase surveys that will help you to gather valuable data and insights from the people buying from you now so you can make more informed decisions in the future. 

They offer pre-built templates and the option to show your surveys on either the purchase confirmation page or via a link (to distribute how you see fit!). It also integrates directly with Klaviyo so you can create even more enhanced email list segmentation to up your email marketing game, too. 

The best part? They have a free version and offer a 14-day trial so you can see for yourself how beneficial it is before committing 100%. 

Design: Canva

If you’re running ads, creating content, or just need something to help with assets for your store, you need a tool to assist with asset creation. For our strategists, Canva was the clear choice. ‍

Not only do they offer templates for basically everything (Facebook posts, infographics, Instagram stories, etc.), you can fulfill the majority of your creative needs with their free version.

Canva is also ridiculously easy to use, meaning you can make quick adjustments in a snap for your next campaign. 

Creative: Motion

Ever wish that Facebook Ads Manager was a little easier to read and pull insights from so you could quickly answer questions like: “what’s actually performing better, our images or videos?” 

If so, Motion is the tool for you. Motion is a creative reporting platform that allows brands and marketers to quickly uncover what type of creative is working and what’s not by leveraging the data in their ad account.

In a click, you can see your top-performing ad creatives by any metric, offering an easier way to understand what’s happening in your ad account so you’re able to create more impactful and engaging creatives in the future.

Customer Support: Gorgias

Your business wouldn’t be your business without your customers, so it’s crucial you give them the best experience possible while engaging with you. That’s where Gorgias comes in as Shopify’s #1 rated help-desk. 

Gorgias allows you to centralize all your customer tickets (from Instagram, email, live chat, etc.) in one place, use premade templates (complete with customer data variables) to address commonly asked questions in a flash, and nifty features like Rules which allows you to automate your support. With a comprehensive 7-day free trial and multi-tiered pricing, there’s a version of the app to support your customers regardless of the current size of your organization.

Upsell: Incentivize

Let’s face it, the process of upselling via eCommerce can get a little tricky, or even backfire if not done correctly. While overwhelming or interrupting your customer at the checkout is the last thing you want to do, prompting them with the right product at the right time can mean some serious extra revenue. That’s what the app Incentivize specializes in. 

Crafted by ex Shopify employees, Incentivize leverages a ‘slide-out cart’ that keeps the path to checking out clear, and uses features like AI recommendations (built off of your customers' purchase history), and low-cost “impulse” items shown dynamically to bring your customer over your free-shipping minimum to make the upsell process feel personalized and organic. 

Best of all? You know you’re in good hands because they have a 5-star rating in the app store and offer a free plan. 

Loyalty: LoyaltyLion

Rewarding your customers and making them feel valued is a great way to bolster customer retention and engagement. With LoyaltyLion’s award-winning Shopify integration, you can ensure not a single one is missed.  

LoyaltyLion allows you to award your customers with points for things like completing purchases, leaving reviews, social follows, and even their birthdays! Then can then redeem these points for discounts, early access to VIP sales, and more.

Plans scale from free to $699/month depending on your needs, so there’s definitely an option for everyone regardless if you’re just getting started, or a large enterprise brand.  

Reviews: Judge.me

What your customers have to say about you and your products can make or break your next conversion opportunity. Having honest reviews front and center is the best way to instill confidence in your business and get that sale. The review app,Judge.me, was our choice to make it happen. 

Judge.me works by generating reviews on autopilot via the web, email, push notifications, and SMS and allows you to show them off directly on your product pages with the Judge.me widget. 

With over 7,000 5-star reviews in the Shopify app store, a free version, and a paid version for only $15 a month, there’s a reason why it’s a merchant-favorite and an ultimate must-have.  

At the end of the day, picking your tech stack should really boil down to your goals and processes. Just like with any other aspect of your marketing strategy, you want to continuously evaluate and revise the tools you’re using to make sure they’re still working for you as your organization grows and changes.

What do you think? Did we miss anything? Here are some other expert-backed tech stacks to check out: 

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