Shopify Shop Apps
Shopify Shop Apps
Shopify is a platform that allows business owners to create their own online store. Shopify also has a library of shop apps that can be integrated into your store to help you run your business more efficiently. This blog post will discuss some of the most popular and useful shop apps available on Shopify. We’ll also provide tips on how to choose the right app for your business. So, if you’re looking for ways to improve your online store, keep reading.
Shopify shop apps — The Path to Feature-rich Shopify Apps
The path to creating feature-rich Shopify apps is paved with good intentions. However, the road ahead begins with the basics — building a theme that works for you and your customers. Upon completion of this stage, it’s time to consider an app design strategy. When done correctly, you will be far on your way to developing solid Shopify apps that meet user demands and work seamlessly in their online stores.
First Things First: Master Your Theme
Mastering your theme is essential before moving forward with the development of your first Shopify app. If you can’t create something beautiful without help from external libraries, how do you propose building something beautiful that interacts effortlessly with the Shopify API? This is why we highly recommend properly understanding HTML, CSS, and Liquid before beginning your first app.
When designing a theme, think about how it will interact with the Shopify API, specifically, whether direct calls to action (call-to-actions) can be used. Large apps like Product Reviews, for example, use several call-to-action buttons: one on the cart page, which sends users to a feedback form, and another that sends them to a product review pop-up.
If you’re thinking of adding such functionality as part of your design strategy, consider what kind of data needs to be sent from your theme via AJAX calls. Is this data available in the app itself? Look at the developer documentation to be sure so that you can design your theme accordingly.
These are important considerations because Shopify themes load on customer storefronts. If done correctly, an app will work with a theme seamlessly, regardless of its position in the page’s source code. If done incorrectly, some apps may break — or worse yet — send users outside of Shopify entirely.
Developing Apps with Solid User Experience:
Shopify doesn’t currently offer any personalization on storefronts for individual Shopify app users. While this could change down the line as more focus shifts toward ecommerce apps on mobile, one thing stays constant regardless: each user using your custom Shopify app sees precisely what every other user sees.
Uniformity is important if your app requires it to function properly. If you are designing an ecommerce-related app, keep in mind the fact that many users are likely to have their own stores with unique themes. That being said, there may be ways to communicate with Shopify itself to request that your app’s interface adapts to each theme using custom CSS or HTML tags. Most recently, the Product Review App introduced this feature for individual storefronts.
Another factor that plays into the user experience is how quickly content loads on a page. You want your users to use your Shopify app as much as possible, so make sure they never get impatient waiting for it to load. This means slowing down your servers and preventing large file downloads unless necessary.
Developing an App Strategy:
In order to successfully develop a Shopify app, you must first decide what kind of product it will be. This isn’t as simple as listing your app’s features — the Product Reviews app is fairly complex and requires several steps from a user before they can even leave a review. In other words, the process leading up to sending data to Shopify is just as important as sending that data itself.
Shopify Theme Performance:
When thinking about the performance of your theme’s code, you should also consider what happens before and after installing an app. A poorly-developed app can slow down normal site speed, making users think twice about using your store again — or worse yet, deterring sales by sending them elsewhere! Because of this, never assume all themes can integrate seamlessly with your application. If they aren’t, you may be able to include a Shopify API call in your app, which lets the theme know any necessary changes are available.
Conclusion:
Shopify has a wide selection of apps that can help you make your business more efficient. Whether it’s shipping, inventory management, or customer engagement, there is an app for all those needs and many more. If you want to find the perfect solution for your store, we have curated some helpful resources above with links to our favorite apps. Happy browsing.