Shopify was built with simplicity in mind and offers only the basic functionalities needed for running an online store.
However to get the most out of your store you should be running some apps that cover up some of the functionalities that don’t come with the Shopify subscription.

Apps are simple programs that you can install to bring extra functionalities for your Shopify store. The great thing with apps is that they are easy to manage and relatively easy to install.

So here are six of my favorite apps that I recommend all of my clients have in their stores.

Keep in mind that the apps are like the pepper with your steak, not the steak itself, the most important thing is still to get the skeleton of your store right and only after that you can start adding functionalities to your store.

That being said, here are some of my favorite Shopify apps:

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<h3  style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0288D1;"><a  href="https://apps.shopify.com/yotpo-social-reviews" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0288D1;" target="_blank">Yotpo</a></h3>

Reviews on eCommerce stores are getting increasingly more popular. In the age of internet 2.0 people not only expect reviews but to demand them as well. Yotpo is a review app that will automatically email your customers asking them to review your products, these reviews can then automatically be shown in the product pages.
Not only will reviews guide people through their buying decisions they also make your store look more legitimate and provide you with social proof.
On top of this, reviews act as a great two way communication channel where you can hear from your customers and reply to their reviews showcasing your customer support and building a relationship.

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<h3  style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0288D1;"><a  href="https://apps.shopify.com/privy" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0288D1;" target="_blank">Privy</a></h3>

Even in 2016 email marketing is still massively important. The great thing with email marketing is its cost efficiency, for almost free you can induce people to come back to your store and buy from you again and again. Privy offers a way for you to capture these emails in a nice eloquent and timed popup. This way you can still get a lot of the customers to come back to your store later with an offer (Fox example a discount or free shipping) and sell to them. I guarantee if you are not currently using and capturing email addresses you are missing on sales big time. The old saying hold true with email marketing: The money is in your list.. And if you have none, your store could go down tomorrow and you would lose practically everything.

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<h3  style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0288D1;"><a  href="https://apps.shopify.com/klaviyo-email-marketing" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0288D1;" target="_blank">Klaviyo</a></h3>

Now that you have created that list you want to send them emails but sending emails can be a tedious task that will cost you a lot of your valuable time. And that is where Klaviyo comes to save the day. This app can be configured with simple automated rules that you can setup so that your emails run for you while you sleep. It can do everything you need from campaigns to abandoned cart emails and the best thing is that because it is automatic, you are not going to have to worry about forgetting it all.

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<h3  style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0288D1;"><a  href="https://apps.shopify.com/promo-bar" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #0288D1;" target="_blank">Promo-bar</a></h3>

Got an offer that you don’t want people to miss?
Why not feature it on top of your page in a can’t-miss fashion.
This is a nifty little app that you to have a little line that you can use to feature a message such as free shipping or a contact phone number.
And the best thing is that you don’t need to know a bit of code, everything can be updated easily from the app itself.