Shopify is the fastest growing, easy-to-use and merchant friendly E-commerce without any doubt. Start-ups and ambitious entrepreneurs use this platform to grow in their market and get access to the best in the market solutions.

Starting an online store using Shopify is pretty simple and easy for a very small business, but as the business grows, the maintenance and customization task takes more effort. A growing E-commerce business will also need to look into ways in which they can optimize the store and increase the conversion rates. Around the time of the festive season, these needs increase more and to grab more market the shop needs to packed with features that can add value to the business and increase conversions.

Additional features can be added to your Shopify store by using Shopify apps. You will find thousands of very useful apps for Shopify store, which can be used to enhance performance. Some of them are very essential for the store to increase conversions. There are 5 top free Shopify apps, made by Shopify to help you grow your store. Here is the list:

1. Product Reviews

To show customer reviews for products on an online store, can be a very effective strategy to increase conversion rates for the store, as reviews on products will increase the trust in a buying customer to final check out from the cart. Product reviews Shopify app allows to add customer review to different products, also provides a way for customers to engage with your store as well as each other to encourage to take the buying decisions.

Features:

• The design matches your stores look and feel.
• Easy customization – Edit layout options, text, and colors without prior coding knowledge.
• Manage bulk actions on reviews easily and quickly.
• CSV import and Export-Import and export your reviews as a spreadsheet
• SEO-friendly review scores will add review scores to your Google search results.

2. Facebook Shop channel

Using this Shopify app the stores can sell their products and subscriptions on Facebook.

You can start using the Facebook Shop channel to create a Facebook Shop and give shoppers a way to discover and buy your products from your store’s Facebook Page. You can manage your products from Shopify, share and tag products in Facebook posts to grow your discoverability on Facebook. Facebook’s paid ads can help your business reach more customers and this app will help to convert the page visitors into your buying customers.

Features:

• Add a Facebook Shop to your Facebook Page
• Manage the products on your Facebook Shop
• Arrange the order of the collections on your Facebook Shop
• Let customers check out on Facebook (US stores using Shopify Payments)
• Fulfill orders placed on Facebook
• Track Facebook sales using your sales channel overview and Analytics pages

To use the Facebook Shop channel, you need to:

• Be the admin for the Facebook Page you want to sell from
• Sell in a currency supported by Facebook
• Eave a customer email in the store details section of your general Shopify settings

3. Instagram channel

Instagram is a very powerful social media platform that influences the buying patterns of users. Instagram has a wide reach and to sell on Instagram you consider using this app for free. This app will give shoppers a way to buy from your store on Instagram by tagging products in your photos. You can use the Instagram channel to connect your Facebook products to your Instagram account, where tag up to 5 products per photo and let customers check out without leaving Instagram. Once you’ve tagged products in 9 posts, a shop tab will be shown on your profile that lets shoppers browse your shoppable posts—all in one place. You can use Instagram’s paid ads to further the reach of your shop posts.

Features:

• Add product tagging to your Instagram business profile
• Connect your store’s Facebook product catalog to your Instagram business profile
• Add shopping tags to your posts & stories and let customers purchase from your online store without leaving Instagram.
• Easily fulfill orders placed on your Instagram Business page.

To use the Instagram channel, you need to:

• Have the Facebook channel
• Be an admin for a Facebook Page approved to sell on Facebook
• Have the online store channel
• Have an Instagram business profile
• Be located in one of the eligible countries

4. Google Shopping app

Google Shopping ads help you attract more potential buyers by showing your products in search results and display ads across the internet. With the help of Shopify’s Google Shopping app, you can automatically sync your products and relevant information about your Shopify store with Google Merchant Center.  Your Shopify admin panel lets you update your product details, run marketing campaigns for your products on Google Shopping, and track the results directly. Google Smart Shopping campaign lets you set your daily budget where the minimum recommended budget is $5 per day. You don’t need to pay anything until you get clicks on your ads.

5. Script Editor

Shopify Scripts are customizations written in Ruby that allow you to create personalized customer experiences, where using line item, shipping, and payment scripts you can tailor the user experience during a customer’s checkout journey.

Scripts can be enabled on a store’s checkout by using the Script Editor app. Since the app hosts scripts you’ve created on Shopify’s servers, they can affect the cart and checkout at a fundamental level without the need for third-party apps or externally hosted plugins.

This app is available for only Shopify Plus merchants.

There are three different types of Shopify Scripts:

1. Line item scripts affect line items in the cart and can change prices and grant discounts. You may require theme modifications or customizations to show the discount amount or messages in the cart and/or checkout.
2. Shipping scripts interact with shipping and can rename, show, hide, or reorder shipping methods and grant discounts on shipping rates.
3. Payment scripts interact with payments and can rename, show, hide, or reorder payment gateways.

Shopify has a very user-friendly dashboard and it gives the merchants ease of setting up an online store and manage. This makes Shopify a very popular platform among e-commerce business owners. However, to customize a Shopify store can be a tough task if the store builder doesn’t have prior experience or unknown to eCommerce platforms. Such merchants can take help from Shopify Experts and Partner to get their store built, customized and managed. Shopify has a proven record of increasing revenue for eCommerce businesses with its unique features.