87% of entrepreneurs depend upon Shopify apps to run businesses and maintain stores. E-commerce business need revamped websites that can keep up with the pace of consumer demand. Shopify is definitely the way to go. With a 20% market share (according to Pagely), Shopify offers one of the most competitive e-commerce platforms.
When it comes to Shopify development, developing the app is different from being able to make money off of it. Shopify merchants need a solid base to trust the app. Shopify currently has 820,000 merchants using it who run over 1,000,000 businesses in over 175 countries. To catch their eyeballs is no easy task. However, here are 4 crucial steps that will make your app stand out and earn you the big bucks.
Let us dive in a little deeper to understand the nuances of these steps.
Shopify app development is not worth it if you are competing with the existing apps. The merchants are already familiar with the offerings and happy with the amount of it. What you need is a niche. A USP that makes your app stand out from the rest. And exploiting missed opportunities is the best way forward. But the question arises : How?
Look out for specific points of interest. Such as product category statistics and on-site tools. Also understand the latest design requirements and activities such as BOPIS fulfillment. Another great way of understanding the gap is by going through Shopify app development reviews. Here, you can get the common complaints that merchants have and see if your app can address them.
Every new app on a merchant’s store stands the chance of diminishing the load time. This becomes a consumer centric issue and the merchants would want to do away with it. It is necessary to make the app load quickly inside the Shopify Admin and outside it as well.
The same issue is faced by merchants within the admin and POS as well. The solution is to build a lightweight app and observe how it authenticates. Due to cookies, embedded apps undergo multiple authentication steps and it slows down the load time.
And the solution to this Shopify development issue is provided by Shopify itslef. Use session tokens instead of session cookies. Integrate AppBrige to store app load information. This lubricates the process by cutting down the OAuth step.
Optimizing for search is one of the most crucial elements. There are 4200 apps in the Shopify store as of 2020. The app needs to be optimized for search and made discoverable. For a Shopify app, SEO works slightly different from that of Google SERP. Let us take a look at 3 important elements to consider for making your app discoverable.
Page Design
Include videos on your page. Videos improve engagement and are easier to consume. Apart from videos, add more graphical elements to drag eyeballs. An attractive design instills trust. Shopify claims that a 3D product image attracts more conversions than a flat image.
Message
The copy for the App Store is not just a readable material for merchants; it is an SEO tactic in itself. Add as much relevant information as possible. Make the information conversational. Have a sense of reciprocation in your content. See to it that you are not just using jargon to market the app, but are actually providing solutions.
Lastly, use Google’s keyword planner to do some research and add relevant keywords to the copy. Aim for the “low” competition keywords with a good search volume. Make the keyword appear in the headline, the features, the description, and the meta title at least once.
Marketing
Now that the organic part is taken care of, you will need some external marketing as a catalyst to your efforts. Write press releases, build a website and promote it, and create social media accounts for your app.
An unsupported app is an abandoned app. App support needs to be visible. Consumers are aware of where to learn about products and find reviews for it. Shopify too comes within the same paradigm. So it is important to give the merchants the necessary resources for product support and conversations rather than making them look for it. Some examples of making your support visible are to add:
It can also help if you can automate most of the support by paying close attention to the reviews for complaints. Also, respond to negative reviews publicly.
Embellish your technical prowess with these four easy yet pivotal steps. Your shopify app needs to be in line with the current trends and market requirements. Long gone are the days when technical superiority trumped the market. The market is now consumer driven due to the abundance of offerings out there. Give them what they want.
According to Shopify, over 80% of the merchants use third party apps and the installation has soared to over 25.8 Million. In 2020, there were over 218 Million buyers on the platform. Optimizing for mobile is also necessary for the app page (like the dimensions of the image that you upload) since 79% of all traffic on Shopify is mobile sourced.
A steady income from Shopify app development is guaranteed if you are willing to do more than just building an app. You need to market it properly and extend support to the merchants who use the app. Optimize the app in order to build a business around building Shopify development. This is the way forward in 2021. It is not about the number of apps you build anymore, it is the quality of the one app you put out that really counts and at Orion we assure you that we help you build the perfect one!
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