When you launch your website, you realize there are thousands of plugins available. You feel overwhelmed and are unsure which one is useful and which one is not.
Don’t worry, we’ve got you. In this guide, we will go through the 9 essential plugins that you need for your ecommerce store.
Why Do You Need The Right Plugins For Your Store
Regardless of whether you are self-hosting, or running your website on an ecommerce platform like Shopify, your website will not be provided all the features you need.
Plugins are vital because they extend the functionality of your website, and allow you to customize your store to suit your needs and improve your overall online store experience.
Eccomerce plugins can:
- Transform your basic store into a conversion powerhouse
- Automate tasks that eat up your time
- Create a seamless shopping experience your customers will love
Although it may sound like the more plugins you have, the better it is. The truth is that if you have too many unnecessary plugins, they can slow down your site and actually hurt your sales. Therefore, it’s crucial to carefully choose plugins that benefit your store.
While your unique needs may dictate specific plugins, these 9 plugins are the universal must-haves for ecommerce businesses.
1. WooCommerce (for WordPress users)
WordPress does not have in-build functionalities designed specifically for running an ecommerce store, that’s why plugins are required.
Woocommerce is the most popular plugin for ecommerce businesses that use WordPress to build their websites and the best thing is it’s free. It includes many additional extensions that can add extra features to your website and make it highly customizable.
Apart from that, WooCommerce provides you with everything you need to sell physical products, services, and digital products such as membership and online courses.
WooCommerce also offers premium extensions that add unique features to your website to suit all your needs.
Features of WooCommerce:
- Allow you to sell anything
- Open-source platform – you can customize and modify your store to suit your taste
- Intuitive product management system
- Flexible shipping options
- Built-in payment processing
2. SEO Optimization Plugins
SEO plugins are essential for your ecommerce store to increase organic traffic to your site. Even if you are using paid ads to drive traffic to your site, you will be leaving money on the table if you don’t optimize your website for search engines. SEO plugins help increase your website visibility so your customers can find you when they go onto Google.
Here’s what an SEO plugin can provide:
- Keyword optimization guidance – improves search engine ranking
- Meta description templates – reduce manual work
- XML sitemap generation – help search engines discover and index all your pages (including product pages)
For WordPress stores, you can choose either Rank Math or Yoast SEO.
For Shopify users, the built-in SEO has all the basic features. However, if you are looking for additional functionalities such as automatically fixing broken links or SEO issues, Booster SEO is a great option.
3. Social Proof and Reviews Plugins
Customer testimonials and photo reviews can impact a store’s reputation and customer trust. When your customers leave a positive review on your site, it can alleviate doubts in hesitant customers and drive them to make a purchase.
Recommended plugins:
- Judge.me or Loox for Shopify stores
- Customer Reviews for WooCommerce
- TrustPulse for real-time social proof notifications
Your customers may not think about leaving a review even if they truly adore your products sometimes, therefore it’s important to remind them to do so. Most plugins include the automated review requests feature to remind your customers to leave a review after they have purchased your products.
4. Email Marketing Integration Plugins
Email marketing is an effective strategy to target customers who have already expressed interest in your products or services. You can advertise new products, limited-time offers, or loyal programs in your emails. Given their past purchases, they’re more likely to accept your offers
Here are some of the best email-marketing plugins you will need for your ecommerce store:
- Mailchimp – intuitive and easy to use, excellent for beginners
- Klaviyo – has one of the best automation features among its competitors
- Sender – an affordable option and its free tier is generous
Some automated emails you should set up for your store:
- Welcome series
- Abandoned cart emails
- Cross-sell emails
5. Product Recommendation Plugins
If you didn’t know, product recommendation can increase your revenues by up to 3 folds according to Monetate, that’s why you need a product recommendation plugin. Product recommendation helps your customers discover products they are likely to be interested in.
The plugins I trust for product recommendations:
- UpsellWP for WooCommerce
- Also Bought for Shopify
- Recomify (works with multiple platforms)
The other option will be using AI product recommendation tools like Wisepops.
6. Security and Fraud Prevention Plugins
One thing most people probably never thought of having is security and fraud prevention. Even though it’s rare, malware attack happens and you want to make sure that your website is protected from malicious hackers.
According to WordPress, some essential features of a security plugin are:
- Web application firewall
- IP address detection
- Two-factor authentication
- Brute force protection
Many hosting providers offer some of these features but having a security plugin can provide an additional layer of protection to your website.
Some of the best security plugins:
- Sucuri for WordPress
- TrustedSite for Shopify (Formerly known as McAfee SECURE)
- WordFence for WooCommerce sites
7. Analytics and Reporting Plugins
Data is like a compass for your e-commerce business. Without data, you won’t be able to measure your store performance and make informed decisions.
Analytics plugins recommended:
- MonsterInsights Pro
- Hotjar for behavior analysis
Some key metrics to track:
- Customer acquisition cost
- Average order value
- Cart abandonment rate
- Return customer rate
8. Page Speed Optimization Plugins
A slow website can kill your ecommerce business, therefore you want to ensure that when your customers go onto your website, they don’t have to wait for 5 seconds for it to load. Page speed optimization plugins can significantly boost your website speed by removing everything that was unnecessary and making your website load faster.
Speed optimization essentials:
- WP Rocket for WordPress
- Swift for Shopify
- Image optimization tools such as Autoptimize
How do they work?
- Compressing all images before upload
- Minimizing file size
- Enable caching
- Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Final thoughts
These plugins are absolutely essential, but they need to be chosen carefully and implemented strategically. The secret to success isn’t having the most plugins – it’s having the right ones that work together seamlessly.
