So your site is on Magento but you’re looking to make some improvements to it. That would entail that you’re probably interested in looking at some extensions. What’s great about the Magento platform is that it is versatile and great for building customization with 3rd part plugins. That means that a website without extensions is often far less productive than a website with them. Therefore, it is highly recommended that businesses add extensions to their sites when the fit is there with the goal of improving the customer experience and ultimately increasing conversion. Otherwise, they will not remain competitive with other companies that are leveraging 3rd party extensions that enhance their ecommerce experience. Extensions can enhance your website by reducing the steps in the checkout process, increased conversion rates and lowered abandoned cart rates. Additionally, extensions can help personalize experiences to fit the customer’s requests. Oftentimes, extensions can improve the checkout experiences across all devices. When implementing an extension, it’s essential to also recognize the risks that can come with it. This is why you should consider the extensive options available to see which one fits your website’s needs the most.
Amasty is an official Magento partner and was the first Magento extension builder. With over 88,000 customers, Amasty has been able to achieve a 96% customer satisfaction rate. Some benefits of using Amasty include that they offer to install their plugins on your site for only a $59 fee. A benefit of this is that it makes the service available to those who are non-technical. Another feature they offer is a custom development service which is again, for those who are not too familiar with CMS architecture. Magento is a very flexible and versatile software but can be very difficult to navigate if you are not technical. Their customization projects vary in price depending on the project that you choose to move forward with. Amasty has over 125 plugins available on the Magento 2 platform, going far beyond only checkout improvements. Therefore, they must offer at least one extension that would successfully suit your business needs. Something that some users have found can be improved with their software is that it is known to sometimes interfere with and have conflicts with third party applications. These conflicts can sometimes be a headache to fix during times of stress. Additionally, these conflicts can lead to errors occurring on your website which can cost you revenue.
Their one step checkout retails for $299 per month.
Originally founded in 2014 by Ryan Breslow and Eric Feldman, Bolt was finally released to the public in 2018. Although they are a young company, they already have over 100 customers on their platform. Bolt serves benefits to ecommerce companies through their checkout, fraud and payment enhancements. Specifically, Bolt’s checkout service can drastically alter your metrics. The average industry checkout time is 69 seconds per transaction. With Bolt, that time is lessened to a mere 34 seconds. This change in time could be the difference between your customer fully completing their purchase at the checkout and the possibility that they will abandon their cart. The more time the customers have to hesitate, the more likely it is that you will lose your sale. What sets Bolt apart from their competitors is that their one step checkout is an all-in-one payment. This means that all of the features you really want come all in one bundle. There is no need for purchasing additional extensions for payment processing, fraud detection, etc. Instead, everything is included. This leaves you with much less to worry about, knowing that the product you are purchasing is easy to use and worry free. A benefit that comes with using Bolt is that their pricing is done on the basis of how many sales you have and what your risk of fraud is. In this way, your cost increases only as you grow. Bolt focuses more-so on the smaller market and their software is designed for smaller volume merchants.
The cost of their one step checkout varies depending on your order numbers and website traffic.
Also established in 2014, Mageplaza is also an extension provider, but a standout feature they have is that they offer FREE extensions and resources for you to download. This is perfect for a person who is testing out the Magento platform. Mageplaza does not offer a free trial, but you are able to get a full refund within 60 days of your purchase. Unlike Bolt, the price is not dependent on your sales and traffic. Instead, it is based on whatever package suits you best based on features. A great feature that Mageplaza offers is support for 1 year after purchase and lifetime extension updates. Therefore, you will not be left stranded without a way to update your software to the newest version available. According to Beeketting.com, Mageplaza’s best extension is their One Step Checkout integrated with Mageplaza’s Abandoned Cart Email Extension. This email extension sets them apart from other companies because this feature automatically sends emails to customers who have abandoned their carts. Mageplaza’s checkout is easy to use and has a simple aesthetic look. On one column on the left, there is the detailed form needed for checkout like a space for the customers name, address, etc. On the other column on the right, there are all of the payment details. This keeps things sorted so customers can use your checkout quickly and effectively!
Their one step checkout can vary between $199, $229 and $429 per month.
Mage-World’s checkout process is a simple one to follow. Firstly, everything is located on one page so customers go from their main shopping and add to cart page, straight to the checkout page. On the checkout page, there is everything a checkout should include but additionally, there are a variety of ways to pay. Therefore, a major benefit of using this brand is that it focuses on what the customer wants. By offering more payment options, customers are no longer inconvenienced or limited to using a method that they do not have interest in. Although these payment options are beneficial, it is always up to the retailer to display the payment methods that they want to be available. Some other key features that Mage-World offers include discount codes, auto fill ins, newsletter subscriptions and customer order comments. Mage-World provides a 30 day warranty. Additionally, on Mage-World’s website, they advertise that their customers are seeing around a 20% increase in sales compared to what they saw before. This is a great lift %, although other sites have shown higher success rates.
Their one step checkout retails for $149 per month.
Aheadworks is a company with over 10 years of experience in the ecommerce business and they offer a variety of solutions. With their return policy, you can get a refund within 45 days and they offer lifetime updates. The company’s exceptional work has earned them various awards overtime such as the “Top Quality Extension” award in 2017 and they were recognized as the “Magento Most Innovative Extension Developer” in both 2016 and 2017. Some features of their one step checkout system include that you can go live right away, there are flexible configuration settings, you can monitor your abandonment rates and detect registered accounts. Another benefit of using Aheadwork is that they use a rewards system. Based on the money you spend with them yearly, in return you can get points which convert to getting your money back at the end. For example, if you spend over $1000 with them yearly, get $150 back in cash. Lastly, something that you should know by going with Aheadworks is that they only offer support for 90 days, whereas other companies offer it for up to one year. This could be difficult especially if you are using the extension and you are only a one person shop.
Their one step checkout retails for $299 per month.
Before making your final choice, we recommend you spend some time investigating on your own. Every company has its own pros and cons and it is ultimately up to you to decide what features are essential for your business. We hope this has helped ease the decision.
