In today’s fast-paced and highly competitive eCommerce market, businesses need to stay ahead of the curve and constantly find ways to improve their online presence and customer experience. One of the most effective ways to do this is by utilizing third-party apps and tools.
Third-party apps are software applications that are developed by companies other than the main eCommerce platform. These apps are designed to integrate with eCommerce platforms and provide additional functionality and features. For eCommerce businesses, these apps can be a game changer, helping them to stay ahead of the competition and providing their customers with a better online shopping experience.
In this blog, we’ll explore the following key benefits of using third-party apps for eCommerce sites and why they are so important:
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- Additional functionality
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- Improving customer experience
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- Automating processes
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- Increasing sales
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- Utilizing valuable data and insights
We will also provide examples of top softwares to help achieve each benefit highlighted above, as well as some key statistics to support the importance of these applications.
Add Functionality
One of the main reasons eCommerce companies use third-party apps is to add functionality to their site. Many eCommerce platforms have robust features and functionalities, but they may not always meet the needs of every business. Third-party apps can provide additional features and functionalities that can help businesses take their online presence to the next level.
For example, the software “Omnisend” provides eCommerce businesses with an SMS and Email marketing platform that can help businesses increase their sales. This app allows businesses to send targeted messages to customers, provide personalized product recommendations, and improve customer engagement.
When used correctly, added SMS functionality can be a very powerful tool for eCommerce brands, boasting a 26% higher conversion rate over email marketing.
Improve customer experience
Improving the customer experience is crucial for the success of any eCommerce business and third-party apps can help achieve this in several ways, from conversion focused assets to tailoring the conversation to your target audience.
With average cart abandonment rates at around 70% in the industry, it’s no question that making the best possible customer experience should be of utmost importance. Below are a couple of tools that can help:
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- “OptinMonster” provides eCommerce businesses with a powerful lead generation and conversion optimization platform. This app can help businesses personalize their website, improve their opt-in forms, and increase conversions.
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- Another example is “Tidio Chat,” which provides businesses with a live chat platform that can help improve customer support and engagement. This app allows businesses to respond to customer inquiries in real-time, providing customers with quick and easy support.
According to Engati, stores using conversational commerce in the right way, are increasing annual revenue by 7 to 25% – definitely something to consider with those kinds of returns!
Automate processes
Automating repetitive tasks can help eCommerce businesses save time and resources. There are many third parties that can automate a lot of the manual processes involved in running an eCommerce site, freeing up many hours for teams to focus on other priorities.
The software app “Beeketing” provides businesses with a comprehensive marketing automation platform. This app offers features such as email marketing, product upsells, and cart abandonment recovery, allowing businesses to personalize their marketing efforts and reach their customers with relevant and targeted messages.
Another potential time saving software is “Shipstation,” which provides businesses with a shipping and fulfillment automation platform. This platform can help businesses automate their shipping and handling processes, saving them both time and resources.
With the power of automation available in today’s technology, it’s no wonder why 91% of marketing leaders say that automation is essential to their business’ success, and has been seen to help improve efficiency and marketing ROI by 45%.
Increase sales
Throughout this blog, it’s evident that third-party apps, be it for automation, customer experience, optimizations, shipping, or messaging, all share the common goal of boosting sales for eCommerce businesses.
Here are some other powerful third party tools to help increase your brand’s revenue through subscriptions, loyalty, upselling and reviews:
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- ReCharge: A subscription management app that helps businesses set up and manage subscription-based products and services, leading to more predictable revenue streams and higher customer retention.
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- LoyaltyLion: A loyalty and rewards program app that helps businesses create customized loyalty programs that incentivize customers to make repeat purchases and increase customer lifetime value.
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- Bold Upsell: A shopify cross-selling and upselling app that helps businesses increase revenue by suggesting related or complementary products to customers at the point of purchase.
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- Yotpo: A customer review management app that helps businesses collect and display user-generated content such as product reviews and ratings to build social proof and increase sales.
One of the most effective ways of increasing revenue is by capitalizing on upselling opportunities. More specifically, through past purchases of your customers. Studies show that 75% of consumers are more likely to purchase products when brands provide relevant recommendations based on their purchase history!
Provide valuable data and insights
Third-party applications can also offer valuable data and insights to eCommerce businesses, enabling teams to make data-driven decisions. This information can be used to improve site performance, optimize marketing campaigns, and increase conversions.
One of the most popular applications to help with this is “Google Analytics,” a robust platform for monitoring and analyzing website traffic and user behaviour. It enables businesses to gain a better understanding of their customers, monitor site performance, and make informed choices.
Another example is “Verfacto” – a marketing analytics software that is designed to show you the data around what converts your visitors into customers, as well as their behavioural patterns.
Setting up and utilizing proper analytics is critical to understanding how consumers interact with your eCommerce brand, along with a variety of other different benefits.
The Downsides of Third Party Apps
As we discussed throughout this blog, third-party applications can be very beneficial for eCommerce brands looking to increase their online presence and streamline their operations. These apps can help businesses with everything from marketing and inventory management to shipping and customer support.
However, with great power comes great responsibility, and it’s important to remember that third-party apps can also pose a risk to your website and customer journey. From slowing down your site speed and creating security vulnerabilities to causing glitches and errors, these apps can negatively impact your eCommerce store if not carefully managed. Fortunately, there is a solution that can give you peace of mind, always.
Noibu is an advanced platform that helps eCommerce businesses detect all site errors and provides actionable solutions in order to prioritize and solve them. By using Noibu, you can rest assured that you will never be in the dark when it comes to third-party app-related issues.
Conclusion
To wrap things up here, third-party apps are a valuable resource for eCommerce businesses looking to improve their online presence and customer experience. They can add functionality, improve customer experience, automate processes, increase sales, and provide valuable data and insights. However, they can also pose risks, so it’s important to make sure you are always aware of potential errors that are live on your website, and not only relying on the few customer complaints that may come through your support team.
It is important for businesses to carefully evaluate the available options and choose the tools that best meet their needs and help them achieve their goals!
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