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The nine essential Shopify apps I actually pay for on my seven-figure store at BumbleBeeLinens.com are Klaviyo (email), Postscript (SMS), Loox (video reviews), ShippingEasy (shipping), Gorgias (customer service), Smile.io (loyalty), Zipify OneClick Upsell (post-purchase upsells), HyperVisual Page Builder (custom landing pages), and Privy (email pop-ups). Klaviyo alone drives about 30% of my store’s revenue, and each of the other eight covers a different high-leverage job that would otherwise cost you a full-time hire or a chunk of margin.
This is a solo Family First Friday episode of the My Wife Quit Her Job podcast, where I walk through the exact Shopify app stack I run every day and the specific reason each one earns its subscription. Most Shopify apps are junk, most store owners install way too many of them, and every extra app slows your site and drains your margin.
Here is my full list, why each app makes the cut, and what job it does on the store.
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Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- Klaviyo drives roughly 30% of all revenue on my seven-figure store through segmented email flows and automated post-purchase cross-sells.
- SMS through Postscript hits click-through rates in the 20% range for my store and generates revenue almost immediately after launch.
- Video reviews collected with Loox lift conversion on higher-priced products by up to 380%, and Google star ratings can lift search click-through rate by up to 87%.
- Shipping software like ShippingEasy saves 50% or more versus the post office because the platform negotiates carrier rates on your behalf.
- Gorgias consolidates email, SMS, and every social channel into one inbox and auto-drafts replies to “where is my order” tickets from your Shopify data.
- Post-purchase upsells with Zipify OneClick Upsell can raise average order value by 12% or more, and the app only bills you on the sales it generates.
- The average Shopify store runs 6 apps. My stack is 9, and every one of them has a specific revenue or cost-saving job attached to it.
Why too many Shopify apps hurts your store
Too many Shopify apps hurts your store because every extra app injects JavaScript into your storefront, slows page load, chews through your monthly app budget, and multiplies the number of things that can break during a Shopify update. The average Shopify store runs about 6 apps, according to Shopify’s own app store data, and there are stores running 30 plus that pay hundreds of dollars a month for features they never look at.
The right way to think about the app store is job-first. Every app on your store should map to a specific job that either brings in revenue, cuts a cost, or reclaims your time. If you cannot name the job in one sentence, uninstall the app.
The nine apps below are the ones that survive that test on my store. Most of them work on BigCommerce and WooCommerce too, so pick and choose based on your platform.
Klaviyo: the email marketing app that drives 30% of revenue
Klaviyo is the email marketing app I run on Shopify, and it makes up roughly 30% of the total sales for my seven-figure store BumbleBeeLinens.com. Klaviyo is purpose-built for physical-product ecommerce, and it lets me segment my audience by exact purchase behavior. I can pull a list of everyone who bought a specific handkerchief last week and spent over $100 in about 15 seconds.
The real power sits in the automations. When a customer buys cocktail napkins from my store, a Klaviyo flow automatically emails them the matching dinner napkins and tea napkins. Abandoned cart, browse abandonment, anniversary reminders, and review requests are all one-time setups that keep running forever.
Repeat business is the whole game in ecommerce, and Klaviyo is the tool that keeps bringing buyers back until my brand is locked into their memory.
Postscript: the SMS marketing app for Shopify
Postscript is the SMS marketing app I use on Shopify because text messages are the highest-attention channel in the store, with click-through rates in the 20% range on my campaigns. SMS sits next to email as an owned marketing channel, which means you control the contact list and no platform can take it away from you.
The best part of Postscript is that you only pay when you actually send a text, so cost scales with revenue. When I first turned SMS on for BumbleBeeLinens, the channel started generating revenue in the first week.
Every retailer, restaurant, and marketplace in your phone is doing SMS for a reason. If you sell physical products and you are not, you are leaving the easiest money on the table.
Loox: the Shopify reviews app for video social proof
Loox is the Shopify reviews app I recommend because it specifically pushes customers to leave video reviews, and video review widgets convert better than plain text. Consumers spend 31% more on businesses with excellent reviews (Bose.io), and displaying reviews on higher-priced products can lift conversion rates by up to 380%.
Loox powers over 100,000 Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants, so the integrations and workflows are mature. Reviews collected in Loox also flow into Google product results, which is where the second big win shows up.
When your listing has star ratings next to it in Google search and a competitor’s does not, click-through rate can jump by up to 87% according to Google. That is a free lift you get just from having reviews turned on.
ShippingEasy: the Shopify shipping software that saves 50% on labels
ShippingEasy is the shipping app I use on Shopify because it consolidates USPS, UPS, and FedEx into one dashboard and hands me commercial-plus rates I could never negotiate on my own. Shipping software like ShippingEasy or ShipStation typically saves 50% or more versus walking a package into the post office.
The other jobs shipping software handles are multi-carrier label printing, delivery tracking, exception handling, and branded labels. Without it, you are logging into three carrier portals every morning and printing labels one at a time.
For new stores, ShippingEasy has a free plan that covers 20 packages a month, which is usually enough to prove out the tool before you graduate to a paid plan.
Gorgias: the AI customer service app for Shopify
Gorgias is the AI-powered customer service app I run on Shopify because it consolidates email, SMS, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter into a single inbox and auto-drafts replies from my Shopify order data. Customers ask questions on every channel that exists, and answering them from five different apps is impossible past a certain volume.
The killer feature is the Shopify integration. Gorgias detects “where is my order” and “has it shipped” tickets automatically and pre-fills a reply with the customer’s actual tracking information from the Shopify backend. The rep clicks send and the ticket is closed.
Gorgias also tracks reply times, ticket volume per agent, and phone calls, so you can actually see whether your customer service team is performing. That level of visibility is not something you can build in Gmail.
Smile.io: the Shopify loyalty program app
Smile.io is the loyalty program app I use on Shopify because a customer who has bought from you once is 65% more likely to buy from you again, and a points-based program is the cheapest way to earn that repeat purchase. In my store, customers earn one point per dollar spent and redeem those points for handkerchief merchandise that costs me almost nothing to fulfill.
The math beats a straight discount code. Instead of giving away 15% of margin, I give away product that costs pennies and the customer feels rewarded because the points have real perceived value.
Smile.io also lets me run 2X loyalty point days, which are essentially free promotions. I hand out virtual currency, the customer spends real dollars, and the average order value goes up without touching a margin dollar.
Zipify OneClick Upsell: the post-purchase upsell app for Shopify
Zipify OneClick Upsell is the post-purchase upsell app on Shopify that lets me add a second offer right after a customer buys, with no need to re-enter payment or shipping. Post-purchase upsells can lift average order value by 12% or more because the buyer is already logged in, already trusts your brand, and has their card handy.
The classic play is a “buy a second one at 30% off” offer immediately after checkout. If you sell consumables, that offer converts absurdly well because the buyer just decided your product was worth the money 10 seconds earlier.
Zipify only charges you a percentage of the upsell revenue it generates, so the app pays for itself by definition. That pricing model is why it is a no-brainer install for any Shopify store selling repeat-purchase products.
HyperVisual Page Builder and Privy: two nice-to-have Shopify design apps
HyperVisual Page Builder and Privy are the two nice-to-have Shopify design apps I use for landing pages and email pop-ups, respectively. HyperVisual lets you build custom Shopify pages without code or a designer, and it is dramatically cheaper than the better-known page builders because the company does almost no marketing.
Privy handles email capture pop-ups, and the spin-to-win pop-up I run on BumbleBeeLinens.com is the highest-converting email form I have ever put on the store. Gamified email opt-ins consistently outperform static forms because the visitor is engaged before they hand over an address.
Privy has a free plan that covers up to 5,000 site visits per month, which is enough for a new store to prove out the pop-up before paying anything.
How many Shopify apps should your store actually run?
Most Shopify stores should run somewhere between 5 and 10 apps, with every app tied to a specific job like email, SMS, reviews, shipping, support, loyalty, upsells, or design. The average Shopify store runs about 6 apps according to Shopify’s own app store data, and stores running more than 15 apps often have overlapping tools, unused subscriptions, and measurable page-speed damage.
The rule I use on my own store is that every app has to pass a one-sentence job test. If I cannot state the specific revenue or cost job the app is doing in one sentence, it gets uninstalled that day.
Site speed matters here too. Every app injects some JavaScript into your storefront, and slow storefronts convert worse and rank worse in Google.
Comparison table: the 9 essential Shopify apps by job
| App | Job it does | Where the return comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | Email marketing + automation | ~30% of store revenue via flows and campaigns |
| Postscript | SMS marketing | ~20% click-through rates on text campaigns |
| Loox | Video reviews and Google stars | Up to 380% conversion lift, up to 87% CTR lift in search |
| ShippingEasy | Multi-carrier shipping labels | 50%+ savings on postage vs the post office |
| Gorgias | Unified customer service inbox | Fewer reps needed as ticket volume scales |
| Smile.io | Loyalty points program | 65% higher repeat purchase rate on returning buyers |
| Zipify OneClick Upsell | Post-purchase upsells | 12%+ lift in average order value |
| HyperVisual Page Builder | Custom Shopify landing pages | Cheaper than competitors, no designer needed |
| Privy | Email pop-up forms | Highest-converting email capture on the store |
Frequently asked questions
What are the essential Shopify apps every store needs?
Every Shopify store should have an email marketing app (Klaviyo), an SMS app (Postscript), a reviews app (Loox), shipping software (ShippingEasy or ShipStation), a customer service inbox (Gorgias), a loyalty program (Smile.io), and a post-purchase upsell app (Zipify OneClick Upsell). Landing-page and pop-up tools are nice to have on top of that core set.
How many apps should I have on my Shopify store?
Most healthy Shopify stores run 5 to 10 apps, and the average sits around 6. Every additional app injects code into your storefront and slows page load, so the rule is one app per job and no duplicates.
What is the best email marketing app for Shopify?
Klaviyo is the best email marketing app for Shopify because it was built specifically for physical-product ecommerce, integrates deeply with Shopify’s purchase data, and supports advanced automations like abandoned cart, cross-sell, and win-back flows. On my seven-figure store, Klaviyo drives roughly 30% of total revenue.
Is SMS marketing worth it for a Shopify store?
SMS marketing is worth it for almost any Shopify store because click-through rates typically land in the 20% range, well above email, and you only pay per message sent. Postscript is my Shopify SMS app of choice because pricing scales cleanly with your list and revenue.
What is the best reviews app for Shopify?
Loox is the best reviews app for Shopify if you want video reviews, because Loox is built around video collection and it powers over 100,000 Shopify merchants. Video reviews convert better than text and also feed Google’s product-review star ratings, which can lift search click-through by up to 87%.
Do post-purchase upsells actually work on Shopify?
Post-purchase upsells work extremely well on Shopify because the buyer has already checked out, already trusts your brand, and does not have to re-enter payment. Zipify OneClick Upsell typically lifts average order value by 12% or more, and the app only charges a percentage of the revenue it generates.
What Shopify apps slow down my store the most?
The Shopify apps that slow your store the most are pop-up apps, review widgets, chat widgets, and page builders, because all of them load JavaScript and often external images on every page view. Audit your app list quarterly, uninstall anything without a clear job, and use Shopify’s built-in web performance report to see which apps are hurting scores.
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