Customers love it when they can instantly find answers to their problems, not through an FAQ but through chat. Chat has now become pretty much a global standard, and a lot of websites use a chat app to give their customers a way to get answers quickly.
But what communications and chat apps work best for Shopify? There are seven that I recommend, and together, we will explore the features of these apps.
1. Messenger Channel by Shopify
The first on our list is Facebook Messenger, but this one is made to integrate with Shopify. Shopify itself was involved in making this app happen.
With Messenger Channel, you can create a menu of your products right inside your Messenger App. While people are chatting with you, they can see and even browse your products in Messenger; they no longer have to leave the app and go to your store or Facebook page.
Here are the features of the app:
- Browsing – shoppers can browse the content of your store from inside the app
- Order updates – the system will send automated updates in Messenger about the status of the order.
- Chatbot – you can create FAQs that already have an answer in the app; customer just has to click on a question, and then an answer is shown.
- Messaging – encourage your customer to send you a message.
- Analytics – you can track how your Messenger app is driving traffic and sales to your shop.
And you know what’s great about this app? It is completely free. As you can see, it is the Facebook Messenger that you are using, and Shopify does not charge a fee for using it. However, there are some eligibility requirements before you can use it.
You must be the admin of the store’s official Facebook page before you can integrate it with your store. Also, you can only sell in the currency that Facebook supports. You must also integrate the Facebook online store as a Shopify store channel before you can use this feature.
2. Tidio Live Chat
Tidio is not just a live chant system but also a robot. You can program it to answer inquiries even if you are not around to answer them in person.
Here are the features of the chat app:
- Widgets – you can customize how the chat app looks like from your site
- Languages – supports multiple languages; makes it easy for you to communicate with buyers from around the world
- Automation – dozens of pre-programmed bot templates that you can use
- Typing spy – you can see what your customer is typing at the moment; this will help you search for an answer even before the customer sends the message!
- Support – 24/7 support is offered to users.
The app is both free and paid. Here are the price points:
- Free – free for life but limited to three operators; you get the live chat function plus integration with Facebook Messenger. You can also integrate this with an email app. You have a limit of 100 chatbot triggers in a month.
- Communicator – costs $18 per month. This plan gives you everything that is in the free plan. On top of that, you get the Live Typing preview feature. Also, the tool will show you the number of people who are looking at your store in real-time.
- Chatbot – this one also costs $18 per month, but this pricing error could be from Tidio’s end. This plan gives you all the features in the two plans, plus you can trigger unlimited chatbot conversations with your customers.
If you are just starting out, the free plan is what you should buy. But if you want a chatbot, get the Chatbot plan as this will save you a lot of time and money.
3. SMS & Messenger marketing by Tobi
This is not just a Messenger app, but it is also an SMS app. It can send text messages to your customers. As a Messenger app, the backbone of the software is Facebook Messenger.
Here are the app’s features:
- Abandoned cart – if the customer added products to his cart and did not buy, you can program the app to send a reminder through the FB Messenger or through text.
- Marketing messages – you can create messages on the app and then send this message to your customers or cold traffic through messenger or through text.
- Order receipts – you can send the order details of your customer through the Facebook Messenger app; this is automatic, and you do not need to do this manually each time. This update includes notification about the status of the order.
- Discounts – you can create discount codes that will be sent through SMS. This is great because the person will certainly read your message through text.
- Reviews – after a purchase, the customer will receive an automatic SMS message asking him to leave a review of your product.
So, how much does it cost? The app is free to install. What this means is that you can install it and use some features, but not all. You need to upgrade to the Pro Plan if you want to get all the features.
The cost of the Pro Plan is $29 per month. This cost does not include the cost of SMS messages. As you increase your sales, the price of your monthly fee will also increase.
4. WhatsApp Chat + Abandoned Cart by Super Lemon Apps
WhatsApp is a popular chat platform like Viber. It was bought by Facebook in 2014 for $21 billion. As a chat app, you need to use this if you are targeting WhatsApp users.
Here are the features of the WhatsApp Shopify plug-in:
- Live chat – the WhatsApp button will appear in your store. If your customer is using WhatsApp, he can connect with you instantly.
- Share button – there is a share button that a site visitor can use. He can share your website through his app for his friends and contacts to see.
- Message templates – if you want, you can create automatic messages, like a robot. These messages depend on the customer’s actions.
- Abandoned cart recovery – if a customer did not complete the purchase, the app would automatically remind the customer to complete his shopping purchase.
- Order updates – you can program the app to send messages if the order has been fulfilled, delivered, shipped, or any status.
- Manual messages – you can create new messages and then send them to your WhatsApp connections.
How much does it cost? The app has two price points: free and paid.
- Free – with this plan, you get unlimited WhatsApp chats, widgets, phone numbers, button designs, and the share button.
- Paid – costs $9.99 per month. With this plan, you get everything that is on the free plan plus the abandoned card recovery. You also get the messaging feature where order updates are automatically sent to customers.
The app is not available to all countries. You need to visit the app in the Shopify store to find out what countries it serves.
5. Message Mate Texting Platformby OwnerListens Inc
This is a messaging platform for SMS, not chat. As such, be prepared to spend some money every time you send messages to your customers’ phone numbers.
Here are the features of the app:
- Virtual number – you can create a virtual number that your customers can text. This way, you do not have to share your personal number.
- Forwarding – you can forward the text messages to your email, phone, or you can view them from your web dashboard and reply from there.
- Multiple recipients – if you have virtual assistants, you program the app to send a customer’s text message to multiple people; anyone can answer.
- Auto-reply – you can program an out-of-the-office response in the tool. The app will automatically send a message if you are not available.
- Image support – you can ask the developer to create an image-supported phone number for you.
- Follow requests – you can ask your customers to leave you feedback or reviews. The app allows you to do this through Instagram and Facebook.
- Facebook integration – you can integrate your Facebook messenger app if you want. You can reply through Messenger if that is how you want to connect with your customers.
- Widgets – you can customize the colors of the widget to match your website’s theme.
The app has a 14-day free trial. After that, you have to start paying $25 per month. Take note that the $25 per month fee does not include payment for the text messages that you send. You can also integrate this app with Zendesk, Slack, SalesForce FreshDesk, and HelpScout.
6. SMSBump SMS + MMS Marketing
This product works best if your primary goal is to reach out to customers through text messaging. It is an automation app that can help you reduce your workload, even for your assistants or employees.
Here are the features of the app:
- Compliance – the app is built to be compliant to laws like GDPR and TCPA.
- Integration – you can integrate the app with other software like Giphy, Pexels, Klaviyo, Privy, and many more.
- SMS – you can send texts and texts with photos to your consumers. This is great because you can send photos of your products.
- Abandoned Cart – you can program the tool to automatically send reminders to shoppers who abandoned their cart.
- Segmentation – you can create segmented lists of your customers so you can market your products better.
- AB Testing – you can test several variants of your SMS messages. After that, you can test which ones are driving more traffic to your site, or which ones are generating more sales.
- Scheduling – you can create SMS campaigns now and then activate them later. For example, you can create a campaign now and then send the message only when the promotion is already active.
You can also enable the opt-out function in the tool. If a customer does not want to text messages from you, all he has to do is to tap on a link.
The tool is free to install, but you have to pay for the texts that you send. Each text starts at $0.015 if it is in the USA.
7. SMS Notification Cart Recovery by Shipway
The last in our list is a cart recovery SMS app. This app allows you to send messages to more than 200 countries. You can notify your customers about their abandoned carts, their order status, and many more.
Here are the features of the app:
- Follow up – you can send up to three follow-up messages through SMS to customers who abandoned your cart.
- Messages – the app is going to several types of message and notifications based on what is happening. It can send messages about order fulfillment, shipping status, or of the order was cancelled.
- Integrations – you can integrate the app with ShipWay, Judge.Me, and ReConvert.
- Change of Status – every time the status of the order is changed, the customer is going to receive a message.
- Birthday message – you can program the app to send birthday messages, but only if the customer provided you with his birthday.
How much does it cost? The app is free to install, but you have to pay $30 per month to use the SMS messaging system. This monthly cost does not include the cost of the text message. You will be charged per text message, and the cost depends on the country where you sent your SMS notifications.
To view the cost of each text message, you have to go to the developer’s website. You can view it here.
Summary
Choose one of these apps for your Shopify store. They are a great support for your existing marketing apps for Shopify. While some of them are not free, you need to seriously consider the benefits of having an app. It is up to you to decide which features you need—it all depends on the level of customer service you want, or how busy you are.
For example, you do not really need a robot chat if you already have virtual assistants who are ready to answer customer inquiries. But if you are a one-person team and you are employed, a robot chat works best as it saves you money and time.