7 ecommerce WordPress plugins that will make your online store even better
Today’s digitalized era has made it easier than ever for all kinds of businesses to have an online presence. According to a research, eight in ten Americans prefer shopping online. That is almost 79% of U.S. consumers, as compared to a meagre 22% back in 2000.
This is why, it is a good time to start an online store and spread your wings further if you already haven’t. Having a digital presence for your brand can help you reach out to more people, equating to even more sales and revenue for your business.
The first step towards building an online store, however, is to decide the type of platform that would suit the nature of your business the best. One of the most common and user-friendly options is WordPress. Many e-commerce businesses are using WordPress to reach out to their customers. It is a highly customizable platform that suits almost every business owner’s needs. It is also light on the pocket and according to a recent survey, around 10% of the ecommerce stores today are using WordPress to build their website.
Once you are up and running on WordPress, the next task is to install relevant plugins that can make your e-store even more efficient. The website is going to represent your business, so you want it to be flawless to give the right impression to your customers. There are countless options to choose from to create a beautiful and functional online store.
With more than 40,000 plugins to choose on WordPress, it can be a tad bit overwhelming to select the one that will suit your business. In this article, we are going to share 7 of our favorite ecommerce WordPress plugins that will not only make your life easier, but will also make sure that lots of cash flows in.
A popular choice among e-commerce website builders, WP e-commerce is one of the leading e-commerce solutions that makes it easy for you to run your e-store. It is a free plugin which features a variety of coupon codes, discounts and free shipping options, single-page checkout, integration with all major e-commerce payment options and much more.
You can always upgrade the plug-in to make it even more dynamic and add more features to it like extra payment gateways, slider carousels and additional shipping options. It is undoubtedly a must-have plugin for all e-commerce websites.
2- Hummingbird
If your website takes forever to load, chances are that your customer will leave. According to a recent study, an average visitor will not even wait for 8 seconds for the website to load. In addition, Google recommends that a trusted website should load within 2 seconds, otherwise your search result rankings will suffer. This is why, it is crucial to speed up your website.
One of the best ways to do this is to use caching. Hummingbird is an app that jumps to your rescue and will take care of this aspect. It is an easy to use plugin that scans and analyzes your website. Once this is done, your website will be scored according to its current speed. A couple of clicks can resolve any issue if the need arises.
Hummingbird does not only do page caching; It also minifies, compresses and merges so that your visitors can experience the best version of your website. It is a paid plugin but worth all the money. You can try Hummingbird for free with a 14-day trial, and watch your website soar as fast as a hummingbird (pun intended).
3- Defender
Being the most popular choice for creating websites, WordPress is also an easy target for hackers. This is why, you should be prepared for it beforehand. Thus, it is important to tighten your website security from time to time and Defender is an excellent plugin that will help you to do this and more.
Defender is a plugin that searches your website for vulnerabilities and updates you whenever there is one. You can patch them up instantly by a single click. You can also schedule clean up sessions and stop worrying about threats.
You can try Defender for free with a 14-day trial and then buy the full version if you like it.
While running an e-commerce business, it is important to track your visitors and their visiting patterns. Google Analytics is an excellent plugin that gives you the opportunity to work on the areas that your website might be lagging behind in.
All the information, including track visits, page views, bounce rate, average visit duration and referrers, is presented directly on your admin dashboard. You can also analyze your customers’ shopping behaviors based on demographic and interests by enabling the advanced settings.
It is a great plugin that helps you keep track of all the important statistics of your website and the best part is that it has an easy user-interface.
5- MarketPress
If you want your users to have a breezy shopping experience on your website, it is important to choose the right solution. MarketPress is a plugin that makes sure that your online store runs successfully, and both you and your customers are provided ease and comfort at every step.
Your existing website style is automatically integrated with this plugin, making it easier for you to manage your sales and inventory, shipping requirements and tracking products. You can manage a complete e-commerce network through it.
MarketPress can handle anything ranging from VAT tax requirements, coupons, product variations, one-page checkout, PDF invoices, 16 built-in payment gateways and so much more. It is actually a one-stop solution for all your ecommerce woes, and with it, you can literally sell anything.
Try out a free version of MarketPress at WordPress.org if you do not believe us.
With this plugin, you can easily create and insert forms on your WordPress website. The contact forms created through the Fast Secure Contact Form plugin are completely customizable. You can add any extra field to suit your requirements. Multiple forms can also be generated and visitors can be redirected to any URL once the message is sent out.
This plugin also uses CAPTCHA to avoid spam. Try it now and get in touch with your customers in a better way.
7- Salesmate
One of the biggest challenges that most e-stores face is finding an effective WordPress CRM plugin. The answer to your CRM related troubles lie in using Salesmate. This tool does not only make it easy for you to use a CRM right inside your WordPress site, but also simplifies the whole system for its users.
With its easy to use interface, you can manage sales pipeline, improve email productivity, track sales, use the built in VoIP calling system, automate sales tasks and so much more.
So, try the 15-day free trial of Salesmate today, and watch it do CRM magic.
Conclusion
Arm your website with these plugins and get ready to make an impression in the world of online business. Establish a name for your brand by extruding professionalism and reliability through your website.
Are there any other plugins that make it easy for you to run your online store? If so, share your experiences and comment in the section below.