34 Essential Ecommerce Tools to Accelerate Growth in 2020

Looking to double down on your online retail growth? You’ll need some epic ecommerce tools to help you get there. The industry is changing and expanding faster than ever. New trends, new tactics, new ideas. All huge opportunities to drive growth and sales. But there’s no way you can take advantage of everything without some outside assistance. So we put together a list of the 34 latest and best ecommerce tools to help retailers drive serious sales growth in 2020 and beyond.

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Best ecommerce tools 2020

We’re aiming to highlight some genuinely useful ecommerce tools for growing your brand in 2020. Not just regurgitate what most already use. Yes, we know about Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, et al for your store. We’ve all seen cart countdown timers. And everyone’s already heard of MailChimp. So the focus will mainly be on newer tools that can compliment or improve on what you're likely already using. Here are the categories we'll divide them into:

Best ecommerce tools categories

• Social selling tools
• Omnichannel ecommerce tools
• Personalisation tools
• Ecommerce email marketing tools
• Messenger marketing & chatbots
• Payment ecommerce tools
• Loyalty, retention & referral tools
• Customer support tools
• Analytics & CRO tools

Social selling tools

Social media is a key pillar of commerce. But it's no longer just about paid ads or getting followers clicking through to your online store. Each of these social platforms is now a sales channel in its own right. So tools to help take advantage of this can be invaluable in 2020. Here are some of the best ones:

SEE ALSO: Social Commerce: How to Master Selling on Social Media

1) Gatsby

Gatsby is great for micro-influencer marketing. It helps identify your most socially active customers (even the ones with relatively small, yet engaged followings) - then encourages them to be advocates for your brand. Gatsby website.

2) Outfy

Outfy connects products from your online store to all your social networks. Allowing you to drive sales on social by scheduling posts with product images, collages, GIFs and videos. Outfy website.

3) Shop Instagram & UGC

Shop Instagram & UGC is a Shopify app allowing you to embed shoppable Instagram galleries around your store. You can add stylish feeds to your homepage, product pages or even create a dedicated 'Shop Insta' page - showcasing both your own and user-generated Instagram content. View on Shopify. Note: Instagram Feed by InstaPics is a similar app for BigCommerce users.

4) HypeAuditor

Influencer marketing can be hugely successful for ecommerce brands. But how do you find the right influencers to work with? And make sure their audience is actually engaged? Answer: use HypeAuditor to analyse all the metrics. HypeAuditor website.

5) Dealspotr Marketplace

Dealspotr is an excellent site to find engaged micro-influencers. Simply create a bespoke discount code for influencers to share, and get a clear view of your ROI in one place. Dealspotr Marketplace website.

Omnichannel ecommerce tools

Omnichannel is now much more than the buzzword it maybe used to be. In fact, it's quickly becoming essential for fast-growing ecommerce brands. But providing a truly integrated experience across multiple sales channels can be complex. These tools will help you get there.

SEE ALSO: Omnichannel Strategy: How to Make Omnichannel Retail Work

6) Veeqo

Veeqo is an all-in-one platform for omnichannel retailers to manage orders, sync inventory, ship to customers and handle returns. Meaning you can handle your entire online and offline operation directly inside one, cloud-based system. See more about Veeqo's omnichannel software.

7) Doddle

Doddle is a great option for giving your online business an offline presence - without the expense of dedicated stores. It utilises their network of local UK stores and locations to make it easy for your online customers to click and collect as well as make local returns. Doddle website. Note: CollectPlus also offer a similar service for UK retailers, while CNC Global offer locker delivery services in the US.

Personalisation tools

Personalisation is another element becoming vitally important to ecommerce success. But this means more than just inserting someone's first name into your marketing emails. It's about having a dynamic site that puts highly personalised content, products and offers in front of individual browsers.

8) Monetate

Monetate collects high levels of data on your current customers' buying habits in order to deliver optimal personalised experiences. It's on the more high-end spectrum of tools, but is phenomenal at collecting and using quality data. Monetate website.

9) LimeSpot

LimeSpot uses artificial intelligence (AI) to drive more sales through personalised recommendations, upsells and cross-sells. There are apps for both Shopify and BigCommerce, but also strong options for Plus and Enterprise customers. LimeSpot website.

10) Personizely

Personizely is a conversion and personalisation marketing toolkit for ecommerce businesses. It contains several features that integrate with Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento and more - including personalised exit intent modals, checkout recommendations and upsells. Personizely website.

Ecommerce email marketing tools

Email has been around for a while now. But it's still thriving as a marketing tool. However: This doesn't mean you have to do it the same way it's always been done. There are plenty of email marketing ecommerce tools out there that allow for the smartest, most up-to-date strategies. Here's a look at some of them:

SEE ALSO: 6 Keys to a Perfect Abandoned Cart Email Follow Up

11) Klaviyo

Klaviyo is the email marketing platform of choice for many fast-growing ecommerce brands. The reason? It's built specifically with ecommerce in mind - and comes pre-built with automated flows for abandoned cart, browse abandonment, customer winback and more as well as enhanced segmentation capabilities. Klaviyo website.

12) Omnisend

Omnisend goes beyond email marketing to handle your entire omnichannel marketing needs. It integrates email with your online store, social media and a variety of sales channels in order to provide personalised messaging that drives sales. Omnisend website.

13) SmartrMail

SmartrMail is another email platform built specifically with ecommerce in mind. This time heavily specialising in providing personalised messaging to help drive upsells and recover abandoned carts in the smartest ways possible. SmartrMail website.

Messenger marketing & chatbots

Many brands are now taking advantage of the conversational commerce trend - driving sales through automated chatbots and messaging apps. It can take some work to get right. But it's not nearly as complicated or out-of-reach as it might seem at first glance - especially when you have the right tools. Here are the best ones to use:

14) Chatfuel

Chatfuel specialise in helping businesses build customised Messenger bots. Allowing you to set up advanced AI sequences that drive sales by guiding people through choosing products and making a purchase - specifically tailored to your business needs. Chatfuel website.

15) ShopMessage

ShopMessage lets you use Facebook Messenger in the same way you'd use email - collecting subscribers, then marketing to them to upsell, cross-sell and recover abandoned carts. All highly powerful when you consider the typical 81% open rates and 36% click-through rates. ShopMessage website.

16) Tidio

Tidio is a genuine chatbot - a live chat tool that sits on your site to provide support and help to customers in an attempt to convert them into buyers. You can set up automated responses, but then also have a human take over. Tidio website.

Download a printable version

Want to save a list of all these tools for later? Download a PDF version to print, read offline or share with co-workers.

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Payment ecommerce tools

The way consumers pay for your products is changing - rapidly. Yes, plenty of people will still take the standard route of paying by credit card in one lump at checkout. But plenty of others want different options. These are the ecommerce tools you need to help offer those options.

17) Klarna

Klarna allows you to give customers the option of paying in full now, at a later date or in instalments. Making it much easier to incorporate tactics like "try-before-you-buy" and "free trial" into your business model - things that can have a huge impact on checkout conversions. Klarna website.

18) ReCharge Payments

Another hot and popular ecommerce payment option right now? Subscriptions. And ReCharge Payments have your back on this - whether you're selling monthly subscription boxes or just want to give customers an easy way to commit to recurring/repeat orders. ReCharge Payments website.

19) Partial.ly

Partial.ly is great for simply giving customers the option to create a payment plan at checkout. It's especially useful if you sell high price-point items - helping overcome the common objection of having to pay out a big lump sum. Partial.ly website.

Loyalty, retention & referral tools

Your current and recent customers should always be your first point of call for driving more sales. They've bought from you before, so they're likely to buy again - and refer others. So it's crucial you have the right tools in place to encourage more sales and referrals out of current and past customers.

SEE ALSO: 8 Retail Loyalty Programs for Max Customer Retention (Types, Examples & Tools)

20) YotPo

YotPo is a well-known ecommerce tool now - but it's pretty epic when it comes to loyalty and referrals. It's all about collecting reviews, showcasing them on your site and social channels and building loyalty and referral programs to get customers 'stuck' to your brand. YotPo website.

21) Loox

Loox is a reviews app for Shopify stores, but with one key difference - it encourages your customers to take a photo with their review. This all adds that extra layer of authenticity to your site, with people able to see others actually using (and enjoying) your products. Loox website.

22) Smile.io

Smile.io helps you set up awesome loyalty programs to keep customers coming back. You can set up points-based programs, tiered VIP programs and even work-in referral rewards as well - turning one-time sales into a repeat buying beast. Smile.io website.

23) Referral Candy

Most businesses get at least some new customers from word of mouth, but it usually just happens organically. Referral Candy bucks that trend by adding systems and strategy to your referral campaigns - helping you get more sales from current customers. Referral Candy website.

24) PushOwl

PushOwl lets you send out browser and mobile push notifications for product launches, sales or just general cross-selling opportunities. It's a great way to re-engage past customers and keep them coming back to your store via a channel that isn't (yet) quite so crowded as email and social. PushOwl website. Note: PushOwl is an app for Shopify stores. BigCommerce users can use a tool like PushAssist, while PushAlert is a good alternative for WooCommerce.

Customer support tools

The above loyalty ecommerce tools are great. And can be utilised in a huge way to increase sales and customer lifetime value. But the basics of providing great after-sales experience and support still apply. You need to be highly responsive and solve problems quickly. And that's where these tools come in.

SEE ALSO: How to Drive More Repeat Purchases with Omnichannel Customer Service

25) Gorgias

When you sell on multiple channels, customers will also be trying to contact you on multiple channels. Gorgias connects all these together so your support staff can answer questions from one interface. Gorgias website.

26) Helpjuice

A lot of customers don't even want to bother contacting support - they want answers now! With Helpjuice, you can build a beautiful knowledgebase so customers can help themselves. Something highly useful if you sell complex or detailed products. Helpjuice website.

27) WhatsApp Chat + Cart Recovery

WhatsApp Chat is a Shopify app that lets potential customers chat with your store the same way they do with friends - on WhatsApp. It's great for building a great rapport with your customers, and even has an abandoned cart recovery feature. WhatsApp Chat on Shopify app store.

28) xSellco eDesk

xSellco eDesk is another option for connecting up your channels into one customer support management system. It's super easy to use and has a few different integrations than Gorgias - so could be a better option, depending on where you sell. xSellco eDesk website.

Analytics & CRO tools

Data is the backbone of growing any ecommerce business. It's what tells you exactly what is and isn't working to drive sales. Allowing you to make much more informed decisions on where to place focus and budget going forwards. So any ecommerce tools that can help you analyse data and optimise conversions are worth their weight in gold. Here are some of the best ones out there.

29) Optimizely

Optimizely is a high-power A/B testing and CRO platform. It provides hugely detailed insights into your current data, then makes it super easy to continually test new theories so you're always striving for optimal conversion rates. Optimizely website.

30) Lucky Orange

Lucky Orange is a phenomenal tool for analysing the customer journey to the point where you feel like you're looking over their shoulder. It gives heatmaps, clickmaps, screen videos and everything you need to pinpoint drop-off points in your conversion process. Lucky Orange website.

31) Kissmetrics

Kissmetrics is a great tool to segment your customers and website visitors into specific groups. And then use this data to send highly relevant emails and Facebook campaigns - rather than blanket every person with the same marketing and ads. Kissmetrics website.

32) Visual Web Optimizer (VWO)

Visual Web Optimizer (VWO) is similar to Optimizely in that it makes A/B testing really easy. But it also helps with creating a structured approach to testing (rather than just testing random things every now and then) as well as bringing in aspects like heat maps and forms analysis. VWO website.

33) Compass

Compass is great for helping you focus on the right ecommerce metrics, and then make complete sense of them. It will benchmark your metrics against data from larger stores and help drive more sales with tailored action areas for you to focus on. Compass website.

34) Crazy Egg

Crazy Egg is another great ecommerce optimisation tool that deserves a mention. It allows you to analyse customer journey data through heatmaps and videos, then run A/B tests to find the best way to plug gaps and holes. Crazy Egg website.

Final thoughts

This isn't an exhaustive list of all the ecommerce tools you'll need to run a successful online store. Nor will you need every single tool mentioned. But there could be a handful that make a real difference to your bottom line in 2020 and beyond. So take a look through and test out the ones that you think best apply to your business. Are there any ecommerce tools you rely on that aren't on this list? Let us know what we've missed in the comments below!

Download a printable version

Want to save a list of all these tools for later? Download a PDF version to print, read offline or share with co-workers.

Download Tools PDF