Shoppers expect convenient and enjoyable experiences when shopping online. They want to find what they need quickly, get questions answered instantly, and feel confident about their purchase from start to finish.
Because of this, customer experience is a key factor in where people choose to shop and whether they return for repeat purchases. For Shopify merchants, this means every part of the journey matters, from the homepage to post-purchase engagement.
This guide covers the best customer experience tools for Shopify. These apps help with everything from customer support to reducing shopping friction and offering post-purchase assistance.
Customer experience (CX) is the full journey customers have with your brand. It encompasses everything a shopper feels, thinks, and remembers about interacting with your Shopify store.
The experience begins when someone first becomes aware of your brand and continues all the way through them browsing products, completing an order, receiving their products, and getting help when needed.
Every touchpoint shapes how shoppers view your brand and whether they'll come back for more. A great CX creates a journey that feels smooth, personal, and helpful from the first click to the final delivery. This includes:
Here are the seven best tools for improving the customer experience on Shopify stores:
Rep AI helps Shopify merchants create world-class customer experiences through its dual focus on both sales conversion and customer support, allowing it to address the entire shopping journey in one unified solution.
On the sales side, Rep AI excels at guiding product discovery through natural conversation. Instead of clicking through dozens of filters or collection pages, customers can engage the chat to quickly find the products they need.
For customer support, Rep AI gives customers instant answers to any inquiries. In the few cases the AI chat can’t solve the customer’s problem, it can seamlessly pass the conversation on to a human rep.
Rep AI can also automate common post-purchase questions about order updates, delivery status, and initiating returns.
This comprehensive approach means customers receive consistent, helpful assistance whether they're browsing, buying, or seeking help after purchase. The result is an enjoyable shopping experience that builds loyalty, increases conversions, and reduces support ticket volume.
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Rep AI offers separate plans for Sales Assistant, Support Agent, or a Concierge Bundle, combining both. You can start small and scale as you grow.
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Insider is a robust customer data platform that allows you to improve the customer journey across any channel and touchpoint. For Shopify brands, it is great for turning generic online shopping into engaging, relevant experiences.
With Insider, you can build customer journeys that respond to real-time behavior. For example, sending a discount to someone who hesitates at checkout or personalizing the homepage with a specific collection next time they visit.
The platform is also effective at segmenting your customers and delivering targeted content across email, SMS, and other channels outside of Shopify.
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HubSpot offers a complete customer service platform that connects seamlessly with your Shopify store through its dedicated Shopify app. It provides two-way sync that automatically pulls order history, customer details, and shopping behavior into customer profiles, giving your team complete context during every interaction.
This helps Shopify merchants deliver personalized service at scale. It also helps identify trends in customer issues and turn support conversations into opportunities for additional sales through cross-selling and upselling based on purchase history.
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Braze is a powerful customer engagement platform that helps Shopify brands create personalized communications flows that reach customers at the perfect time. The platform lets you build detailed customer journeys, set up automated campaigns, and send messages through email, push notifications, and in-app messaging.
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Shopify Inbox is a great starting point for stores looking to provide visitors with real-time assistance. It’s Shopify’s own chat app, and it plugs seamlessly into your eCommerce setup. With it, you can talk to shoppers while they browse and respond to questions that may be preventing a purchase.
While the app doesn’t offer the advanced functionality of other AI chat tools, Shopify Inbox gets the basics right. Shoppers love getting fast answers, and Inbox helps you provide such with a quick and convenient setup.
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Wonderment helps you improve the post-purchase customer experience through robust order tracking and proactive alerts. Instead of generic carrier links, the platform lets you create custom tracking pages to create a branded feel at every touch point. It also allows you to send delivery updates to alert customers if an order is running late.
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Sprout Social gives Shopify merchants a single place for managing social interactions. Social CX is more important than ever, and Sprout Social helps you handle it like a pro. Whether it’s a question in your Instagram comments or a product inquiry on Facebook Messenger, you can view and reply from a unified dashboard.
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Investing in your eCommerce customer experience pays off in multiple ways.
First, happy customers buy more. When shoppers enjoy browsing your Shopify store and can find exactly what they need without frustration, your conversion rates climb.
So do your average order values (AOV). PwC research shows that customers will pay up to 16% more for products when the shopping experience is excellent.
Second, satisfied shoppers become repeat customers. Because it costs five times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one, improving retention rates through a top-notch CX is key to sustaining your company’s profitability.
Finally, in a crowded eCommerce landscape, great CX is how you stand out. According to PwC, 73% of people say experience is a key factor in buying decisions. That means the way you treat shoppers matters as much as your prices or product quality. How you make customers feel can become your strongest advantage.
Great customer experiences are built around ease, speed, and relevance across the full journey. The best Shopify stores know that every detail matters.
Let’s look at five key elements that turn casual browsers into loyal fans who can’t stop talking about your brand.
A great shopping experience feels effortless. Customers should never have to struggle to find what they need. Or to complete a purchase.
This means your store needs intuitive navigation with logical product categories and search functions that return relevant results. Your pages should load in under two seconds, and the path from homepage to checkout should be short and clear, with as few clicks as possible.
Product pages need complete information, including detailed descriptions, accurate sizing guides, and high-quality images from multiple angles. Your checkout process should be simple, with multiple payment options and no surprise fees at the end.
People love it when stores remember them. That’s why personalized CX is so powerful. It makes shoppers feel understood rather than just another transaction.
Personalization can be as simple as a chatbot that displays "Welcome back, Sarah" for a returning visitor or as sophisticated as showing products based on browsing behavior and purchase history.
With AI-powered tools, Shopify stores can deliver this personalization at scale and at a low price point.
The customer experience doesn’t end at checkout. In many ways, this is where the critical part of the journey begins. How and when orders arrive shape customer impressions and whether or not they make repeated purchases.
Offering multiple shipping options with clear delivery windows reduces purchase friction. And branded tracking pages that show real-time progress build excitement while reducing “Where’s my order?” support tickets. AI-powered order status updates via chat can also help in this regard.
Additionally, the best Shopify stores optimize the unboxing experience. Custom packaging or thank you notes can make delivery special. These small touches turn a standard purchase into a memorable moment.
Support is an integral part of a positive customer experience. Shoppers expect help when they need it and fast. How quickly you respond can save or sink their perception of your business.
Live chat and AI chatbots let you assist customers while they’re actively shopping. This allows you to provide the prompt support they expect while also helping to reduce abandoned carts.
Even with automation, maintaining a human touch is crucial for complex issues. Having human staff available to step in and take over inquiries when needed shows customers you value their time and business.
The best customer experiences happen when stores can address problems and needs before shoppers even mention them. A proactive approach can turn potential complaints into wow moments. Anticipating rather than simply reacting to problems creates loyal customers who feel genuinely taken care of.
Understanding what frustrates customers helps you avoid common pitfalls. Here are the top issues that drive shoppers away:
Even one of these problems can send shoppers running to competitors, often never to return.
Most customers won’t tell you directly when they’re unhappy. They simply never come back to your Shopify store. Fortunately, your store data often contains warning signs that part of your customer experience needs improvement.
Recognizing these red flags early lets you address problems before they seriously affect your business.
The average cart abandonment rate across eCommerce sites is 70%. If yours is higher, it signals a potential problem with your shopping experience.
Common causes include complicated checkout processes, forced account creation, unexpected shipping costs, and limited payment options. Reviewing your checkout flow and Shopify reports can help you find where customers feel friction and drop off.
You can then improve this part of the customer experience to yield better conversions and more satisfied shoppers.
A solid number of first-time shoppers should become repeat customers. If your repeat purchase rate is low, something about your end-to-end purchase experience isn’t impressing buyers enough to return.
To diagnose this CX problem, track your customer lifetime value (CLV) and compare it to industry benchmarks. Break down your customer base by how often they purchase to identify which segments only buy once.
From there, you can improve post-purchase communication, create a loyalty program, or enhance your personalization efforts to help turn these one-time buyers into repeat customers.
A flood of support requests typically means customers can’t find what they need or are experiencing some other kind of problem. While some inquiries are expected, a high volume suggests underlying issues.
Review your support tickets by topic to identify problem areas. If many customers ask about shipping times, your delivery information is likely unclear. If they struggle with product-related questions, your description might need leveling up.
With Rep AI, you can use the robust Shopper Intelligence features to quickly see what types of problems customers need help with. These eCommerce insights can also help you identify the reasons why shoppers leave your site without purchasing.
Negative feedback is one of the most direct signs of an issue with your customer experience. Product reviews, social media comments, and reviews on sites like Trustpilot provide a clear indication of where people are having problems.
You can use this information to guide improvements. Multiple complaints about sizing might mean you need better sizing charts, while comments about slow shipping suggest delivery options need upgrading.
Beyond using these insights for improvements, it’s best to respond to all negative feedback quickly and professionally. Even if you can’t fix the specific issue, showing that you care about your customers’ concerns can have a positive impression on other potential buyers.
Rep AI gives your customers fast, helpful answers while they shop. It guides them to the right products, handles common questions, and makes it easier for them to buy.
You don’t need a full team to deliver a great customer experience. Rep AI runs 24/7 and can handle any type of customer interaction. It’s built for Shopify stores that want to increase sales and reduce friction across the total customer journey.
Start a free trial of Rep AI to level up your Shopify store’s customer experience.
A Shopify customer experience tool is software that helps online merchants improve part of their end-to-end customer experience. These tools can handle different aspects of the customer journey. For example, some CX tools assist brands in providing customer support, while others make it easier for customers to track their orders.
You can improve the customer experience on Shopify by identifying pain points in your current shopping experience and then choosing tools and strategies to address those specific challenges.
Start by making the basics exceptional. This means quick page loads, clear product information, simple checkout, and responsive support. Once these are in place, you can add more sophisticated tools for automation, personalization, and proactive service.
Yes, small and recently launched Shopify stores can benefit from customer experience tools. In fact, small stores often benefit from these tools the most as they extend your capabilities without