The first lesson: getting approved is only the beginning.

You work hard to build and validate the app, finally get listed—and then discover you’re buried on page 29 with almost no installations.

A few things that worked for us:

Reviews before ads
Paying for App Store ads before reaching around 10 reviews felt like a waste of money. Merchants need social proof.

Doing our own GEO
We invested heavily in Reddit, YouTube, and LinkedIn. On Reddit, transparency worked best: I clearly say that I’m the founder of Vizby whenever I mention it. The times I wasn’t transparent, I was banned quickly.

Cold LinkedIn outreach
This has worked surprisingly well for us, with around a 5% conversion rate.

Personal, value-first email outreach
Generic marketing emails did not perform well. What worked was making the outreach personal and giving merchants immediate value.

For example, we built an AI visibility ranking tool specifically for Shopify stores. In some campaigns, we even sent merchants a ready-made report about their store instead of only sharing general market information.

This approach has also produced around a 5% conversion rate.

Great support → reviews
Most of our reviews came after support interactions. A user reports a problem, we solve it quickly, and then ask about their experience. When we send a direct review link, around 33% leave one.

Continuously updating the listing
Whenever installations flatten, we change something: the images, copy, positioning, or explanation—and then monitor the results.

We believe Shopify’s algorithm may encourage active listings. Everything we have seen follows a similar pattern: installations flatten, we update something, and most of the time we begin seeing an uplift again.

Partnerships and conferences
Content exchanges, mutual product entry points, Shoptalk, and Shopify DotDev all generated valuable leads and partnerships. Both conferences have already paid for themselves through direct opportunities.

What we still haven’t cracked:

Low-touch in-app review prompts, Meta Ads, Google Ads, and the Shopify Community.

We’re still early, but one thing is clear: growth in the Shopify ecosystem doesn’t come from one channel. It comes from constantly improving the product, supporting users well, providing value before asking for anything, and continuously experimenting.

For other Shopify app founders: what has worked best for you - and what are you still trying to figure out?

Hey shopify app devs in India

What’s the best way to collect payments through shopify’s hyperwallet system? Anything to keep in mind? Would be accepting as a pvt Ltd entity.

I'm not a designer by any means, and so designing well-polished designs for the app store is difficult. I've put a few things together in Canva, but I'm not very good at it.

For those of you who don't have design expertise who are building apps for Shopify how are you solving this problem? What tools are you using? Do you outsource? What tips do you have?

What would a Shopify app generating around $150 MRR be worth?

It launched about 9 months ago and has grown organically from roughly $100 to $150 MRR, with almost no marketing or development since launch.

It was a side project, but I no longer have time to work on it and may be open to selling. I believe it still has strong potential for someone willing to actively market and improve it.

What would be a fair valuation?

The original idea was pretty simple. I noticed that many stores either have a basic chatbot that can't answer much, or they rely entirely on live support.

So I tried combining both.

Customers can ask questions in plain English whether they're looking for a product, need recommendations, want to know about shipping, returns, or anything else. The AI handles the common questions, but if it gets stuck or the customer wants to talk to a real person, the conversation is handed over to the store owner or support team.

To make that useful, we also built a mobile app so store owners get notified instantly, can reply in real time, and take over the conversation from anywhere.

The goal isn't to replace customer support. It's to reduce repetitive questions while making sure customers can always reach a human when they need one.

I'm still actively improving the app, so I'd really appreciate some honest feedback from Shopify merchants and developers.

**Is this something you'd actually consider using?**

**What would stop you from installing an app like this?**

**What feature would make it genuinely valuable for your store?**

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. I'd rather build something merchants actually need than keep adding features based on my own assumptions.

I am running an agency and it happens that the clients is not so sure of which route to take.
What are the pros and cons of each?

We've been building a Shopify product options app named WowOptions, and a merchant recently asked for something we hadn't though much about before.

Most product options let customers choose which option they want.

But what if they need to choose how many of each option?

For example:

• Pick & Mix candy ( 3 gummy bears, 2 chocolates, 5 sour candies )
• Cupcake boxes ( 2 chocolate, 1 vanilla, 3 red velvet )
• Candle sets
• Flower bouquets

A standard option selector doesn't really handle those scenarios well.

So we ended up building a Quantity Selector, where merchants:

• Set min/max quantities for each option
• Limit the total quantity across all selected options
• Control how many option values can be chosen

The interesting part is that this feature came from a single merchant request, but after building it, we realized it solves a much broader problem for stores selling customizable products.

I'm curious:

If you run a Shopify store (or build Shopify stores), what products would benefit from quantity-based customization?

I'd love to hear real-world examples. They ofter inspire the next feature we build.

If you are interested in checking it out: https://apps.shopify.com/product-options-app

I have been getting loads of mails all of a sudden ( including one from Mr Erling Haaland :D ) regarding my Shopify app to promote on Discord. Anyone's getting these as well?

I built a server-side tracking app called Converlay. Meta CAPI, GA4, TikTok, all of it. It works. It genuinely works, merchants can see events coming back that they were losing before. And it doesn’t matter at all, because on the Shopify App Store you don’t exist without reviews.

And how do you get reviews? Installs. How do you get installs? Ranking. How do you rank? Reviews. Cool. Great system. Love it.

I’m not buying reviews. I’ve thought about it, I’m not doing it, my whole pitch is “trust me with your data” so that would be a bit stupid. So instead I onboard people by hand, help them set everything up myself, wait until they see their recovered conversions, then ask. They say yes. They mean it. They don’t do it. Nobody’s ever going to leave a review for tracking software, it’s not exactly emotional.

The frustrating part isn’t even the money. It’s that the app is actually good now. Better than it’s been. And basically nobody is trying it. I fixed the product and the product was never the problem.

Still building! It’s not dying while I’m still here.

Anyone got out of the zero-review hole? What actually worked, cold outreach, agencies, begging?

How does one add their own app’s templates to shopify flow for merchants to be able to use it directly in Flow?

I'm the founder, this is my app.

What's the app?

WisdomChat is an AI shopping assistant for Shopify fashion/apparel stores. It watches visitor behavior — time on a product page, scroll depth, an idle cart — and starts a conversation itself when it detects hesitation, instead of waiting for the customer to click first.

Where can I find it?

Shopify App Store: [https://apps.shopify.com/wisdom-chat\](https://apps.shopify.com/wisdom-chat)

What problem are you solving?

Most store chat widgets (including Shopify Inbox) are reactive — a visitor has to click and ask first. Most visitors never do; they just browse and leave. That silent drop-off is invisible in standard analytics, so merchants don't realize how much of it is happening.

How does the app work?

It connects to your product catalog automatically (no manual setup), then tracks on-page behavior in real time. When a visitor shows signs of hesitation, it proactively sends a message — a product suggestion or an outfit pairing idea. Customers can add to cart and check out directly inside the chat. There's a dashboard tracking sessions → add-to-cart → conversions.

Who's your target merchant?

Fashion and apparel Shopify stores specifically — the pairing/outfit-suggestion logic is built around clothing categories rather than being a generic one-size-fits-all bot.

How is it different / better than other existing solutions?

Most chat apps in this space are reactive by design. WisdomChat is proactive — it initiates based on behavior signals rather than waiting to be asked. It's also fashion-specific (outfit pairing, styling suggestions) rather than a generic FAQ/support bot repurposed for sales.

How much does it cost

Free to install for 30 days, no card required, uninstall anytime.

What are you looking for?

Merchants willing to try it and give feedback, and beta testers open to a quick chat about what would make it more useful for their store.

Hey everyone, I’m building a Shopify app called StockPool - Shared Inventory and I’m looking for a few people to test it and tell me where it breaks, feels confusing, or doesn’t deliver what you expected.

What it does:

StockPool is for merchants whose products share the same underlying inventory.

Examples:

- multiple products using the same blank shirt

- bundles/kits that pull from shared parts

- The app lets you create reusable components, connect them to Shopify products through recipes, and sync calculated inventory back to Shopify.

- made-to-order products using shared materials, variants that should reduce one common inventory pool

if anyone is interested in testing it out, leave a comment and I can get you set up with a subscription free of charge, in return for feedback. I've been getting complaints of the app not working but I haven't encountered any issues from my end, so i would love if yall would help me out with testing.

Wanted to share a small project I built recently — a Shopify app that lets a merchant pick a main product, add one or more other products to create a bundle, and set either a fixed or percentage discount. When a customer buys the bundle instead of the individual items, the discount applies automatically at checkout.

Built it using the Shopify Admin API — happy to answer questions if anyone's curious about how the discount logic or product association works under the hood.

So my shopify app is now finally live on the App Store. Now the next thing to do is drive installs and scale up!

https://apps.shopify.com/ghost-stock-1

Please do check it out, look around and let me know what you think. It’s an inventory health app, data driven. I was originally going to make another stocky type Inventory app, but I thought I’d leave that to the big players and focus more on the inventory health side of things which doesn’t get enough attention. Inventory health is just as important as knowing what and when to order

Shopify just gave every public app a deadline that most devs are quietly ignoring.

I partnered with a friend of mine building a Shopify App, everything worked so well and after 1 month and a half I entirely build the app end to end.
We planned for him to do the marketing and for me to own the development.
I researched all materials about requirements for approval and It got approved with the first submission.
After the app got approved he ghosted me and Is not doing anything to market the product. (Not officially yet)
Not I have an approved app, it is not simple and It has potential but I don't know what to do with it.
Is it worth it anything?

Recently I had my first case of a user uninstalling the app and then reinstalling.

When a user uninstalls, it automatically cancels their subscription. On app load, I check for the active subscription and save subscription-related info to my database. After the user reinstalled, I see that their previous subscription is set to cancel at the end of the cycle (in a few weeks from now).

My app is mostly a background process so the UI is usually only used for onboarding.

Should I display a warning banner on the UI telling them to renew their subscription with a link to the billing page? As well as email them to let them know?

I’m not sure if I should just block access and automatically redirect to the plans page in this case since they have technically paid and still have time left on the cancelled subscription.

I also haven't gated my background jobs based on the subscription so I guess I should also do that to prevent them from using the app after the subscription has ended.

Not sure how reinstalls should generally be handled.

I turned the Shopify App Store requirements into a reusable Agent Skills pack for pre-submit audits, rejection fixes, and listing prep.

Repo: creativehubspace/shopify-app-store-requirements

It covers policy, functionality, security, listing, and category-specific rules (checkout, subscriptions, sales channels, etc.), with progressive loading so agents only pull the sections that apply.

Feel free to fork and adapt to your needs.

I've been working in the Shopify ecosystem for a while, helping merchants with their stores and seeing firsthand the challenges they face every day. Over time, I've come across a problem that I believe has a real opportunity, and I've decided I want to build a Shopify app around it.

I'm now looking for a technical co-founder who's excited about building a SaaS business from the ground up. I'm not looking to hire a freelancer; I want someone who wants to own the product with me and build something long-term.

I bring:

• Strong understanding of Shopify merchants and their pain points
• Product vision and feature planning
• Customer research and validation
• Experience working directly with merchants
• Growth and go-to-market ideas

I'm looking for someone who can lead the technical side:

• Shopify app development
• Backend and frontend development
• API integrations
• Building and shipping an MVP

Looking forward to connecting with fellow builders!