Top Ten Plugins for WooCommerce

Why Use Extensions?

Although the free version of WooCommerce is enough to manage a successful online business, there are a host of plugins or ‘extensions’ for WooCommerce that significantly add further functionality and ease of use, streamlining your business and saving you time.

What are the advantages of using Premium or paid plugins?

By and large, premium plugins tend to have a development team with solid support behind them, and consequently need to charge to cover their running costs. Typically, they will offer a free basic version with reduced functionality to let customers try out the features before they buy with the option to upgrade when they’re ready.

Is ‘Free’ really free?

Basically, yes. Although nearly all of the free plugins offer extra features or support as a paid option, they usually have everything you need for the plugin to do what it says on the tin, and do it well. Here’s a round-up of ten of the best free and premium plugins out there.

The Plugin Roundup

• WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping
A much easier solution to extend the shipping options already present in the default install. Shipping costs based on the customer’s shopping cart weight or subtotal can be set, geographic world locations can be split into zones and charged accordingly, charges can be applied above a certain weight, free shipping where criteria are met, and much more.
• WooCommerce CSV Importer
Uploading a properly formatted CSV file will update your products automatically. With some additional configuration required to what each column represents, it’s been tested to up to 10,000 products at a time, so it’s pretty robust.
• WooCommerce Currency Switcher
Although the free version only supports two different currencies, this is a very handy plugin that lets the potential customers set their purchase options to the currency of their choice – a must for international sales.
• WooCommerce Mail Chimp
Customers that remain in contact are likely to return again and again. If you use MailChimp for your email marketing, customers are automatically subscribed to a mailing list or alternatively given an option to subscribe on the checkout screen by ticking a checkbox.
• WooCommerce Direct Checkouts
If you ask your customers to go through too many swings and roundabouts, they’ll probably jump ship. Customers are now able to get to the checkout in just three steps, and with just a two-minute install, there’s no better way to turn a potential lost opportunity into a conversion.
• WooRewards
A customer loyalty solution that earns points based on the amount spent on their order. They are also emailed with the total points accrued so far, and how much they’ve earned towards future spending. A great way to keep them returning.
• WooSoftware
An excellent resource for vendors selling digital products that generates a licence key that has to be entered during installation, validating proof of purchase and preventing piracy.
• WooCommerce Product Zoom
A great way to add enhanced viewing functionality to your shop, with configurable options suited to your requirements.
• Custom Notifications
If you list a new product or want to announce something important to your visitors, a notification bar can make the process a lot easier for you and make sure that your announcement is visible to all your visitors.
• WooCommerce Customizer
A complete graphic user interface that integrates with built-in WooCommerce filters, enabling you to easily customize various things like labels, button text and fields etc.

Conclusion

Hopefully, the collection of plugins mentioned here will help you with your WooCommerce experience and improve your workflow. If you’d like to know more about WooCommerce or how it could work for your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Blue Whale Media.