Advertising Shopify apps via social media or influencers, what actually works?

Shopify Discussion
1

I always run into the same problem when I think about campaigns to attract paying customers or work with influencers.

The conversion funnel for a Shopify app is uniquely painful compared to a regular SaaS or e-commerce product. A potential user sees your ad, they need to have an active Shopify store (or be willing to open one), then they need to install the app, and if they’re on a free plan they eventually need to pay for both Shopify AND your app. I think that’s a lot of friction before you ever see a paying user.

I’ve heard from other app developers that this makes traditional social ads brutal because you’re essentially advertising to a subset of a subset. And influencer marketing for Shopify apps feels tricky too because most “Shopify” influencers on YouTube or TikTok talk about dropshipping to an audience that’s brand new to the platform, not exactly the ideal audience for a specialized tool.

A few things I’m genuinely curious about:

Has anyone run paid social campaigns specifically to promote a Shopify app with decent results? What targeting worked?

Has anyone done influencer deals for a Shopify app, whether with Shopify-focused creators or adjacent niches? How did it go?

Did the double paywall (Shopify plan + app) come up as a real conversion problem or am I overthinking it?

I’m not looking for “just do content marketing” answers, I’ve done that. I’m curious about paid channels specifically and whether the unit economics can ever make sense for a small app.

Any experience, even negative ones, would be useful.

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Hi @Mateo-Penida,

Because they reach too many people, social media ads for Shopify apps frequently fail. Take into consideration these three strategies if you are having trouble with your current ad performance:

Targeting: Quit squandering money on general interest targeting (such as dropshipping and Shopify). Instead, once you have at least 50 installs, use ‘Lookalike Audiences’ based on your current user data.

Don’t only display your app’s UI, creatives. Pay attention to the “pain points” of the customer (e.g., “Stop losing sales at checkout”). Click-through rates are greatly increased when “loss-aversion” is used in your ad language.

High Intent: Concentrate on Google Search Ads instead than social media. Users that are actively looking for a solution can be reached by focusing on phrases like “Best [category] app for Shopify.”

I hope this aids in strategy optimization.

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Hey @Mateo-Penida ,

I think your concern is valid. Shopify apps have a much narrower audience so broad paid ads can get expensive quickly.

I’d focus on targeting existing Shopify merchants and make the free trial/onboarding as smooth as possible to reduce friction.

Out of curiosity do most users drop off before installing the app or after starting the trial?

Thank You !