New Shopify app approved but struggling to get first installs/reviews. How would you approach this?

Shopify Apps
1

Hi everyone,

I recently got my first Shopify app approved:

I’m now in the difficult early stage where the app has 0 reviews, which I think makes merchants understandably hesitant to install it. I’ve been doing direct outreach to stores every day, but so far I’ve only had one reply, and 0 install. I also contacted a Shopify-focused marketing agency, but didn’t hear back.

I’m not posting this to try to sell the app to you. I’m looking for honest advice from people who understand Shopify merchants better than I do.

The app is called Packclip. It helps stores turn the packing of an order into a short branded video that the customer can watch and share. The goal is to help merchants improve post-purchase experience, brand perception, and potentially generate organic social content.

Here’s the quick demo of how it works: https://youtu.be/oDR8V1vknlg and here’s the customer-facing video generated from the demo order: Packing video for Rob

A bit of background: in 2018, while working as a software engineer, I also ran my own ecommerce shop. I built an automated packing video system for that store, including automatic address blurring. Here’s an old/cringey demo from 2019:

I since lost my job and decided to productise the system properly: make it more reliable, support different label types, and turn it into a Shopify app.

My thinking is: if I found value in this as an ecommerce store owner, surely some other merchants would too. But I’m a software engineer, not a marketer, and I’m struggling with the first-user problem.

The app is currently free to use, and recording an order only adds a few seconds to the packing process; the barrier is minimal. But I’m not sure how to communicate the value clearly enough, or which merchants would actually want this.

I’d really appreciate advice on:

  1. Would you position this more as a customer experience tool, a social media/content tool, or a trust-building tool?
  2. How would you get the first 10 active users or first few reviews?
  3. Are there specific communities, agencies, consultants, or Shopify marketing specialists that help early-stage app developers with this?
  4. Is cold outreach the right approach here, or would you try something else?

I welcome feedback. If the positioning is wrong, or the app sounds too niche/strange for Shopify, I’d rather know now.

Thanks in advance.

2

Hi @RomainPackclip

Hey! Huge congrats on getting your first app approved, that’s a massive milestone!

For positioning, I’d lean heavily into it being a trust-building and customer retention tool. It creates a personalized, premium post-purchase experience that cuts down on “where is my order?” anxiety and makes buyers feel truly valued.

To get your first 10 users, blind cold emails are really tough for B2B SaaS. Instead of random outreach, try searching social media for small merchants who already manually film “pack an order with me” videos. DM them and say: “I love your packing videos! I built a free Shopify app that automates this process so you can send them directly to every customer. Can I help you set it up for free in exchange for your honest feedback?”

Offering that setup via a quick call is the best way to get dedicated beta testers who will actually leave those crucial first 5-star reviews. Don’t worry about marketing agencies just yet; focus on direct, highly targeted conversations. Keep going, getting the first few installs is always the hardest part!

Hope this helps. If you find that helpful, can you leave me a heart :sparkling_heart:

3

Congratulations on getting your first app approved!

To get those first 10 users, you should pivot your positioning from a packing tool to an Organic Growth Engine.

Merchants today are desperate for authentic social content, and your app essentially automates their User-Generated Content (UGC) pipeline.

4

Thank you, that’s a very helpful remark.

That was actually my original instinct too: to position it around organic growth and customer-shared content.

The reason I pulled back is that I didn’t want to overpromise sharing or virality. A customer might share the video, and the app is built to make that easy, but I can’t honestly say how many packing videos will become organic advertising.

So I ended up positioning it more around trust and customer experience. Even if the customer never shares the video, they still get a personal post-purchase experience, and the brand feels more human and thoughtful. The video becomes part of the sale, part of what you get when you shop from that store.

But I think you’re right, I may have gone too far in making the “UGC / organic growth” angle secondary.

5

Hi @RomainPackclip

Getting the first installs and reviews for a Shopify app is usually the hardest part, but there are a few things that you can do:

Getting Your First Installs:

  • Start with your own network first. Reach out to merchants you already know, even if the connection is small. It’s much easier to get early installs through warm connections than cold outreach.
  • Be active in Shopify Community forums. Try helping merchants who are discussing problems related to your app. Once the conversation is relevant, you can naturally mention your app.
  • Reddit can also help. Communities like r/shopify, r/ecommerce, and r/entrepreneur have a lot of active store owners. Focus on sharing useful advice instead of directly promoting the app.
  • Join Facebook groups related to Shopify and ecommerce. Groups like “Shopify Entrepreneurs” and “Shopify Store Owners” are very active. Offering a free trial or helping merchants personally can get good attention there.
  • Do personalized cold outreach to small Shopify stores that match your app niche. Keep the message short and relevant. Offering an extended free trial in exchange for feedback can improve response rates.

Getting Your First Reviews:

  • Ask for reviews personally after the merchant has used the app for some time and received value from it.
  • Add small in-app review prompts after users complete an important action or get a successful result. Timing matters a lot.
  • Personally help your first few merchants with onboarding and setup. Merchants are much more likely to leave reviews when they receive fast and helpful support.
  • After solving a support issue successfully, it’s a good time to ask for a review.

App Store Optimization (ASO):

  • Your app listing matters a lot. Make sure the first few lines clearly explain what the app does and why merchants should use it.
  • Use good screenshots, a proper demo video, and a clean description. These things directly affect install conversion.
  • Having a free plan or free trial helps reduce hesitation for new merchants trying the app.

Shopify agencies and Shopify Partners can also become a strong source of installs if your app solves a real merchant problem.

The first few installs and reviews take the most effort.

Thanks

6

Hi @mastroke,

Thank you for your advice.

I think Packclip fits the type of “real merchant problem” you’re describing.

Packclip gives customers a shareable experience, which is why Emily above described it as something that could help automate part of a shop’s UGC pipeline.

Since you’re a Shopify Partner, I’d be genuinely interested in your perspective: would a partner like yourself be open to trying a tool like this, or recommending it to a suitable merchant, if it solved this kind of customer-experience/content problem?

I’m trying to understand what would make agencies and Shopify Partners confident enough to install, test, or recommend a new app before it has its first reviews.

7

New apps often end up in the this looks useful, I’ll check it later bucket for merchants.

The difficult part is that later usually never comes unless the problem becomes painful or urgent enough first.

Especially with operational workflows, people tend to be cautious about adding another dependency unless the value feels immediately obvious.

8

That makes sense, and I can see how Packclip could fall into the “later bucket,” especially since it adds another step to an operational workflow.

It’s only part of the workflow for orders where a packing video is generated, but I understand why a shop might still hesitate.

In your opinion, is there anything that could be done to make the value feel immediate enough to overcome that “I’ll check it later” reaction?

Mentioning in my outreach emails that they would be one of the first shops to have packing videos on social media, making them more likely to stand out, be talked about, or create some buzz, could push the first few users to try it.

I don’t like putting urgency on people, but I believe it could do the trick. I also matches with what Emily said about pushing the organic growth angle more.

I believe I now know how to proceed, thank you both!

10

Tough start, but don’t overthink the positioning too much yet. Merchants just want to know if this moves the needle on retention or social proof. Keeping the outreach casual and just asking for raw feedback on the demo video (without pushing the install) is definitely the right move for early validation.

Regarding your point about marketing agencies not replying—that’s a huge bottleneck when you do it manually. When I was struggling to get my own SaaS tools in front of agency partners and corporate decision-makers, cold emailing random contact forms got me nowhere.

I eventually outsourced that heavy lifting to MyOutreach to handle the partner acquisition side. They basically focused on getting the right tech buyers and agency leaders into the room for us, which saved months of shouting into the void.

For the first 10 organic users, definitely hunt down stores already doing packing TikToks manually. But if you want to scale through agencies later on, you’ll definitely need a dedicated outbound process or a partner to open those doors.