Integrating Your Shopify Upsell Apps, Product Recommendations and AOV Drivers in Your Mobile App

Think about the power of a simple upsell or product recommendation, delivered just at the right time.

A smart nudge in the cart drawer, in your checkout, or even on the thank you page, after the customer buys.

These moments are easy, measurable ways to increase AOV - and overall revenue. Yet most of the time, when you launch a mobile app, they’re missing from your app.

Most mobile app builders don’t (or can’t) carry over all the apps and custom features from your website. When you launch your app, you end up with a watered down version of your site, missing some of the features that deliver the most measurable revenue impact on the web.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Keep reading and we’ll explain why this problem exists, and how MobiLoud lets you keep every Shopify app, custom feature and optimization working seamlessly in your mobile app.

How Most Shopify Mobile App Builders Work (and Why It Matters)

The majority of Shopify mobile app builders work like this: you create a custom app UI with their templates and drag-and-drop builder, connected on the backend with the Shopify API.

It’s a better alternative to fully custom development; but this way of doing things comes with real limitations.

The app builder creates a new storefront

Most Shopify mobile app builders don’t simply turn your existing site into an app. They create a new mobile storefront that’s connected to the same Shopify backend.

Shopify’s Storefront API provides the building blocks required to create these custom shopping experiences. It gives the app access to products, collections, search and cart functionality. And all of this is displayed through the app’s own interface.

Your Shopify theme is not automatically part of that interface.

Neither is everything you have installed or built on top of the theme.

Your Shopify apps don’t automatically carry over

Many Shopify apps add functionality to the online store through theme app extensions.

These extensions can contain:

• App blocks
• App embed blocks
• Liquid snippets
• CSS
• JavaScript
• Other storefront assets

Shopify injects these elements into the online store’s theme. A separately constructed mobile storefront does not automatically load them.

For a site-level feature to appear in the app, the app builder generally needs to:

1. Build a native integration with the Shopify app
2. Reproduce the feature using one of its own components
3. Create a custom implementation for the merchant

Your mobile app doesn’t automatically inherit everything you’ve built on top of Shopify.

Your products might sync perfectly - but your product recommendations, cart drawer and custom upsell logic all disappear.

And so does the extra AOV you get from them.

The Problem When Your Upsell Apps Don’t Work in Your Mobile App

Your upselling features aren’t there for decoration.

You’ve added these apps to your store because they make a real impact. You know this, because it’s one of the easiest areas to track incremental revenue lift.

One day you install the app. A week later, you check your AOV. It’s 50% higher. You dig into the analytics, see that a certain volume of sales are coming directly from customers clicking on the upsell recommendations.

These could be working in your product pages, collection pages, cart drawer, checkout, post-purchase pages. They could be product bundle builders, frequently bought together offers, quantity discounts, add-to-cart popups.

Anything designed to get your existing customers spending more.

There’s no reason why you wouldn’t want these features working in your mobile app as well.

Shipping an app with these features stripped out is like cutting it off at the knees. And worse, you may not even know what you’re missing.

How Mobile Apps Mask the Problem

Mobile apps naturally increase AOV (10 to 50% higher on average, per MobiLoud’s Benchmark Report). The user experience is smoother, more contained and distraction-free, and the kind of people using your mobile app are naturally higher-spending customers.

So you might see an AOV boost in your app; or at least steady in comparison to your website.

But you don’t see what you’re missing by taking away all the elements that have been proven to generate higher AOV on your site.

The Golden Rule with Mobile Apps

When you launch a mobile app for your brand, you should follow one golden rule:

Your mobile app does not have to be dramatically better than your website. But it cannot be worse.

If the user experience is worse, there’s no reason for customers to use it over your website.

And if the app is missing upsells and other key revenue boosting features, you may actually be better off if someone shops on your site, instead of the app.

That’s not the ideal situation to be in.

The Best Shopify Upsell Apps, and Whether They’re Supported in Mobile Apps

There are hundreds of apps out there for adding product recommendations, cart offers, checkout upgrades and post-purchase upsells.

Some focus entirely on recommendations and upselling. Others include upselling as part of a wider cart, checkout or post-purchase experience.

And how much of this carriers over to your mobile app depends on the specific apps you use (and whether they’re supported by your app builder).

Here are some of the top Shopify upsell apps on the App Store:

AfterSell

AfterSell focuses on one-click post-purchase upsells, checkout offers and thank-you page customization. Merchants can create personalized offers based on factors such as the products ordered, cart value and customer tags. Checkout-page upsells are available for Shopify Plus stores.

Essential Upsell & Cross Sell

Essential Upsell & Cross Sell provides frequently bought together offers, related products, product add-ons and product bundles. Its widgets can appear on product pages and in the cart drawer, with support for post-purchase offers as well.

iCart Cart Drawer Cart Upsell

iCart replaces or enhances the standard cart with a customizable slide cart, cart popup or full cart page. It supports product recommendations, bundles, BOGO offers, free gifts, cart discounts, countdown timers and free-shipping progress bars.

Qikify Upsell & Cross-sell

Qikify lets merchants create product-page and cart-page campaigns, including frequently bought together offers, product add-ons, BOGO promotions, free gifts and cart upsells shown when a customer moves toward checkout.

AMP Slide Cart Upsell Drawer

AMP Slide Cart Upsell Drawer provides a customizable slide-out cart with frequently bought together recommendations, free gifts, BOGO promotions, progress bars, discounts, announcements and shipping-protection offers.

OrderEditing.com

OrderEditing.com allows customers to update an order after placing it, including changing products, quantities, addresses and shipping methods. It also lets merchants show personalized product offers after purchase and allows customers to add more items to the existing order.

Checkout Plus

Checkout Plus adds content and functionality to Shopify’s checkout, thank-you and order-status pages. Its features include checkout recommendations, free gifts, trust badges, customer surveys, post-purchase content and conditional payment or shipping rules.

Which mobile app builders support these apps?

For these apps’ features to work in your mobile app, your app builder needs to have built a specific integration for that app.

For many app builders, that integration doesn’t exist.

Why MobiLoud Ensures All Your Shopify Upsell Apps and Product Recommendations Work in Your Mobile App

MobiLoud is a different kind of mobile app builder.

Instead of creating a whole new storefront for your app, MobiLoud builds on top of your existing storefront. That means everything from your site automatically carries over to your mobile app, including all your Shopify apps and custom features.

All the upsells, product recommendations, and widgets that boost AOV work in your app. 

If it works on your site, it works in your app; no additional integration required.

Cart drawer upsells, post-purchase offers, progress bars, frequently bought together widgets, quantity discounts - whatever it is, it just works.

Even custom-built features your team has built from scratch.

MobiLoud is the only way to ensure all of these features you rely on to drive AOV work in your app as well, without the added complexity of custom developed integrations.

Final Thoughts

Upselling and product recommendations are fundamental parts of many Shopify stores.

They help customers discover products, encourage larger orders and create additional purchase opportunities across product pages, the cart, checkout and post-purchase journey.

And when someone shops in your app, you want these features working just as they do on your site.

With MobiLoud, they do. You’ll get your complete customer experience in your mobile app, with no limitations or sacrifices.