The App Collective Episode 21
Hello! The sun is shining here in Miami on a nice June day. The vibes are high, and I hope you are all enjoying summertime wherever you are.
Since many of us will be in Toronto next week, I will skip next week’s episode. Just know that we will be coming in HOT with all of the updates from Pre/ditions and Editions the following week.
My talk is ready to go for Editions, and my time slot has been shared with me. If you are planning on attending, my workshop will be from 3:00 to 3:30 pm ET in room Workshop 2. I think the room can hold 60 people, so there should be plenty of room for whoever wants to come.
As for our Pre/ditions scheduled time, I believe we’re slated for 11:00 am.
Alright, enough of that; let’s get into today’s episode.
What’s inside
Shopify ads for BFS Apps
Podcast to watch
A week into the new categories
Shopify Ads for BFS Apps
Shopify rolled out a new ad-targeting option this week. Apps that are Built for Shopify can target subscription types. This is an exciting opportunity for apps with the badge and encourages other apps to strive to become embedded with the BFS qualifications.
It does beg the question — what is in the future for apps that aren’t Built for Shopify with these new opportunities? I’m curious to hear more about the future plans at Editions next week.
I’ve personally started a few campaigns and will report back once I get a strong read on the performance. Have you started any campaigns yet?
A Bomb Podcast to Watch
Ma girl Tina Donati slayed this podcast with our friends on The Lucky Orange Show.
She talks about content marketing strategies for eCommerce companies—apps and merchants alike. Our panel at Pre/Editions will also cover much of this.
Check it out and get excited for next week!
Tina deserves all of the love and respect, so leave a comment on the video, too.
New categories on the App Store
We’ve been a week into the new categories on the Shopify App Store. The beginning of a change can often be rocky for apps, and this time is no different. Most of the apps I work on are affected, but luckily, I’m seeing stability in other areas.
My thoughts so far are that sometimes you have to take a few steps backward to take several steps forward. I suspect that will likely be the case for some here. Let’s wait and see and remain optimistic that this is a good thing for the ecosystem at large.
Another big update was dropped in the categories department just yesterday. Shopify has released details of the structured app categories for 30 more categories. According to Shopify, “This new information will help us match your apps to the right merchants more accurately, optimize ads bidding, and improve the overall discovery.” I would say that has to be a win. It certainly will help set your app apart from the competition, especially when merchants use the compare tool in the App Store. As you can see from the example below, the further down the page you get, the more you can distinguish between the features each app has (or doesn’t have) to make a more informed decision.
My guess is this will reduce churn because merchants won’t have to install all three apps to learn what makes one better than the other based on their specific needs.
That’s it for this week. It was a short one, but not every week can be a 2,000+ word banger episode, ya know! I’ve been pretty heads down with regular work and preparing for my talks next week. I hope I add value to your days if you join me, and if there are recordings to share, I’ll try to do that for those who couldn’t make it…if you want.
Okay, bye for now,
Deb