Desvendando os segredos para ser apresentado na lista 'Escolhas da equipe' da Shopify App Store

Recently, Order Status Tracker App from HulkApps got featured on the Shopify App Store homepage under the Staff Picks! It’s the second time we’ve been featured since we published our app 8 months ago and we learned a lot about what it takes to get a feature and how best to prepare for it.

What’s the secret sauce to getting featured?

Gone are the days of the semi-secret Google form where you could submit your app to be featured…

In general, the Shopifolk on the App Store wants to see you creating a high-quality experience for Shopify merchants, whether that’s evidenced by awesome app reviews, building your app in Polaris, integrating into the lastest functionality like Marketing Activities or the upcoming Sections API (hint…)

Make your great work known to your partner director and the people you work with at Shopify. Don’t be modest to share big points of reference and the amazing feedback you hear from merchants. The Shopify partner ecosystem is booming and there are heaps of app developers doing extraordinary work, so you’ll have to be put in a bit of hustle so your app stands out from the crowd.

How the Order Status Tracker came into the limelight?

Getting featured is a highly coveted and valuable opportunity to acquire new customers, so in addition to being a great provider to the merchants, HulkApps also got rewarded for being a great partner in the Shopify ecosystem.

Shopify features the app that has built great features & provides great customer support to the merchants and Order Status Tracker app has set a great example for this.

Recently, team HulkApps undertook a few enhancements to the Order Status Tracker app & launched a Pro version of the app that made us stand out from the other apps in the Shopify Marketplace.

Here’s what’s new in the Pro version?

• With the launch of the Pro version, merchants can now offer their shoppers to track their packages across 80+ carriers & gain real-time insights
• Any new store that installs our app and has store orders more than 25 will have to upgrade their plan, but since you have been a part of our journey from the beginning, we're keeping the maximum order limit to be 100 orders per month. If your store's orders increase, consider upgrading your plan.
• Merchants can now send automated transactional order notifications to your customers & notify them that their orders are on their way.
• With Google Map integration, we've provided a hassle-free service with a real-time location tracking feature. Making your online interactions with your customers easier and convenient while knowing the current location of their orders.
• This revamped version will allow you to customize your order form more efficiently to match it with your store.
• We've given more powers to our merchants with the newly improved dashboard. Get sure, get smarter!
• The timeline provides a graphical view of the progress of the order in relation to its milestones which in turn gives you more confidence when dealing with your customers.

Get things ready to get featured

With a bit of good fortune, your determination will pay off and you’ll get a notice from Shopify that you’re getting to be highlighted in their staff picks section which is listed on the Shopify app store homepage.

Thankfully Shopify gives you plenty of forewarning of when you’ll be featured (they emailed us a few weeks ahead letting us know) which you can use to prepare for the influx of new installs.

What next?

#1 Ensure your app store listing & screenshots are up-to-date

The first thing you should do is head to your app’s listing on Shopify and go through it with a fine-tooth comb. Usually, people landing on your listing have either listened about your app before or have looked for what you offer.

You can check out the updated app store listing of Order Status Tracker here.

In case somebody has landed on our posting after having looked or clicking through Shopify, they already have a great thought of what you offer and what problem you solve.

When it comes to being featured you only have a banner image and a couple of lines on the Shopify homepage to communicate what your app is.

You likely won’t be competing with other apps in your space on the feature slots, so include a few points on why merchants should be using your app and not only why you’re better than competitors. Other things you should check on your listing include making sure all your screenshots are up to date and all the details are correct.

Being featured led to having approximately 4x the number of daily installs every day for the week we were featured.

What next when you’re featured?

Now that you’ve prepared for the Shopify app store feature, it’s time to start the show. Here are a few things you should do.

#1 Get all hands on deck for support

Speaking of your support team, they’re likely going to be experiencing many more tickets than usual. Over our feature week, we had 61% more support tickets than average.

We got our entire team to assist the main support team maintaining these response times while we were being featured.

That included everybody. Developers too. Obviously, not everybody will be able to answer every question, but most will be able to most of the questions.

After you’re featured

Your feature doesn’t stop the day you’re swapped out of the staff picks section. Depending on your trial length you’ll likely have 4x the number of merchants trialing your app. Ensure you’re delivering the same high-quality experience that you delivered during your feature week. Try to get some extra hands-on support even if that means rotating 2-hour shifts between the team, there is nothing merchants appreciate more than timely and helpful support.

Good luck with your feature!