5 Best WooCommerce Plugins to Help Your Online Store

WooCommerce is one of the most popular plugins for e-commerce in WordPress. It has been developing more than 3 million users very rapidly worldwide. It’s filled with features that let you fully customize and control your online store.

In WooCommerce, everything you need to maintain your store is at your fingertips. You can organize things very quickly, different payment methods can be set up, and there are also many additional plugins that can be combined to make a bulkier and more stunning WooCommerce.

Best Free WooCommerce Plugins

Below are a few awesome free WooCommerce plugins to ease your approach to managing your store.

1. OptinMonster

OptinMonster has been created as a plugin aimed at turning visitors into customers; it is meant for an online store. Creating popups that your visitors really need will encourage them to take actions like signing up for newsletters or making a purchase. The good thing about this product is that there is no demand for technical skills to create and customize it.

You can create popups easily using the drag-and-drop builder. From there, just add any elements you need or want in a particular design, or simply drag in a plain text box. Plus, set up multiple versions of your popups to run tests and find out which one does the best job converting your visitors.

You can download OptinMonster in the WordPress plugin repository. It is a very useful app when it comes to converting visitors.

2. WooCommerce Menu Bar Cart

Sometimes, with certain themes in WooCommerce, the cart button doesn’t appear. This can be an issue because the cart button is very important as it lets shoppers view what they have inside their cart before checkout.

With WooCommerce Menu Bar Cart, you can ensure the cart button is always added to your website’s menu navigation. This will also feature the number of items in the cart and the total cost involved with them. This way, you can keep it always active so that when visitors scroll down your website, the cart option is enabled anytime. This plugin is available free of charge, except for the pro version, which has more additional features.

3. WooCommerce Customizer

WooCommerce Customizer is perfect for those who want to adjust the look and feel of their sales room without reverting to code. This way, users can customize text and buttons on their pages via this easy-to-use plugin.

WooCommerce Customizer goes a little further by allowing you to change text on your store’s pages by simply typing it in within the settings menu, making it super easy to have it look exactly how you want.

This is a great plugin for beginners starting out with online stores. It will allow you to customize without hassle so that you can give full attention to the rest of your business.

4. Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce

Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce allows your customers to choose when to have their orders delivered during checkout. It is a very nice feature because it really helps boost customer satisfaction by giving them control over their deliveries.

This way, customers can select the best time for their delivery date. You can also set store-specific days when you choose not to deliver, avoiding confusion.

The plugin also has a paid add-on, which emails your customers the day after their order arrives, asking them to leave a review on your website.

5. WP Mail SMTP

WP Mail SMTP is a miraculous plugin that can go a long way to save almost all emails from your store, which might otherwise land in your customer’s spam folder—a problem many times resulting from PHP Mail, a simple mailing system that WordPress uses by default, but is seldom found practical or in use with several hosting service providers.

This plugin changes the way WordPress sends emails by using SMTP, a method that’s both more reliable and supported by most hosting providers. WP Mail SMTP is available for free, but there’s also a business edition for people who need extra functionalities.

This plugin also ensures that store emails will actually enter the mailboxes of customers, as opposed to being scrolled through their spam folders.

How to Install WooCommerce Plugins

Don’t worry if this is new to you! Here are the steps for installing plugins in WooCommerce.

1. Configuring WooCommerce

• Log in to your WordPress Dashboard: First, log in to your WordPress admin, usually found at yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
• Install WooCommerce: Log into the admin area. Click “Plugins – Add New” from the menu. In the search bar, type “WooCommerce.” Once found in the list, click “Install Now,” and after installation is complete, click “Activate” to turn it on.
• Setup Wizard: Once activated, you will see a notification to run a WooCommerce Setup Wizard. This setup involves some details, like the address of your store and the types of products you sell.

2. Setting Up WooCommerce

• Fill Out Store Information: The Setup Wizard will request that you fill in key information related to your store—namely, your address, the industry you sell to, the kinds of products you sell, and finally, a theme for your store.

3. Add Products

• Add Your First Product: This is where you add products. Go to “WooCommerce: Add your first product” and you will be taken to a new page. There, you will fill in the product’s details: name, description, type, category, image, and price. When you have everything in place, click “Publish.”

4. Product Management

– View and Edit Products: Once your products have been added, you can manage them through the ‘Products’ option, which takes you back to the WooCommerce page where you can view, edit, delete, or even duplicate products as needed.

5. Handling Orders

• Track Orders: All the orders placed by customers on your website are viewable under “Orders” in the WooCommerce Dashboard. Click on an order to view more details and to update an order’s status through different stages such as Processing, Complete, or Cancelled.

6. View Sales Reports

• Track Sales: The platform offers information about reports for sales. Go to “WooCommerce – Reports” to explore different reports based on products, dates, and categories. You can also download these reports in CSV format for easier analysis.

7. Setting WooCommerce

• General Settings: This section of WooCommerce allows you to set up different options, including shipping locations, currencies, and taxes. You can also configure payment gateways, shipping options, email notifications, and even privacy settings for customers.

8. Keeping Your Shop Safe

• Site Security Enhancement: Adding a few security plugins to your WooCommerce site can secure it against cyberattacks. A few popular plugins include Wordfence and Sucuri. The website should also be SSL-secured to encrypt customer data during transactions.

9. Checking Store Status

• Monitor the Performance: Once everything is live, you can find “WooCommerce—Status” where you can get a bird’s eye view of your store’s system. This includes your WordPress, server, and database status. If something is wrong, you will be guided on how to correct it.

10. Adding More Plugins for WooCommerce

• Install the Right Plugins: Both free and premium WooCommerce plugins are available. Free plugins usually offer basic features, while paid plugins provide advanced functionalities. To install, go to “Plugins – Add New,” search for the one you want, and follow the steps mentioned above.

Conclusion

So that’s it! You’ve now familiarized yourself with how to install WooCommerce plugins and have a list of the best free plugins to start with. If you’re still unsure about installing WooCommerce plugins for your online store, just follow the previous steps.

We’ve shared a few recommendations on plugins that can help make your WooCommerce-powered store more advanced and user-friendly, converting visitors into customers. Start with the free versions of these plugins, and as your business grows, consider the paid versions for more varied functionalities that better suit your needs.