Top SaaS Tools to Boost eCommerce Profits and Productivity
Here’s the thing, without the automation and optimization from SaaS tools, your brand will struggle to compete in 2023 and beyond. Not only is the market as saturated as it’s ever been, but customers are also willing to drop brands far quicker than ever after a poor customer experience.
This means you need the right tools, strategies, and automation to stay one step ahead of your competition while also simultaneously boosting profits and productivity. This is where choosing the right SaaS tech stack comes in. So, where to start?
You will want to closely review leading SaaS tools to find the right combination for your specific brand. In this post, we will help you do just this by highlighting the following SaaS Tools:
Top SaaS Tools and Apps for eCommerce
Let’s jump in!
1. Kimonix [SaaS for Advanced Online Retail Merchandising]
Kimonix is the first holistic, AI-powered eCommerce merchandising solution that offers merchants more than just simple personalization, created by retail merchandising experts with years of store management experience.
Kimonix allows managers and owners to factor in important retail and marketing KPIs in order to execute an ROI-driven merchandising strategy that is continuously optimized on real-time business needs.
How Kimonix Works
Kimonix is designed to help online retail owners and managers work smarter while improving long-term profitability through advanced product sorting and merchandising. It does this by combining real-time sales and inventory data with advanced shoppers’ preference insights to populate product collections and category lists.
Using advanced AI merchandising that factors in essential business goals, retailers can factor in multiple parameters and personalization to fuel profitability and growth. Parameters such as:
- Product demand and price competitiveness in the market
- Inventory value
- Variants stock ratio (how many variants are in stock)
- Days since back in stock, in-store, or to finish inventory
- Discount
- Pageviews
- Sales (quantity and dollar amount)
- 1:1 personalization, based on real-time store behavior
- Conversion rates
- Reviews
- Product margins (before or after discounts)
This enables markets to use advanced metrics to create tailored customer journeys that boost sales, optimize inventory, and maximize margins.
Kimonix Features
With Kimonix, online retailers can:
- Fully automate your store’s product sorting that is optimized in real-time
- Sort product collections and categories by advanced analytics, retail metrics, and personalization
- Build intelligent, multi-segment, automated collections to enhance home page clicks, improve product navigation, and enhance third-party product feeds on Google and Facebook
- A/B test merchandising and product sorting strategies to optimize for peak profit performance
- Build highly personalized product discovery landing pages that tap into shoppers' intent
- Drive email CTRs and product conversions with unique, tailor-made email product collections
- Continuously optimize product performance on auto-pilot while collecting valuable in-depth inventory, sales, and customer engagement data
- Access product data and insights from one central store dashboard
Kimonix Pricing
Kimonix offers various packages to suit any size store or budget. Their pricing starts at $29 for up to 300 monthly orders. The Advanced package ($199 a month) is a popular choice.
2. Ahrefs [SaaS for Ranking and Store SEO Tools]
Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO and ranking tool many industries use to analyze their website's link profile, keyword rankings, and SEO health. This all-in-one SEO suite offers a variety of functions and tools that don’t just help you optimize your own online store, but also spy on your closest competitors.
How Ahrefs Works
Ahrefs includes a suite of SEO tools that use crawling software to recreate your site how a search engine sees it. It, therefore, enables online retailers to understand better how their store is performing and shows optimum ways ranking can be improved.
Using over 2,890 servers, Ahrefs does this by crawling, collecting, processing, and storing big data 24/7 to supply a sizable third-party database of search queries that include important research metrics such as monthly search volume and advanced keywords. These are then divided into its five leading SEO tool offers, each with its own set of features. These include:
- Site Audit. Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool enables managers to audit their online retail store site to assess on-page SEO performance.
- Site Explorer. Ahrefs’ Site Explorer provides a more in-depth look at your store’s organic traffic and backlink performance.
- Keyword Explorer. Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer enables marketers to do advanced keyword research that considers ranking difficulty and traffic potential.
- Content Explorer. Ahrefs’ Content Explorer provides a platform to research and discover the best-performing content in your niche and possible backlink options.
- Rank Tracker. Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker enables marketers to track their store’s Google rankings.
Ahrefs Features
With Ahrefs, online retailers can:
- Use Ahrefs’ Keyword Export to research most top global search engines, including Google, YouTube, Amazon, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex (Russia), Baidu (China), Daum (South Korea), Naver (South Korea), and Seznam (Czech Republic)
- Review and assess the estimated number of clicks for each possible search term
- See backlink growth (or decline) over time, with daily granularity
- Review a keyword’s history to determine how brands battled for the top spot
- Use Ahrefs’ “SERP overview” report to review the estimated monthly organic search traffic to the current top-ranking page
You can read more about their unique features here.
Ahrefs Pricing
Ahrefs pricing starts at $99 per month for the Lite option, which includes Site Explorer, Keyword Explorer, and Site Audit tools. Retailer marketing teams looking for more advanced SEO features will need to consider some of their more comprehensive pages.
Getting started with Ahrefs here.
3. Traffic Booster [SaaS for eCommerce PPC Management]
Traffic Booster by StoreYa is the only full-service PPC automation tool that manages, optimizes, and tweaks campaigns for you. Its services integrate learning PPC channels and campaigns, including Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. For larger stores, they also include complete management of Bing, TikTok, and Pinterest Ads in their Enterprise edition.
Designed specifically for online retail stores, this Wordstream alternative offers advertisers a far more hands-on approach to PPC management and optimization to ensure ads are constantly tweaking in real-time to maximize ROAS. Here’s how.How Traffic Booster Works
After a quick 60-second signup, Traffic Booster’s marketing experts craft brand-specific, personalized ad campaigns for your store. Once the ads are implemented, their unique AI will automatically optimize them in real time. This ensures that they can drive the most relevant customers to the most relevant product page at the lowest cost possible.
It does this by harnessing the power of machine learning to optimize campaigns in real-time according to 300+ different parameters analyzed. Channels include Google Search and Shopping, YouTube, Remarketing, Smart Display, Facebook and Instagram acquisition, and Retargeting ads.
Traffic Booster Features
With Traffic Booster, online retailers can:
- Enjoy the benefits of a dedicated marketing expert and account manager
- Track real-time optimizations on a multi-channel dashboard
- Take advantage of automatic bid optimizer and machine learning technologies
- Get the ability to manage and sync product feeds with no limitations
- Handover all PPC management admin to free up time while boosting results
Traffic Booster Pricing
Unlike other PPC management services, Traffic Booster does not charge a monthly fee on top of advertising budgets. Instead, their pricing packages include your total advertising budget. The prices you see here are the amount you will spend on advertising, with no additional or surprise costs.
Getting started with Traffic Booster here.
4. Hootsuite [SaaS for Social Media Content Marketing]
With packages that suit small to large online retail stores with a busy content marketing strategy, Hootsuite offers a full array of tools for optimizing content marketing. Hootsuite is a popular choice for brands with 18+ million users who need to better manage multiple social accounts.
How Hootsuite Works
Hootsuite is an all-in-one social media management platform that enables retail marketers to manage social media content marketing from one place. After choosing the right plan and features for your brand, you'll receive 30 days free to test their service.
Additionally, during this time you and your marketing team will have access to free software classes and social media management experts.
Hootsuite Features
With Hootsuite, online retailers can:
- Track content analytics in real-time
- Set performance benchmarks and monitor improvements over time across all channels from one central dashboard
- Schedule and publish content to all social profiles
- Create and manage Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn campaigns
Hootsuite Pricing
After the 30-day trial, Hootsuite packages start at $49 per month. Deciding between packages will depend on the size of your business and the tools or services that you need.
Getting started with Hootsuite here.
5. SurveyMonkey [SaaS for Customer Feedback]
SurveyMonkey has grown to offer a host of different enterprise services — beyond just simple survey building — aimed at improving customer loyalty, streamlining customer feedback collection strategies, turning feedback into content, and helping with backend recruitment and team engagement.
In terms of online marketing and CX, SurveyMonkey's main objective is to help brands create better customer experiences.
How SurveyMonkey Works
Described as a cloud-based survey tool, SurveyMonkey enables owners, and retail marketing and CX teams, to build, send, and examine customer feedback surveys. After signing up, brands will get features that will help you or your marketing team create, send, and analyze surveys.
For larger companies, SurveyMonkey offers an enterprise option with additional features tailored to specific brand needs. It connects survey data with existing workflow tools, such as Salesforce, for more advanced metrics. (You can contact the SurveyMonkey Enterprise sales team here.)
SurveyMonkey also has additional or standalone tools that include:
- Audience. Audience is SurveyMonkey’s market research platform that lets brands conduct global market research. Starting rates for surveys start at $1 per response.
- GetFeedBack. With GetFeedBack, brands and marketing teams can collect highly targeted feedback which they can incorporate with customer data to streamline customer interactions in real-time.
- TechValidate. This tool by SurveyMonkey captures and transforms customer feedback into case studies, testimonials, and reviews.
- Engage. Engage is designed to empower your HR team to improve employee engagement.
- Apply. This tool is created explicitly for streamlining application collections for grants, scholarships, awards, and other programs.
- Wufoo. Wufoo is a free, cloud-based form builder enabling users to quickly create registration forms, application forms, surveys, contact forms, payment forms, and more.
SurveyMonkey Features
With SurveyMonkey, online retailers can:
- Use multiple channels (such as social channels, website links, emails, online chat, and more) to collect customer feedback
- Export and integrate relevant data to other apps and tools
- Quickly build surveys, quizzes, and polls for different audience segments
- Use powerful, built-in analysis features to automatically analyze results that can be used to drive more data-driven product decisions
- Get access to over 150 expertly created survey templates for any project, from front-end customer satisfaction and market research to backend employment engagement
SurveyMonkey Pricing
Although you can sign up for free, to take advantage of their advanced features, you will need to opt for a paid plan. These packages start at around $25 per user per month.
Getting started with SurveyMonkey for free here.
6. Cogsy [SaaS for Inventory Management]
Marketed as the “extra head of operations for DTC brands,” Cogsy is a SaaS tool that enables online retailers to turn operational data into accurate forecasts and plans. This tool offers online stores better proactive sales predictions and takes the guesswork and self-doubt out of your inventory planning.
How Cogsy Works
Replacing spreadsheets, Cogsy allows retailers to automatically forecast their sales. Additionally, inventory and merchandising managers can keep inventory updated in real-time and automatically create recommended purchase orders, long before you run out.
Cogsy Features
With Cogsy, online retailers can:
- Set up and receive automated replenish alerts
- Create operational plans that enable you to map out different growth scenarios
- Avoid stockouts during marketing events by factoring in promotions and sales
- Integrate with the tools that drive your retail brand's operations, such as Skubana, ShipBob, and Google Analytics
- Order and replenish inventory while additionally offering backorder options for customers
Cogsy Pricing
Cogsy plan pricing will depend on an online retailer’s annual revenue. The smallest plan is $200 per month for stores that have annual revenue of less than $5 million.
7. Grammarly Business [SaaS for Branding, Content Editing, and Communication]
Grammarly Business is an AI-powered writing assistant that helps brands craft customer communication that aligns with brand voice. Ideal for larger or growing online retail brands, Grammarly promises to make customer communication more efficient while getting rid of information roadblocks that may be preventing sales.
Grammarly Business offers specific solutions for:
- Customer support teams
- HR
- Marketing
- Sales
How Grammarly Business Works
While Grammarly Premium is for individuals to optimize their writing, Grammarly Business is built explicitly for teams to ensure every member’s communication and writing is not only professional but in line with the brand.
Grammarly Business Features
With Grammarly Business, online retailers can:
- Get real-time communication and content feedback to ensure teams are always on-brand in terms of voice, style, and guidelines
- Speed up communication while improving writing styles
- Use Grammarly’s Brand Tone feature to set up brand voice guidelines for the company to follow in all communication and correspondence
- Create and use multiple style guides for different departments
- Integrate Grammarly with current workflows and desktop and mobile apps
Grammarly Business Pricing
Grammarly Business costs depend on the size of your brand and how many team members you have. A leaner business with three members would pay $45, working out at $15 per team member.
Schedule a Grammarly demo here.
Final Thoughts: Choosing the Right SaaS Tools for Your Store Brand
Ultimately any of these SaaS tools will help you streamline your business, and, in turn, boost profits and productivity, both of which are vital for long-term eCommerce brand success. However, no tool is right for everyone, and if you’re trying to run a lean business, you will need to prioritize which ones you invest in.
So, how do you pick the right SaaS apps and tools? You want to review each in terms of:
- Pricing
- Third-party integration
- Analytics
- Security and regulations
- Support
- Features
If you’re still struggling to choose the best growth apps for your business, check out our 9 AI-Powered Tools for eCommerce Management post.
Social Media
