How to get your first 10 installs on your brand new Shopify app

by | Nov 12, 2026 | Resources

Are you looking to market your brand new Shopify app? Your first 10 installs are the hardest ones you’ll ever get. You have no reviews, no ranking in the Shopify App Store, no case studies, and likely no search engine authority on your own domain. The unfortunate reality of launching a new Shopify app is that nobody is going to stumble onto it by accident.

I’ve run Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter for six years, and in that time I’ve been pitched more than a thousand apps, so I know the struggle well. Some of the most innovative solutions I’ve ever been pitched never got off the ground because their founders lacked the marketing know-how or the budget to build momentum.

That experience is where this guide comes from. The post below is the practical advice I’d give a founder launching a brand new Shopify app today. Ten installs is a small number, and you don’t need a big budget to hit it. You just need the right strategy.

Table of contents

1. Share your app where self-promotion is allowed

Many founders immediately begin posting their app in every Shopify or e-commerce subreddit they can find, which is one of the worst things you can do because it’s a quick way to get banned from subreddits and/or have your account suspended by Reddit. The right move is to only post your app where launches are welcome, and many large subreddits have a designated thread for exactly that.

      • r/ShopifyApps – I moderate this subreddit, which exclusively exists for Shopify app founders to share what they’ve built. Just be sure to follow the posting template so your post gets approved.
      • r/ShopifyEcommerce – I also moderate this subreddit. Promotion is only allowed in the 2026 Master Promo Thread, so exclusively post your app there. If you promote in the main feed, you’ll have your post removed and will likely get banned if you’ve never contributed anything else to the sub before.
      • r/SideProject – Built for sharing side-projects and getting feedback, though not specifically Shopify App related.
      • r/startups – Promotion is only allowed in the quarterly “Share your startup” thread. Never make a standalone post.
      • r/smallbusiness – Offers a quarterly thread for promoting your business.
      • Shopify Community Forum – Don’t post ads. Answer questions from merchants who have the problem your app solves, and mention your app when it’s the honest answer.
      • Product Hunt – It won’t send a flood of Shopify merchants, but it’s got the traffic and reputation to make posting worthwhile.

Rules change, so check each website’s guidelines or subreddit’s rules before you post. And wherever you post, write like a founder, not a marketer. “I built this because my own store kept losing sales to X” gets upvotes, while “the #1 app to boost your conversions” gets overlooked as promotion or reported.

2. Pitch your app in 90 seconds to 20,000 merchants, agencies, and operators

I launched the 90 Second Pitches channel to help merchants, agencies, & operators discover innovative e-commerce technology from the industry’s most promising startups. It’s kind of like a Shark Tank for software, except instead of asking for a financial investment from a shark, you’re asking the people who actually use e-commerce tools every day to try your solution.

You submit a 90-second pitch of your app (with just a few guidelines to follow), and then I record a short outro with my commentary. Then I publish your pitch to my YouTube Channel and feature it in an edition of Shopifreaks, which reaches over 20,000 e-commerce professionals. I also boost your video on YouTube to reach thousands more merchants.

Does it work? I can’t guarantee results because ultimately it’s up to you to pitch your app and drive the install after merchants land on your website or app listing. However, I can guarantee that I’ve got the audience you’re looking for. Organizely pitched their app on my channel and got so many installs (including their first enterprise merchant), that they ended up becoming a Shopifreaks News Partner to continue building relationships with my readers.

Here’s more information about 90 Second Pitches: https://www.shopifreaks.com/90-second-pitches/

3. Launch an affiliate program for your Shopify app

Agencies, freelancers, and content creators recommend Shopify apps to merchants every day. An affiliate program gives them incentive to recommend yours, and you only pay for actual customers. Many Shopify apps with affiliate programs pay 15% to 30% of the merchant’s subscription on a recurring basis, and some go as high as 50% to 75% for the first few months or a higher flat rate for new installs.

One important caveat to running an affiliate program: People aren’t going to recommend you just for the commission — at least not the kind of affiliates you’re after. Remember, their reputation with their clients or audience is on the line when recommending software, so you’ve got to sell them on the solution, not just the commission. Earning a commission is the icing on the cake for recommending products and services I believe in, not the reason I make recommendations.

Perfect example below… I don’t earn a commission on any of these recommendations, but I make them because they’re the best solutions for my readers. However, if they later offer me an affiliate link, I’ll certainly add it to monetize the referrals. 

Top 3 Affiliate Tracking Software For Shopify Apps

Tracking installs is the tricky part for Shopify apps because the install happens on the Shopify App Store, which you don’t control. That means traditional e-commerce focused affiliate tools like UpPromote or Refersion won’t work. You specifically need a platform that can credit App Store installs and Shopify Billing revenue to the right partner. Mantle used to be the leading solution, but it shut down its affiliate product in 2026, so these are the three top options now.

  • PartnerJam – Built for Shopify apps by app developer Digismoothie. Tracks installs through the Shopify Partner API, takes no cut of payouts, and its Growth plan lists you in its affiliate marketplace. Plans cap monthly affiliate earnings at $1,000 (Starter $49.99/month) and $5,000 (Growth $99.99/month), so you’ll move up a tier as the program grows. 
  • Shoffi – Cheapest way to start, takes no cut of payouts, and has a marketplace where affiliates browse app programs. The marketplace isn’t a growth engine on its own. Expect to recruit most of your affiliates yourself. Shoffi is free until affiliates drive $100/month, then ranges from $39 to $149 per month.
  • Partner.io – One flat plan with no revenue caps and no cut of commissions. Handles affiliates, agencies, and integration partners in one place. Partner.io is a general partner platform rather than a Shopify-only tool, but still works for Shopify Apps. The tool costs $79 per team seat/mo.

Whatever you pick, note that the software only tracks referrals. You still have to recruit partners and sell them on why you offer the best solution on the market. As I said, your affiliate program merely offers incentive for them to work with you, not the reason.

4. Cross-promote with other apps

Some of the best partners for your app are other apps, particularly apps that are non-competitive to your own but serve your target audience. For example, if you run an Apparel Sizing app, you could partner with Virtual Try-On app, since you both serve fashion retailers.

Find two or three apps that serve the same merchants without competing with you, and offer to cross-promote each other. Smaller apps in particular might be happy to say yes, because they’re trying to solve the same problem you are.

Keep in mind that a cross-promotion only works if you have something to offer in return. An app with 10,000 installs probably won’t care about a swap with an app that has 10 users, so focus on other new apps at about the same stage as you. Then again, if you have an affiliate program, commission is the great equalizer. Even if you can’t send a bigger app as much traffic as it sends your app, you can pay it for every merchant it refers.

A few ideas for cross-promotion:

      • Swap spots on each other’s “recommended apps” or “works well with” pages.
      • Co-write a guide or tutorial that uses both apps to solve one problem.
      • Offer a bundle discount for merchants who install both.
      • Mention each other in onboarding e-mails, help docs, and newsletters.
      • Join each other’s affiliate programs, so every referral pays both ways.

5. Get listed in your integration partners’ app marketplaces

If your app connects with a bigger platform, that platform’s app marketplace is one of the best places to be found. Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Recharge each run their own directory of apps that integrate with them, and their merchants browse it looking for tools that work with what they already use. A listing on an integration partner’s marketplace borrows a big brand’s traffic and credibility.

If your app doesn’t integrate with anything yet, look at which tools your merchants already use and ask whether syncing data with one of them would make your app more useful. A loyalty app that pushes points into Klaviyo, or a returns app that shows up inside Gorgias tickets, is easier to sell than one that works alone.

The process for becoming an official integration partner varies from app to app, but typically it involves an application and review of your app, and potentially an onboarding. 

Keep in mind that I’m just offering a few examples of apps that offer known partner marketplaces, and those are big examples, but you may have better luck with smaller players to start. And if they don’t have an integration partner directory, maybe you’ll be the reason they start one!

6. Optimize your App Store listing

This should go without saying, but create a good Shopify App Store listing! At some point, no matter what you do to market your app, visitors are going to arrive on your app listing, and it’s up to you to close the sale (ie: drive the install). A merchant decides in a few seconds whether your app is worth installing, and with no reviews yet, the listing has to do all the convincing.

      • Use the words merchants search for. Keep your brand name unique and memorable, but make sure the subtitle, introduction, and search terms on your listing use the exact phrases merchants type in, like “back in stock alerts” rather than “inventory engagement.” Merchants who don’t know your name yet can only find you by the problem they’re aiming to solve.
      • Fill every visual slot. Shopify gives you up to six desktop images and one feature slot at the top of your listing, so be sure to use all of them, and don’t waste the space with images that don’t sell. As a general rule of thumb, your image slideshow should serve as a standalone sales pitch for your app.
      • Lead with the result. Your first screenshot should show what the merchant gets, like more recovered carts or fewer support tickets, not your settings page.
      • Skip the slideshow video. A video that flips through your screenshots set to generic music tells merchants nothing the screenshots don’t. In my experience, a less polished video that actually explains your app’s benefit is better than a moving slideshow. Check out the Recommended Pitch Structure section on my 90 Second Pitch Guidelines for advice on video format. Even if you don’t plan on submitting a pitch, you might want to still follow this winning pitch formula for your Shopify App listing video.
      • Link a demo store. Very important! Don’t skip this one! Merchants want to try an app before they commit to it, and a live demo store lets them see exactly how your app looks and functions on a real storefront before they install. I pretty much skip all apps that don’t offer a demo store at this point when choosing solutions. However, be sure to check it regularly on desktop and mobile, because a broken demo store is worse than none.
      • Write for the merchant’s problem. Open the description with the problem you solve and who it’s for, then list the features.
      • Remove the risk. A free plan or a trial period makes it easier to say yes to an app with no reviews.
      • Aim for the Built for Shopify badge. It’s a long-term goal, but it helps with trust and rank once you qualify.

7. Run ads in the Shopify App Store

Shopify App Store search ads put your app at the top of results when merchants search for your keywords. It’s one of the few ways a brand-new app can show up above established competitors on day one. However, run ads only after your listing is optimized, because what’s the point of spending money to drive traffic to a listing that doesn’t convert? 

Realistically, ads convert better once you have a review or two, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

      • Start small. The minimum budget is $5 a day, and you only pay when someone clicks. Set aside a test budget and adjust it as you learn what converts.
      • Bid on specific keywords. Shopify rewards relevance, so the most relevant ad for a keyword pays the lowest cost per click. Skip broad or loosely related terms, even for brand awareness (which you can’t really afford initially anyway).
      • Use negative keywords. Broad match is the default, so your ad can show up for related searches that never convert. Block the ones that cost too much.
      • Track cost per install. Keep a running list of your cheapest and most expensive keywords, and move budget toward the ones that bring installs.
      • Check your positions regularly. Other apps can start bidding on your keywords and push your ad out. If an ad that was converting stops showing, you may need to raise the bid.
      • Try category ads too. Besides search ads, you can run ads on category pages, which helps if merchants browse your category more than they search for it.
      • Plan around seasons. If your app matters more at certain times, like before Black Friday, raise budgets and update your listing a few weeks ahead.

8. Reach out to merchants directly

Cold outreach is a grind, but it gets the job done. I know founders doing $1M ARR who have built their entire businesses on direct outreach to merchants. If they can do it, what’s your excuse? Find 50 stores that clearly have the problem your app solves and contact each one personally.

      • Pick stores with a visible problem. If your app fixes slow product pages, look for stores with slow product pages. If your app offers a better search solution, look for stores with larger product catalogs that would benefit from it. If your app caters to merchants who run their own small warehouses, look for smaller stores that aren’t likely to work with 3PLs, and that don’t dropship or POD their products.
      • Make your outreach about their store. Point out the exact issue you noticed and how your app fixes it. A message that could be sent to anyone gets ignored. Transparency and directness beats flattery and other marketing strategies any day. Take that advice from a guy who receives dozens of pitches a week!
      • Offer to set it up for them. “I’ll install and configure it for you, free” is much easier to say yes to than “try our app.”
      • Keep it short. Three or four sentences with one clear ask. Don’t make me guess what you want from me. 
      • Use the right channel. Many store owners are easier to reach on LinkedIn, Instagram, or through their store’s contact form than at a generic support inbox.
      • Address the owner by name if possible. Not just “Hi”. A little research into the company’s About or Our Story pages goes a long way.
      • Use your full name. I can’t tell you how many pitches I get from “XYZ Team” or “John” (ie: first name only), with no contact information or other indication that I’m receiving an e-mail from a real person. People do business with other people, not generic company names. 
      • Send e-mails from a work domain. It’s always more professional to get outreach from [email protected] than [email protected]. I do understand that custom domain e-mails add cost to your business, but it’s included with many website hosting plans, so you can kill two birds with one stone by getting a real domain for your app while you’re a it (if you don’t have one already). 

Most merchants won’t reply, which is understandable because merchants get a lot of outreach. Some will reply and say “no thanks,” to which you should always reply yourself to say “Thanks for the reply. Be in touch anytime in the future if your situation changes and you’d like to try out our app.” Keep the line of communication open. And for the few that do reply, you’re in business!

9. Write comparison posts pitting your app against well known players

One of the best ways to catch merchants while they’re in research mode is to compare your solution against other legacy players on the market. The catch though is that nobody knows about your app yet, so they’re not searching for it. In other words, nobody is searching for “Legacy App vs Your App” because they’ve never heard of yours. (However, there is value to those types of comparison posts for when people are already on your site.)

As for getting your comparison page discovered, the trick is to insert yourself into a conversation that already exists via a three-way comparison of the two best-known apps in your category plus yours. For example: “Legacy App A vs Legacy App B vs Your App.” Merchants are already searching “A vs B,” and now they’ll find your post comparing those solutions to yours, which puts your app in the conversation.

This is a strategy I’ve employed for almost two decades now for clients and for my affiliate sites, and it still works well, especially for niches without a ton of competitors.

A few things to keep in mind about the strategy: 

      • Be fair to the competitors. Say what each one does well objectively. A comparison page that trashes everyone else reads like an ad, and merchants stop trusting it. Inevitably, your app is going to excel in some areas and fall short in others. It’s best to be transparent about your app’s shortcomings so that you can acquire the right merchants. If you bullshit, they’ll just uninstall your app and/or leave a bad review. 
      • Compare what merchants care about. Price, setup time, key features, support, and which type of store each one fits best. I like to label winners in various categories such as “Best for merchants on a budget” or “Best for stores with large product catalogs” to help merchants qualify themselves.
      • Write the “alternative” pages too. Merchants unhappy with a legacy app often search for “[Legacy App] alternative,” and a new app can rank for those searches long before it ranks in the App Store.
      • Keep your comparison posts updated. Competitors change pricing and features, as do you, so review these pages every few months.

These comparison posts also help you show up when merchants ask ChatGPT or other AI assistants which app to use, because clear comparison content is what those tools pull from.

10. Build / grow your app in public

People love stories, not advertisements. Sharing what you’re building, what’s working, what isn’t, and your challenges along the way reel people into your narrative and make your solution more rememberable. Founders, agencies, and merchants follow along, and some of them become your first users, affiliates, or cross-promotion partners.

LinkedIn and X are the best places to start, since that’s where Shopify founders and agencies spend their time. On Reddit, r/buildinpublic exists for exactly this, and r/SideProject is open to progress updates too. The posts that do best are specific, like “we went from 3 to 11 installs this month, and here’s what moved the needle,” rather than general updates.

Building in public works better with friends. Partner with a few other founders of non-competing apps who are also sharing their progress, and comment on and share each other’s posts from time to time. Early engagement helps a post reach more people, and your audiences overlap enough that each of you picks up new followers.

I offered the advice above to an app founder who told me on a call that she didn’t post on social media much because she didn’t have much to say. I rattled off on the spot like 20 examples of types of posts she could make on LinkedIn about building and growing her app. She had an interesting story to tell. She just never thought about it that way. Flash forward two years… her LinkedIn posts get like 100+ likes each, she’s won awards for her app, and she’s been personally profiled in publications as an entrepreneur — all because she shared her story (the one she thought she didn’t have). 

For around 7 years, I traveled the world putting out video content on YouTube and Facebook, mostly sharing stories about interesting people that I met and places I visited along the way. Throughout my travels, I had a rule: If I couldn’t find a story, it was my fault. It wasn’t because the city was boring or the person had no story. Not finding the story just meant that I wasn’t looking at it the right way. Sometimes we just need to change our perspective to see things from a new angle. 

That’s my long way of saying — you’ve got a story! Be sure to tell it. 

11. Create tutorials about how to solve problems, not just how to use your app

Create as many how-to guides and tutorials as you can that teach merchants to solve a problem, with your app as part of the solution. To clarify, I’m not talking about help documentation for your app (which is smart to have too, once you have users). I’m talking about directly addressing problems that merchants have, independent of your app. For example:

      • A merchant searching “how to reduce return rates on Shopify” isn’t looking for an app yet, but a tutorial that walks them through it and shows your app handling one of the steps can convert them.
      • A merchant searching “how to recover abandoned carts on Shopify” isn’t necessarily looking for an app yet, but a tutorial that shows your app sending WhatsApp messages could open their eyes to a new way to recover abandoned carts.
      • A merchant searching “how to add size charts to Shopify product pages” isn’t looking for an app yet, but a tutorial that shows your app building one in a few clicks could solve their problem quicker.

Rules for tutorials:

      • Start with the problem, not the app. The title should match what merchants actually search for.
      • Teach the whole fix. Include the steps that don’t involve your app, so the guide is useful even to someone who never installs it.
      • Make videos too. Recording your screen as you walk a viewer through solving a problem makes for a boring video — for everyone except the person that has the problem! The videos don’t have to be entertaining. Just educational. YouTube results show up in Google and AI searches and will likely rank faster than a blog post on your brand new domain, so don’t miss out on video, even if you’re not a pro editor.

12. Pitch authors of roundup posts

Search Google for “best Shopify apps for [your category]” and you’ll find dozens of roundup articles from blogs, agencies, and review sites, as well as a bunch from competitors. Many of them are updated every year, and the authors are often looking for new apps to include. I’ve personally run software / app comparison sites for decades, and I appreciate being introduced to new solutions on the market. I don’t always feature them, but learning about them helps keep my posts up to date.

Tips for pitching authors:

      • Read the article first. Make sure you understand what exactly the article addresses and how your app fits in.
      • Lead with what’s different. Explain in one or two sentences what your app does that the apps already on the list don’t.
      • Make it easy to write about you. Include a short description they can use, a screenshot or two, your pricing, and a link to your listing. Even better is if you provide that info in the same format as the rest of the post.
      • Offer free access. Give the author a free account so they can actually try the app before writing about it.
      • Offer an incentive for their readers. Authors like to provide their readers with exclusive discounts and promos. 
      • Follow up once. If you don’t hear back in a week, send one short follow-up and then move on. I get so many e-mails every day, it might take me months to reply sometimes, and I’d imagine other site authors receive a ton as well. Nobody likes to be pestered.

13. Go to in-person Shopify and e-commerce events

Founders of online apps tend to underestimate in-person networking, but people work with people they know and trust. One conversation with an agency owner at a conference can turn into a referral partner who installs your app on a dozen client stores. A merchant who met you in person is far more likely to try your app, and to give you honest feedback when something’s broken.

Btw, I’m not talking about big industry events like Shoptalk and NRF. Those conferences have a TON of merchants, which is great, but they also have a FUCK TON of other app and SaaS founders pitching their solutions too! You should go to those shows one day because they’re a lot of fun. However, when it comes to getting your first 10 installs, I recommend going to smaller, local events where you can speak to merchants one-on-one in a more intimate setting.

Check Facebook, Meetup, and other local websites to find some in-person groups to join. Attend a few events, get to know your local e-commerce community, and maybe you can even speak at one and showcase your app. 

Bonus: turn your first installs into your first reviews

You already know you need reviews. What you may not know is that Shopify tightened its review rules in July 2026, and the old shortcuts now get apps penalized. Offering any incentive for a review is banned, whether it happens inside the app or outside it. Shopify also weights ratings toward recent, detailed reviews from established merchants, so five reviews from friends on free demo stores won’t do much for your ranking anymore.

Your first reviews should come from your first real users:

      • Set it up for them. Do the onboarding yourself, on a call or over chat, and get each merchant to their first result. Merchants review apps that worked for them, not apps they installed and forgot about.
      • Ask at the right moment. The best time is right after a merchant sees a result, or right after you fix a support issue for them. That’s when they’re most willing to write something.
      • Keep the ask neutral. Use Shopify’s Reviews API for the in-app prompt. Say “share your experience,” never “leave us five stars,” and let merchants opt out of being asked again.
      • Reply to every review. Answer bad reviews quickly and without getting defensive. When you only have a handful, how you respond tells merchants a lot about what it’s like to work with you.
      • Win on support. The big apps in your category can’t answer a support chat in five minutes. You can, and that speed is what early reviews are usually about.

If you want structured feedback, it’s fine to pay a few merchants for their time in a beta. Pay for the feedback only, tell them in writing that the payment has nothing to do with App Store reviews, and leave those merchants out of every review request.

Wrapping it up

With AI-assisted coding, building the solution has become the easy part for a lot of founders. The hard part is everything that comes after: reaching merchants, educating them on why your app is the best solution to their problem, and growing your client base one install at a time.

As an app founder, you have to wear multiple hats. First it’s the developer hat. Now it’s the marketing hat. And once you get past the first hurdle of finding your first 10 installs, you’ll soon need your accounting hat to count all your stacks on stacks on stacks!

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