The best WooCommerce plugins: how to improve your online store

If you’re planning to create an online store with WordPress, sooner or later you will read about WooCommerce. The popular store system is the solution for creating your own online store in WordPress quickly and easily. With the right WooCommerce plugins, you can expand the system in no time at all to adapt it to your needs.

This article was last updated in August 2021.

Further on in this article, you’ll find out about WooCommerce plugins that can be used in various cases. The following table provides an overview of the types of plugins and their key benefits:

WooCommerce plugins expand your online store with important features that not only improve the customer experience but also the conversion rate. WooCommerce itself provides the technical basis for an online store in WordPress. However, every store operator has their own individual requirements for their store. This is where WooCommerce extensions come into play. There are now numerous extensions that cover a wide range of demands.

It is precisely due to the wide range of WooCommerce extensions offered that too many plugins end up quickly being installed, thereby reducing the speed of the online store. Therefore, it is important that you think about the following points in advance:

1. What special requirements do you have for your online store?
2. Which of these features are not directly integrated into WooCommerce?
3. Is there a theme that already covers these requirements?
4. Which plugins meet your requirements, and which of them may cover several requirements at the same time?
5. Are there certain WooCommerce plugins bundled in a package to save money?

For WooCommerce, there are now many plugins that provide more legal certainty, simplify purchase processes and support customer loyalty. We will introduce you to some of the best WooCommerce plugins for different needs and show you their key features in detail.

Print Invoice & Delivery Notes for WooCommerce is a plugin that simplifies printing invoices and delivery notes for your WooCommerce store orders. Users can customize the name of their store, postal address, and even add a refund policy in the footer. The plugin is available free of charge. For more advanced features, Tyche Softwares offers pro plugins such as a Custom Order Status for WooCommerce at $39 per year.

A good conversion rate is particularly important for the payment process. With these WooCommerce plugins, you can adapt your checkout process to your needs and those of your customers:

With the WooCommerce plugin Checkout Field Editor, you can add individual input fields in the billing address, delivery address and optional areas in no time at all. In the free version, in addition to field types such as input and text area, there are also other input options available such as password, email, telephone, select and radio buttons. In the Pro version, starting at 49 US dollars, there are 17 different field types including checkboxes, date input, and multi-select.

Similar to WooCommerce shortcodes, you can also integrate all fields quickly and easily using hooks. With just one click, you can decide whether the entries will also appear later in the order emails. In addition, predefined fields from WooCommerce can be deactivated and the order of the fields can be adjusted. The automatic deactivation of fields based on the products in the shopping cart is also no problem with the Pro version.

The following table provides an overview of the free and paid functions of the WooCommerce plugin Checkout Field Editor:

The provision of various payment methods in your online store is an important criterion when it comes to closing sales. With the WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway, you can expand your online store with numerous payment gateways. In addition to PayPal, Stripe has also established itself worldwide as a serious and secure payment provider and supports Google Pay, Apple Pay, local payments, and recurring payments.

The number of clicks in a purchase process is often decisive for the conversion rate. With the free version of the WooCommerce plugin Direct Checkout, you lead your customers directly to the checkout process, instead of first to the shopping cart. To further simplify the process, checkout fields that are not required can be removed. In the premium version, a quick-purchase button can also be placed under each product and the ordering process can be minimized to one page.

Customers can manage their orders and details more quickly and easily via an account in their online store. With the WooCommerce Social Login, customers can log in directly through one of their existing social media accounts. The inhibition threshold for opening another account is thus reduced because data does not have to be re-entered. Especially during the checkout process, this uncomplicated solution ensures faster processing and fewer abandoned purchases. In addition to a branded registration form, this WooCommerce plugin offers statistics for analyzing user behavior on the website. WooCommerce Social Login is available on Envato Market for 39 US dollars.

Both the retention of existing customers and the acquisition of new customers play an important role in e-commerce. With the right WooCommerce plugins, you can easily create customer-retention and customer-winning marketing campaigns.

The free WooCommerce plugin HubSpot not only offers a comprehensive CRM to manage customers and orders but also the ability to track abandoned shopping carts, send email marketing campaigns, create advertising campaigns on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google, and generate reports on customers and orders. Data from WooCommerce can easily be synchronized with HubSpot.

A wishlist not only gives existing customers the opportunity to save products for later but also to share them with others. Ideally, this is how you can win additional customers. YITH WooCommerce Wishlist includes all the functions that a user-friendly wishlist needs. In the free version, you can already choose which page serves as a wishlist or where the button “Add to wishlist” appears. The premium version expands the wishlist with functions such as email notifications about products in the wishlist or a login notice.

The following table provides an overview of the differences between the free and premium versions of this WooCommerce extension:

If a customer has bought one or more products, it is up to you to process the order. Invoicing, shipping items, and managing returns should ideally take place in an optimized process. There are also WooCommerce plugins to support you with the purchase process in this case.

The WooCommerce plugin PDF Invoices & Packing Slips automatically attaches an invoice in PDF format to the order confirmation email that is sent to your customers and saves it in the respective customer account. Even in the free version, invoices can be completely adapted via HTML and CSS and given individually formatted invoice numbers. In addition, this WooCommerce extension generates a packing slip with all items, their SKU numbers, and the number of products for the shipping department. With the premium version, you can easily create PDF invoices and credit notes. In addition, packing slips can be sent by email or uploaded to Dropbox and delivery notes can be sent directly to a printer.