Magento is a very robust eCommerce platform which when coupled with being easy to setup makes it the market leader in out of the box e-commerce software. It is also one of the most flexible, with hundreds of Best Magento Extensions (or plugins) available for you to choose from. There are a few extensions that can help boost your online store’s overall performance and we are going to look into some of them in this article.
MageMonkey
Newsletter is still one of the most effective ways of marketing your products and services online. It may be an old trick in the internet marketing book, but it is very effective in reaching and retaining customers. Among the many newsletter extensions available for Magento, MageMonkey stands out the most.
As you would have guessed from the name of this extension, MageMonkey is a simple and straightforward way to integrate Magento with MailChimp. It does so much more than send out newsletters or collect email addresses to add to your list.
For starters, MageMonkey can be set to send birthday wishes to customers. Personalize the message and this can be a very effective way to connect with your customers more. You can still use the full power of MailChimp to integrate strings and other elements to each individual email.
Another great feature you will love is abandoned cart reminder. MageMonkey can be programmed to send an email whenever a customer abandons his or her shopping cart for a certain period of time. You can also integrate key marketing messages, such as discounts and special offers.
Cubix Address Label Printing
This is an extension I particularly love. Address Label Printing from Cubix allows you to print shipping labels directly from Magento’s admin panel. You no longer have to do everything manually and can instead have all the labels you need printed automatically.
In today’s competitive market, fast order processing is very important. With this extension installed, you can shorten the amount of time you need to process and ship orders rather significantly. Cubix Address Label Printing supports label templates, logos, return address and even barcodes. There are also a number of premade templates that you can use right away; you can find a lot of additional templates online too.
You can also set each label to be printed multiple times or have the extension running for multiple stores, each with its own logo and settings. The extension is compatible with a wide range of shipping labels and stickers. All you have to do is enter the correct label configuration and you are all set.
Fooman
Most of us use Magento to run a relatively small online store. Once you start getting hundreds – or even thousands – of orders a day, however, the conventional Magento numbering system may not be enough. In this case, you need Fooman to help you manage your invoices more efficiently.
Fooman is a Magento extension that offers a much needed functionality for those who want to run an efficient online store. Also known as Same Order Invoice Number by Fooman, the extension basically takes the Order Number generated by Magento and uses it for marking invoices, credit memos and shipment memos.
Let’s say you are looking at order #2713 and you need to find the correct invoice for it. The invoice will have the same number with a predetermined prefix added to it; for example, the invoice will be marked I2713 and the shipment memo will be marked S2713. Fooman can also prevent duplicates and even add suffixes to documents derived from a single order.
There is also a premium extension from Fooman that takes these features a step further. The Order Number Customizer by Fooman, available for $99, allows you to fully customize the way order, invoice, shipment and credit documents are numbered. You can use any numbering convention, even complicated ones such as #02173-2016/03, to help you keep track of your orders more effectively.
MatrixRate
Magento can calculate shipping and handling costs automatically, but the basic function offered by the ecommerce platform is often not enough. To have a more detailed and accurate shipping rate calculations, you need to install MatrixRate.
This extension is definitely a must-have. It can help you adjust and calculate shipping cost based on where the customer is located, the weight of the shipment, the number of items shipped and even the price of the items.
You can also customize MatrixRate further and have other factors – such as the size of the package – calculated as well. Although this extension is mainly designed for the United States, UK, Europe and Australia, it can be virtually customized to work with any region and shipping calculation methods.
MatrixRate has one particular feature that customers will love. It allows customers to get a quote for shipping cost before they actually check out. As they add more items to the shopping cart, they can choose to update the estimate accordingly. No more hidden charges and surprising shipping cost that often leads to customers abandoning their carts.
Of course this only represents a tiny selection of the plugins and extensions available for Magento. You can view lots more on the Magento Commerce Marketplace all ordered by subject and all extremely easy to install and use. There are lots of Top Magento Extensions, Themes and Modules on the magento connect.
