How do you get your first Shopify merchant?
I’ve built and launched a Shopify app and now I’m stuck at the part I honestly didn’t expect to be this hard: getting the first merchant.
The app combines Reviews, Loyalty and Referrals into one platform. The idea is that instead of merchants having separate apps for each, they can manage the whole retention loop in one place.
It handles things like product/photo/video reviews, loyalty points and tiers, and customer referrals.
The goal is basically:
Purchase → Review → Reward → Come back → Refer
The product is built and working, but so far I haven’t been able to get a single merchant to actually use it.
I’ve been doing cold outreach and trying to speak directly with Shopify merchants, but I’m obviously missing something.
For those who have built Shopify apps:
How did you get your first 1-5 merchants? What actually worked?
And for the merchants here, is combining Reviews + Loyalty + Referrals into one app something you’d actually want? Or are these things better handled by separate apps?
I’m genuinely trying to figure out whether I have a customer acquisition problem or a product/market problem before I spend more time pushing it.