— For Shopify agencies & freelancers

Propel Replays for Shopify agencies
and the freelancers who keep client stores running.

You're juggling three to fifteen client stores. Each one wants a different tool combo, a different reporting cadence, a different theme generation. Propel Replays installs in 30 seconds, runs at 0ms on Core Web Vitals, doesn't fight Shopify, and doesn't need a developer to babysit it. Recommend it to a client and your engagement doesn't get derailed by the integration.

Install free on Shopify See what agencies use it for
30-SECOND INSTALL · 0MS CORE WEB VITALS · NO GTM · NO THEME.LIQUID EDITS · 4.9★ FROM 7,000+ STORES
— Why agencies recommend Propel

A CRO tool that doesn't fight you on the integration.

Built by a Shopify founder. Used by 7,000+ Shopify stores. Installs as a theme app embed — no GTM tag, no theme.liquid edit, no developer needed.

You manage three to fifteen Shopify stores. Each client has a different stack — different theme, different reviews app, different upsell app, different post-purchase flow. The last thing you need is a CRO tool that requires a Google Tag Manager wire-up, a theme.liquid snippet, a thirty-minute QA pass on mobile, and a follow-up Slack thread two weeks later because the script started fighting another app on iOS Safari.

Propel Replays is the opposite shape. One click from the Shopify App Store, theme app embed toggled on, replays recording inside 30 seconds. Shopify injects the script at the bottom of the page after everything else has loaded, async — so it doesn't fight any other app and it doesn't tank Lighthouse. Recommend it to a client and the integration is a non-event. They install it. It works. Your engagement keeps moving.

That matters because every agency knows the apps that don't install cleanly: the ones that need a developer call, the ones that broke add-to-cart on a Tuesday, the ones the client blames you for. Propel sits in the other camp. It just works on every Shopify theme, the client gets value the same day, and you don't get pulled into a free integration debug.

— Four problems agencies solve with Replays

The everyday agency CRO toolkit, condensed to one app.

Four jobs that come up in agency engagements every week. Each one is faster with replays and heatmaps than without.

Problem 01

Client says "conversion is bad." You need data by Friday standup.

The client emails on Monday: conversion rate's down, what's wrong, what are you doing about it. You don't have qualitative data on this store yet. You have four days to come back with something specific.

What you do with Replays

Install Propel Replays on the client's store in 30 seconds. By Tuesday morning you have replays from real visitors. Filter by device and landing page, AI-summarise the first 50 sessions, skim them in fifteen minutes. By Wednesday you've found the broken thing — usually a mobile Safari rage-click pattern, a size-chart link buried below the fold, or an upsell that's eating add-to-cart on iOS.

By Friday standup you're not pitching theory. You have a screenshot of the heatmap, two replay clips, and a recommendation. The client moves from "what's wrong" to "ship the fix." That's the engagement saved.

Problem 02

A theme update on one client's store breaks add-to-cart on another's.

You ship a theme update across three retainer clients on a Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday morning, one of them has a quietly broken add-to-cart on iOS Safari that nobody caught in QA. You don't see it. The client doesn't see it yet. The orders just stop.

What you do with Replays

The click heatmap on the PDP starts showing rage clicks on the add-to-cart button. Dead-click detection flags it. You spot it on Tuesday evening when you check the dashboard, roll the theme back overnight, and ship the fix before the client even notices to email Wednesday morning.

That's the difference between "agency that catches its own regressions" and "agency that gets the angry email." Heatmaps catch theme regressions before clients do. Worth it on its own.

Problem 03

Pitching CRO services. You need before/after evidence.

The discovery call goes well. The prospect wants a CRO retainer. They want to see what an engagement actually looks like. Most decks are full of generic best-practice slides. None of them feel like this store.

What you do with Replays

You install Replays on a past client's store (with permission) and pull the click heatmap from before you started the engagement, side-by-side with the click heatmap after. The pre-engagement heatmap is a mess of dead clicks on a non-interactive element. The post-engagement one is a clean, focused funnel down to the add-to-cart button.

That single before/after sells the retainer. It's not theory; it's the work, in a screenshot. Propel reviewers consistently call this out — "genuinely helpful suggestions that actually improve conversion, not just generic advice" (Pixel Burn) — and that's the energy you bring into the pitch. If you want a structured Shopify-specific reference for the discovery deck, our Shopify CRO playbook covers what to fix first.

Problem 04

"How is the new landing page performing?"

Client launches a new landing page on Monday. By Wednesday they're asking how it's doing. GA4 says "not enough data," Triple Whale says "directional," Shopify Analytics has a number that means nothing without context. You need a real answer in fifteen minutes.

What you do with Replays

Filter replays by the campaign UTM. Watch the first 30 sessions — AI summaries cut that to a five-minute skim. Pull the click-and-area heatmap on the new landing page on mobile and desktop separately. Screenshot the friction points: the hero that gets glanced at and abandoned, the CTA that nobody clicks, the section where dead clicks pile up on a non-interactive element. Send the client three screenshots and a Loom.

Fifteen minutes, real answer, billable. The client gets a specific recommendation instead of "we'll know more in two weeks." That's a different kind of agency.

— What merchants say (the kind of thing that makes a recommendation easy)

7,000+ Shopify stores. 4.9★ across hundreds of reviews.

"In the past we used Hotjar (I think it's called something else now), but this is much better because it's in Shopify. Designed in a way that's tailored to how shop owners use this kind of data."
Strudel3D
Shopify App Store review
"Genuinely helpful suggestions that actually improve conversion, not just generic advice."
Pixel Burn Custom Laser Creations
Shopify App Store review
"More features and metrics available than other replay apps I have used so far."
Cask & Cotton
Shopify App Store review
"Helped me fix quite a bit on my site I didn't realize was causing issues for customers."
Hair Dance
Shopify App Store review
"It is the best way to troubleshoot especially when I launch a new product."
KayarizeGifts
Shopify App Store review
"We transitioned from a different heatmap application and so far we're very impressed with the features with Propel."
Good Organics
Shopify App Store review
— First month with Replays on a client store

What agencies typically ship in the first 30 days.

Concrete deliverables — the kind that show up in a status report, not a vague "we're optimising."

Week 1
PDP audit using click and area heatmaps
Pull the click heatmap on the client's top-selling product page. Layer the area heatmap to see where attention concentrates. Annotate the dead-click pile-ups on non-interactive elements, the variant picker nobody finds on mobile, the size chart sitting in a region that gets no engagement. Deliver as a one-page audit. Bill the engagement.
Week 1
Mobile checkout friction sweep
Filter replays by device = mobile, exit page = checkout. Watch the first twenty drop-offs. AI summaries cut it to a five-minute skim. Find the iOS Safari shipping-method bug, the discount-code field that's hidden behind a "Have a code?" toggle nobody finds. Ship the fixes; show the conversion lift in the next status call.
Week 2
Theme migration validation
Client is moving from Dawn to a custom theme. You ship the new theme on a preview URL, install Replays, drive a small sample of paid traffic to it, and watch the first 100 sessions. Catch the variant picker bug, the cart drawer scroll lock on mobile, the post-purchase upsell timing race. Fix before go-live.
Week 2
Paid landing page analysis for the next campaign
Client wants to validate the new landing page before pouring $20k into Meta. You install Replays, run $500 of test traffic, watch the first 30 sessions, and pull the click + area heatmap. Three friction points found, three fixes shipped. The full campaign launches on a tested page.
Week 3
CRO retainer pitch deck built around real replay evidence
For prospects: build a deck around an existing client's before/after click heatmap, a screenshot of an AI-summarised replay, and a Loom of a real session. Costs you fifteen minutes, sells the retainer. Reuse the structure for every new pitch.
Week 4
Monthly client report — qualitative section
Most agency client reports are a wall of GA4 numbers. Add a one-page qualitative section: top three friction patterns this month, the replay clips that prove them, the heatmap shifts you saw after the fixes shipped. Clients renew on this kind of work, not on bounce-rate decimals.
— Multi-store workflow, honestly

One Replays install per Shopify store. No agency-level dashboard yet.

Multi-store agency views are part of the Plus-tier roadmap. We'd rather call this honestly than fake a feature that doesn't exist.

The honest version of how Replays works for agencies today: it installs separately on each Shopify store — one App Store install per store. Each store has its own Replays dashboard with its own data. There's no agency-level multi-store dashboard yet. If you manage five client stores, you'll log into five Replays dashboards.

For most freelancers and small agencies, that's fine — Shopify itself works the same way (one admin per store, switched via the partner dashboard) and Replays follows the platform. For larger shops managing 10+ retainers, the cross-store roll-up is on the Plus-tier roadmap alongside SSO, extended retention, and dedicated support response. If you want a voice in how that gets shaped, email chris@propelcommerce.io.

— Pricing for agency clients

The client pays Replays, not the agency.

Propel Replays is paid by the merchant — it's their store, their data, their Shopify subscription. Agencies don't pay Replays directly and there's no per-seat agency licence to negotiate. The client installs it from the Shopify App Store and pays the App Store list price.

Free up to 750 pageviews/mo. Basic at $9.90/mo (or $6.44/mo billed annually — 35% off) covers 20,000 pageviews. Most independent client stores fit comfortably on Basic; mid-size DTC fits on Plus at $14.90/mo. Pricing transparent on the Replays page — no calls, no quotes, no surprises in the client's renewal email.

— FAQ

Shopify agency FAQ

Do agencies get a discount or partner program?
Honest answer: not yet. There's no formal Propel partner program, no agency discount code, no revenue share. The merchant pays for their own Replays subscription on their store, and they pay App Store list price. Why the honesty? Building a partner program is real work — payouts, attribution, partner tiers — and we'd rather not fake one. If you're regularly recommending Propel to clients and you'd like to be on a list when a partner program ships, email chris@propelcommerce.io and we'll add you.
Can I install Replays on a client's staging environment first?
Yes. Install Propel Replays on the client's development store or unpublished staging theme exactly the way you'd install any Shopify app — one click from the App Store, theme app embed toggled on. Replays start recording sessions on whichever theme is published. If you want to validate Lighthouse impact before going live on production, install on staging, run Lighthouse with and without Replays toggled on, and ship the comparison to the client.
Will Replays interfere with other Shopify apps the client has?
It hasn't, in 7,000+ stores. Propel Replays loads as a Shopify theme app embed — Shopify injects it at the bottom of the page, after everything else has rendered, and the script itself is async. There's no GTM tag, no theme.liquid edit, no synchronous third-party blob fighting other apps for the critical path. We coexist with Klaviyo, Triple Whale, Shopify Inbox, the reviews app, the upsell app, the bundles app, the loyalty app — the whole stack.
Can I see replays from a client's store as their freelance dev?
Yes. The client invites you as a Shopify staff account on their store and you get Replays access automatically — same permission model as any other Shopify app. There's no separate Propel login to provision. When the engagement ends, the client revokes your staff account and your access drops with it. If you need to share a single replay with a third party, every replay has a shareable, deep-linked URL — paste it into Slack and the recipient lands on the same playhead position.
What's the install time on a typical Shopify theme?
Under 30 seconds. One click from the Shopify App Store, accept the permissions, toggle the theme app embed on. Replays start recording on the next pageview. There's no GTM tag to wire up, no theme.liquid edit, no developer sitting on a Zoom call. The fastest part of any agency engagement is usually "install Replays, watch the first replay before the kickoff call ends."
How does Replays compare to Lucky Orange for agency use?
Lucky Orange is mature, has been around forever, and a lot of agencies have it muscle-memoried. Where Propel wins for Shopify-specific work: it's built on Shopify primitives, so filters know what a customer tag, order count, or cart value is — Lucky Orange's filters don't. Replays link back to the actual order in Shopify admin. Lighthouse impact is 0ms (Lucky Orange's tracking script is measurably heavier on Core Web Vitals — relevant on every paid-traffic landing page you ship). Pricing starts at $9.90/mo vs Lucky Orange's $32+/mo. If you're working a non-Shopify client, Lucky Orange is multi-platform and may fit better.
Will Replays slow down a client's storefront?
No. Propel Replays measures 0ms impact on Core Web Vitals. The tracking script ships as a Shopify theme app embed, which Shopify injects at the bottom of the page after the rest of the theme has loaded — async, non-blocking. Lighthouse scores measure identical with Replays installed and disabled. Verifiable on the client's own staging theme before you go live.

Recommend a CRO tool that won't fight your engagement.

Install Propel Replays free on the Shopify App Store. 30-second install, 0ms on Core Web Vitals, free up to 750 pageviews/mo. Try it on a staging theme before you put it in front of a client.

Install free on Shopify
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