Straight-up strategies to boost your business's bottom line. No jargon, just results.

I help Shopify apps in the age of AI — 

Nail your positioning so users don't scroll past your app. 

Land more clients, find product-market fit, optimize you onboarding and UX funnels, optimize your app store listing to attract and convert more paying clients and create revenue generating pipelines to grow ARR.

Get a free audit for your app here: https://audit.ohadmichaeli.com

Ohad Michaeli

Perfect software is quietly terrible for App Store growth.
I was on an audit call today and discovered something that made my jaw drop.

A competitor in the product options space is getting 10+ reviews per day.

They went from zero to position #2-3 in their category in 4 months.

Here's how they're doing it.

They intentionally ship a visual bug that makes product swatches look incorrect on the merchant's storefront.

Not broken enough to be unusable. Just wrong enough that merchants notice and contact support.

Once the merchant contacts support to fix the bug, the rep asks for a review.

Manufactured support tickets. Manufactured review opportunities.

Evil. But kind of genius.

Most app founders don't realize this: stable apps with no bugs don't get support contacts. And without support contacts, you don't get natural review opportunities.

Meanwhile, this competitor is gaming the system by creating problems they can solve.

The App Store rewards speed. 
Reviews are currency. 
And this hack prints them.

This is what you're competing against.

The founders building stable products are getting beaten by founders manufacturing support tickets.

What's the wildest growth hack you've seen in the App Store?

Ohad Michaeli 🫧

Helping Shopify apps get more clients with the power of AI

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A founder's app ranked #2 for their main keyword.
For years.
Then it dropped to #9.

Today they showed me the audit from another consultant. 

Pages of technical recommendations. 
Algorithm theories. Competitor analysis.

I looked at their App Store listing for 30 seconds.

"What's your main keyword?"

They told me.

"And what's in your app name?"

They pulled it up. The plural version.

Silence.

"Merchants search for the singular. You're ranking for the plural. Shopify's algorithm treats them as different keywords."

One letter was costing them installs.

They checked the search volume data. The singular version gets searched WAY MORE.

The fix took five minutes. 
Change the app name. 
Remove one letter.

Moved up in rankings.

Most founders think App Store optimization is complicated. Expensive audits. Algorithm secrets. Competitive moats.

Sometimes it's just checking whether merchants search for the singular or plural version of your keyword.

Here's another example from a few months ago:

Your competitor just shipped 5 new features.

You replied to a review.

Guess who's winning?

Most Shopify app founders think differentiation comes from features. Better upsells. Smarter algorithms. More integrations.

I audit A LOT of app listings.

Everyone has the same features. Different names, same functionality. 
Merchants can't tell apps apart.

So what separates winners from noise?

Support that feels personal.

Real humans who respond fast, say yes to customization requests, and reply to every review like it matters.

Not "we'll get back to you in 24-48 hours." Not chatbots.

I was on an audit call recently. The founder said something that stuck:

"You need to do it very, very well. And so if somebody has a problem, they need customization, they need something like that. You always say yes, right?"

Always say yes.

That's a positioning strategy.

Three reasons this works:

• Merchants assume your app works. Support is where you prove you're different.

• They remember how you made them feel when something broke, not your algorithm.

• Reviews compound. One great support interaction becomes visible social proof. Features don't show up in review text.

Your next merchant doesn't care about feature #47.

They care if you'll answer when they're stuck at 2am before a launch.

Want me to help you streamline your customer support/success?

♻️ Repost this to help me share the message.

How do you know a Shopify niche is getting hot?

In the past 30 days, I had 4 apps from the same space book discovery calls with me.

It's important to note that one of my business's pillars is that I don't work with competing apps. 

First come, first get.

(Here's that silly meme everyone on twitter's raving about. I uploaded a photo from a party so it made me a DJ lol)

Open your app listing.

Now imagine your drunk grandmother logs in at 4 a.m.

Can she understand what you do in 5 seconds?

If the answer is no, you're losing merchants before they even scroll.

I use this test with every Shopify App Audit:

"If your drunk grandmother can't log in at 4 a.m. and immediately understand what you do, then it's not good enough."

Harsh. But accurate.

Most app listings fail this test.

They hide behind jargon. They list features instead of solving ONE clear problem. They assume merchants will read three paragraphs to figure out what problem this solves.

They won't.

Attention is the scarcest resource in the App Store.

You get 5 seconds. Maybe less.

If a tired person at 4 a.m. can't immediately understand what you solve, you've already lost.

Strip the jargon. Pick ONE problem. Make your value obvious before they have to think.

That's the test.

---

Want your app listing audited? Scan the QR code in my banner!

Your App Store listing looks great.

Until a merchant actually tries to understand it.

I’ve seen this in dozens of audits: founders obsess over polish and miss what actually blocks the install.

What tanks listings, even the ones that look professional:

𝐉𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝

You're fluent in your own product. Merchants aren't.

"Automated post-purchase engagement flows" means nothing to someone who just wants to send a thank you email after checkout.

They type simple problems into search. You rank for complex solutions nobody's looking for.

The fix isn't dumbing it down. It's using the exact words your support tickets use. That's what merchants search for.

𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐙𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬

Your screenshots show your app. They should show what changes.

A merchant doesn't care what your dashboard looks like. They want to know what happens after they install.

First screenshot needs to answer one question in under 3 seconds: "What's different for my store?"

Most founders need 6 screenshots to get there. That's 5 screenshots too late.

𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬

Last review response was 4 months ago.

Doesn't matter if it's a 5-star review. What merchants see is silence.

They're not reading reviews just for social proof. They're checking if anyone's actually running this thing.

Recent replies signal you're present. Old timestamps signal you've moved on.

You lose installs before they finish scrolling.

Your listing isn't static. It's the first impression of whether your product is alive or abandoned.

When's the last time you actually looked at yours like a merchant would?

One space. 
That's what separated page 1 from page 2.

Had an audit call with my friend Gideon.

He runs partnerships for a solid Shopify app. Great product, strong reviews, around 500 installs.

He wanted quick wins for their App Store listing.

We're going through it and I notice something.

They were optimizing for "chatbot", one word.
But their competitors ranked for "chat bot", two words.

We checked:
Page 2 for "chatbot"
Page 1 for "chat bot"

One space. That's it.

——

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬:

Turn visitors into users, and help new people find you.

Most founders only think about the first one.

The apps that get found don't stuff keywords. They match the exact words merchants type. Every character counts.

Most of the wins I find on audit calls are this quiet. Nothing flashy. Just the gap between what you wrote and what merchants actually type.

What's the one keyword your app most needs to rank for? Go check how the page 1 apps spell it.

——

Follow me for more.
Repost this ♻️ if you think it's valuable 😎

See links in the bio for newsletter and substack content on organic eCommerce growth.

My career began at a startup SEO agency, where I was the first in-house employee and helped scale it to a team of 10 (as much as a graduate can help, that is). The agency expanded its services too rapidly with an undersized team, which led to its decline. I gained exposure to various digital marketing channels, including managing the paid account for our second-largest client.

This agency was sold to another agency. Here, I learned the importance of connecting all elements of SEO into an overall strategy. I also saw firsthand how toxic culture and poor leadership can cause an agency to fail—an experience that shaped my career. The agency's reputation was so damaged that it had to rebrand. However, I met my current business partner, Antonio, during this time (Although we only worked together for about 6–8 months, he stuck around like a pungent smell you can't un-smell). Five years later, this agency's ethics were called into question when they directly copied our NOVOS proposition (I know!).

MADE.com
I moved in-house to MADE.com during its peak growth period. As the sole SEO managing all five markets, I inherited a declining channel after a failed A/B test on a major product category. Over two years, I generated over £20 million in non-brand growth. I also supported MADE through what was, at the time, the largest headless migration in Europe (as far as I’m aware).

Despite this success, I was offered only a £1,500 pay rise. After speaking with all the leading SEO agencies at the time, I knew there was a gap in the SEO market for this niche eCom knowledge.

NOVOS
After a failed attempt at launching a men's accessories website, Antonio and I pivoted to statement.digital. In March 2019 we rebranded to NOVOS and hired our first employee. By the end of this first year, NOVOS had grown to a team of 8. The following year, we doubled to 16, and the year after that, we reached 40.

In early 2022, Antonio and I sold NOVOS to our staff through an Employee Ownership model.

The Living House
In 2023, I invested in The Living House, an interior design studio. I own 20% and support the business's marketing and operations.

NOVOS 2.0
At the beginning of 2024, we launched NOVOS 2.0—a new strategy and direction for the agency. We're still focused on eCommerce but leaning more into our "Organic" expertise. The eCommerce industry is far too focused on short-term paid media for growth, and this is a problem we're aiming to solve with NOVOS 2.0.

If you have made it this far, well done

Samuel Hurley

This ones a special one. 

When we set up NOVOS, we specialised in eCom from day 1. 

When Antonio Wedral and I started this journey, we weren't interested in ranking obscure insurance brokers or legal services. 

We've always wanted to work with brands we love, admire and most often consume ourselves. 

Our latest case study from our work with Baby Mori is the perfect example of this. 👶

Over the last few years, the "NOVOS family" has grown - literally. Both Antonio and I have started families, as have many of our team members. And through it all, Baby Mori has been the one brand consistently loved by everyone in the office. 

📌 The Strategy 
We managed a complex migration from the Kiddly domain to Mori, ensuring every ounce of authority was preserved. From there, it was about technical excellence and content repositioning (see more attached).

📌 The Results
1️⃣ Nearly 300 non-brand terms into the Top 3 positions (exc brand + kiddly).
2️⃣ Organic non-brand visibility reaching all-time highs
3️⃣ 52% of new keywords driven through non-brand growth
4️⃣ 70%+ growth in revenue

Well done to all the Novi's involved and the team at Baby Mori

#SEO #eCommerce #DigitalGrowth #BabyMori

AI Search for eCommerce brands SEO/GEO & Digital PR / Co-Founder @ NOVOS an employee-owned agency

Baby Mori SEO Growth

Can't believe its taken me 4 years to finally attend an eCom Collab Club event


Great event and who knew a cinema would work as a good ecom venue.

Nathan Lomax - well done, You were born to host and if you ever decide to leave eCom you'd make an excellent MC at a kids disco 😂

Congrats Adam Pearce - CRO for Shopify Brands you've done a cracking job here.

AI SEO for eCommerce brands SEO & Digital PR / Co-Founder @ NOVOS an employee-owned agency (GEO, AEO, GenAI and whatever else you want to call it)

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