Struggling with the Shopify 0-to-1: How to hunt down my first 10 merchants without bleeding cash on ads?

Hey everyone,

I recently launched Zoltrack, an AI-built branded order tracking app for Shopify stores. The product is live, the sandbox testing is done, and the infrastructure is holding up.

Now I’m facing the hardest part for any non-marketing founder: going from 0 to 10 installs.

Organic App Store SEO isn't doing much yet because I have 0 reviews, and recent data shows it takes the median app over 7 months just to hit 10 reviews. Plus, Shopify has gotten incredibly strict—they filter out or archive reviews if they come from non-paying or trial stores, meaning I need active, real merchants using the tool to build a real review moat.

I have a 7-day free trial, but I want to avoid burning money on expensive Facebook or Google ads this early when I should be focusing on manual feedback loops.

I’m planning to do things that don't scale:

Reddit & Forum Listening: Scanning groups for merchants complaining about high "WISMO" (Where is my order?) support tickets or ugly carrier tracking pages, and offering a free setup.
Niche Cold Outreach: Finding small-to-mid Shopify stores whose post-purchase experience redirects straight to a cold, unbranded UPS/FedEx page, and sending a highly personalized pitch.
Agency Partners: Reaching out to small development agencies who build Shopify stores and offering them a revenue share or free extended access for their clients.

For the growth marketers and SaaS founders here who have successfully broken into the Shopify ecosystem:
What is the most high-leverage channel you used to get those first 10 live, active installs? Is cold email still viable for B2B e-commerce, or should I be focusing entirely on community micro-interactions?

App link for context on the positioning: https://apps.shopify.com/zoltrack