Targeting & Triggers Guide
This guide covers how to show recent customer activity, orders, and visitor behavior to build trust and urgency.
Targeting and triggers decide where and when your Popify popups appear. You choose which pages show each popup, where it sits on the screen, and how soon and how often it appears. Good targeting shows real customer activity, such as recent orders, add-to-carts and live visitors, at the moment a shopper is deciding, without overwhelming them.
What Popify shows
Popify displays real customer activity as social proof:
Recent orders: show when customers make purchases
Add-to-cart events: show when visitors add items to their cart
Live visitor count: show how many people are browsing right now
Customer location: show where orders and add-to-carts come from (see the location map guide)
You can also show review popups, sales counters, announcement popups with a link, discount popups and video sales popups. See what type of popups Popify offers.
Timing
Delay after page load
Set how long after the page loads the first popup appears
3 to 5 seconds lets visitors orient themselves first
Too fast is annoying; too slow is a missed opportunity
Engaged visitors
On product pages, a slightly longer delay (around 10 to 15 seconds) reaches visitors who are already reading
Use it for a gentle nudge rather than a first impression
Abandoned carts
To bring back shoppers who leave items in their cart, use Popify's abandoned cart push reminders (Basic plan and above). See the setup guides for Shopify and Wix.
Page targeting and position
When you create a popup, you choose which pages it appears on and where it sits on the screen. Match the message to the page:
Homepage: general social proof, such as recent orders across the store
Product pages: recent purchases and add-to-carts
Cart page: recent orders that reassure shoppers before checkout
Collection pages: activity for products in that collection
On mobile, screens are small, so a less intrusive position (usually the bottom of the screen) works best. Always test on a real phone.
Social proof popup tips
Recent orders
Examples: "John from New York just purchased [Product Name]", "Someone in California bought this 5 minutes ago".
Show the customer's first name or "Someone"
Include the location (city, state or country)
Show how long ago the order happened
Add the product image for visual appeal
Add-to-cart activity
Example: "Sarah just added this to cart".
More subtle than purchase popups
Builds urgency without being aggressive
Live visitor count
Example: "24 people are viewing this right now".
Choose between live visitors and visitors from the last 24 hours
Works well on busy pages; on a quiet store, the last-24-hours count is often more useful
Location
Showing where customers buy from builds credibility with international and local visitors
A map on orders and add-to-cart events adds visual interest
Timing and frequency
Display duration
Social proof: 3 to 5 seconds
Promotions and announcements: 5 to 8 seconds
Important information: 10 to 15 seconds
Allow for the reading time of your message
Time between popups
Leave at least 8 to 10 seconds between popups
High traffic: you can show them more often
Low traffic: space them out so they stay believable
Show enough to create interest, not so many that it's annoying
Per visit
Keep the total per visit reasonable (5 to 10 popups at most)
Don't repeat the same popup in one visit; rotate different activity
Page strategies
Homepage: first popup 3 to 5 seconds after load, then every 10 to 15 seconds, focused on store-wide recent orders.
Product page: first popup 5 to 8 seconds after load, then every 12 to 18 seconds, focused on purchases and add-to-carts.
Cart page: first popup after 2 to 3 seconds, then every 15 to 20 seconds, focused on reassurance before checkout.
Best practices
Use real data
Show actual customer activity; never fabricate purchases or visitor counts
Keep timestamps accurate and recent
Match popup frequency to your real traffic
Keep the wording consistent with your brand voice
Balance and restraint
Fewer, well-timed popups beat constant ones
Prioritize: purchases first, then add-to-carts, then other messages
Watch your bounce rate and adjust
Test and improve
Test timing, frequency, wording, position and design
Check how your popups perform (views, clicks and hovers) in popup analytics, alongside your store's bounce rate and conversions
Change one thing at a time and review results weekly or monthly
Common scenarios
New product launch
Page: the new product page
Timing: 5 seconds after load, then every 10 seconds
Popups: live visitor count and add-to-cart activity
Optional: a discount popup with a launch code
Recovering abandoned carts
Set up an opt-in and abandoned cart push reminders
On the cart page, show recent orders to reassure shoppers
Sale or promotion
Page: store-wide during the sale
Timing: 3 seconds after load, then every 8 seconds
Popups: recent orders from the sale and an announcement popup linking to the sale page
New store building trust
Page: homepage and key product pages
Timing: 4 seconds after load, then every 15 seconds
Popups: real recent orders and review popups (Editorify or Ryviu)
If you have no orders yet, see I don't have any sales yet
Troubleshooting
Popups not appearing
Check the page targeting for the popup
Make sure the popup is active
Too many or too few popups
Adjust the delay and the time between popups
Check that the data source (orders, add-to-carts) has recent activity
Visitor complaints
Reduce frequency
Use a less intrusive position, especially on mobile
Key takeaways
Use real data: always show genuine customer activity
Timing matters: the right message at the right moment
Less is more: quality over quantity
Think mobile: test on real phones
Match your traffic: scale frequency to real visitor volume
Respect visitors: keep popups easy to ignore and not aggressive