How to add a popup on Shopify: install an app, switch on its embed, publish

How to add a popup on Shopify in four steps

To add a popup on Shopify without a developer, install a popup app from the Shopify App Store, switch on its app embed in the theme editor and save, then build the popup in the app and publish it.

1. Choose the app: Shopify Forms, Klaviyo forms or Popupsmart.
2. Switch on the app embed in the theme editor and click Save.
3. Build an email or discount popup in the app.
4. Set the trigger and cart rules, then click Publish.

Step 1: choose the app, or start with Shopify Forms

Shopify Forms is Shopify's own app, listed as free. Its listing names email pop-ups, discounts, triggers and exit intent and states no limits, so a store that needs only a signup popup can stop there.

A store that already sends email from Klaviyo can use Klaviyo's sign-up forms. They work only on a site integrated with Klaviyo, and Klaviyo's Shopify steps say that enabling onsite tracking is what allows its sign-up forms. Popupsmart's app installs from the App Store and imports your store's fonts and colors.

Step 2: switch on the app embed in the theme editor

An app embed is the theme-editor switch that loads an app's floating elements, such as a popup, on your storefront. Shopify's developer documentation says theme app extensions let merchants add elements to a theme without touching Liquid or code, and that app embeds are deactivated after an app is installed. You activate them from Theme Settings, then App embeds.

For Popupsmart, switch on Install Embed Code under App embeds and click Save. Klaviyo's steps end the same way: toggle the Klaviyo app embed on and click Save. Popupsmart's guide says one line of embed code in theme.liquid does the same job without the app.

Step 3: an email or discount popup with a Shopify code

In the Popupsmart app, click Create first campaign on the Overview page. The popup types are Light, Fullscreen and Floating, and the goals include Grow My Email List and Stop Cart Abandonment. For a discount, add the Coupon Code element: a fixed code, an existing Shopify discount code, unique codes from a list, or unique codes that Shopify creates for each visitor. Signups can sync to Shopify Customers. Shopify Forms can also attach discounts and triggers to a form.

Step 4: exit intent and cart rules before you publish

Exit intent is a Popupsmart trigger set in the Segment step, with low, medium or high sensitivity on desktop. On mobile, exit intent reads an upward scroll and the popup must be switched on for mobile devices, so check the mobile switch. Cart total and cart product rules sit in the app's Advanced Editor and work only on Shopify. Click Publish when everything looks right, then open the store in a private window and load a page the popup targets.

Popupsmart's Shopify app creates the account for you, and its Free plan covers 5,000 pageviews with one active popup and Shopify discount codes. The Popupsmart app's free plan is enough to publish a first signup popup. See best popup builder for Shopify for the other apps and the Popupsmart Shopify app for its plans.

The free plan runs one active popup at a time, so a signup popup and a separate exit offer need a paid plan to run together. On the Shopify listing, Starter, $19 a month billed through Shopify, lists unlimited popups. How to create an exit intent popup has the exit-intent steps.