Our Recently Viewed App Is Now a Full Social Proof Tool

We started with a simple idea: show customers what they've already looked at so they don't have to find it again. That was the Recently Viewed app. It did one thing and it did it well.

But as we watched how merchants were using it and what else they were installing alongside it, a pattern became clear. Stores that added recently viewed sections were also installing separate apps for sales pop-ups, live visitor counters, and cart activity notifications. Three or four different apps to do things that all serve the same purpose: showing customers that this store is active, that other people are buying, and that the product they're looking at is worth their attention.

So we rebuilt it. The app is now Pasilobus Social Proof, and it combines everything merchants were piecing together from multiple apps into one.

What's new

Live visitor count. A counter on the product page showing how many people are viewing a product right now. "18 people are viewing this right now" does something that product photos and descriptions can't. It tells the customer that other people are interested in this same product at this same moment.

Cart activity is a different kind of signal. "5 people added this to their cart recently" means people aren't just browsing, they're moving toward buying. For a customer deciding between your store and someone else's, that's a meaningful nudge.

Sales count. "57 sold recently" on a product page. For newer stores especially, showing real sales volume addresses one of the biggest trust barriers first-time visitors face: is anyone actually buying from this place?

Recent purchase pop-ups. A small notification in the corner: "Sarah M. from New York just bought Sleek Modern Sneaker - Blue & Green, 3 minutes ago." Real orders from real customers, shown as they happen.

Previously viewed badges on collection pages. When a customer comes back to your store, products they've already looked at get tagged with a "Previously Viewed" badge right on the collection grid. They don't have to remember what they were looking at last time. The store remembers for them.

Top Products Report. Analytics showing which products get the most views, how many unique customers are looking, and how attention trends over time. Useful for deciding what to promote, what to restock, and what to feature on your homepage.

Why one app instead of four

Most stores that want social proof end up installing a stack: one app for recently viewed, one for sales pop-ups, one for live visitor counts, maybe another for cart activity. Each one adds its own JavaScript to your store. Each one has its own settings panel. Each one loads independently, which means more requests, more potential for conflicts, and slower page loads.

One app doing all of it means one script loading instead of four. One settings panel. One place to configure how everything looks and where it appears. And because everything is built together, the features work alongside each other without the styling conflicts and load order issues that come from layering apps from different developers.

Still does everything the old app did

The recently viewed section that existing users know is still there and works the same way. Products customers have browsed show up in a section you can place anywhere through the theme editor. Responsive on all devices. Fonts, colors, and layout all customizable. The analytics that tracked which products got the most attention are still there too, now expanded into the Top Products Report with more data.

If you're already using the Recently Viewed app, the upgrade happens automatically. All the new features are available in your settings.

Pasilobus Social Proof is on the Shopify App Store. Free to install.