Our Recently Viewed App Is Now a Full Social Proof Tool

Illustration of a product page showing 12 viewing now, a 47 sold in 7 days badge, 5 added to cart recently and a recently viewed strip, beside a collection card with a Viewed badge and a Sarah M. bought this pop-up

Updated September 2026

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 our Recently Viewed app. It did one thing and did it well.

But as we watched how merchants used it, a pattern became clear. Stores with a recently viewed section were also installing separate apps for sales pop-ups, live visitor counters and cart activity messages. Three or four apps doing jobs that serve the same purpose: showing shoppers that the store is active, that other people are buying, and that the product in front of them is worth a closer look.

So we rebuilt it. The app is now Pasilobus Social Proof, and it combines the recently viewed features with the social proof widgets merchants were piecing together from several apps. Here's what each part does, where its numbers come from, and how to set it up.

What Shopify gives you first

Shopify themes don't include recently viewed products or live social proof out of the box. The closest built-in feature is the product recommendations (“You may also like”) section most themes have, which suggests related products based on your catalog, not on what this particular shopper has looked at. If that's all you need, you don't need an app.

What the app adds

Where each Pasilobus Social Proof widget appears and where its data comes from: live visitor count and cart activity from visits and add-to-cart events, sales count and purchase pop-ups from real orders, and recently viewed products and badges from each shopper's own browsing WHAT IT SHOWS · WHERE FROM 12 viewing now Live visitor count · product page FROM: VISITS IN THE ACTIVE WINDOW (1–30 MIN) 5 added to cart recently Cart activity · near Add to cart FROM: ADD-TO-CART EVENTS 47 SOLD · 7 DAYS Sales count badge · product page FROM: YOUR ORDERS Sarah M. bought this Purchase pop-up · any page FROM: ORDERS, NAME ANONYMIZED VIEWED Recently viewed + badges · anywhere FROM: THIS SHOPPER'S OWN BROWSING Every number is real store data
Each widget, where it appears, and the data behind it. None of the numbers are made up.
  • Live visitor count. A badge on the product page showing how many people are viewing it right now, counted from real visits within an active window you choose (from 1 minute up to 30 minutes, depending on plan). If the live count is low, you can hide it or fall back to today's or recent views.
  • Cart activity. “5 added to cart recently”, counted from real add-to-cart events, with each shopper counted once per product. It's a different signal from views: people aren't just browsing, they're moving toward buying.
  • Sales count badge. “47 sold” over a window of 7, 30 or 90 days (longer windows on higher plans), taken from your actual orders. It stays hidden below a minimum you set, so slow sellers don't advertise that they're slow.
  • Recent purchase pop-ups. A small notification that someone just bought a product, drawn from real orders. You choose how the buyer appears: first name and initial (“Sarah M.”), first name only, or anonymous (“Someone”), and whether pop-ups show on product pages only or across the store.
  • Previously viewed badges. When a shopper comes back, products they've already looked at get a “Previously Viewed” badge on collection pages and search results. You can change the wording and position, and hide it on products that already carry a sale or “new” badge.
  • Product analytics. Which products get the most views, and how often shoppers click back to them from the recently viewed section, over a date range you pick. Useful for deciding what to promote and what to feature.
Worth knowingSocial proof only helps if shoppers believe it. Every count in the app comes from real visits, cart adds and orders on your store, and there's no setting for inventing numbers. That's deliberate: fake “23 people viewing” counters are easy to spot, and they cost trust you can't easily win back.

Still does everything the old app did

The recently viewed section existing users know is still there and works the same way. Products a shopper has browsed appear in a section you can add to any page from the theme editor, as a grid or a carousel, with your own heading, colors and product details. When shoppers are logged in, their history follows them across devices. There's also a panel in the Shopify admin that shows a logged-in customer's browsing history on their profile, handy for customer service.

If you were already using Recently Viewed, the upgrade happened automatically. The new features are in your settings.

How to set it up

  1. Install Pasilobus Social Proof from the Shopify App Store.
  2. In Online Store → Themes → Customize, open App embeds and make sure Social Proof is on. The purchase pop-up is its own embed, Recent Purchases Popup.
  3. On your product template, click Add block and add the widgets you want: Live Visitor Count, Cart Activity, Sales Count Badge. Put cart activity near the add-to-cart button.
  4. Add the Recently Viewed Products section wherever you want it, usually on product pages and the homepage.
  5. Set thresholds and fallbacks in the app under Settings → Social proof widgets.

Start with one or two widgets rather than all of them. A product page with a counter, a badge, a pop-up and a banner all competing for attention starts to feel like pressure rather than reassurance.

Why one app instead of four

A stack of separate apps means separate scripts on your storefront, separate settings panels, and more chances for styles and load order to clash. One app doing all of it means one set of settings, one place to control how everything looks, and features built to sit together on the same page. Every app adds some weight to your pages, so fewer is generally better; we explain why in why a Shopify app can slow down your store.

Pricing in short

There's a free plan, and paid plans for bigger stores come with a 7-day free trial. Plans are based on the number of unique shoppers who view products each 30-day cycle, not page views: a shopper who comes back twenty times counts once. Current plans are on the App Store listing, and the Social Proof help centre covers every setting.

For more ideas on building trust with new visitors, see conversion tips that actually work for a new Shopify store.