Overview
Leveraging the Smart Cart’s Checkout button to trigger a popup presents merchants with the opportunity to showcase a special offer to customers at the critical moment when they are on the verge of completing their purchase. This strategic placement ensures that customers encounter the offer precisely when they are most likely to convert on the contents of their cart, maximizing the potential for increased sales and customer satisfaction.
For example, if a customer is about to check out with a single item in their cart, the popup could offer them a related product at a discounted price or suggest upgrading to a higher-value version of the item they are purchasing. This not only increases the average order value but also enhances the customer experience by providing them with additional value right when they are most likely to be receptive to it.
Configuring a Pre-Purchase Popup Widget
Create the Pre-Purchase Popup Widget
Follow these steps to create a Pre-Purchase Popup Widget from Smart Cart.
Log in to your Rebuy account.
Navigate to the section where your smart carts are listed after logging in.
Select the specific smart cart that you wish to update.
Click on 'Checkout Area Options.'
Toggle on the Pre-Purchase Pop-Up.
Click 'Create Pre-Purchase Pop-Up.
Name your Pre-purchase popup widget and click "Submit!"
The widget is now created and live.
Head to the widget settings and data source rules to customize further.
The widget will be auto-set to live when you create it here. you can disable it by toggling off the Pre-Purchase Pop-Up setting in Smart Cart.
Configure the Widget’s appearance
To get started on altering the layout options for the pre-purchase pop-up, you can simply click "Edit" in the pre-purchase pop-up section within the Smart Cart settings. This will allow you to customize the layout to your preferences directly from the Smart Cart settings interface.
Additionally, you can access the pre-purchase pop-up in the Rebuy Admin’s Widgets tab, then Cart.Here, you'll find the Pre-purchase cross-sell popup you just created. Click on the name or ID attribute to edit the widget.
Within the widget settings, you can configure the Popup’s Layout, Countdown timer, Language, or Copy. You also have the option to limit the popup’s view count from this section.
How to Enable Product Discounts Using Shopify Functions
Navigate to the Discount section in your widget settings.
Toggle on the "Use Shopify Functions (Recommended)" option to enable automatic discounts for products in the widget, cart, and throughout the checkout experience.
Choose Discount Type:
Fixed Discount: Enter a fixed dollar amount to be discounted (e.g., $10 off).
Percentage Discount: Enter a percentage value to be discounted (e.g., 15% off).
Configure Discounted From Option:
Select Price to apply the discount to the original product price.
Enabling this option will display the undiscounted price with a strikethrough, using the "Price" vs "Compare at Price" values set in your Shopify product settings. This helps highlight the savings to customers and improves visibility of the promotion.
Save your changes, and the configured discount will be automatically applied and reflected across the widget, cart, and checkout, with clear pricing details displayed to customers.
NOTE: If you only want to show a "visual" discount (i.e., Rebuy will display the discount in the widget, but will not apply the discount once the products are added to the cart), toggle off the Shopify Functions setting.
For more information on how discounting works with Shopify Functions via Rebuy, please refer to our Rebuy Discounting Overview guide linked below.
Configure the Data Source
From inside the widget settings, click on Data Source. By default, this widget is configured with Rebuy’s Top Sellers Endpoint. Go ahead and change or customize the Data Source to fit your specific promotion. If you make any changes, you’ll need to Save them before going back to the Widget settings for our final step.
Example
FAQ
Can I use this widget without Shopify Plus?
Yes you can! This widget type is available for all Shopify plans, including discounting using Shopify Functions in the widget's settings.
Can I have multiple pre-purchase widgets?
No, you can only have one pre-purchase widget. But you can adjust your data sources to pop up whenever you'd like!
Why Isn’t My Pre-Purchase Popup Showing?
If your popup isn’t appearing, check the following:
Ensure the widget is enabled in your Smart Cart settings (Checkout Area Options → Pre-Purchase Pop-Up).
Check data source settings:
Remove "Recently Viewed" (not supported).
Turn off "Exit if Matched" to allow other rules to apply.
Ensure the widget has a valid product source returning results.
Verify Smart Cart is functioning properly—if it’s not working, the popup won’t show.
Check the Max View Count setting:
If set to 0, the popup will never appear, regardless of other settings.
Set it to at least 1 to ensure it can be displayed.
If you want the popup to appear every time a user checks out, disable the “Limit Number of Views” option entirely.
Keep in mind that if a user has already seen the popup the maximum allowed number of times, it won’t show again unless the limit is increased or removed.
Pre-Purchase Popup Widgets will only show up if you click the checkout button, not the add to cart buttons.
Can this widget perform as an up-sell instead of a cross-sell offer?
Not currently. Merchants can only use this widget to offer customers the option to add more products to the cart. It doesn't replace any products in the cart with the item(s) in the offer.
Please check out our Popup Best Practices guide for more tips and ideas.