Inline messages

Inline messages

Product-page social proof next to the buy button: purchases, views, add-to-cart, and low-stock signals.

What inline messages do

Inline messages appear on product pages where purchase decisions happen. Instead of a floating popup, a single line of proof sits near the buy button:

  • “12 customers bought this product in the last 24 hours”
  • “47 people viewed this in the last 3 hours”
  • “Only 3 left in stock”

Messages are product-specific: they always refer to the product on the current page, not store-wide activity.

How it works

  1. Recently tracks views and add-to-cart events via a web pixel, and receives purchase events from Shopify webhooks.
  2. Activity is aggregated server-side with credibility thresholds so low-traffic products do not show inflated or sparse numbers.
  3. The selected message is written to a product metafield for instant server-side rendering: no extra browser request on page load.
  4. The theme app block reads the metafield and renders the message in Liquid.

Install the theme block

  1. Open Inline messages in the Recently admin.
  2. Click Open product page in theme editor.
  3. On the product template, add the Recently Inline message app block near the buy button.
  4. Save the theme.

See Install for full setup steps.

Theme editor block settings

Typography and layout for the inline message are controlled in the Shopify theme editor, not the Recently admin. Block settings include:

  • Text preset (heading levels, paragraph, custom)
  • Font (body, subheading, heading, accent theme fonts)
  • Size, line height, letter spacing
  • Color and alignment

Which message types appear and credibility thresholds are configured in Inline settings.

Message priority

When multiple message types qualify, Recently prefers:

  1. Purchase messages (shortest qualified time window first)
  2. View messages (if no purchase qualifies)
  3. Add-to-cart and low-stock follow their own rules when enabled

If no message passes credibility thresholds, nothing is shown. The block renders empty rather than displaying weak proof.

Data & privacy

  • View and add-to-cart counts use anonymous session identifiers: no personal data in the displayed message
  • Purchase counts come from real Shopify orders for that product
  • Low-stock uses live inventory from Shopify webhooks
  • Counts are rolling-window aggregates, not live totals: labeled as “in the last X hours/days”

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