Want to show shoppers that other people are buying from your store? The Recent Sales Notifications module in Merchant Pro displays real-time messages about store activity such as views, add to carts, and sales. Showcasing this activity builds trust and can lift your conversions.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to set up and configure the Recent Sales Notifications module in Merchant Pro.
Before you get started, make sure you’ve installed and activated the Merchant plugin on your WordPress site. If you’re using premium modules, ensure you have Merchant Pro installed and active. This feature requires Merchant Pro.
Enable the module
Open your Merchant dashboard by clicking the Merchant menu in the left sidebar of your WordPress admin area.
Find the Build Trust section, then click the Recent Sales Notifications module to open its settings page.
Click the Enable button.
Configure timing
- Seconds before the first notification is shown – Enter the number of seconds to wait before displaying the first notification after a visitor lands on your site.
- Time on screen (seconds) – Enter the duration in seconds for how long each notification remains visible before disappearing.
- Delay between notifications (seconds) – Enter the number of seconds to pause between displaying each notification.
- Notifications per session – Enter the maximum number of notifications to show to the same visitor during a single browsing session.
Choose notification types
- Recent Purchases – Display notifications of specific recent orders. For example:
{customer_name} in {country_code}, {city} purchased.- Status – Active turns this notification type on, and Inactive turns it off.
- Time period – Define how far back to look for orders to display. The maximum selectable values are: Weeks 4, Days 30, Hours 720.
- Time unit – Choose from Weeks, Days, or Hours, as above.
- Hide date for events older than (days) – Enter the age threshold in days for showing the date. Orders older than this will not display the date.
- Sales Count – Display the number of customers who purchased a product within a set time period. For example:
{count} customers bought this product in the last 7 days.- Status – Active turns this notification type on, and Inactive turns it off.
- Minimum number of purchases required – Set the minimum number of purchases needed within the time period to trigger a notification. For example, set it to 5, and notifications show once 5 or more purchases occur in the period.
- Time period (days) – Enter the number of days to define the period for counting purchases.
- Cart Summary – Display notifications for the total number of times a product was added to cart. For example:
{count} people added this product to their cart today.- Status – Toggle this notification type on or off.
- Minimum number of add to carts required – Set the minimum number of cart additions needed within the time period to trigger a notification.
- Time period (days) – Enter the number of days to define the period for counting cart additions.
- Individual Cart Adds – Display notifications for each time a product is added to cart. For example:
{customer_name} in {country_code}, {city} added to cart.- Status – Active turns this notification type on, and Inactive turns it off.
- Time period – Define how far back to look for cart additions to display.
- Time unit – Days, Hours, or Weeks for the time period, as above.
- Hide date for events older than (days) – Enter the age threshold in days for showing the date. For example, set it to 2, and cart additions older than 2 days will not show the date.
- Visitors Count – Display notifications for the number of people who viewed a product within a given time period. For example:
{count} people viewed this today.- Status – Active turns this notification type on, and Inactive turns it off.
- Time period – Define the time period for counting product views.
- Time unit – Days, Hours, or Weeks for the time period, as above.
Here’s an example of a live notification, showing a visitors count in this case:
Custom settings
- Hide on Mobile – Enable this setting to hide recent sales notifications on mobile devices.
- Hide on Desktop – Enable this setting to hide recent sales notifications on desktop devices.
- Shuffle Notifications – Enable this setting to randomize the order in which different notification types are displayed.
- Hide product image – Enable this setting to hide product images in notification banners, displaying only text.
- Hide product name from notifications – Enable this setting to hide product names from notifications.
- Product Exclusion – Exclude certain products from showing notifications by searching for them.
Configure the look and feel
- Slide from – Choose the direction from which notifications slide into view on the screen.
- Select layout – Choose one of the four available notification banner layouts. Click each layout option to preview it on the right side of the settings page.
- Notification box width – Enter the width of the notification box in pixels.
- Notification corner radius – Adjust the corner radius to change how rounded the corners of the notification banners appear.
- Product image radius – Adjust the corner radius to change how rounded the corners of the product images in notification banners appear.
- Choose theme – Select Custom to set your own background colors and styles so the banners match your site’s design. Select Template to use one of our pre-defined notification banner style templates.
Frequently asked questions
Below, we’ve answered some of the most common questions about the Recent Sales Notifications module in Merchant Pro.
Are the notifications based on real store data?
Yes. Recent purchases, sales counts, cart adds, and visitor counts are all drawn from real activity on your store within the time periods you set.
Can I hide notifications on mobile or desktop?
Yes. Use the Hide on Mobile and Hide on Desktop settings to control which devices display the notifications.
Can I stop notifications from showing on certain products?
Yes. Use the Product Exclusion setting to search for and exclude specific products from showing notifications.
That’s it! You’ve successfully set up and configured the Recent Sales Notifications module in Merchant Pro to show real-time activity on your store.
Next, would you like to add more urgency to your product pages? Check out our guide on Stock Scarcity to learn more.
