A step-by-step guide to collecting WhatsApp opt-ins on your Shopify storefront using Interakt's Popups & Retargeting feature — from plan activation to your first live campaign.
| What you'll learn • How to unlock Popups & Retargeting by activating the Shopify Premier plan and installing the Interakt Shopify app • How to build and publish a standard opt-in popup and a gamified "Spin the Wheel" popup • How to embed the popup on your Shopify theme so it goes live on your storefront • How to automatically send a WhatsApp discount code the moment a visitor opts in • How to set up retargeting reminders for browsed products, abandoned carts and incomplete checkouts • How to track signups and view opted-in contacts inside Interakt |
Overview
Interakt's Popups & Retargeting feature lets Shopify merchants turn website visitors into WhatsApp subscribers. A popup collects a visitor's phone number in exchange for an incentive (like a discount code), the number is added to Interakt as an opted-in contact, and an automated WhatsApp campaign instantly delivers the reward — starting the conversation on WhatsApp from the very first interaction.
From there, a set of ready-made retargeting campaigns can automatically follow up based on what that visitor does next on your store — browsing a product, adding to cart, or starting (but not finishing) checkout — helping you win back sales that would otherwise be lost.
This feature is built specifically for Shopify stores and requires a small amount of one-time setup between Interakt and your Shopify admin. The sections below walk through that setup in order, followed by building your first popup and connecting it to WhatsApp automations.
The fastest way to get here: open Campaigns → Create New Campaign → "Discount Code when visitor gives number in Website Popup" → Set up pop-up
Before You Start
| Prerequisites • Your WhatsApp Business API number must already be connected to Interakt • You need admin access to your Shopify store • Popups & Retargeting require the Shopify Premier plan on Interakt — see Step 1 below • Check your Shopify Billing Threshold and card spend limit before activating an annual plan to avoid a surprise early charge |
Step 1 — Complete the Setup Checklist
Open Popups & Retargeting from the Interakt campaign section. A Setup checklist walks you through four requirements — each one unlocks the next:
- WhatsApp number connected — done automatically if you've already connected your number.
- Shopify Premier plan activated — needed because popups and retargeting are exclusive to this plan tier.
- Shopify App Installed — installs Interakt's official app from the Shopify App Store.
- Approve additional Shopify permissions — grants Interakt access to publish popups and track abandoned-cart events.
The Setup checklist tracks progress across all four requirements before popups can go live.
A. Activate the Shopify Premier plan
Click "Complete step" against Shopify Premier plan activated. This opens the Change your plan screen with Growth, Advanced and Premier tiers. Select Premier (choose Monthly or Yearly billing) and proceed.
Before an annual plan is confirmed, Interakt shows a reminder to check your Shopify billing setup so charges don't get blocked:
Interakt checks that your Shopify billing threshold and card USD limit can cover the annual charge before continuing to Shopify's checkout.
Click Continue to Shopify and confirm the charge inside your Shopify admin.
B. Install the Interakt Marketing Shopify app
The next step, Shopify App Installed, takes you to the Interakt – WhatsApp Marketing listing on the Shopify App Store. Click here to install the app
Interakt – WhatsApp Marketing on the Shopify App Store — click Install to add it to your store.
Click Install. Shopify will ask you to confirm the app and pricing, then redirect you back into your Shopify admin.
C. Approve additional Shopify permissions
The final checklist item asks you to approve extra data-access permissions so Interakt can publish popups and pick up abandoned-checkout events. Shopify shows exactly what's being requested — customer contact details, browsing/device data for retargeting, and permission to view and edit store analytics (web pixels):
Shopify's data access confirmation for the Interakt app — click Update to approve.
Once approved, all four checklist items are marked complete and the Popups tab unlocks in the left sidebar.
With the checklist at 4/4, Popups is unlocked and you're ready to create your first opt-in tool.
The checklist also includes a short guided flow for enabling the Interakt app embed on your Shopify theme (Shopify admin → Sales channels → Online Store → Edit theme). This step makes sure the popup script is switched on in your live theme — it only needs to be done once.
Step 2 — Create a Popup
Go to Popups → + Create new opt-in tool. Give the form a name, then choose a type:
- Popup — a standard opt-in form with a headline, message and phone number field.
- Spin the Wheel — a gamified prize wheel that reveals a discount code on submission.
For either type you can start from a template (Simple opt-in, Image + form) or build from a blank canvas.
Naming a new opt-in tool and choosing between a standard Popup and a gamified Spin the Wheel.
A. Design the popup
The popup builder opens in three tabs — Design, Tagging and Triggers:
- Design — drag in blocks (heading, image, button, name/phone fields, discount code, timer, video, etc.), then use the layout panel to set alignment, width, height, border radius and colours. Desktop and Mobile previews update instantly.
The Design tab — build the popup layout and preview it live for desktop and mobile.
- Tagging — apply a contact tag on Interakt automatically to everyone who submits the popup, so they're easy to filter and message later.
- Triggers — control when the popup appears: immediately on page load, after a delay, on exit intent, or after scrolling a set percentage of the page. You can also restrict it to specific pages.
The Triggers tab — choose when and where the popup should appear on your storefront.
B. Publish
Click Publish Live. Interakt runs a pre-publish checklist confirming everything required is in place — WhatsApp connected, Shopify Premier active, app installed, permissions approved, a phone field and CTA button added, all text fields filled in, a contact tag selected, and a trigger configured.
The pre-publish checklist confirms the popup is fully configured before it can go live.
Once every check passes, click Publish now to push the popup live on your Shopify storefront.
Step 3 — (Optional) Build a Spin the Wheel Popup
For a more engaging opt-in, create a second opt-in tool and choose Spin the Wheel. The builder adds two extra design areas:
- Header & foreground — customise the heading, subheading, fonts and button styling shown above the wheel.
Spin the Wheel design view, with live preview of the wheel and opt-in fields.
- Wheel — configure each slice with a label, a linked discount code, and a win probability; slice probabilities must add up to 100%.
Configuring wheel slices — label, discount code and win probability for each segment.
Spin the Wheel also has its own Inputs tab (choose which fields are mandatory — phone, name, email, DOB — and configure the WhatsApp consent checkbox), a Completed tab (design the success view and coupon display), and Tagging/Triggers tabs identical to the standard popup. Publish it the same way once the checklist passes.
Both opt-in tools showing as Live on the Popups dashboard.
Step 4 — See It Live on Your Store
Once published, the popup appears on your Shopify storefront according to the trigger you configured. Visitors enter their name and phone number and submit the form:
The published popup live on the Shopify storefront.
On submission, the visitor instantly sees their discount code on-screen, and their number is captured as an opted-in WhatsApp contact in Interakt:
Confirmation view shown to the visitor immediately after they submit the popup.
Inside Interakt, the contact's timeline logs the exact popup submitted, the discount code issued and the timestamp — alongside any WhatsApp cart or order activity for that contact:
A contact's timeline showing a "Popup Filled – Shopify" event alongside WhatsApp cart activity.
Step 5 — Automate the WhatsApp Follow-Up
Pair the popup with the "Discount Code when visitor gives number in Website Popup" campaign (from Campaigns → Ongoing Campaigns) so the promised code is sent on WhatsApp the moment someone opts in. The campaign builder lets you configure:
- Campaign type and message template used for the reply.
- Audience — triggered automatically whenever the Shopify popup is filled.
- Schedule — send instantly, as soon as the trigger fires.
- Post-campaign reply flow and a retry series for failed messages (recommended, optional).
- Conversion tracking, to tie WhatsApp messages back to Shopify orders.
Setting up the automated WhatsApp reply that fires whenever the popup is filled.
This closes the loop end-to-end: popup submission → WhatsApp opt-in → automatic discount-code message, with no manual work required after the initial setup.
Step 6 — Set Up Retargeting Reminders
Once a visitor has opted in through the popup, Interakt can keep tracking their journey on your store and automatically send a WhatsApp reminder if they drop off at different stages of the funnel. These sample campaigns sit alongside the discount-code campaign in Campaigns → Create New Campaign → Sample Ideas, and each one is scoped to a different point of drop-off:
The same Sample Ideas list used to set up the discount-code campaign also includes ready-made retargeting reminders.
| Browsed Product Reminder | Sent if a visitor submits their phone number in your site's popup, then visits a product page but doesn't add it to cart or start a checkout. |
| Cart Reminder | Sent if a visitor submits their phone number in your site's popup, then adds a product to cart but doesn't start the checkout process. |
| Incomplete Checkout Reminder | Sent if a visitor submits their phone number in your site's popup, then starts the checkout process but doesn't complete it. This is separate from other Abandoned Checkout Reminders and can be set live in addition to those. |
Each of these is configured the same way as the discount-code campaign: pick the sample, choose or edit the message template, confirm the audience/trigger (already scoped to the relevant on-site behaviour), set the schedule, and optionally add a post-campaign reply flow, retry series for failed messages, and conversion tracking.
| Good to know • All three reminders depend on the visitor having opted in via a published popup first — they will not fire for anonymous visitors • Browsed Product, Cart, and Incomplete Checkout reminders each target a different, mutually exclusive stage of the funnel, so it's safe to run all three at once • Incomplete Checkout Reminder is additive to any existing Abandoned Checkout Reminder campaigns — enabling one does not replace the other |
Step 7 — Track Performance
The Popups dashboard reports Live Popups, Total Views, Total Signups and Signup Rate, and can be filtered by popup type and date range — use this to compare a standard popup against a Spin the Wheel variant, or to see if a design or trigger change moves the signup rate.
Popups dashboard showing live popups, views, signups and signup rate.
Need help? Reach out via the Help widget inside Interakt, or contact us at [email protected]
