Available on the Free plan
The sign-up popup collects email subscribers from your storefront. When someone subscribes through it, they're added to your subscribers and can enter the Welcome flow. You have one popup per store.
How the sign-up popup works
The popup shows on your storefront based on rules you set. It asks for an email address and marketing consent. It can also ask for a first name, a last name and one question. When a customer picks an answer, we add a tag for it to their customer record in Shopify. You can use these tags in flow filters and Shopify segments. After someone signs up, their name, consent and tags are saved to Shopify and the Welcome flow starts.
To show the popup, the Sign-up popup app embed must be on in your theme. Until it is, a banner at the top of the Popups page and the popup editor says your popup won't show on your storefront.
If you turn on the small tab, a customer who closes or declines the popup without signing up sees a small tab on the edge of your store. Clicking it reopens the popup on its start screen. The tab stays on every page and on later visits until the customer signs up, or hides it with its ×. A hidden tab comes back after the popup next shows by itself and is closed again. The tab uses your popup's button colors, font and corners, and it only shows where your targeting lets the popup show.
Considerations
Before you set up the sign-up popup, review the following considerations:
Mobile goes by screen width. A screen 768 px wide or less counts as mobile.
Left and right images move on mobile. An image set to Image left or Image right shows above the text.
The mobile options depend on the desktop layout. They only show when Image layout on desktop isn't No image.
A different mobile image is required. If you choose Show a different image above content, you need to add a mobile image before you can save. The editor asks for it.
The mobile image takes the same files as the main image. It can be JPG, PNG, GIF, or WebP, up to 20 MB.
Popup images are cropped to fill their space. On mobile, the image shows as a strip 200 px tall, so the top and bottom of a tall image are cut off. Keep the main subject in the center, and keep text away from the edges.
A tablet 768 px wide or less also shows the mobile image. This includes some tablets held upright.
Answers are only saved as Shopify tags. Judge.me doesn't keep them anywhere else. To see them, go to Subscribers, click the columns button, and turn on Tags. You can also check the customer in Shopify.
Tags are never removed. If you rename an answer or change its tag, customers who already signed up keep the old tag.
Names already in Shopify are kept. If the customer already has a real name in Shopify, we keep it and ignore the name typed in the popup.
With double opt-in on, names and answers are saved after the customer confirms their email. If they don't confirm within 30 days, we delete them.
You can't change the consent wording. Each option uses our standard text. It's translated into your popup languages and shows your store's name.
The small tab only shows after the popup has shown once. It's a way back to the popup, not another way to show it.
Closing a popup reopened from the small tab starts the Hide after interaction wait again.
Tab text can be up to 25 characters. On narrow screens and short windows, long text can be cut with "…". A translation longer than 25 characters is saved, and the tab cuts it with "…".
Test view doesn't remember the small tab. The tab shows after you close the popup, on that page only.
The small tab doesn't move out of the way of other buttons. If it covers a chat button or the Floating Reviews Tab, choose another Position. On screens narrower than 1024 px, a corner tab can overlap a Floating Reviews Tab set to the bottom of the screen.
Set up the sign-up popup
Step 1: Enable the Sign-up popup app embed
The Sign-up popup app embed loads your sign-up popup on every page of your store. Your popup doesn't show until it's on.
To enable the Sign-up popup app embed:
From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
Find the theme that you want to edit, and then click Edit theme.
Click the App embeds icon (the third icon) on the top left.
In the search bar, enter "Judge.me Sign-up popup".
Turn on the Sign-up popup app embed toggle.
Click Save on the top right.
Step 2: Create your popup
Available on the Free plan
The steps to create your popup depend on whether your store has the new popup setup, which is in early access and is available only to certain stores. Most stores don't.
To create your sign-up popup (for most stores):
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Popups.
If the Enable Judge.me Email on your storefront page opens, click Open theme editor.
Turn on the Sign-up popup app embed toggle.
Click Save on the top right.
Close the tab, and return to Judge.me Email.
Once Judge.me Email finds the app embed, it creates a draft popup and opens it in the Edit popup editor, with 3 tabs: Rules, Content and Style. If the app embed is already on and the editor doesn't open, click I've already enabled it.
If Popups opens the popup editor straight away instead of the Enable Judge.me Email on your storefront page, your store has the new popup setup.
To create your sign-up popup if your store has the new popup setup:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Popups.
If the app embed isn't on yet, click Enable app embed in the banner at the top.
Click Open theme editor.
Turn on the Sign-up popup app embed toggle.
Click Save on the top right.
Go back to the Judge.me Email browser tab.
The first time you open Popups, we create a draft popup and open it in the Edit popup editor straight away, with 3 tabs: Rules, Content and Style. You can set up and save your popup before the app embed is on. When Judge.me Email finds the app embed, the setup window closes and you see App embed enabled. If the app embed is already on, click I've already enabled it instead. To see the setup steps again later, click More actions in the popup editor, and then select Setup instructions.
To open your popup again later, click Customize on the Popups page.
Write the content
On the Content tab, set the popup copy:
Heading and Subheading
Email field placeholder
Submit button and Decline link
To choose how customers agree to marketing emails, see "Choose how customers agree to marketing emails" below.
Under Success state, set the Heading and Body shown after someone subscribes.
Choose the form fields
To choose the form fields:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Popups.
Click Customize, and select the Content tab.
In Form fields, turn on First name.
Check Required if customers must fill it in.
Turn on Last name if you want it. It shows once First name is on.
Turn on Question.
Type your question, or keep the suggested one.
For Customers can pick, select Several answers or One answer.
New popups start with First name on. If your popup was created before these fields existed, a New: Greet customers by name banner offers to turn on first name for you. Click Turn on first name.
Once any of these fields is on, the popup gets wider and its fields are left-aligned. Customers see a message under a field if they leave a required field empty, or type a link or an email address as their name.
Add answers and tags
To add answers to your question:
In Form fields, under Question, click Add answers.
Type each answer. You can add up to 6.
Check the Shopify tag next to each answer. It fills in as you type, for example
answer-womensfor "Women's". You can change it.Click Done.
Click Save.
To start with examples, click Add sample answers. It fills in Women's, Men's and Gifts.
Tags can't contain commas, and each answer needs a different tag.
To use the answers:
Flow filters: Each answer a customer picks adds its tag to the customer in Shopify. Use the tag in a flow's tag filter.
Shopify segments: Use the tag in a Shopify segment for campaigns.
Judge.me Subscribers: Go to Subscribers, click the columns button and turn on Tags.
For other languages, translate the question and answers in each language, like the rest of the popup. Add, remove and tag answers in your main language. If an answer has no translation, customers see it in your main language. On the Awesome plan, Translate fills them in for you.
Choose how customers agree to marketing emails
To choose how customers agree:
On the Content tab, find How customers agree to marketing emails.
Select one of the following options:
Checkbox and consent message (default) – Customers must tick the box to subscribe. It always starts unticked.
Consent message only – There's no checkbox. Customers see "By clicking the button below, you agree to receive marketing emails from [your store name]. You can unsubscribe at any time."
Click Save.
Which option you need depends on where your customers live. Compliance requirements vary by jurisdiction (GDPR, CCPA, and others), so check with legal counsel for specific advice.
Don't ask for sensitive information
Only ask for what you need to send better emails.
Avoid asking about health, religion, political views, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Keep your question relevant to what your store sells, for example product interests or sizes.
Show a small tab after the sign-up popup closes
Available on the Free plan
To show a small tab after the sign-up popup closes:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Popups.
Click Customize.
Click the Content tab.
In the Small tab section, turn on the Show a small tab after the popup closes toggle.
Optional: In the Tab text field, enter your own text. If you leave it empty, the tab shows "Get your discount" when Offer a discount is on, or "Join our newsletter" when it's off.
Optional: From the Position dropdown, select one of the following options:
Left side (default) — turned sideways, against the left edge of the screen
Bottom left — in the bottom-left corner
Bottom right — in the bottom-right corner
Right side — turned sideways, against the right edge of the screen
Optional: To see the tab, click Small tab in the preview.
Click Save.
If you turn the small tab off, your tab text and position are kept for when you turn it on again.
For other languages, enter the tab text in each language, like the rest of the popup. If a language has no tab text of your own, the tab shows Judge.me's wording in that language. Translate (available on the Awesome plan) fills it in for you.
Style the popup
On the Style tab, match the popup to your brand:
Logo — use your brand logo from Templates, or turn that off to add a logo for this popup. You can upload one or add one from Shopify. A popup logo can be PNG or WebP, up to 20 MB.
Image — choose where the image goes on desktop: Image above, Image left, Image right, or No image. For any layout except No image, add an image. You can upload one or add one from Shopify. It can be JPG, PNG, GIF, or WebP, up to 20 MB. On mobile, you can show the same image, show a different one, or hide it. To set a mobile image, see "Set a different popup image for mobile".
Colors — choose a color source:
Use brand primary uses the colors from your brand defaults.
Custom colors overrides them for this popup. You can set Background, Text, Button background, Button text, and Field border.
Click Reset to default to undo your custom colors.
The email field has no separate text color setting. Its text follows the Text color.
The email field has a light background. Choose a dark Text color so what people type stays readable.
When Use brand logo from Templates or Use brand primary is on, your live popup always shows your current branding. If you change your branding, or we fill your logo and colors for you, the popup updates without you saving it again.
The popup's button uses your branding's Button and Button text colors.
Typography and Layout — font, size, alignment, and corner radius.
Set a different popup image for mobile
Use this to show an image that fits phone screens better. On mobile, the image always shows above the text.
To show a different image on mobile:
From your Judge.me Email app, go to Popups.
Click Customize, and select the Style tab.
In the Image section, make sure Image layout on desktop isn't set to No image.
For Image layout on mobile, select Show a different image above content.
For Mobile image, click Select image.
In the Select image window, select an image, or click Add images to upload one.
Click Select.
Click Save.
To use an image from your Shopify files instead, click Add from Shopify next to Mobile image.
For Image layout on mobile, you can also choose:
Show default image above content: the same image as desktop, above the text. This is the default.
Hide image on mobile: no image on phones.
Preview and publish
Use More actions > Test view to preview the popup.
Click Enable to make it live on your storefront. Use Disable to take it down later.
For triggers, display frequency, and discounts, see the popup triggers and discounts guide.
Already using another sign-up tool?
If you're already collecting email sign-ups through Shopify's own tools or another app, you don't need to switch to Judge.me's popup — subscribers are pulled in from Shopify regardless of which tool captured them, and the Welcome flow triggers off that consent the same way either way.
Switching only makes sense if you want to stop paying for a separate tool — Judge.me's popup is free and can fully replace it. If you decide to switch, we'd recommend turning off your existing pop-up once Judge.me's is live, so customers don't see two sign-up prompts on the same visit.
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