Recently Viewed Products
Recommend recently viewed products to visitors so they can continue shopping where they left off.
Recently Viewed Products is an OptiMonk recommendation mode that shows returning visitors the products they browsed in previous sessions, helping them pick up where they left off without having to search again. OptiMonk passively tracks which product pages each visitor views across sessions and stores that history per visitor. When a popup campaign using the "Recently viewed" mode fires, OptiMonk reads the visitor's browsing history and fills the Product Element with up to the last 1, 2, or 3 products they viewed, displaying only items that are currently in stock. If the visitor has not viewed any products yet or there are not enough eligible products in their history, the popup will not display. The feature is available for Shopify and Shoprenter stores.
Key benefits
- Catches visitors who were interested but did not convert: A visitor who viewed a product but left without buying has already demonstrated purchase intent. Showing that same product again — unprompted — is one of the highest-relevance interventions possible and is far more likely to convert than a generic bestseller recommendation.
- Zero manual product selection required: There is nothing to configure beyond enabling the "Recently viewed" mode. OptiMonk tracks browsing history per visitor automatically and populates recommendations in real time — even as your catalog grows or changes.
- Only fires when it is relevant: The popup only displays if the visitor has actually viewed products during a previous session. First-time visitors will not see the campaign, which means every impression is targeted at someone who has already shown interest in specific products.
How it works
In the OptiMonk campaign editor, click on a Product Element and choose "Recently viewed" from the General / Mode drop-down. OptiMonk will use each visitor's personal browsing history to determine what to display rather than a static list.
Choose how many recently viewed products to display — up to 3. Set your campaign trigger and targeting rules as usual; OptiMonk automatically handles the additional condition that the visitor must have a relevant browsing history.
When the popup fires, OptiMonk reads that visitor's session history and fills the Product Element with the last 1, 2, or 3 products they viewed, in reverse chronological order. Only in-stock products are shown.
Frequently asked questions
What is Recently Viewed Products in OptiMonk?+
Recently Viewed Products is an OptiMonk recommendation mode that shows each visitor the products they browsed in previous sessions, helping them resume shopping without searching again. OptiMonk tracks product page views per visitor automatically and uses that history to fill a Product Element popup with up to 3 of their most recently viewed in-stock items. Available for Shopify and Shoprenter stores.
How does OptiMonk track which products a visitor has viewed?+
OptiMonk's script passively records product page views for each visitor using browser cookies or session identifiers. This tracking happens in the background with no action required from the visitor. The history is stored per device and is used to populate recommendations when the popup fires on a future visit or page load.
Will the popup show for first-time visitors?+
No. The Recently Viewed mode only displays the popup when the visitor has actually viewed products in a previous session. First-time visitors or visitors who have not browsed any product pages will not see the campaign — every impression is targeted at someone with a documented browsing history.
What happens if a recently viewed product goes out of stock?+
OptiMonk automatically filters recommendations to only show products that are currently in stock. If a recently viewed product is no longer available, it is excluded from the recommendation. If the remaining in-stock products are fewer than the number of slots configured in the Product Element, the popup will not display for that visitor.
Does Recently Viewed Products work on non-Shopify stores?+
The Recently Viewed mode is available for Shopify and Shoprenter stores, where OptiMonk can automatically detect and track product page views. On other platforms, recently viewed tracking is not supported and manual product recommendations must be used instead.
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