ProofNexus Live Sales Popup & Social Proof
A lightweight, high‑performance social‑proof plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce. Show real‑time sales notifications, comment activity, and custom popups that build visitor trust — without slowing your site down.
📦 1. Getting Started
Everything you need to install ProofNexus and confirm your site meets the minimum requirements.
Installation & Activation Guide
ProofNexus can be installed either automatically through the WordPress plugin directory, or manually by uploading the plugin zip file. Both methods take less than a minute.
Method 1 — Automatic Installation (Recommended)
- Open the Plugins screen.From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to
Plugins → Add New. - Search for ProofNexus.Type “ProofNexus Live Sales Popup & Social Proof” into the search box.
- Install and activate.Click Install Now, then click Activate once the install finishes.
- Open the settings screen.Go to
ProofNexusin the left‑hand admin menu to begin configuring your popups.
Method 2 — Manual Upload (.zip)
- Download the plugin zip.Download
proofnexus-live-sales-popup-social-proof.zipfrom your account or the WordPress.org plugin page. - Go to Upload Plugin.In your dashboard, navigate to
Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. - Select the zip file.Click Choose File, select the downloaded zip, then click Install Now.
- Activate the plugin.Once installation completes, click Activate Plugin.
- Configure ProofNexus.Go to
ProofNexusin the admin menu to set up popup behavior, timing, and notification sources.
After activation, the ProofNexus settings screen shows a friendly informational notice (not an error) if WooCommerce isn’t active. Custom Notifications and the WordPress Comments module work fully without WooCommerce installed.
System Requirements
ProofNexus is built to be lightweight and compatible with most standard WordPress hosting environments.
| Requirement | Minimum | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 5.8 to 7.1+ | Tested up to WP 7.1. |
| PHP | 7.4 or higher | PHP 8.x is fully supported. |
| WooCommerce | 6.0+ (optional) | Only required for the Live Sales Popup module. All other modules work without it. |
| Browser support | Modern evergreen browsers | Popups are rendered with lightweight vanilla JavaScript — no jQuery dependency on the front end. |
Popup data is delivered through a small, cache‑friendly REST endpoint rather than blocking page load, so ProofNexus has effectively no impact on your site’s load time.
⚙️ 2. General Settings & Configuration
Control how, when, and where popups appear across your site from the General tab of the ProofNexus settings screen.
Popup Behavior
Use the Enable ProofNexus toggle at the top of the General tab to turn all front‑end popups on or off globally without deactivating the plugin.
Popup Position
Choose which corner of the screen popups appear in from the Popup Position dropdown:
- Bottom Left — the classic social‑proof placement, least likely to overlap sticky add‑to‑cart bars.
- Bottom Right — pairs well with left‑aligned chat widgets.
- Top Left — useful on pages with a bottom‑anchored navigation or checkout bar.
- Top Right — keeps popups clear of footer content on long scrolling pages.
Timing & Intervals
Fine‑tune the pacing and frequency of popups so they feel informative rather than intrusive.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Display Duration | How long each popup stays visible on screen before it fades out, in seconds. |
| Delay Before First Popup | How long ProofNexus waits after page load before showing the first popup to a visitor, in seconds. |
| Interval Between Popups | The gap between one popup disappearing and the next one appearing, in seconds. |
| Max Popups Per Page Session | A hard cap on how many popups a single visitor can see during one page session, to avoid notification fatigue. |
Shorter intervals feel more “live,” but very aggressive timing can distract from your call‑to‑action. Most stores start with a 4–6 second display duration and a 3–5 second interval, then adjust based on results.
Mobile Display Settings
The Mobile Display toggle controls whether popups appear on smaller screens (phones and tablets). Disabling it hides all ProofNexus popups on mobile devices while leaving desktop behavior untouched — useful on layouts where popups compete with mobile checkout buttons.
Role Management Advanced
By default, only Administrators can view and edit ProofNexus settings. This is included in the free version and cannot be changed.
Granting settings access to non‑administrator roles (such as Shop Manager or Editor) is a ProofNexus Pro feature. In the free version, this option is visible but locked, with an upgrade prompt next to the field.
📣 3. Notification Sources
ProofNexus can populate popups from three independent sources. Enable any combination of them from the Notifications tab.
WooCommerce Live Sales Free
When WooCommerce is active, ProofNexus can automatically turn recent orders into live sales popups — no manual entry required.
Auto‑Fetching Real‑Time Orders
Once enabled, ProofNexus queries your store’s order data on a rolling basis and surfaces qualifying orders as popups via the plugin’s REST endpoint, so nothing blocks your page load.
Order Status Filters
Choose which order statuses count as a “sale” for popup purposes. By default, both Processing and Completed orders are included, so a popup can appear as soon as payment is confirmed rather than waiting for fulfillment.
Lookback Window
The Lookback Window field (1–90 days) sets how far back ProofNexus looks for qualifying orders. A shorter window (e.g. 3–7 days) keeps popups feeling current on high‑traffic stores; a longer window (e.g. 14–30 days) is better for lower‑volume stores that need more orders to draw from.
Privacy Modes
Control exactly how much buyer information appears in a popup with the Privacy Mode setting:
| Mode | Example Output |
|---|---|
| Full name | John Smith just purchased… |
| First name + last initial | John D. just purchased… |
| Anonymized city only | Someone in Austin just purchased… |
No raw order IDs, email addresses, or billing details are ever exposed on the front end or via the REST endpoint, regardless of which privacy mode you choose.
WordPress Core Comments Free
The Comments module turns newly approved comments on posts and pages into social‑proof popups, entirely independent of WooCommerce. It’s a good fit for blogs, content sites, and membership communities that want to show visitor engagement rather than sales.
Like the WooCommerce module, it uses its own Lookback Window setting (1–90 days) to determine how far back to pull qualifying comments from.
Custom Notifications 100% Free & Unlimited
Custom Notifications let you hand‑craft popups for anything that isn’t an order or a comment — signups, downloads, webinar registrations, review counts, or general announcements. They’re 100% free in the core plugin, with no limit on how many you can create.
Adding a Custom Notification
Each custom notification supports the following fields:
- Buyer / Customer Name — the name shown as the subject of the notification.
- Message / Action — the activity being described (e.g. “just signed up,” “downloaded the guide”).
- Location — an optional city or region shown alongside the name.
- Time‑Ago String — a relative timestamp such as “2 minutes ago” or “Just now.”
- Avatar / Product Image — an optional image shown on the popup card.
Native Media Uploader with Auto‑Crop
As of version 1.2.0, avatar and product images are added through the native WordPress Media Uploader rather than a raw image URL field. A built‑in square‑crop tool runs automatically on upload, so every image is saved as a uniform, distortion‑free square — no manual resizing needed.
Custom Notifications have no saved‑notification cap in the free plugin. ProofNexus Pro is an optional companion add‑on that layers on advanced third‑party integrations — it never restricts or disables Sales, Comments, or Custom Notifications in the free version.
🎨 4. Design & Customization
Every popup shares the same modern card layout so your notifications feel native to your site’s design.
Popup Card Styling
From the Design tab, you can adjust:
🎨 Background Color
Set the popup card’s background using the built‑in color picker.
🔤 Text Color
Independently control the color of the notification title and message text.
🔘 Border Radius
Adjust corner rounding — from sharp, modern squares to fully rounded pill‑style cards.
🖼️ Image Shape
Display avatar/product images as circles or rounded squares.
Combined, these controls produce a clean card with soft box shadows, comfortable padding, and bold, readable typography — designed to catch the eye without clashing with your theme.
Every popup includes a subtle “Verified by ProofNexus” credit badge, reinforcing that the activity shown is genuine rather than a static graphic.
🔌 5. Standalone WP vs. WooCommerce Integration
ProofNexus doesn’t require an online store to be useful.
Running ProofNexus Without WooCommerce
ProofNexus is fully functional on a standard WordPress site with no WooCommerce installed at all. The Custom Notifications and WordPress Core Comments modules work entirely independently of WooCommerce, so blogs, portfolios, membership sites, and lead‑gen pages can all use ProofNexus for social proof.
When WooCommerce isn’t active, the settings screen simply shows a friendly informational notice rather than an error — the Live Sales Popup option stays hidden until WooCommerce is installed and activated, and reappears automatically once it is.
| Module | Requires WooCommerce? |
|---|---|
| WooCommerce Live Sales | Yes |
| WordPress Core Comments | No |
| Custom Notifications | No |
Content sites often combine a handful of Custom Notifications (“1,204 people downloaded this guide”) with the Comments module to show ongoing engagement, giving visitors the same trust signal an online store gets from live sales.
🛠️ 6. Troubleshooting & FAQ
Common issues and answers, gathered from ProofNexus support requests.
Popups Not Appearing
If popups aren’t showing on the front end, work through these checks in order:
- Confirm ProofNexus is enabled.Check that the Enable ProofNexus toggle on the General tab is switched on.
- Check your notification sources.At least one module (WooCommerce, Comments, or Custom) must be enabled and must have qualifying data within its Lookback Window.
- Clear page/site cache.If you use a caching plugin or a host‑level cache (e.g. a CDN edge cache), purge it — cached HTML can sometimes serve an old page snapshot from before ProofNexus was activated.
- Verify REST API connectivity.ProofNexus delivers popup data through the WordPress REST API. Visit
yoursite.com/wp-json/in a browser — if it doesn’t return JSON, a security plugin or server rule may be blocking REST API access site‑wide. - Check for JavaScript conflicts.Open your browser console (F12) on the front end and look for JavaScript errors thrown by other plugins or your theme, which can prevent the popup script from initializing.
- Confirm mobile display settings.If you’re testing on a phone, make sure the Mobile Display toggle is enabled.
Aggressive “optimization” or minification plugins can occasionally strip or delay the ProofNexus front‑end script. If popups vanish after enabling a new performance plugin, add ProofNexus’s script handle to that plugin’s exclusion list.
Upgrading to ProofNexus Pro
ProofNexus Pro is installed as a companion add‑on alongside the free plugin — your existing settings, custom notifications, and popup history carry over automatically.
- Purchase a Pro license.Visit the product site and choose a plan.
- Install the Pro add‑on.Upload and activate the ProofNexus Pro plugin the same way you installed the free version.
- Enter your license key.Go to
ProofNexus → Integrationsand enter your license key to unlock advanced third‑party Pro integrations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. ProofNexus is fully functional on a standard WordPress site with no WooCommerce installed. Custom Notifications and the WordPress Comments module work independently of WooCommerce. The Live Sales Popup module specifically requires WooCommerce, since it reads real order data.
No. Popup data is served through a small, cache‑friendly REST endpoint and the front‑end script loads asynchronously, so there’s no render‑blocking impact on page load.
Only what you configure. For WooCommerce popups, choose a Privacy Mode: full name, first name plus city, or anonymized city only. No raw order IDs, emails, or addresses are ever included in the popup payload.
Yes. As of v1.5.1, the Live Sales Popup, WordPress Comments, and Custom Notifications modules are all 100% free with no limits — Custom Notifications now have unlimited saved notifications in the free version. ProofNexus Pro is an optional add‑on for advanced third‑party integrations and priority support; it never restricts or disables these core free features.
Use the WordPress.org support forum for the free plugin, or the priority support channel included with a ProofNexus Pro license.