The app covers the manual steps described on the main embed page. With it installed you do not need page context, category and search or conversions.
The app has been submitted to the Shopify App Store and is in Shopify’s review. It can be installed once Shopify publishes the listing; email support@neuronsearchlab.com to be told when it is available.
What you need
- A Shopify store with the Online Store sales channel and an Online Store 2.0 theme (any theme from the Shopify Theme Store qualifies).
- Permission to install apps on the store.
Install and set up
1
Install the app
Install NeuronSearchLab from the Shopify App Store. Shopify asks you
to approve the access the app needs; see Permissions.
The app then opens in Shopify admin, under Apps → NeuronSearchLab.
2
Choose a plan
Select View plans and choose a plan. Billing is through Shopify, on
your Shopify invoice. Once the plan is active, the app finishes setup
automatically:
- creates a NeuronSearchLab workspace for your store;
- starts syncing your active products;
- creates the storefront key and stores it where your theme can read it;
- connects a checkout pixel under Settings → Customer events.
3
Turn on the app embed
Select Turn on app embed. Your theme editor opens with the
NeuronSearchLab app embed switched on; select Save. The embed
loads the recommendation widget and reports page, product, basket and
signed-in customer context on every page.
4
Place recommendation strips
Select Add to product pages or Add to home page. The theme editor
opens with a Recommendations block added; position it and select
Save. On a product page, Related to this page shows similar
products. Personalised to the visitor shows a feed for the person
browsing. You can add the block to any other template from the theme
editor.
5
Check it is live
Visit a product page on your storefront. The strip shows products from
your catalogue. Back in the app, the app embed card changes to Live
once the storefront has requested recommendations. To see what the widget
is doing on any page, add
?nsl_debug=1 to the page URL.Plans
Plans are billed by Shopify, in US dollars, every 30 days, on your Shopify invoice. You can change or cancel your plan at any time from Change plan in the app.
Every recommendation request counts once against the allowance, whether a
storefront strip loading on a page or a call to the NeuronSearchLab API.
Usage is reported to Shopify hourly and appears as 1,000 requests usage
charges on your Shopify invoice. Recommendations never stop at the allowance;
requests beyond it are charged at $7.50 per 1,000. A store that regularly goes
over its allowance usually pays less on the next plan up. Shopify shows any
free trial when you choose a plan.
Permissions
Catalogue sync
The app syncs products that are active, published to the Online Store and in stock (at least one variant for sale), including on password-protected and development stores. It reads each product’s title, description, vendor, type, tags, price, SKU, image and storefront URL. A product that is unpublished, sells out or is deleted stops being recommended at the next sync, and returns when it is available again. Products sync again whenever one is created, updated or deleted, and at least every six hours. Select Sync now in the app to start one straight away.What the storefront sends
Each value comes from Shopify’s own objects, so there is no tagging to write and nothing to keep correct as your theme changes.Conversions
Orders are reported by a web pixel rather than by theme code, because Shopify’s checkout is not part of your theme and no theme code runs there. The app creates the pixel for you; you can see it under Settings → Customer events. Orders arrive as theorder_reported signal, bound by default to a
zero-weight event, because a browser cannot prove a sale took place. They are
used for attribution and revenue reporting. Product views and basket
additions come from the app embed as view and add_to_cart; see
Events. Verified orders read with the app’s order access use
the same order ID, so a verified order replaces the browser’s report of it
rather than counting twice.
Placements and the console
The app covers setup. To configure what a strip serves, view analytics or add ranking rules, select Open NeuronSearchLab console in the app’s Placements and analytics section. It signs you in to your store’s workspace with your Shopify account, without a separate password. A strip decides where recommendations appear. What it serves, how many items it shows and how each card reads are set by the placement in the console, so those change without a theme edit. Give the block a Placement name in the theme editor, then create a placement with the same name in the console. A placement the console does not recognise still renders with your workspace defaults, so renaming one does not blank a live page.Privacy and data
Where your shop uses Shopify’s customer privacy API and a visitor has not allowed analytics, the widget continues to render recommendations but stops describing the visitor: cart and customer are withheld. The storefront sends the customer id, never a name, email or address. It is hashed with a per-workspace key before storage. Order history is read through Shopify’s Admin API and the customer ID, or a guest’s email, is hashed the same way before anything is stored. NeuronSearchLab handles Shopify’s privacy requests automatically. A customer redaction request deletes that customer’s events and profile. When you uninstall, the storefront key stops working at once and the pixel is disconnected; 48 hours later, when Shopify sends its shop redaction request, the store’s catalogue, events and keys are deleted.Uninstalling
Uninstall from Settings → Apps in Shopify admin. This cancels your plan and stops recommendations immediately; the app embed then renders nothing. If you reinstall within 48 hours, your previous workspace and catalogue are kept.Stores set up before the app
A store that previously connected to NeuronSearchLab with an Admin API token in Integrations → Shopify keeps working. Its app embed can still use a key typed into the embed’s Embed key setting, which takes precedence over the key the app provides.Troubleshooting
For help, email support@neuronsearchlab.com.