Support & FAQs

InstaShop setup guide

We'll have you up and running in 6 simple steps.

1: Get InstaShop to fetch pictures from Instagram accounts and #tags

Awesome, you’ve chosen to use InstaShop to boost sales. We’ll have you up and running in a few easy steps. The first thing you need to do is tell InstaShop the Instagram accounts and/or Instagram #tags you want to gather pictures from.

From the ‘More’ option in the main menu, click on  ‘Configure Instagram

Adding an Instagram account

  • Under ‘New Instagram Account’, type the Instagram username your want to add.
  • Click the ‘add’ button.
  • Done! You can now add more Instagram accounts to your feed.

To add any Instagram hashtag:

  • Add the hashtag you want to include in your feed under ‘New Hashtag’ .
  • Click the ‘add’ button.
  • Done! You can now add more Instagram #tags to your feed.
InstaShop will fetch ALL pictures from ALL instgram accounts using any #tag you add. Adding popular #tags may mean you can’t see your own pictures!

Removing Instagram accounts & hashtags

  • Click the related ‘remove’ button.
2: Register with Instagram

In order to complete this step, you will need to complete step one 

 Before you start fetching pictures from Instagram, you will need to register InstaShop. Don’t worry, it’s easy and you only need to do it once.

  • Go to the ‘Manage Feed’ page of the InstsShop app
  • If you have not registered InstaShop with Instagram, you will see a button titled ‘Authorise Now
  • Clicking the button will take you to an Instagram authorisation page.
  • Click the ‘Authorise’ button. This will complete the registration and will take you back to InstaShop.
3: Fetch posts and make pictures visible to your customers

InstaShop lets you control which pictures from your Instagram feed are displayed on your Shop. Here’s how you show pictures:

  • Click the ‘Fetch New Posts’ button. This will fetch all new pictures from Instagram.
  • To make a picture appear in your gallery, click the ‘visible’ checkbox,  located under each picture.
4: Add pins to pictures. Link pins to products in your store
If you want your display pictures on your shop front, you must make first make sure the picture you are tagging is set to ‘visible’.

 

You can add pins to pictures in InstaShop. Pins can link to products in your store, making it easier for customers make purchases.

To add a pin

  • Click the ‘pin’ button directly below the picture, or the picture itself.
  • To add a pin, click where you want on the image. A pin will be added and a pop-up menu will appear.

Link to a product in your shop

  • Start typing the name of the product you want to link to in the first box ‘Product name’. As you type, InstaShop will start making recommendations based on your product database.
  • Once the product you want to link to appears, click on it.
  • Add a  call to action in the box titled Button Title. Something like ‘Buy now…’.
  • Click ‘Save‘.

Link to an external URL

  • Add a name to the ‘Product Title‘ box, but don’t click on any of the suggestions..
  • In the URL box, add the URL you want to link to.
  • Add a  call to action in the box titled Button Title. Something like ‘Buy now…’.

To remove a pin

  • Click on the ‘pin’ button below the picture you want to remove a pin from.
  • Click on the pin you want to remove.
  • On the pop up menu,  click the ‘trash’ icon.
  • You pin will be removed.

Good to know:

  • You can add as many pins as you want to each picture
  • You can rename the button each time. InstaShop will remember the name of the last button to make adding pins quicker.
5: Choose how InstaShop looks in your shop.

InstaShop offers a range of settings to control how your Instagram pictures look to customers.

  • In the ‘More’ drop down at the top-right of InstaShop, select ‘Gallery Settings’.
  • You will see the pictures you have set to ‘visible’ and a series of options:
    • Gallery Layout: choose between ‘Grid’ or ‘Slider’. Essential Plan customers can also choose the ‘Collage‘ option.
    • Theme: This allows you to control the look of the carousel, which is what your customers see when they click on a picture in your InstaShop gallery. The ‘light’ option  has a white background. The ‘Dark’ option has a black background.
    • Rows: This is only available when using the ‘Grid’ layout. It allows you to control the default number of rows displayed.
    • Gallery Zoom: By default, when a customer mouses over a picture in InstaShop, the picture zooms in. You can toggle this on and off.

 Advanced gallery options 

These options are only available to customers on the Essential Plan. You can upgrade here.

  • Show pins in gallery: By default, pins are not displayed until a customer clicks on a picture. You can show pins in the gallery by turning this option on.
  • Pin type: You can control the type of pin used when customers click on a picture. Options include:
    • Circle – this is the default pin type
    • Radar – a dot with a radiating circle, to attract the customers attention
    • Star
    • No pins – there will be no pins on your picture. You product links will still remain on the right hand side. Note, if you have ‘Show pins in gallery‘ switched on, pins will display in the gallery still.
  • Gallery overlay: when a customer mouses over a picture, they will see a message. By default, the message reads ‘Shop Instagram‘. You can change this message. Message is limited to 16 characters.

Once you are happy, click ‘Save.

 

6: Embed InstaShop into your shop front

In this final step, we’ll get InstaShop to appear on your shop front. If you have any problems embedding InstaShop, get in touch. We’ll do it for you!

First, choose where you want InstaShop to appear 

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Add InstaShop to your home page

This works for the majority of Shopify themes. If you have a custom made home page, you should follow this guide.
  • From the InstaShop app, go to the ‘More’ menu at the top right, select ‘Embed gallery’ and copy the embed code.
  • From the left hand menu of Shopify, click ‘Online store
  • Click ‘Themes’ from the menu that appears
  • Click ‘Customise Theme
  • You will see a list of ‘sections’ on the left.  These make up your home page. You can edit an existing section. Or you can add a new section.
    • If you want to add a new section, scroll to the bottom of the list on the left hand side and choose ‘Custom Content‘ from the ‘Advanced Layout’ section and click the ‘Add‘ button
    • Update the heading
    • Under content, delete ‘Talk about your brand‘ and ‘Image‘ (open them up, scroll to the bottom of the section and click ‘delete
    • Now, click ‘Add content‘ and select ‘Custom HTML
  • Paste in your embed code, make any other adjustments and click ‘Save
  • You can reorder your theme by dragging the sections up and down.
Some themes don’t directly support embedding HTML. Don’t worry, we can still embed for you! Get in touch.

DONE!

 

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Add InstaShop to an existing page

  • From the InstaShop app, go to the ‘More’ menu at the top right, select ‘Embed gallery’ and copy the embed code.
  • From the left hand menu of Shopify, click ‘Online store
  • Click ‘Pages’ from the menu that appears
  • From the list in the centre of the page, click on the page you would like to add your grid/slider/collage to
  • Find the button ‘< >. This is located above the ‘content’ section where you add your text.
  • Paste the InstaShop embed code you copied earlier, where you want it to appear on the page.
  • You can save the page (bottom right), or preview (top right).

DONE!

Need help? Get in touch.

 

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Add InstaShop to a new page

  • From the InstaShop app, go to the ‘More’ menu at the top right, select ‘Embed gallery’ and copy the embed code.
  • From the left hand menu of Shopify, click ‘Online store
  • Click ‘Pages’ from the menu that appears
  • Now, click the ’Add page’ button at the top-right of the screen.
  • Give the page a title e.g. ‘Shop Instagram
  • Add some content if you want  – e.g. text ‘check out our Instagram gallery’.
  • Click the ‘< >’ button. This is located above the ‘content’ section where you add your text.
  • Paste the InstaShop embed code you copied earlier, where you want it to appear on the page.
  • You can save the page (bottom right), or preview (top right).

Step 3.1 Make your new page appear in your shop’s navigation (optional)

This step is only necessary if you have added InstaShop to a new page.

  • Make sure you have noted that name of the page you have added InstaShop to.
  • In the main menu of your Shopify account, Click ‘Online Store’, then ‘Navigation
  • You will see a  selection of menus. The defaults are ‘Main Menu’ and ‘Footer’.  Click the ‘Edit Menu’ button next to the menu you want to add the page to.
  • On the left hand side, click the button ‘Add Menu Item
  • A blank menu item will appear. Give the page a menu title under the ‘Name’ column .
  • In the ‘Link’ column, select ‘Page
  • A new drop down option will appear to the right. Select the page containing your InstaShop gallery.
  • You can adjust the order the page will appear by dragging the  icon that looks like two rows of three dots up or down.
  • Click ‘Save‘.

 

DONE!

Need help? Get in touch.
 

FAQs

If you can't find an answer you are looking for, there's a contact form in the 'get in touch' section below.

ADVANCED: Add InstaShop to your shop’s theme
This method is typically used when you want to add InstaShop in your homepage. In most cases,  following our standard embed guide is the best (and easiest) option.

 

Before you start, make sure you have a copy of the InstaShop embed code, by going to ‘Embed Gallery‘ from the ‘Main Menu‘.

  • From the left hand menu of Shopify, click ‘Online store
  • Click ‘Themes’ from the menu that appears
  • Click ‘Customise Theme
  • You will see a number of ‘sections’ listed on the left hand side. You can edit any one of these sections. Or you can add a new section.
  • If you want to add a new section, scroll to the bottom of the list on the left hand side and choose ‘Custom Content‘ from the ‘Advanced Layout’ section and click the ‘Add‘ button
  • Update the heading
  • Under content, delete ‘Talk about your brand‘ and ‘Image‘ (open them up, scrolll to the bottom of the section and click ‘delete
  • Now, click ‘Add content‘ and select ‘Custom HTML
  • Paste in your embed code, make any other adjustments and click ‘Save
  • You can reorder your theme by dragging the elements on the left hand side up and down.
Having problems with embedding InstaShop into your theme? If you’re the the Essential Plan, we’ll do it for you! Click here and fill out the form.
Best practice using InstaShop

InstaShop is a flexible app that can adapt to your needs. That being said, there are a few best practice methods we’ve seen our customers use.

Use a call to action title

Whether you choose to add InstaShop to your home page of create a dedicated page, adding a proactive,  call-to-action title can make a big difference. ‘Shop the look‘, ‘Shop Instagram‘ or similar are good examples.

Where to embed?

InstaShop is very flexible. It can be embedded into an existing page, or added to a new page. However, there are two primary approaches customers usually choose…
  • Existing page. In many cases, this means adding InstaShop to your shop’s homepage. You can see a great example of InstaShop embedded into an existing page here
  • New page. This is great is you want a dedicated space to showcase pictures from Instagram. In this instance, it is best to add the page to your main navigation, calling it something like ’Shop the Look’, ‘Shop Instagram’ or similar.  You can see a great example of InstaShop set up as a page here. Note they have added ‘Shop the Look’ to the main navigation.

 Grid, Slider or Collage?

The decision will depend on your shop. If you are creating a new, dedicated page, we would suggest using the grid of collage is the best option.

Link your InstaShop gallery to your Instagram account.

We know, you only get one link in your Instagram account. Linking  directly to your InstaShop gallery can be the best use of that precious link. Especially if your gallery is pulling pictures from your brand’s Instagram account.

Think about it – a potential customer is  browsing your Instagram account and they see one of your amazing products in the top row of your Instagram feed. If they can link to your InstaShop gallery, they’ll know exactly where to click. This approach makes their path to purchase one step closer.

Display product price
Display product price is only available on the Essential Plan.

 

Hopefully, you have got to grips with adding  pins to Instagram pictures and linking those pins to products in your store. Essential plan customers also have the option to display product price as well.

  • Go to ‘More‘ and click on ‘Gallery Settings‘.
  • Check the box ‘Show product prices in popups
  • Click ‘Save

 

Price is displayed when customers click on a picture
Downgrading to the Basic Plan. What happens?

You can choose to downgrade to the Basic Plan at any time.

The good news – you’ll still be able to access lots of InstaShop’s awesome features. However, there are a few things that will change:

  • The number of pictures you can display will be limited. You can find out how many pictures are being displayed going to Manage Feed.
  • If you are using the Collage gallery option, your gallery will be set to the Grid option.
  • You pins will be reset to the default.
  • Gallery overlay will be removed.
  • Show product prices will be removed.
  • Auto Visible will be deactivated on relevant @username Instagram accounts. Any pictures previously set to visible will still be set to visible. However, they may not all be displayed.

What won’t change

  • You will not loose any pins or visible settings.
  • You will still have access to unlimited @username accounts and #tags.
  • Slider or Grid gallery settings will be retained.
  • Your gallery Zoom settings will be retained.
Good to know
You can always upgrade again at any time!
Feed, gallery, account, slider… what’s what?

Registered Instagram account – The Instagram account that you register InstaShop with. Note, while you can you don’t have to show pictures from this account on your shop

Instagram accounts – these are accounts that InstaShop will pull pictures from to add to your feed

Instagram Hashtags – These are the Instagram hashtags that InstaShop will pull pictures from to ad to your feed

InstaShop Feed – This is where InstaShop gathers the pictures, taken from the Instagram accounts and Instagram hashtags you have added. To display a picture on your InstaShop gallery, you need to tick the associated ‘visible’ checkbox.

InstaShop gallery – This is what appears on your shop front. It can be in the form of a grid,  slider or collage, integrated into a larger page.

How are pictures ordered in my feed?

The most recent pictures posted to Instagram appear at the top of your feed. Oldest at the bottom. The same rule applies if you are using multiple accounts and/or hashtags.

How can I display more than 12 pictures in my gallery?

For customers on the free to use Basic Plan, InstaShop is limited to display a maximum of 12 pictures.

To display unlimited pictures, you will need to upgrade to the ‘Essential’ plan.

 

I added a new picture to my Instagram account, but it’s not showing up in my InstaShop feed

Don’t panic!  Go to the Manage Feed  page and click on the ‘Fetch New Posts’ icon. You should see your new pictures.

Still can’t see your picture? Check you have added that Instagram account to your feed.

I don’t want the Instagram account I registered with appearing in my feed

Not a problem. In order for InstaShop to access Instagram, you have to connect with a registered account. Once you have registered you can choose to display one or more Instagram accounts or Instagram hashtags. These do not have to be associated with the Instagram account you registered with.

OH NO! I deleted an account by accident. Now I’ve lost everything 🙁

Hang on, it should be OK! Add the account you removed back to your list of accounts. You will find all the pictures you set to ‘visible’ as well as all associated tags and links reappear.

Whew!

Understanding visible pictures and displayed pictures

If you are on the Basic Plan, there will be a limit to the number of pictures you can display on your shop front.

You can upgrade to the Essential Plan, which allows you to display unlimited pictures.

If you want to remain on the Basic Plan, but show new Instagram pictures, you will need to remove the visible setting from some of your current pictures:

  • From the Manage Feed page, click the ‘eye’ icon then click ‘apply
  • You will now see all your visible pictures.
  • Uncheck the pictures you want to remove.
  • You can now set new pictures to be visible.

Good to know: If you are one of our founding customers, or you have downgraded from the Essential Plan to the Basic Plan, you may find an alert stating you have more pictures visible than are being displayed. If you want to display more pictures, follow the instructions above until you fall below the limit displayed.
Using Instagram hashtags (#tags )

It’s important to understand that if you set InstaShop to feed in #tags, it will gather ALL #tags from ALL Instagram accounts.

This means, if you add a commonly used #tags, it is likely you are going to see a lot of pictures you don’t want to!

Remember, no pictures will display until you set them to visible. So you may find it’s OK to work through all the pictures not relevant to you, using the search and filter tools to help locate the pictures you want.

Here’s a good example of when using #tags can be useful:

Some of our clients run promotions where they get customers to take pictures of their product ‘in the wild’. They ask customers to share pictures on Instagram, using a specific #tag. In these instances, the #tag feed option is useful because  it allows shop owners to display Instagram pictures from accounts they have not set up as feeds. In these instances, best practice is use a unique #tag. That can sometimes be easier said than done!  #yourshopname can be effective.

Using the Auto-Visible feature
Auto visible is only available on the Essential Plan.

 

Auto Visible automatically sets all pictures from individual @username accounts to ‘visible’. This means pictures will display in your InstaShop gallery or slider, without you needing to manually select them.

Sense check: only use this feature on @username accounts you are confident will display pictures you want to appear in your shop!

Here’s how….

  • Within the InstaShop app, click ‘More‘ and select ‘Configure Instagram
  • For each account you have added, you will see a tick box under the title ‘auto visible’. Just Click to activate.
  • Done!

auto-visible setting in instashop

Other details.

  • Once you set Auto-Visible to ‘on’, all new pictures added to @username will be appear in your shop front. Images already gathered will not be set to visible.
  • InstaShop checks all accounts with auto-visible ‘on’ every 15 minutes. This means there may be a small delay between posting on Instagram and the picture appearing in your shop
  • If you turn Auto-Visible ‘off’ no new pictures will be set to visible. BUT all images previously set to visible will remain visible.
Videos aren’t appearing when I update my InstaShop feed.

Unfortunately, InstaShop doesn’t display videos in the gallery, so we don’t show them in your feed.

What does InstaShop do? How should i use it?

The reasons for using InstaShop will vary from shop owner to shop owner.

If you look at this example  you can see that the client is using InstaShop to show pictures of their customers using their products. InstaShop allows them to show a gallery of customer generated content, within their shop, that includes links to their products.

This shop owner shows pictures they have taken and posted to their Instagram gallery. This allows them to show a variety of their products, outside of a the more rigid list of products in the main section of their shop.

This customer has embedded InstaShop on their home page as a slider and a dedicated page as a grid, conveying both a lifestyle and dedicated product pictures.

Other customers use InstaShop to simply display Instagram pictures. A huge benefit of this approach is they stop sending potential customers away from their store.

The choice is ultimately dependant on the range of products you sell, how you wish to present your shop to your customers and your use of Instagram.

 

You may also be interested in reading Best practice using InstaShop.
 

Get in touch

Need some help, have an idea, or just want to talk. We'd love to hear from you. We're a UK based team. We aim to respond promptly to everyone but differing time zones may cause a slight delay.

Get in touch (general)

Leave a message.

Get help embedding InstaShop into your shop front

Having problems embedding InstaShop into your shop front? Don’t worry, we’re here to help. Fill in the form below and we’ll do it for you.

Before we can help,  you must have completed the following steps from the setup guide

  1. Registered the app with Instagram
  2. Added at least one active Instagram account or hastag to your feed
  3. Set at least one picture in your feed to ‘visible’

Report a bug

We’re sorry to hear you’ve encountered a problem. We know how frustrating it can be. The good news – help is at hand. Let us know the problem and a team will work to remove the critter so you can continue using InstaShop

YesNo

Suggest a feature

Your thoughts, and suggestions will help us make InstaShop even better.

YesNo

FAQ lacking? Ask a question…

Couldn’t find what you were looking for in the FAQs? Fill out the form below and a member of the InstaShop team will be in touch to help.

 

Changelog

Stay up to date with the updates new features and bug fixes

Version 1.1

Bug fixes. Including:

  • Fixed issues where customers couldn’t close carousel in certain mobile configurations
  • Fixed issue preventing some users authorising with Instagram
Got an idea on how to improve InstaShop? Share it here
Version 1.2

Increased the image quality in the gallery view

Removed the opacity from gallery view. Previously,  images that were not in direct view were ‘faded’. Now all your pictures ‘pop’!

Updated the text in the carousel – now more closely mimics Instagram in size and colour.

Updated buy buttons – now when you mouse over a ‘buy’ button, the associated pin is highlighted.

Removed the fade, on picture tags – we thought it was a good idea. It wasn’t!

Refined the load more button

Got an idea on how to improve InstaShop? Share it here

 

Version 1.3
  • Fixed a bug that caused long button text to stretch outside the screen.
  • When you search products, it will search all products. Previously only applied to published products.
  • Increased the number of pictures when you run a search.
New feature! Now, when you add a ‘Buy’ button, the price is included. (Essential version only).

 

If you’re enjoying  InstaShop, please consider leaving us a review. The more positive feedback we get, the more people use InstaShop. More users means more  time  we can spend bringing new features to the app!
If you’re not happy with InstaShop, tell us why before leaving a review. We’ll see what we can do to improve your experience.
Thanks you for your support
The InstaShop team 🙂