Urgency Boost displays real-time scarcity and social proof badges inside checkout — low stock counts, recent purchase activity, and custom messages — right next to the products in a shopper's cart. Useful for nudging hesitant shoppers toward a faster decision.

Step 1: Create the extension

In your PDQ dashboard, go to Extensions in the left sidebar. Click + New Extension and select Urgency Boost. The editor opens with three tabs: Settings, Boosts, and Display Conditions.

Step 2: Connect to Shopify

At the top of the Settings tab you'll find the Token for Shopify field. This connects the extension to your Shopify checkout.

Copy the token using the copy icon to the right of the field.
In Shopify Admin, go to Settings > Checkout > Customize.
Add the Urgency Boost app block in the checkout editor.
Paste the token into the block's token field and save in Shopify.

Once connected, click Preview In Shopify in the PDQ editor to view the extension live in your checkout.

Step 3: General settings

Still on the Settings tab, fill in:

Internal Name — a label for identifying this extension inside PDQ. Not visible to shoppers.
Internal Description — optional. A note describing the purpose of this extension for your own reference.
Maximum Boosts Per Product — caps how many badges can appear on a single product when more than one Boost Group applies. Leave empty for no limit, or enter a number.

Step 4: Configure Boost Groups

Click the Boosts tab. A Boost Group connects a set of products to one or more badge types. You can create multiple groups — each targeting different products or showing different badges. Toggle a group on or off using the switch in its card header.

Group-level settings

Include Digital Items — turn on if you want badges to appear on digital or downloadable products.
If Products In Cart Are — choose Smart Selection to apply boosts automatically across qualifying products, or Manual Selection to pick specific products via the + Add Products picker.

Adding a boost

Click + Add Boost inside a group and pick one of three badge types. Each type reveals its own configuration fields.

Boost Type 1: Low Stock Indicator

Shows a badge when a product's inventory falls within a range you define.

Show Badge When Stock Is — Between X and Y — set the min and max stock count that triggers the badge (e.g. between 1 and 10). The badge automatically hides when a product is out of stock.
Text — write the message. Use {count} to display the live remaining stock number. Example: Only {count} left — order soon.

Boost Type 2: Recent Purchases

Shows a badge with how many times a product was recently purchased, using real order data from your store.

Minimum Purchases — the badge only displays once the product hits this threshold within your time window (e.g. 5 purchases in the last 24 hours). Below the threshold, the badge stays hidden.
Time window — enter a number and choose Hours or Days.
Text — write the message using two dynamic fields: {count} for the purchase count, {hours} for the time window. Example: {count} people bought this in the last {hours} hours.

Boost Type 3: Custom Message

Shows a free-form badge with any message you choose — promo callouts, limited editions, free gift announcements.

Text — write the message in the rich-text editor. Supports bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and emojis. No dynamic fields — the message is static.

Shared styling

These options appear for every badge type:

Background Color — fill color of the badge. Default: red (#FD3458).
Text Color — color of the badge text. Default: white (#FFFFFF).
Corner Radius — shape of the badge corners. Options: Base, Small, Large, Fully rounded, None.
Icon — pick one to display next to the text: flame, clock, lightning bolt, gauge, target, prohibited, export.

Managing groups and badges

+ Add Group — add another Boost Group for different products or configurations.
Duplicate Group / Duplicate Badge — clone using the copy icon.
Delete Group — remove using the trash icon.
Collapse / Expand — use the chevron icon to fold a group while editing others.

Step 5: Display conditions (optional)

Click the Display Conditions tab to control when the entire extension appears, based on cart or customer attributes. Leave empty to show for everyone.

Click + Add Rule Group, then Select to pick a condition. Options include cart value, collection, coupons, customer order count, customer tags, destinations, device type, locale, product tag, product type, time of day, weekday, and more.

Conditions within a single rule group use AND logic. Multiple rule groups use OR logic.

Step 6: Preview

The Preview panel on the right of the editor shows how your checkout will look with the boosts applied. Switch between Desktop and Mobile to check badge placement across the Cart, Information, Shipping, and Payment steps.

Step 7: Save

Click Save in the top-right. Changes go live for shoppers immediately.

Tips

A Boost Group can contain multiple badges of different types — they'll all appear on qualifying products at the same time, subject to the Maximum Boosts Per Product cap.
The Low Stock Indicator auto-hides on out-of-stock products. Recent Purchases and Custom Message badges aren't affected by stock levels.
Recent Purchases pulls from real order data. Set a sensible Minimum Purchases threshold so the badge doesn't show on low-activity items.
Use the Preview panel to QA both Desktop and Mobile before publishing — placement varies by step.