If a recommendation box shows in Studio but not on your live store, or doesn't show at all, the cause is usually one of a few simple things. Work through the checks below in order.
Availability
Plan: Growth Agents plan · Platform: SHOPLINE
1. Check that your changes are published
Studio saves your work as a draft. Shoppers only see it after you click Publish. Save alone doesn't make anything live.
Hover over the status light next to Publish:
"Live — your store is published and in sync" means shoppers see what you see.
"Off — you have unpublished changes; publish to take them live" means you have changes to publish.
"Off — no published customizations on your storefront yet" means nothing is live yet.
If it isn't green, click Publish, then Publish again in the "Publish Changes" dialog.
Tip
If you used Unpublish earlier, your boxes were removed from the live store on purpose. Click Publish to bring them back.
2. Check the box has products to show
A box with no products is hidden. This is normal for some box types:
Box type | Needs |
Recently Viewed, You May Also Like | The shopper has viewed products before. New visitors and Studio previews often have none. |
Recent Purchases | The shopper has bought from you before. |
Bought Together | Products that were bought together in past orders. A new store may not have enough orders yet. |
Related Products, Others Also Liked, Cross Sell, Upsell | A product to base them on, such as the product on the page or items in the cart. An empty cart may give them nothing to show. |
To avoid an empty spot, open the box's settings and choose a Fallback, such as Show Popular, on box types that have one. See Recommendation box settings explained.
Products that are unpublished, or have no variant in stock, aren't recommended. Most Popular, Trending Now and New Arrivals boxes hide out-of-stock products.
3. Check who the box is for
Audience variants. If a box shows different versions to different audiences, a shopper sees only the version for their segment. In Studio, use Preview as anyone to see the page as each audience. See Show different boxes to different audiences.
A/B tests. If you're running an A/B test, each shopper sees one experience. A box you added to one experience won't show to shoppers in another. Use the experience switcher in the top bar to check each one.
4. Check your theme
You changed themes. LimeSpot keeps loading after you publish a new theme, but the new layout can move or hide the spot where a box was placed. Open Studio, check each page, and move or re-add the box.
You're viewing an unpublished theme. LimeSpot is set up for your published theme only. See Unpublished and preview themes.
5. Check the LimeSpot script loads
If no LimeSpot content shows anywhere:
Turn off ad blockers and privacy extensions for your store, then reload.
If your store shows a cookie banner, accept cookies.
Check your plan is active. See Plans and billing.
Note
Your browser may show a cached copy of the page. Do a hard reload: Ctrl+F5 on Windows, or Command+Shift+R on a Mac.
Troubleshooting
You see | Why | What to do |
The box shows in Studio with "SAMPLE ITEMS" but not on the live store | Studio filled the box with samples, but there are no real products for it yet. | Choose a Fallback, or use a box type that doesn't depend on shopper history. |
"Publish failed: …" | The publish didn't go through. | Check your connection and click Publish again. |
"Publish state unavailable — your configuration could not be loaded. Reload Studio to try again." | Studio couldn't load your setup. | Reload the page. |
Boxes vanished after a theme change | The new theme's layout moved the spot. | Open Studio and place the boxes again on each page. |
If none of these help, contact [email protected] with your store address and the page where the box is missing.