How to Make One Photo Shoppable on Shopify with Image Mapper

A good lifestyle photo shows several products at once. The trouble is what happens next: a shopper likes the chair, the lamp and the throw, then has to search your catalogue for each one. Image Mapper – Shoppable Image fixes that by letting you place a small pin on each product in the photo. This guide takes you from an empty app to one working shoppable photo, with no code.

The app has one plan, with a 7-day free trial. The current price is on its App Store listing.

Part 1: How to set it up

Step 1: Install and turn on the app embed

Install the app and approve the charge. On the Shoppable Images page you will see a banner titled “Action Required: Activate Image Mapper in your Theme”.

Click Activate in Theme (1-Click). The theme editor opens with Image Mapper Core already switched on.
Click Save in the theme editor.
Go back to the app and click Verify Activation. The banner disappears.

The top of the Shoppable Images page in the Image Mapper app, with the heading, the Shoppable Images, Carousels, Galleries and Pin Styles tabs, and the Add Shoppable Image button — Once the app embed is active, the banner is gone and you land on the Shoppable Images page, with the Add Shoppable Image button at the top right.

Without Image Mapper Core, nothing shows on your storefront.

Step 2: Pick a photo with several products

The app’s own help text says a good photo should have multiple products in it. A styled room or an outfit flat-lay both work. A single product gives you only one pin.

Step 3: Create the shoppable image

On the Shoppable Images tab, click Add Shoppable Image.
Type a Mapper name. This is for your own reference, and it is also used as the image alt text.
Click Upload an image, or paste an address into the image URL field. Uploads go to your Shopify Files.

The Add mapper page in Image Mapper with an empty Mapper name field and an Upload an image button — The Add mapper page: type a Mapper name, then paste an image URL or click Upload an image.

Step 4: Add a pin for each product

Once your image loads, a Preview panel appears.

Click on the photo wherever you want a pin. Each click adds one.
Drag a pin to fine-tune its spot.
Click a pin to open its settings. Under Data source, keep Product selected and click Browse product to choose the product. If you skip this, the app shows “Product is required”.
Click Save in the pin sheet.
Repeat for every product you want shoppers to buy.

The Pin 1 settings sheet in Image Mapper with Data source set to Product and a product chosen, over a living room photo with pins — The pin settings sheet with Data source set to Product and a product chosen. The preview behind it uses placeholder text.

Step 5: Choose the optional switches

On the same page you can turn on:

Show modal on mouse hover instead of click
Force mapper fullwidth
Enable image carousel on quickview modal
Enable background overlay on modal opened

All four are off by default. Part 2 shows what each one does.

Click Save and Continue Editing. A new image takes you to the Install Shoppable Image page.

Step 6: Add it to your page

On the Install Shoppable Image page, click Copy ID under Method 1.
Open your theme editor (Online Store, Themes, Customize) and go to the page where you want the photo.
Click Add section or Add block, open the Apps tab and choose Shoppable Lookbook.
Set Lookbook Format to Single Shoppable Image, paste the number into ID and click Save.

The Shopify theme editor with the Shoppable Lookbook block selected, Lookbook Format set to Single Shoppable Image and an ID filled in — The theme editor with the Shoppable Lookbook block, Lookbook Format set to Single Shoppable Image, and the ID filled in.

For a blog post or an older theme, use Method 2 on the same page instead. It gives you an HTML snippet to paste, and the Image Mapper Core embed still needs to be on.

Step 7: Check it in a private window

Browsers keep copies of the app’s files, so a normal tab may show an older version. The app suggests a private (incognito) window. The server cache can also delay changes by up to about 5 minutes.

Part 2: What your shoppers see

The photo with pins. Each pin sits at the spot you chose on the image. The pins are positioned by percentage, so they stay on the same spot on a phone and on a computer.
A quickview on click. When a shopper taps a pin, a quickview opens with the product title, price, description and image, plus a variant selector if the product has options.
Two buttons. VIEW ITEM goes to the product page. ADD TO CART adds the chosen variant without leaving the page and shows “Item added to cart!”.
Hover on a computer. By default, hovering a pin shows a small tooltip with the product title, and clicking opens the quickview. (The tooltip is not used on phone-width screens.) If you switched on Show modal on mouse hover instead of click, hovering opens the quickview directly and there is no tooltip.
Full width. If you switched on Force mapper fullwidth, the image spans the full browser width.
Quickview carousel. If you switched on Enable image carousel on quickview modal, the quickview shows a swipeable carousel of all the product’s images.
Background overlay. If you switched on Enable background overlay on modal opened, the image dims while the quickview is open, and clicking the dim closes it.