FAQ & Troubleshooting
By James
By James
Fix common setup, storefront, entry, winner, export, and integration issues.
Troubleshooting
Use these checks for the most common contest setup, storefront, reward, integration, and results issues. The contest page is unavailable Open the editor and check the header status and Build > Contest settings schedule. The contest must be activated and within its start and end dates; its dashboard badge will be Live. Also confirm that the URL uses the current slug: https://yourstore.com/apps/contest/your-slug If an ended contest should run again, reactivate it and choose a new future end date. Review custom terms after changing the schedule. The popup does not appear 1. Open Launch > Popup and enter Shopify's theme editor. 2. Confirm the Contest Popup app embed is enabled and the right active contest is selected. 3. Check trigger, frequency, dismissal memory, and page targeting. 4. Test in a private or incognito window or temporarily use Always. 5. Save the Shopify theme. The app block is missing Use an Online Store 2.0 theme, navigate to the intended page template, and add the Contest Form section or block. Confirm the correct contest is selected and the theme change is saved. A customer is told they already entered One entrant record is kept per email. A repeated submission increases its total only while it remains below the Entries per person limit under Build > Entry form. Increase the limit if your rules allow more base entries. A bonus action is missing Check the plan and where you are viewing the contest: 1. On Free, a new contest keeps bonus actions visible in the editor and Preview but hides them from entrants on the live standalone page, popup, and app block. Upgrade to Pro to make them live without relaunching. 2. Contests that already had bonus actions when plan gating was introduced are grandfathered and keep them live on Free. New contests and copies follow the current plan rules. 3. Complete every required field. URL and social actions need destinations, choice questions need options, and Secret Code needs a code. Incomplete actions are not shown. 4. Save and preview again. Launch names any plan-paused actions before activation. If a running Free-plan contest has dormant actions, the dashboard can show Activate bonus actions under Needs attention. A Pro upgrade still shows Free or a downgrade notice After Shopify approves Pro and returns to UserLoop, Your Plan should show Pro and a success message. Paused bonus actions become live immediately. A Downgrade scheduled banner is expected only after changing an existing Pro subscription to Free. If an approved upgrade still shows Free or incorrectly says Downgrade scheduled, reload Your Plan once. If it remains wrong, contact support with the store URL and the approximate approval time; do not send billing credentials. Bonus-action submissions disappeared Ordinary saves preserve existing action completions. Explicitly choosing Remove action permanently deletes its photos, answers, follows, or other submissions; when completions exist, the editor shows Remove anyway and Keep action. Entrants keep bonus entries they already earned. If submissions disappeared after a normal save without removing the action, contact support with the contest title, action name, and approximate save time. A referral reward is missing Confirm the friend used the entrant's unique referral URL and completed a valid new entry while the contest was active. Copying or sharing alone earns nothing. The referrer also stops earning after reaching Maximum referral entries. Open Results > Referrals to check Referred entries and Top referrers. See Referral Sharing. A marketing integration is not syncing 1. Confirm the store is on Pro and the provider shows Connected under Integrations. 2. Submit a new test entry after connecting; historical entries are not resent automatically. 3. Open Build > Entry form > Marketing consent and confirm the required email or SMS opt-in is enabled. 4. Select the opt-in during the test. SMS subscription also requires a collected phone number. 5. For Klaviyo or Campaign Monitor, choose and save a subscriber list. 6. For Omnisend, check the API key and optional tag. Contacts without an explicit opt-in remain non-subscribed. 7. Reconnect if the integration displays an error or can no longer load destinations. Klaviyo can still receive entry events when Events only — don't add to a list is selected. Campaign Monitor adds only consented entrants to the selected list. For provider-specific steps, open the corresponding article in the Integrations category. A photo is missing from the gallery or cannot win 1. Open Results > Photo entries. 2. Check Awaiting approval and Rejected. When Manually approve photos is enabled, new photos stay out of the gallery until you click Approve. A rejected photo can be approved later. 3. Check whether the photo is labelled Hidden. Use the card menu to unhide it. 4. Open Launch > Photo gallery block and confirm the correct contest is selected and the theme is saved. Pending, rejected, and hidden photos stay out of the public gallery and cannot receive new public votes. Hiding also excludes a photo from Most votes. Approval status and hiding do not remove the entrant from random/manual selection. Use Delete photo to remove only the image and its votes while keeping the entrant; use Delete to remove the full entry and all winner eligibility. Deleted photos and entries cannot be restored. A voter is missing from Results or an integration Only contests with Require email to vote create identified rows under Results > Votes. Anonymous votes still increase totals but do not have an email, name, or voter row. For integration sync, Ask voters for marketing consent must be enabled, the voter must select the optional consent checkbox, the store must be on Pro, and the provider must be connected. Existing anonymous or non-consented votes are not retroactively subscribed. See Photo Contests and Public Voting for the full setup. Winner drawing is locked Drawing opens after the contest ends. Wait for the scheduled end or use End contest & draw now in Results. Ensure the selected prize still has remaining quantity and an eligible entrant exists. Automated prize-delivery options are locked Winner selection remains available on Free. UserLoop-sent winner emails, secure claim links, address collection, and Shopify prize orders require Pro. On Free, choose Handle redemption yourself and I'll contact them, or open View plans to upgrade. A winner email was not received Automated winner emails require Pro and are sent only when Send with UserLoop was selected. If you chose I'll contact them, UserLoop does not send an email; on Pro, send the secure claim link yourself when the redemption method collects details. Manual redemption does not create a claim link. On Pro, open the winner menu and choose Resend winner email while the claim is still active. Free stores do not see the resend action. Confirm the winning entry has the correct email address and ask the winner to check spam or promotions folders. A claim link expired or the winner declined An expired link displays Claim expired. On Pro, click Set up delivery again to create a fresh claim window and link. Otherwise handle delivery manually or remove the winner if your terms allow a replacement draw. A declined claim displays Declined. The winner cannot reopen that link. Remove the winner before drawing a replacement. A Shopify prize order was not created Shopify draft and automatic-order fulfillment require Pro, a prize linked to a Shopify product, and optional draft-order access. Open the winner card and check the action-required message. 1. If prompted, click Approve Shopify access for draft orders. 2. Confirm the selected prize product and variant still exist. 3. Check that the winner's country and delivery details are valid. 4. Click Try again. UserLoop retains the submitted claim and reuses an existing draft when possible, so retrying does not intentionally create a second prize draft. You can instead choose delivery-detail collection on Pro or handle redemption manually. A discount code was not issued Confirm that: - The store is on Pro. - Shopify discount access has been approved. - Discount code is enabled and saved in Build. - The contest is active and within its schedule. - The customer's entry was confirmed successfully. For email problems, send a test to the store owner and check spam filtering. Already issued codes follow their Shopify discount configuration even after the contest ends. The contest contains mixed languages Changing Contest language localizes built-in text but does not translate custom titles, descriptions, terms, prizes, questions, or success copy. Translate those fields manually and check every Design preview mode. An image will not upload Confirm it is a supported web image and below the 10 MB upload limit, then retry. For photo actions, JPEG, PNG, and WebP are supported. A stable connection is important for larger files. Need more help? Contact support with the store URL, contest title or slug, current status, the affected channel, the expected behavior, and any visible error message. Do not send entrant personal information unless support specifically requests it through a secure channel. For expected plan behavior, see Billing & Plans and Bonus Entry Actions.
Merchant Email Notifications
UserLoop Contests sends merchant-facing emails to help you set up campaigns, monitor active contests, understand plan limits, and act on operational work. These messages are separate from customer entry, discount, and winner emails. Notification categories - Tips and updates — setup help, feature guidance, and plan or usage messages. - Contest report emails — useful moments such as launch, first entry, milestones, midpoint, ending soon, wrap-up, and next steps. Depending on the campaign, UserLoop can also send storefront-placement or photo-contest tips. - Operational contest emails — action-required messages such as photo approvals, winner claims, and fulfillment progress. How notification timing works UserLoop avoids sending a backlog of old lifecycle messages when the program is enabled. Contest reports follow current events rather than the contest's original start date. If a contest was already running when lifecycle notifications were enabled, later events can still trigger a report—for example its first entry or a new milestone after enablement, the final 48 hours, or next steps after a winner decision. UserLoop does not send retrospective reports for launches, entries, milestones, midpoints, endings, or winner decisions that happened earlier. Plan-limit emails can be sent as soon as lifecycle notifications are enabled because they reflect your store's current monthly usage. Duplicate sends are prevented. Open the linked task Merchant-facing action buttons—such as Review photos, Open your contest, and Review winner—open the matching UserLoop screen inside Shopify admin. If a link does not reach the expected screen, sign in to the matching Shopify store and open it again. Choose the language Choose Language during onboarding. To change it later: 1. Open Your Plan. 2. Find Language. 3. Choose an App & email language. 4. Click Save. English, German, Spanish, and French are supported. This preference is separate from each contest's customer-facing language. See Contest Languages. Unsubscribe or resubscribe Tips/updates and contest reports include a category-specific unsubscribe link in the footer. Open the link and confirm the change. Unsubscribing from one category does not turn off the other category, and it does not stop operational contest emails. After unsubscribing, the confirmation page provides a Resubscribe link if you change your mind. Do not forward a personal unsubscribe link: it is tied securely to your shop. Photo approval alerts When Manually approve photos is enabled, the first photo entering an empty approval queue triggers an operational email with a Review photos link. If more photos arrive while the queue remains open, UserLoop limits additional alerts to one per 24 hours. Clearing the queue by approving or rejecting every photo re-arms the immediate alert for the next submission. These alerts are operational and are not disabled by unsubscribing from tips or contest reports. See Photo Contests and Public Voting for moderation steps. If an email looks wrong - Confirm the contact or store-owner email in Shopify is current. - Check the selected App & email language under Your Plan. - Use the footer link for the exact category you want to stop. - Operational alerts are unaffected by category unsubscribe links, so treat them as action-required messages. - If an action button does not reach the expected screen, sign in to the matching Shopify store and open the link again. Merchant action links open inside Shopify admin. - Contact support with the store URL, subject line, and approximate delivery time. Do not forward a message that contains a personal unsubscribe or secure claim link.