How to trigger a Privy display from a button

A click-triggered Privy display is the least annoying overlay you can run: the visitor asked. Turn off automatic show, use a tab or a page button, and publish. Privy's current help treats custom JavaScript as out of support. Do not combine a click campaign with a first-load wall on the same URL.

How do you make a Privy display wait for a click?

Privy's display settings (their 2026 knowledge base) say that if no trigger is selected, the display will not appear automatically. That is what you want. They recommend a tab so visitors can open it themselves.

In the current builder the labels have moved from the 2023 "Convert > All Displays" tour, but the idea is the same:

1. Log in to Privy and open Displays.
2. Open the display, or create one.
3. In design, set Tab if you want a persistent handle (bottom or side). Or set no tab if a page button will be the only opener.
4. In Settings → Triggers and visibility, turn off time on page, scroll and exit-intent. If any of those is on, the first matching event wins and your "click only" campaign is no longer click only.
5. Save and publish.

Privy is best for Shopify merchants who want capture and the follow-up email in one tool. A size-guide or "get the code" button that opens a display is a good use of that. A homepage wall at 0 seconds is not.

Can you trigger it from your own button with JavaScript?

Privy still documents custom JavaScript targeting as an advanced option, and still says it is outside support. Do not email their team a broken onclick.

Older tutorials on this site told you to copy the display ID from the URL after /displays and wire a button. That ID is still in the display URL. The public JS helper has never been a supported API in their current docs. If you find a window.Privy method in a theme, test it on a duplicate theme and expect it to change.

A pattern that does not depend on a private function: use Privy's tab as the opener, or wrap the tab with your own CSS so it looks like a button. If you must use a theme button, Privy's custom JS targeting (Settings → Advanced) is the supported place to attach a click listener, even though support will not debug the code you write.

Theme example of a button that does not try to call a private API:

<button type="button" class="product-size-guide">
  Size guide
</button>

Point Privy's click/custom rule at .product-size-guide in the display settings if that control exists in your account. If it does not, use the tab.

Why is click-to-open better than auto-open?

Google's intrusive interstitial guidance (10 December 2025) is aimed at overlays that block content the visitor has not asked for. A button they tap is the opposite.

Omnisend's 2025 numbers put immediate email forms at 1.9% vs 2.4% after a delay, on 1.24 billion displays. Click-to-open will convert fewer sessions and more intent. That is the right trade for a size guide, a demo form, or a wholesale login.

On mobile, a tab or a product-page button beats exit-intent, which needs a mouse. See exit-intent JavaScript.

What else should you set on a click campaign?

• Frequency: every click can show it again, or once per session if it is a signup form
• Audience: skip known subscribers if it is an email popup
• Checkout: keep it off checkout
• Consent: the form still needs its own email or SMS copy. A click is not GDPR consent to market, and it is not a PECR cookie yes (ICO)

If you outgrow Privy's email side, keep the displays and send from Klaviyo. StoreCensus (23 August 2026) still has Klaviyo far ahead of Privy on Shopify email installs (274,598 vs 37,069). The popup can stay in Privy; the inbox does not have to.

Related: Privy pricing, how to use popups.