Have you noticed the ‘frequently bought together’ section on Amazon? One that shows related products to the main product? A survey showed that Amazon witnessed a whopping 29% increase in sales after integrating the related product section within its product page.
Even though it is a bait, it is worth the revenue generated in return. Like Amazon, you can show related products on your WooCommerce store and start earning more.
Without much ado, let’s move ahead to see how you can set up WooCommerce related products in a better way and boost your sales.
In simple terms, related products are the products that are useful along with the main product a user is interested in.
For instance, a user planning to buy an iPhone 14 is likely to add airpods. Similarly, a user looking to buy a WordPress website domain would have an inclination towards the purchase of a security plugin.
But does displaying the WooCommerce related products help?
While you might have your skepticism related to optimizing your store only to show the related products on the checkout page or the product page, it is considered to be extremely important. Here are some reasons why using product recommendations is a good idea.
Advantages of using product recommendations
- Adding a WooCommerce related products carousel to your product page gives your customers an ample amount of choice to initiate a purchase. It may happen that customers may already be looking out for that product and you made it easier for them.
- Adding a pop-up showing related products embeds a sense of curiosity, enforcing the buyer to look for more and serve their buying appetite. This way you not only add to the sales figures but at the same time build trust and customer satisfaction.
You see, you are indirectly upselling and cross-selling products.
Boosts average order value
Adding related products to catch the attention of the existing buyers increasese the likelihood of a better purchase. This in a way increases the average order value, boosting sales and revenue.
Retains your old buyers
Product recommendations create the impression that you care about the tastes and sentiments of the buyer and are ready to go beyond the limits to help them meet their needs.
If customers buy a product once, there are more likely to initiate a purchase sometime later. So you can reach out to them with an offer on related products via email.
Using default WooCommerce, there are three ways you can embed related product options – upsells, cross-sells and by having the same tags or categories.
WooCommerce upsell
Promote a more feature rich, updated version of the current products
For instance, a customer is looking at a $49 suitcase. Upselling would be showing a bigger size suitcase or a suitcase having more security features with higher prices on the product page.
WooCommerce upsell is more like a recommendation from your end to the customer. These are shown just below the product description.
Learn more about WooCommerce upsells.
WooCommerce cross-sell
Promote a complementary product to the one customer has already selected. Example – At McD, you are offered a salad when you add Mac and coke to cart.
Depending on your theme template, cross-sell offers are actually displayed on the cart page underneath the cart products table with a thumbnail image using core WooCommerce.
Learn more about WooCommerce cross sells.
While the above two methods require you to manually select products and add them to the page, showing WooCommerce related products by category or tags is something that is automated.
Products that are from similar categories or have the same tags are grouped and listed as related products on the product page.
For example, if users are looking for a T- shirt, they may be shown a hoodie or a jacket. (category – clothing)
Since you have come so far, it is pretty obvious that you are looking for ways to set up related products within your store. To help gauge the process, we have outlined the steps needed to follow:
To add an up-sell or cross-sell a product:
- Go to
WooCommerce > Products > Linked Products. - Here, you will see two tabs as upsell and cross-sell. Select the products you wish to add in the particular options. (Make sure you have added products that are relevant to the original item).
- Click on
Update.
- Related products, up-sells and cross-sells are all sorted randomly.
- While the traditional methods of adding related products in WooCommerce work well, they are done manually and need to be monitored every now and then to monetize the strategies.
- Moreover, you are limited by showing cross-sell offers on the cart page and upsell offers on the product page.
- There’s no option to target these offers on the page you wish to. What if you want to show upsell on cart or cross-sell on the checkout page? What if you want to show one-click upsells?
- Also, the products that have been manually selected to be in the WooCommerce upsell would never be displayed on the related products tab and so if you wish to show related products, you will have to remove the upsell block for the particular product.
On the flip side, using a WooCommerce related products plugin helps negate the limitations imposed by the default WooCommerce settings. In addition to this, the plugin is tailored to enhance the sales funnel.
Smart Offers for WooCommerce is an all-in-one WooCommerce upsell plugin to help you display related products on the go. It requires minimal human assistance and allows you to add as many targeting rules as needed for recommending products.
Smart Offers WooCommerce is completely flexible. You can target any kind of offer on any page. You can also email offers to your customers. Here’s how can you show related products using Smart Offers:
Show an order bump at the checkout page
If you want to show an offer as a related product on the checkout page, order bump is the best option. It easily conveys the message without distracting the visitors. For example, offer a wireless mouse on purchase of a laptop.
Learn more about WooCommerce order bump
Show upsell offer via a popup on the cart page
For example, the user has added Smart Manager single site license to the cart. Upselling a multi-site license or a bundle can be a good option here.
Show cross-sell offer on ‘My Account’ page
Other than product and cart pages, you can also show cross-sell offer on ‘My Account’ page. Since users surely visit this page after their order completion or other purpose, showing an offer here has a higher chance of conversion.
For example, offer a photography course when the user purchases a GoPro action camera.
Show offers on the thank you page – one-click upsell for WooCommerce
If a user places an order, then on the thank you page, upsell another product where the purchase happens in a single click, without need of completing the payment process again.
For example, on buying a ‘Woo Album 2’, the user is offered ‘Woo Album 1’ on the order received page.
Learn how to set-up WooCommerce one click upsell offers
Run multiple offers in the sales funnel to nudge customers
If user accepts an upsell, show a cross-sell. If rejected, show a downsell.
For example, on purchase of the GoPro action camera, the camera kit bundle is shown as an upsell. If accepted, a memory card is shown as a cross-sell. if rejected, a battery is shown as a downsell.
Show Amazon like Frequently Bought Together section on your WooCommerce store
StoreApps’ WooCommerce Frequently Bought Together plugin fits best in this role.
The plugin automatically shows users WooCommerce product recommendations/WooCommerce linked products to the product they are already viewing, nudging them to buy together those products.
The plugin intelligently assigns a product as frequently bought together to the main product based on your previous orders, like an automatic cross-sell.
For example, If majority users buy a black case with iPhone XI, the plugin will automatically recommend a black case to users viewing iPhone XI.
You would definitely want to boost your sales and therefore you want to display more items. But you are probably doing it wrong. Adding so many items could refrain buyers from making a choice.
So WooCommerce provides an option to change the number of related products shown to customers.
Add the below code to your child theme’s functions.php file or via a plugin that allows custom functions to be added. Avoid adding custom code directly to your parent theme’s functions.php file as this will be wiped entirely when you update the theme.
Please note that it does not work for all themes because of the way they’re coded.
/**
* Change number of related products output
*/
function woo_related_products_limit() {
global $product;
$args['posts_per_page'] = 6;
return $args;
}
add_filter( 'woocommerce_output_related_products_args', 'jk_related_products_args', 20 );
function jk_related_products_args( $args ) {
$args['posts_per_page'] = 4; // 4 related products
$args['columns'] = 2; // arranged in 2 columns
return $args;
}
Why hassle with code when you have Smart Offers or Frequently Bought Together plugin!
WooCommerce Frequently Bought Together plugin allows you to show maximum three and minimum one product as a related product so that customers see limited yet the best options.
And with Smart Offers, you can create custom-fit rules and target multiple offers at the same time. Offers like upsell-downsell, upsell-downsell-cross-sell, etc. This way you not just boost the possibility of making a sale but also win customer trust.
Sounds exciting, right?
Our Offermative plugin makes it possible.
The plugin automatically picks up products/categories to promote, targets users, generates high converting designs and even writes headlines and all other copy text.
You can show Amazon-like frequently bought together items, related products upsell, cross-sell, BOGO, discount coupons automatically.
A new visitor stamping your website and lands upon the top-selling products, you would definitely want them to make a purchase and so displaying related products that go along with the best sellers helps get more sales.
Combine products sold together and offer them as a bundle
A product bundle seems to be an irresistible deal because of the value it provides compared to a single product. Instead of a single related product, combine multiple related products as a bundle and offer them as a related product. For example, laptop accessories on purchase of a laptop.
Analyzing customer’s buying behavior to segment related products is an excellent way to increase average order value. Based on your orders, you can have an idea what products usually customers buy and offer related products to these customers.
Promote similar products at discounted prices
Customers that are purchasing a product might have an inclination towards a similar product but would hesitate considering the price. Offering them at discounted rates increases the possibility of purchase.
Others brought product X along with product Y
Creating a sense of curiosity helps increase the sales of a product. Display products by showing ‘People who bought this also bought ’ on the product page to increase the likelihood of sales.
Post-purchase thank you notification
Shoot an email or a notification after the customer has made a purchase. The same could read as: Thank you for shopping with us. More products that you might be interested in. This helps promote WooCommerce related products.
FAQs
How AI is used in product recommendation?
The AI algorithm behind the feature analyzes customers’ browsing behavior and purchase history to identify product relationships and patterns. This information is then used to display relevant products to customers.
How do I control related products in WooCommerce?
You can control/manage related products in WooCommerce by going to the product edit page by manually choosing related products or using plugins and algorithms to automate the process.
How to create a related products carousel?
To create a related products carousel in WooCommerce, you can use a plugin or use WooCommerce related products shortcode to add a carousel or slider that displays related products based on the current product being viewed.
Is there a limit on related products in WooCommerce?
No. There is no limit to the number of WooCommerce custom-related products you can add.
It depends on your theme and how many related products you want to show.
Conclusion
Adding related products to the WooCommerce store helps boost the overall sales of the store while creating a community of users that lay their money and trust in you.
In order to create an intelligent sales funnel for your store, go ahead and buy Smart Offers and Frequently Bought Together plugins and get started with selling products on the go.