How to Show Related Products in WooCommerce

Any well-respected online store has a lot going on so it’s not uncommon for some features to get overlooked, even if they’re really important. In our articles, we’ve often mentioned Amazon as a great example of the promotional techniques that industry leaders use. This article is no exception as related products can also be found on Amazon.

In this guide, we’ll explore what related products are, which benefits they can bring to your online store, and how to add them to your WordPress and WooCommerce site.

What Is the Related Products Feature in WooCommerce?

Related products are products that are suggested based on what the eCommerce user is looking at or what’s in their shopping cart.

For example, if a customer is looking at a beach umbrella, the store might suggest products like towels, sunscreen, and rackets.

These similar products might be displayed at the bottom of the product page, in the popup when adding an item to the cart, in the cart, at checkout, and more.

This type of feature is very common in eCommerce and is part of all those promotional strategies that target cross-selling (selling multiple products together) and upselling (encouraging customers to buy more expensive products).

Advantages of Related Products

We’ve already talked about why related products are important for online stores in another dedicated article, but let’s quickly go over the benefits:

• Increased AOV – The best thing about this feature is that it’ll make customers spend more money overall. They’ll be more likely to add more products to their carts than they normally would.
• Increased conversions – Related products are a great sales tool that customers perceive as an extra service. Some estimates put the conversion rate increase from suggesting related products at up to 550%.
• Improved UX (User Experience) – As we said before, this tool makes it easier for customers to find what they need, and it helps them make purchases they might not have thought of otherwise. The customer feels understood and appreciated, and they also perceive the service as custom-built. All this can significantly improve customer loyalty.
• Stock management – Suggesting unsold products can help you free up warehouse space without losing out and keep your stock moving.

And much more. That said, let’s go over how to actually show related products in WooCommerce.

Display Related Products in WooCommerce

In this section, we’ll look at both how WooCommerce includes the option to add related products as part of its basic functionality and how you can add them using additional plugins.

Let’s start with the former.

WooCommerce Related Products, Upsells, and Cross-Sells

WooCommerce has two main ways of showing related products. The first one is by going to the product page on WooCommerce, where you’ll find the “Linked Products” tab in the “Product data” section:

You’ll find the “Upsells” and the “Cross-sells” fields there where you can search for products and select them.

What’s the difference between these two items? An upsell is when you try to sell a product that’s more expensive than the one the customer is interested in. A cross-sell is when you try to get them to add other products to the cart.

These two items are pretty similar, but they’re different in terms of where they’ll be shown.

With upsell, you’ll see related products on the sales page of the product you’re looking at:

While the products you enter in the cross-sell section of your eCommerce site will show up on the Cart page:

Other Methods

There are other methods you can use in WooCommerce. With block themes, for example, you can use the dedicated block to display certain products where you prefer:

Some themes include a recommended products feature but it depends on their design:

As you can see, WooCommerce actually introduces this feature in its most basic form. If you want more control over it and a more visually appealing display, we recommend using a dedicated plugin, which we’ll look at below.

Plugins for Related Products

On the topic of related products, there are a few plugins that make use of this promotional technique. For instance, you could use WooCommerce Frequently Bought Together, which creates a section on the product’s sales page suggesting products that are often bought with the one displayed.

This feature is so popular and effective that Amazon uses it on its sales pages.

However, in this article, we’re going to suggest WooCommerce Product Add-Ons & Extra Options. This plugin lets you add fields and customize the product pages. It’s great for selling customizable products because you can mark the mandatory fields and let customers make their own choices.

With this plugin, you can add a product field, where you can choose which products will appear on the sales page and in what position:

You can apply this field to all the products you sell on your WooCommerce store or just to some of them. Either way, it’ll make your work easier and let you promote specific products with just a click:

The plugin has lots of features, so you can use it for more than just this one thing. You can use it to give your customers a personalized shopping experience, which will help you sell more overall.

Conclusion

Related products can really boost your average order value and conversion rate by offering targeted suggestions to customers. Plus, custom related products improve the user experience and help customers feel understood and guided throughout the buying process.

Make the most of WooCommerce’s features, but don’t limit yourself to just the basic functionalities — unlock its full potential to boost your sales!