Boost your bottom line by recommending the right products to the right customers at the right time. Smart product recommendations are not just a nice-to-have; they are essential for driving sales and enhancing customer experience in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

Estimated 6 min read

On this page

• Going beyond “You might also like”

• Strategic recommendation types

• Data-driven product recommendations built in to Shopify

• Shopify Search & Discovery App

• Theme-based related products

• Shopify Flow

• Best practices for product recommendations

• Focus on store-level patterns

• Strategic placement matters

• Inventory awareness

• Test and optimize

• Start small, scale what works

Going beyond “You might also like”

Ever notice those “Customers who bought this also bought…” sections while shopping online? These are product recommendations, and when implemented effectively, they do more than just fill space. They help customers find products they actually want while boosting your sales.

Effective product recommendations can increase average order value, improve conversion rates, and create better shopping experiences.

Strategic Recommendation Types

Not all product recommendations serve the same purpose. To maximize their effectiveness, you should understand the different types and when to use each one:

• Related Products: Display similar products based on shared attributes or browsing patterns to help customers discover alternatives they might prefer. For example, you may display a “You might also like” section on your product details page.

• Complementary Products: Suggest items that work well with the product a customer is viewing or has in their cart, aiming to increase average order value by completing a set.

• Substitutions: Show alternative products when a desired item is unavailable or doesn’t meet customer needs. Particularly valuable for out-of-stock items or limited search results.

By thoughtfully implementing these recommendation types, you can create a more personalized shopping experience that helps customers discover products they love while increasing your sales.

Data-Driven Product Recommendations Built in to Shopify

Shopify offers several built-in tools to help you implement effective product recommendations without requiring third-party apps.

Data-Driven Product Recommendations

Shopify uses collective shopping patterns from your store to create relevant product suggestions, helping customers discover more of your catalog. The built-in recommendation engine intelligently identifies connections between products based on common purchase combinations, similar descriptions, and related collections. This smart system analyzes shopping behavior across your entire store, benefiting even first-time visitors.

Customization Options

You can customize your recommendation strategy by:

• Setting merchandising rules to promote bestsellers or new arrivals

• Creating product bundles

• Cross-selling complementary products

• Upselling to premium items

• Manually selecting related products

When a customer sees “Bestsellers,” “New arrivals,” or “Staff picks,” they’re seeing your customization strategy at work.

Shopify Search & Discovery App

The Shopify Search & Discovery app is a free, powerful tool to help you optimize three critical elements of your store: search functionality, product filtering, and product recommendations.

Product recommendations are available to every Shopify merchant, but if you install the app, you’ll have options to further customize the recommendations, including adding your own or removing some of the suggested ones. The app also provides performance analytics to track click rate, purchase rate, and product recommendations with low engagement.

Our product recommendations API can still be used in other surfaces, which some custom or third-party themes or apps do, for example offering recommendations in the cart drawer.

Theme-Based Related Products

Most Shopify themes include built-in related products functionality that automatically displays products from the same collection or with similar tags on your product pages. This section typically appears near the bottom of product pages and generates suggestions based on simple relationships like shared collections or tags.

You can enhance your theme’s related products functionality by implementing a strategic tagging system to manually define product relationships.

Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow is an automation tool that lets you create sophisticated recommendation rules based on various triggers and conditions. While not specifically designed for product recommendations, you can use Flow to build automated workflows that enhance your recommendation strategy.

• Automatically send a follow-up email with recommendations after a customer completes a product quiz

• Send tailored product recommendations to customers based on their past purchase or browsing history

Best Practices for Product Recommendations

Here are key best practices to optimize your recommendation strategy:

Focus on Store-Level Patterns

Analyze which products are frequently purchased together across all customers and use these insights to inform your recommendation strategy.

Strategic Placement Matters

Position recommendations thoughtfully throughout the customer journey:

• Product Pages: Show similar or complementary items to encourage additional purchases.

• Cart Page: Suggest “frequently bought together” items or products that help reach free shipping thresholds.

• Checkout Process: Offer last-minute add-ons that complement their selections.

• Abandoned Cart Emails: Remind shoppers of items they left behind and suggest alternatives.

• Homepage: Display bestsellers or personalized picks based on previous visits.

• Zero Results Pages: Offer alternatives when searches yield no results.

• Category Pages: Highlight popular items within that category.

• Post-Purchase: Recommend related products on order confirmation pages or follow-up emails.

Ensure your most important recommendations appear “above the fold” where they’re immediately visible without scrolling.

Inventory Awareness

Never recommend out-of-stock products—this creates frustration when customers click on unavailable items. Set up rules to automatically filter out sold-out products and avoid promoting seasonal items at the wrong time of year. There are several ways to do this with the help of third-party apps or Shopify Flow.

Test and Optimize

Continuously A/B test different recommendation strategies while tracking click-through rates, conversion rates, and impact on average order value. Use analytics to understand which recommendation types perform best with your specific audience.

By thoughtfully implementing these best practices, you’ll create a recommendation system that genuinely enhances the shopping experience while driving measurable business results.

Start Small, Scale What Works

Ready to boost your sales with product recommendations? Begin by implementing one recommendation strategy on your product pages using the Shopify Search & Discovery app. Monitor its performance for two weeks, then adjust based on the data.

Once you’ve found a winning approach, expand to other areas of your store. Remember that effective recommendations evolve with your business—what works today might need refinement tomorrow as your product catalog and customer base grow.

The most successful merchants view recommendations not as a set-it-and-forget-it feature, but as an ongoing opportunity to connect customers with products they’ll love. Your next bestseller might be just one smart recommendation away.

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