Your guide to adding a Product Recommendation section to your E-Commerce website –

 

As business owners we know the ins and outs of the product we sell. We are constantly talking about the features and a lot of times we assume that our customers know our products inside and out- just like us.

It’s the same with our E Commerce websites, we’re in there and tweaking things often and sometimes we don’t realize what it can feel like for a new customer that is just learning about the products we sell or trying to make a decision about what products to buy!

 

Our job is to make it as easy and exciting as possible for our customers to checkout while having an enjoyable experience and not hopping off our website ( PS: this blog post about organizing the products in your store might be helpful for you!)

 

Why Product recommendations are a must have on your E-commerce website:

They’re a great way to build trust :

Making product recommendations on your E-Commerce website is a great way to build customer trust – think about it this way- when you walk into a store and see a display with their best seller or limited season offering and you immediately gravitate towards it to check it out.

 

When you make a product recommendation,  you are doing a bit of the heavy decision making lifting for your customer instead of having them feel a bit lost when needing to choose between all the products you offer.

 

You’re saying ‘“Here’s what people like and trust, so you probably will too.

According to an article on Sleeknote, research found that consumers who don’t engage with recommendations convert at an average rate of 1.02 percent.

This number climbs by 288 percent following a single interaction with a product recommendation:

HOLY HECK!!!! What a huge jump right?

OK,OK- you’re probably like “ Ok Ayesha, I get it. This can totally be a gamechanger, but where do I even start?”

I’m glad you asked!

There are a few different ways to make product recommendations via your website but don’t go just randomly throwing together a list of the other products you sell.

The key to ensuring these are effective and actually get you is?

Ensure they are strategic and relevant.

There are a few different ways to make add a recommended product to your website :

You can do this with automated apps or/and by manually adding a “bestseller product section” to your website.

1.Featuring a product /Bestseller (Manual)

WHERE TO ADD: This is a great option to add onto your homepage where you feature one single product.
You could highlight your best selling product or award winning product!

 

A great tip here is to ensure you tag this featured product as “best seller” or “crowd Favorite”.

By doing this, you’re helping your customers get curious about what makes that certain product so special.
Why is it a crowd favourite?
What stands out about it?
Why is it a best seller?

It highlights what your brand does best and helps your customer see that you clearly have a product customers love- WIN WIN!

2. Showing “more like this” products( Automated App)

WHERE TO ADD: Adding a “similar products” scroll bar to the bottom of each product listing page is a really good way to ensure customers continue to browse your website even if they choose not to buy the product they were looking at.

 

Most Shopify themes come with an inbuilt “more products like this” recommendation section on the product page. You can manually control what shows up or add in an app that will auto populate this section!

3. Showing Frequently bought together products (Automated App)

WHERE TO ADD: Frequently bought together product recommendations are a sneaky little feature that a lot of websites add right at the checkout area!

Think of it as the little candy aisle as you’re heading toward checkout- you can’t help but grab something quickly since it’s right there and is fairly inexpensive( and you need a snack for all the responsible grocery shopping you just did :D).

A good way to up conversions here is to ensure that the product is not an expensive one and would be a great addition to the bundle!
Eg : a facemask brush if you sell skincare or something like a sample sized product your customer can try!

Here are some examples from websites I’ve built that showcase product recommendations :

Pour and Co. Case Study ( A non-alchoholic beverage business)

Rock the Rental Case Study ( A Dress Rental Company)

Feel free to add in all three of these ways to offer product recommendations to your customers!

Different types of buyers will resonate with different kinds of recommendations. Some prefer a more personal recommendation ( like that one from an AI app) while others prefer to know what the crowd favorites are and buy what seems popular and loved by other customers ( based on trust)

Cheers,

Ayesha!

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IF YOU LIKED THIS, YOU’LL PROBABLY ALSO FIND THESE HELPFUL :

• What to include on your shop Shipping & Returns Page
• How to optimize the contact page on your website Part 2 ( Product based businesses)

 

(PS : Did you catch that Sneaky little recommendation in there too?! )