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WooCommerce Product Recommendations: 7 Ways to Boost AOV in 2026

Updated:  Jul 31, 2026
Written by: 
Author: Editorial Team
Editorial Team
Author: Editorial Team Editorial Team

The FunnelKit Editorial Team is a group of WooCommerce experts with 10+ years of combined experience. We create actionable guides based on hands-on testing, industry research, and user feedback to help eCommerce businesses grow.

WooCommerce Product Recommendations: 7 Ways to Boost AOV in 2026

WooCommerce product recommendations are your store’s version of the question every good barista asks before you pay, “Anything to eat with that today?” The pastry costs the shop cents. It adds three dollars to the main item.

Asked a few hundred times a day, that one question quietly covers the rent.

Your store can ask the same question automatically, at every stage, such as related items on the product page, a cross-sell in the cart, an order bump at checkout, a follow-up email three days after delivery.

Each one grows an order you were already going to get.

Out of the box, though, WooCommerce can link products manually, and suggestions appear in exactly two places, i.e., the product page and the cart.

But there is no targeting, analytics, or anything at checkout or after purchase, which is where the money is.

In this guide, we’ll cover the recommendation types that matter and then set up all seven high-converting placements step by step, from product page to post-purchase email.

We’ll also cover the shortcode method for placing recommended products anywhere without a plugin.

Let's get into it.

Table of Contents

What Are Product Recommendations in WooCommerce?

Product recommendations are automated suggestions shown to shoppers based on what they’re viewing, what’s in their cart, or what they’ve bought before.

Different types of recommendations do different jobs, and the best stores run several at once.

These recommendations also highlight popular, seasonal, or sale items, making it easier for customers to discover new products and enhance their shopping experience.

By strategically displaying the right products at the right time, you can significantly boost average order value (AOV) and improve overall store performance.

Here are the types that matter:

TypeWhat It ShowsWhy It Works
Related productsItems similar or complementary to the product being viewed, like a laptop bag with a laptopSurfaces items shoppers would otherwise never find
Cross-sellsComplementary items based on cart contents, like headphones with a smartphoneAdds relevant products at the decision moment
UpsellsA better version of the selected product, like a premium smartwatch over the basic modelMoves shoppers toward higher-value purchases
Frequently bought togetherBundles other customers purchased in the same orderReal purchase data makes the suggestion trustworthy
Recently viewedProducts the shopper looked at earlier in the sessionRecalls interest and shortens the path back to purchase
Best sellers and top ratedPopular or highly reviewed items across the storeSocial proof lowers hesitation for undecided shoppers
Personalized suggestionsItems based on past purchases or browsing historyRelevance is what makes shoppers act

Each of these product recommendation types helps to optimize your WooCommerce store’s performance by encouraging customers to add more items to their cart. 

By tailoring recommendations based on customer behavior, you can create a personalized shopping experience that enhances both engagement and sales.

The product page is where discovery happens, so it’s the natural home for upsells and related items.

WooCommerce shows upsell products in a “You may also like” section on each product page. Open the product’s edit section, go to the Linked Products tab, and add an item as an upsell.

add upsell products to WooCommerce Linked Products tab to boost sales with targeted recommendations

Along with upselling products, WooCommerce automatically recommends products from the same category in the “Related products” section using shared categories and tags.

You can’t hand-pick these without code or a plugin; we cover both routes later in this guide.

Display related products on WooCommerce product page for upselling and cross-selling

Pros and cons of product recommendation on the product page

✅ Pros: It's a default option for WooCommerce, so it doesn’t require any extra setup.

❌ Cons: Users have to edit each product individually to add product recommendations. Moreover, when users click on different product recommendations, they may get distracted from the initial purchase. 

Placement 2: Cart Page Cross-Sells (Free)

On the cart page, shoppers pause to review the order. WooCommerce uses that pause to show cross-sell products under “You may be interested in”.

Set these from the same Linked Products tab. Add your items as the Cross-sells, so the suggestion reads as helpful rather than pushy.

add cross sell products in linked products

Here is what the cross-sell recommendation looks like on the default cart page: 

 you maybe interested in cross sell product recommendation in WooCommerce

Pros and cons of product recommendation on the cart page

✅ Pros: As it’s a WooCommerce default feature, you don’t need to install any extra plugins.

❌ Cons: Adding product recommendations on the cart page can divert users from the checkout process, leading them to different product pages.

So, these are the two options available by default in WooCommerce for product recommendations. To fully leverage the power of product recommendations, you’ll need additional plugins that offer advanced techniques.

You need additional plugins to use more recommendation techniques. The following section lists the best WooCommerce product recommendation plugins. 

 

Placement 3: Slide-In Cart Suggestions

The default cart page is one extra step in your shopping journey and certainly the reason why shoppers leave your store.

A side cart fixes that by sliding in when the shopper adds an item to their cart, putting the offer in front of them at peak intent (captures the add-to-cart moment, not five clicks later).

FunnelKit Cart handles this with a side panel that opens on Add to Cart, carries the cross-sell offers inside it, and includes the free-shipping progress bar. UpsellWP’s free tier covers cart-page upsells if you’d rather not add a cart plugin.

Step 1: Enable the slide-in cart

Navigate to FunnelKit ⇒ Cart and turn on the “Enable Cart” toggle button.

Customize WooCommerce mini cart upsells and product recommendations for increased order value

Note: For more details on displaying the Woocommerce product recommendations list on the mini cart, read our blog on adding a mini cart in WooCommerce.

Step 2: Turn on upsells and choose how suggestions display

To enable the Upsells option, go to the Upsells tab and turn on the 'Enable Cart Upsells' option.

Enable FunnelKit Cart plugin for displaying cross-sell product recommendations directly in the cart

Now, choose the five display styles to select:

different ways to offer WooCommerce product recommendation in mini cart

After choosing how you want to display your recommended products, customize the following:

  • Product Recommendation Type: Recommend product upsells, cross-sells, or both. Experts recommend choosing both. 
  • Heading: Provide the heading that will show up above the product recommendation section. The default option is "Frequently Bought Together".
  • Show Maximum Upsells: Specify the maximum number of products you want to display as upsells
mini cart customizations

Step 3: Add default upsells

Default upsells appear whenever cart items have no specific suggestions assigned, so the slot never sits empty.

You can search products by name and add them to the default upsell in WooCommerce.

Set default upsells in WooCommerce to suggest complementary products during checkout

You can add as many upsell products as you want, but the 'show maximum upsells' option will limit the number of items on the front end.

Note: Turn on the “Always Show Default Upsells” option to always recommend the default upsell products.

upsell products to offer as product recommendation in wooCOmmerce

Step 4: Assign product-level suggestions

Click 'View All Products' to manage every product’s upsells and cross-sells from a single screen.

click on view all products

Next, you'll see a sleek interface that allows you to scroll through products or use the search bar. Expand the product section to add an upsell. If a product already has upsells or cross-sells assigned, you'll see them here. 

check upsell and cross sell with fk cart

To add a new upsell, click 'Add Upsell', search for the product, and select it from the dropdown. Then, click “Add” to confirm.

Follow the same steps to add a cross-sell.

search and add upsell

🔔 Note: Variable products work here too, so shoppers can choose variations directly from the cart.

Once you've added your product recommendations, click Save to update your changes. You can then click Preview on Page to see how your cart upsells look in action.

save and see preview woocommerce mini cart

Here is a preview of how the product recommendation in the Woocommerce slide cart will look: 

Note: FunnelKit Cart offers milestone-based rewards like free shipping, discounts, and gifts to encourage higher spending.

upsell product recommendation in wooCommerce

Pros and cons of product recommendations on the mini cart:

✅ Pros: This method boosts sales with a milestone-based reward system and in-cart upsell recommendations to increase Average Order Value (AOV). Its user-friendly interface makes adding upsells and cross-sells easy without editing individual products.

❌ Cons: While FunnelKit Cart offers a free plugin, access to the rewards system and upsells requires the Pro version. However, just a few upsells can easily cover the cost of the package.

Placement 4: Checkout Order Bumps

An order bump is a checkbox inside the checkout offering one add-on with one click to accept.

It’s the highest-converting recommendation slot in most stores because the friction is close to zero and the shopper is already mid-payment.

In FunnelKit Funnel Builder, bumps are built under the checkout step, such as adding the tablets as the offer product, setting the discount, writing the headline, and targeting the bump to carts.

UpsellWP’s free tier and CartFlows both do checkout bumps, if you’re already running one of them.

You need to install and activate both FunnelKit Funnel Builder (free) and FunnelKit Funnel Builder Pro.

After activating the plugins, follow these steps: 

Step 1: Create your store checkout 

Go to FunnelKit ⇒ Store Checkout and click on 'Create Store Checkout'.

click on create store checkout

Choose a prebuilt FunnelKit checkout template, preview it, select single-page or multi-page checkout, and then import it as your default store checkout.

import store global checkout

This will import a store checkout with three steps: Checkout, One-click upsell, and Thank you page. 

Note: You can customize the Checkout Page and the Thank You page templates according to your requirements.

Step 2: Add the order bump offer and pick a skin

On the checkout page, you must add a new step to offer an order bump. To do so, click Add Order Bump, provide a title, and click 'Add'.

create order bump skin

After that, choose an order bump skin. Hover over the skin you like and click on Import.

import order bump skin

Now, search for the product and click on ‘Add’.

add sunglass as order bump

This will add an order bump step to your store checkout funnel. 

Step 3: Customize the content and style of order bump offers 

Set the call-to-action text and description that will show up on the checkout page.

customize order bump content

Move to the Style tab. Here, you can choose the position where the order bump will show up on the checkout page.

order bump style

Make sure to click on 'Save' to update the changes.

Once you have added the offer, you can discount the order bump and specify a quantity. You can also select the display behavior and placement on the checkout page. 

add discount to order bump

Step 4: Add targeting rules

Offering the same order bumps for every order may not always lead to conversions.

To ensure a higher conversion rate for your checkout order bumps, provide relevant offers that align with each customer's needs and preferences.

For example, if someone buys from the summer clothing category, you can offer sunglasses as a complementary product that enhances the customer's purchase experience and increases the likelihood of conversion.

To do so, move to the Rules tab and click on “Add Rules”. Next, select the "Cart Category(s)" rule, set the condition to 'matches any of', and add the categories. 

This will trigger the order bump only if someone buys from the preset category. 

Add personalized product recommendation rules based on customer data to increase WooCommerce sales

Make sure to click on Save. 

Similarly, you can create another order bump; for instance, offer a makeup wipe if someone purchases from the beauty category. 

order bump condition for second order bump

Add as many order bumps as you want and use criteria like cart items, order details, customer history, geography, and more to tailor your offers.

Step 5: Activate the store checkout 

After setting up the personalized product recommendations as order bumps, it is time to activate the store checkout. 

To do so, enable the “Enable Store Checkout” option.

activate store checkout to recommend product in WooCommerce store

Here is a preview of what an order bump looks like on the checkout page: 

order bump preview

Pros and cons of product recommendations on the checkout page:

✅ Pros: This method drives impulse purchases. Its rule engine enables highly targeted offers to keep users focused during the buying process.

❌ Cons: You need to be thoughtful of the offer for maximum results. If you need order bump ideas, you can read our blog on "order bump ideas".

Placement 5: One-Click Post-Purchase Offers

The moment after payment is when a second offer risks nothing.

The order is already placed, so you can’t lose the original sale, and the customer’s payment method is tokenized. They can accept a follow-up recommendation with a single click and no re-entry of card details.

The offer step in the store checkout you just built handles this:

Method 1: Add the offer product

Click on the Offer step.

hit offer to recommend upsells

Note: Here, you can customize the content and look of the upsell template by clicking on the Edit Elementor Template option.

edit upsell minimalist template

Go to the Products tab, click 'Add Product', search for the product, select it from the dropdown, and click "Add" to set it as an upsell offer.

add single as offer

You can offer discounts on the upsell offer to make it more lucrative and customize the settings. 

We recommend that you check the option “Skip this offer if the product(s) exist in parent order”. 

add discount to offer and configure settings

Make sure to click on Save to update.

Method 2: Add conditions

Target the upsell with rules based on order total, items purchased, or customer history. This way, you present the right products to the right customers at the right time.

Note: You can create conditions based on order details, customer history, shipping and billing addresses, and timing for more personalized upsell offers.

upsell order bump condition

Make sure to click on the 'Save' button when done. 

Here is what your upsell template will look like: 

one click upsell preview

Pros and cons of post-purchase one-click product recommendation:

✅ Pros: Sell more with high-dollar as a post-purchase, one-click offer that doesn't interfere with the primary offer, ensuring a distraction-free, seamless checkout experience.

❌ Cons: One-click upsells are supported by some popular gateways like Stripe, Mollie, Braintree, and PayPal, but not all, as not every gateway can tokenize users' cards, which is required for post-purchase upsell offers.

Placement 6: Exit Intent Recommendation Popups

When a visitor moves to leave without buying, an exit popup gives you one last chance to recommend a best seller before they go.

For this placement, we'll use OptinMonster, a lead generation tool with exit-intent targeting.

Step 1: Create a campaign 

Navigate to OptinMonster ⇒ Campaigns and click on the 'Create Your First Campaign' button. 

hit create your first campaign button of OptinMonster

Next, choose a template.

choose template for exit intent recommendations

Provide a name and start building your campaign. 

create exit intent popup camapign

Step 2: Build the offer 

Next, customize your campaign to highlight products that are likely to engage customers. For instance, you could offer a 40% sale on women's clothing and a limited-time discount to seal the deal.

customize recommendations popup

Step 3: Set the exit trigger to show recommendations 

Move to the Display Rules tab and make sure the 'Exit Intent' trigger is selected.

Capture potential sales with exit-intent product recommendations on WooCommerce store

Step 4: Publish the campaign 

Move to the Publish tab, choose the Publish Status as “Publish”, and hit Save. 

publish exit intent recommendation campaign

Here is what the pop-up recommendations look like:

exit intent popup with product recommendations in FunnelKit

Pros and cons of exit-intent product recommendations:

✅ Pros: Exit-intent recommendations can boost sales by showing products to customers who are about to leave your site, enticing them with offers just before they go. This method can help capture potential lost sales.

❌ Cons: While effective, exit-intent recommendations may annoy some users if not executed correctly, leading to an increase in bounce rates if the timing or offer isn't right. Additionally, some visitors may view these as intrusive.

Placement 7: Post-Purchase Email Recommendations

Email suggestions run on information no on-site block has: the complete order, the delivery window, and the consumption cycle of what was bought. Timing does the work here.

FunnelKit Automations handles this placement. It’s a marketing automation plugin for WordPress with a free version and a Pro plan starting at $99.50 per year.

Ensure you have installed and activated FunnelKit Automations before moving on to the main process. 

Step 1: Create a new automation

The first step is to create a new automation. For that, navigate to FunnelKit Automations ⇒ Automations and then click on Create New Automation.

create new automation to send email with product recommendations

Select the blank template, provide a name, and click on Create.

import new automation, Use FunnelKit Automations to send personalized product recommendations via email for WooCommerce stores

This will add a blank automation to your workspace.

Step 2: Select the order created event trigger

Now, it’s time to select a trigger. To do so, click on the 'Select an Event' option. 

click select an event

On the WooCommerce tab, select the 'Order Created' event to trigger this automation once someone orders on your store.

choose order created event

Choose the order statuses for which you want this automation to trigger.

Choose 'Multiple times' for runs on contact to send recommendations to customers every time they place an order.

configure order statuses

Step 3: Add a delay

Now, add a delay to avoid overwhelming the user immediately after they place an order. You should recommend their product after a gap of time.

To do so, click the + icon and then select Delay.

select action to add delay

After that, add a delay and click on Save changes. We've added a 3-day delay here. 

add delay of 3 days

Step 4: Add send email action 

Now, you need to add another action that will send the email. To do so, click on the + icon and then select Action.

add action to send email after deay of 3 days

After that, from the Messaging tab, choose the “Send Email” action and click on Done to add the action. 

select send email

Step 5: Design the product recommendation email 

First, provide the email subject and preview text. 

Use merge tags to add dynamic data values like customer names that help personalize your emails.

To add any merge tag, click {{..}}, search for it, copy it, paste it into the email subject line, and preview the text as needed.  

product recommendations subject line and preview text

As per the email body, you can design in three ways: Visual Builder, Rich Text, and Raw HTML. 

Choose “Visual Builder (New)” and click ‘Edit’ to design beautiful emails.

After that, you can choose any of the prebuilt templates. Let's choose “Cross-Sell Products Template”. For this, hover over the template and click Preview. 

click preview cros sell products

Now, hit “Import This Template” to import. 

import cross sell products, Design engaging product recommendation emails with FunnelKit’s visual email builder for WooCommerce

You can customize the template according to your needs, like changing the logo, updating the menu, adding a new banner, etc. 

As per the product recommendation section, the template already includes a built-in feature. Here, you can choose whether to share related products (upsell, cross-sell, or both), best-selling products, or specific products if desired.

Depending on the option you select, the email will populate with the corresponding products from your WooCommerce store.

choose the type of product you want to recommend

You can also offer a discount coupon in your product recommendation email to incentivize your next purchase. You can easily add a discount section using the Coupon block by FunnelKit Automations. 

For more details, read our blog on how to use dynamic coupons in email

add discount in product recommendation email

Step 6: Send a test email 

Sending a test email allows you to thoroughly review the email's content and layout, ensuring that it appears as intended to your recipients.

To send a test email, click on “Preview and Test”. Then, provide the recipient email and hit “Send Email”. 

send test email product recommendation

Here is what the email we created looks like :  

Send effective post-purchase product recommendations to WooCommerce customers via email automation

Step 7: Activate the WooCommerce product recommendation automation

Here is what the automation looks like: 

post purchase product recommendation in WooCommerce automation preview

The final step is to activate the automation so your users receive emails with WooCommerce product recommendations after the set delay. To do that, return to the automation page and turn on the toggle button at the top right center. 

activate automation to send recommended products in email after order completion

This will make your automation go live. From here, every completed order queues a personalized recommendation email on its own.

Pros and cons of product recommendations in post-purchase email:

✅ Pros: With product recommendations in follow-up emails, you have the chance to bring users back to your WooCommerce website and encourage repeat purchases.

❌ Cons: Since follow-up emails have a 40.5% open rate, your users may not open them. To avoid such issues, ensure that you use enticing subject lines and follow up with at least two to three emails.

6 Best Practices to Get More Revenue From WooCommerce Product Recommendations

Here are some tips to follow for boosting revenue generated from product recommendations:

  • Cap visible suggestions at 3 to 5 items

More options create analysis paralysis and lower click-through on every item shown. Therefore, you should cap your suggestions at 3-5 items at a time.

Also, price your bump and upsell offers at 20 to 50% of the main purchase. Offers in that range feel like additions.

  • Ensure product recommendations are relevant and useful 

Don’t offer the same products to all your customers. Use segmentation to ensure your recommendations are relevant and useful based on their behavior, preferences, and purchase history. 

Refresh suggestions seasonally. A bump that converted in summer will underperform in December, so review offers each quarter.

  • A/B testing your recommendations offers to find out what works 

You can conduct A/B tests to experiment with different recommendation strategies, such as order bumps, one-click upsells, and follow-up emails. 

Test one element at a time. Change the product, the discount, or the position separately, so you know what actually moved the numbers.

  • Ensure product recommendations are engaging and visually appealing 

Present your product recommendations in a visually attractive way that grabs attention and invites customers to explore more. 

Use clean layouts, high-quality images, and concise copy to make the recommendations stand out.

Check every placement on mobile. Most impulse adds happen on phones, and a bump that renders below the fold effectively doesn’t exist.

  • Track analytics to monitor performance and improve your strategy

You should track analytics to see how your product recommendations are performing. 

Analyze reports in different matrices such as click rate, conversion rate, revenue generated, average order value, etc. 

  • Promote product bundles with a "bundle and save" strategy

Offer discounts on product bundles by grouping related items together. This encourages customers to purchase more items at a reduced price, effectively increasing the average order value while driving higher sales overall.

Bonus Tip:  Develop a long-term strategy to optimize product recommendations
To achieve maximum results, you should develop a long-term plan for WooCommerce product recommendations and continuously refine it based on data and insights from customer interactions.

Top 5 WooCommerce Product Recommendation Plugins

Our experts have handpicked the five best WooCommerce product recommendation plugins you can use to optimize your store for a better experience.

1. FunnelKit Funnel Builder

FunnelKit Funnel Builder is the most potent product recommendation tool. It capitalizes on customers' buying momentum by suggesting products at checkout, right before checkout, and as one-click upsells immediately after checkout.

More than just recommendations, it’s a WordPress sales funnel builder that transforms your store’s checkout flow into a conversion-optimized system with AOV-boosting features.

In addition, you can create high-converting sales funnel pages, including opt-in pages, landing pages, checkout pages, order bumps, one-click upsells, and thank you pages.

FunnelKit Funnel Builder - best woocommerce product recommendation plugin

Features of the FunnelKit Funnel Builder:

  • Order bumps: On the checkout page, offer relevant products that users can add to their orders with a single click. 
  • One-click upsells: Offer high-value upsell recommendations after the checkout page by tokenizing the payment method.
  • Prebuilt templates: You receive prebuilt templates that can be easily customized using popular page builders, such as Elementor, Divi, Bricks, and Oxygen.
  • Rule-based personalized offers: Create personalized offers using a rule-based matrix that considers order details, customer history, and other relevant factors.
  • A/B testing: A/B tests multiple variants of your order bumps and one-click upsells to determine which one performs best, directing traffic to it to achieve maximum conversions.
  • Detailed analytics: You receive detailed analytics on the number of product recommendations accepted and the impact on order value.

Price: It is available in both Lite (free) and premium versions, which start at $99.50 annually.

2. FunnelKit Cart for WooCommerce

FunnelKit Cart for WooCommerce is a slide cart that offers in-cart product recommendations (upsells or cross-sells) that users can add directly to their orders without visiting the product page. 

Along with adding recommendations, users can update their cart, apply coupons, and proceed directly to checkout, skipping the cart page altogether. 

FunnelKit Cart - Best Cross-sell plugin for WooCommerce

Key features:

  • In-cart product recommendations: Add upsells and cross-sells to products and offer them to your shoppers right inside the shopping cart.
  • Sleek backend: FunnelKit Cart offers a centralized solution to add cross-sells and upsells without requiring edits to each product page individually.
  • Reward system:  Offer different rewards like free shipping, discounts, free gifts, etc., when customers reach a certain order total. 

Price: FunnelKit Cart has free (lite) and premium versions with advanced capabilities. The premium version includes the Funnel Builder package.

3. FunnelKit Automations

FunnelKit Automations is a marketing automation and broadcast CRM for WordPress and WooCommerce. It’s the perfect solution for email and SMS product recommendations after a purchase. 

It’s an all-in-one tool that helps you set up automation to send emails, SMS messages, and email broadcasts. You can also create and share dynamic coupons to encourage customers to make their next purchase.

FunnelKit Automations - Best WooCommerce product recommendation plugin

Features of FunnelKit Automations:

  • Product recommendation automations: Set up email workflows to automatically suggest related products, best-sellers, or handpicked items to your customers.
  • Prebuilt email templates: Get device-responsive email templates for product recommendations that can be customized with a drag-and-drop email builder. 
  • Product block: Visual Builders provides a product block that can dynamically add best sellers, related products, a specific category, etc. 
  • Dynamic coupons: Create personalized, deadline-bound discount coupons that help arouse urgency and drive conversions to your store.

Price: FunnelKit Automations offers both free (lite) and premium versions. The premium version costs $99.50 a year.

4. OptinMonster 

OptinMonster is a lead generation plugin that can also function as advanced product recommendations, offering page-level targeting and exit-intention technology. 

It comes with an easy-to-set-up dashboard where you can easily customize the pop-up or slide notification you plan to use for product recommendations. 

OptinMonster

Here are the key features: 

  • Product Recommendation Pop-ups: Display targeted pop-ups that suggest relevant products based on what customers are viewing or have already added to their cart.
  • Behavioral Targeting: Show personalized product recommendations at the right time, using triggers like exit intent, page scrolling, or time spent on the page.
  • Dynamic Content: Automatically display related products, best-sellers, or new arrivals in pop-ups, increasing their visibility and likelihood of being purchased.
  • Drag-and-Drop Builder: Easily design visually appealing pop-ups and product recommendation widgets without any coding experience.
  • A/B Testing: Run A/B tests to optimize your product recommendation strategies and improve conversion rates.

Price:  Starts at $7/month (billed annually), amounting to $84 a year.

5. Product Recommendations for WooCommerce

This WooCommerce plugin lets you offer smart upsells, cross-sells, and frequently bought-together recommendations.

You can improve the shopping experience by placing item recommendations at strategic locations.

Additionally, you’ll be able to measure their impact and optimize your strategies with in-depth analytics.

Product recommendations for woocommerce plugin

Key features:

  • Accurate recommendations - Build an intelligent engine that promotes recommendations by discovering meaningful product relationships and patterns.
  • Rule-based offers - Tailor the shopping experience across your store to fit your merchandising strategy. Use filters and visibility conditions to match products and customers.
  • In-depth analytics - This recommendations plugin for WooCommerce gives access to insightful reports to understand and refine your product recommendation strategies.

Price: The Product Recommendations for WooCommerce plugin is only available in the premium version, which costs $99 a year.

All the plugins we've enlisted are highly useful for recommending products at various stages of a buying journey, maximizing their impact. 

If you’d rather not install anything, WooCommerce ships with enough shortcodes and filters to place suggestions manually that give you exact control over what appears where, at the cost of maintaining it yourself.

Shortcodes you can drop into any page, post, or block:

[products limit="4" columns="4" best_selling="true"]
[products limit="4" columns="4" on_sale="true"]
[products ids="112,148,203" columns="3"]
[related_products limit="4" columns="4" orderby="rand"]

Don’t combine best_selling, on_sale, and top_rated in a single [products] shortcode because WooCommerce documents these as conflicting attributes, and the block will render empty.

Older installs used per_page instead of limit; both still resolve, but limit is the current attribute.

Change how many related products show, and in how many columns:

add_filter( 'woocommerce_output_related_products_args', 'fk_related_products_args', 20 );
function fk_related_products_args( $args ) {
    $args['posts_per_page'] = 4; // number of related products
    $args['columns']        = 4; // products per row
    return $args;
}

Match related products by tag only, ignoring categories

This is how you can fix irrelevant suggestions for a broad category:

add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_related_posts_relate_by_category', '__return_false' );
add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_related_posts_relate_by_tag', '__return_true' );

Place a hand-picked block directly under the add-to-cart button:

add_action( 'woocommerce_after_add_to_cart_form', 'fk_bought_together_picks', 15 );
function fk_bought_together_picks() {
    echo do_shortcode( '[products ids="112,148,203" columns="3" limit="3"]' );
}

Add these to a child theme's functions.php or a code-snippets plugin (never to a parent theme).

Please note that orderby="rand" fights page caching, and every extra [products] block is another database query on a page you want fast.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Should I offer product recommendations on the thank you page? 

If you're offering order bumps and upsells, avoid recommending additional products on the thank you page to prevent overwhelming customers. Instead, offer a discount coupon for their next purchase to encourage repeat business.

You can easily do that with FunnelKit Funnel Builder’s custom thank you page templates. 

custom thank you page
How to keep track of the revenue from product recommendations?

With FunnelKit, you can easily track the revenue generated from order bumps and one-click upsells and filter the data for any specific time period.

product recommendations analytics
What’s the difference between upsell and cross-sell recommendations in WooCommerce?

Upsells are when you suggest a better version of what the customer is already buying like offering a premium smartwatch instead of the basic one. Cross-sells are complementary products you suggest alongside their purchase, like recommending headphones when they’re buying a smartphone.”

What are the best WooCommerce plugins for upselling and cross-selling?

The top plugins for upselling and cross-selling are FunnelKit Funnel Builder, FunnelKit Cart, FunnelKit Automations, OptinMonster, and Product Recommendations for WooCommerce. They help suggest related or premium products to boost sales.

Rule-based vs AI recommendations: Which one should I use?

Rule-based means you write the logic once (example, show accessories under $30 when a machine is in the cart) and it runs identically for everyone.

AI-driven means the engine reads your catalog, orders, and browsing behavior, then picks per shopper without the rule.

Rules win when:

  • Your catalog is under a few hundred SKUs, and you know the pairings yourself.
  • Margin matters more than click-through. Rules let you steer suggestions toward high-margin items; a model optimizing for conversion won’t.
  • Your order volume is low. Behavioral models trained on a few hundred orders produce noise dressed up as personalization.
  • Compliance, safety, or compatibility constrains what can be sold together.

AI wins when:

  • You’re past roughly 500 SKUs and maintaining rules has become its own job.
  • Demand is seasonal or trend-led and hand-written rules go stale within weeks.
  • You have enough repeat customers for browsing history to mean something.
  • Your catalog has long-tail products that rules never surface.

The AI Product Recommendations extension on the WooCommerce marketplace generates picks through OpenAI in real time and keeps customer data out of the request unless you enable sharing. Make sure to read closely before installing anything that ships store data off-site.

Several plugins marketed as AI are running weighted rules under the label. Check whether the vendor describes a model or a rule set.

Why are my product recommendations not showing?

1. Related products aren’t appearing at all.

    The block only renders when other published products share a category or tag with the current one, and it excludes out-of-stock and hidden items.

    Check for at least one category with two or more in-stock siblings, and catalog visibility set to "Shop and search results".

    Some block themes drop the template entirely. Make sure to check the single-product template in the site editor before blaming WooCommerce.

    2. The wrong items are showing

    This issue always occurs because of a taxonomy problem. A catch-all category makes every product related to every other.

    So ensure you narrow your categories, or use the relate_by_category / relate_by_tag filters above to control which taxonomy drives the match.

    For genuine precision, replace automatic related products with manual upsells.

    3. Recommendations slow the page down

    Each block is a separate query, and dynamic ones can’t be cached like static HTML.

    Therefore, cap the blocks to four products, avoid orderby="rand" on cached pages, and exclude cart, checkout, and side-cart fragments from full-page caching so offers stay accurate without forcing the whole page to bypass cache.

    4. Sold-out or irrelevant products keep appearing

    Turn on WooCommerce ⇒ Settings ⇒ Products ⇒ Inventory ⇒ Hide out of stock items from the catalog.

    If suggestions still look stale after that, clear any transient or object cache.

    Make sure the related-product queries are cached, and a purge is often the whole fix.

    Can WooCommerce handle recommendations for 10,000+ products?

    Yes, WooCommerce can handle recommendations for 10,000+ products, but with some limits.

    Native related products scale fine for a taxonomy query, but relevance collapses at that catalog size, and rule-based engines need well-maintained categories and attributes to stay useful.

    This is the range where AI engines earn their cost, and where object caching and query performance stop being optional.

    Start Turning Product Recommendations Into Revenue!

    You don’t need all seven placements running to see a difference. Product-page upsells and cart cross-sells cost nothing but an afternoon of linking, and they’re the sensible starting point for a small catalog.

    Past that, the checkout is where the numbers move. An order bump reaches a shopper who has already decided to pay you, and a post-purchase offer reaches one who already has.

    Our coffee store never sold anything the shopper hadn’t already implicitly asked for. It worked for the same six products, placed where each one made sense.

    A few percentage points of acceptance at each stage compound into a materially different average order value by the end of a quarter.

    If checkout and post-purchase offers are the gap in your store, FunnelKit Funnel Builder adds order bumps and one-click upsells to the WooCommerce checkout you already run.

    Get FunnelKit today and start growing your store’s sales.

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