9 Stunning Ways To Use Product Recommendation To Increase Purchases

Do you know that little tricks make all the difference between top-performing retailers and underperforming eCommerce stores?

Simple marketing techniques such as product recommendations serve as a genuine performance booster, so the only real question is how to get the most of your business using the same hack in all of its variations.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you because shoppers who click product recommendations are 4.5 times more likely to add items to the cart and complete the purchase. According to the report, only 7% of website visitors follow product recommendations, but they drive an astounding 24% of orders and 26% of revenue.

If this sounds interesting enough, keep reading to see the basics of product recommendations and learn nine stunning ways to use them to increase purchases.

Key Types and Benefits of Product Recommendations

Product recommendations take many different formats, but they generally come in three key types:

Similar items: They have a huge upselling potential, so you should use this type to generate higher revenue.

Complementary items: You can also cross-sell products using recommended items that supplement the original purchase.
Recently viewed items: It’s a classic eCommerce trick that reminds visitors of the products they’ve already checked a while ago.

The purpose of product recommendations is self-explanatory, but we can highlight the most important benefits of this marketing technique.

First of all, recommendations are highly relevant because they display personalized offers that suit users’ interests. Secondly, they give website visitors a quick overview of your portfolio. Most importantly, recommendations help eCommerce businesses to make additional profit.

Practical Tips to Take Your Product Recommendation Strategy to the Higher Level

Product recommendations need no additional explanations, so let’s answer the most important question: How to boost sales with this marketing technique? We present you with nine practical ways to do it quickly.

Landing page recommendations

A study shows that almost 70% of online experiences begin with a search engine. This means that eCommerce customers are likely to discover your store via Google and visit your landing page directly.

In such circumstances, it is always a good thing to create landing page product recommendations.

The idea is to personalize a landing page to fit a given user’s search term. For example, you can instantly showcase a full list of black shoes if your visitor used the phrase “black shoes” to initiate the search. This is exactly what Clarks is doing with their landing page:

Homepage product recommendations

If you’ve ever visited Amazon, you probably noticed how their homepage is flooded with product recommendations.

The most relevant items are placed above the fold according to the F-shaped Pattern. Such product recommendations work well for all sorts of customers. This is why:

First-time visitors see product recommendations based on data coming from third-party websites. Another solution is to display relevant items based on customers’ common browsing habits and purchasing experiences.
Recurring visitors see product recommendations similar to the items they’ve already purchased or viewed. That way, the odds of cross-selling can skyrocket.

Category page product recommendations

Sometimes you can make the most of product recommendations simply by creating separate categories of the corresponding items. This enables effortless navigation and helps both first-time and returning shoppers to find their way through the website. Here’s how it looks on Amazon:

You can create all sorts of classifications based on the niche you’re dealing with, but the general rule of thumb is to stick to traditional categories such as new releases, top-rated items, discounts, and similar.

Product page recommendations

There is also room for product recommendations on the product page itself. After all, why wouldn’t you give visitors additional options and help them find a more suitable item? A product page has the highest upselling and cross-selling potential, so you are free to insert similar and complementary items.

But there is one more thing to remember here.

Product page recommendations are also suitable for the category called “people also purchase.” It’s a great way to exploit word of mouth marketing and ensure additional purchases with the help of social acceptance.

Shopping cart product recommendations

Many eCommerce marketers are afraid of experimenting with shopping carts – and for good reason! It’s an extremely sensitive phase of the purchasing experience where buyers don’t like to be annoyed or interrupted.

However, if your shopping cart is following the principles of minimalism, there is no reason not to add personalized product recommendations. It can easily convince a customer to make an impulse purchase and buy one more item on the go.

Jake Gardner, a business analyst at the Assignment Help UK, suggests simplifying your shopping cart form: “If you enable guest checkout and ask for the basic information only, you will have more than enough room to place personalized product recommendations.”

Product recommendations for on-site searches

Another interesting tactic is to show product recommendations for on-site searches. Of course, the main goal is to highlight the targeted item and give it enough room among other elements of the page.

But you should not hesitate to insert personalized product recommendations that perfectly correspond with the item your client is looking for.

For instance, one of your customers may be searching for tennis rackets. In this case, you are free to showcase a whole bunch of complementary products such as tennis balls, bags, strings, shoes, and apparel.

Another example comes from Lazada. This eCommerce store recommends visitors to check spelling in case they cannot find a given item, but it also shows relevant top-selling products below the search box.

Page not found recommendations

You all know that awkward feeling when you stumble upon a broken link or a page with zero results found. It’s a problem for online retailers, but it’s not a disaster. On the contrary, you should treat it as yet another reason to give personalized product recommendations to your website visitors.

Firstly, it is natural to present items similar to the one that is not available at the moment. Secondly, you can show top-selling products that resemble users’ search intent. If you cannot fulfill any of these criteria, then you might as well remind users of the recently viewed items.

This tactic is similar to the one you’ve seen in the previous tip and the example we’ve shown above.

Order confirmation recommendations

Let’s say that one of your clients has completed the purchase. It’s a thing to celebrate, but it doesn’t mean you should give up on your cross-selling hopes. This is the right time to add product recommendations to the order confirmation.

One option is to create a special pop-up window to confirm the purchase, thank the customer, and suggest additional items based on the current purchase.

It’s a simple way for customers to double-check the order and perhaps even add more products to the shopping cart.

Email retargeting recommendations

Finally, there are email retargeting product recommendations as well. The tactic is very useful, especially if you know that only 2% of website visitors convert during their first visit.

You should always remind people of the products left in the shopping cart and add a few more suggestions that correspond with the prospect’s purchasing interests. A well-crafted email retargeting message looks like this:

The Bottom Line

Product recommendations are vital to the long-term success of online retailers. The tactic is simple, but you should know when to use which recommendation type to make the most of it. In this post, you could learn nine amazing ways to utilize the tactic: