how to show related products in woocommerce

WooCommerce Related Products: Enhancing User Experience and Increasing Sales

WooCommerce, a powerful eCommerce platform built on WordPress, enables store owners to effortlessly manage and sell products online. A crucial aspect of eCommerce is not only to sell products but also to enhance user experience and engagement by showing related products. Below, discover how to effectively show related products in a WooCommerce store, boosting sales and improving customer satisfaction.

Related Products in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes built-in options to display related products. Related products are determined based on the categories and tags of the current product. This feature helps customers find other items that might interest them, increasing the potential for cross-selling. However, to capitalize fully on this feature, deeper customization and strategic planning are required.

Default WooCommerce Settings

Upon installation, WooCommerce automatically shows related products under individual product pages. These appear as a row or grid at the bottom of the page. To manage the basic settings:

• Go to: Appearance > Customize.
• Navigate to: WooCommerce > Product Catalog.
• Adjust the number of related products and columns via these settings.

Enhance Related Products Display via Hooks and Filters

For a more tailored approach, modifying the function using hooks and filters in your theme’s functions.php file gives you greater control:

1. Change the Number of Related Products

   add_filter( 'woocommerce_output_related_products_args', 'change_number_related_products', 10 );
   function change_number_related_products( $args ) {
     $args['posts_per_page'] = 4; // Number of related products.
     $args['columns'] = 4; // Number of columns.
     return $args;
   }

   This code snippet adjusts the number of related products displayed and the number of columns.

2. Exclude Certain Products or Categories
   By using conditional tags and custom WP_Query, you can exclude specific products or categories that do not align with the current product.

   add_filter( 'woocommerce_related_products', 'filter_related_products', 10, 3 );
   function filter_related_products( $related_posts, $product_id, $args ) {
       // Custom logic to exclude products
       return $related_posts;
   }

Utilizing WooCommerce Extensions

Several plugins can enhance how you display related products in WooCommerce:

• WooCommerce Product Recommendations: This premium extension offers robust tools for setting up manual or automatic recommendations.
• Related Products Manager for WooCommerce: This plugin allows detailed customization of related products based on different criteria like shared attributes, tags, or categories.
• Cross-Sells & Up-Sells: By using WooCommerce’s native functionality to add cross-sells and up-sells, you can control the recommendations more directly from product settings.

Leverage Custom Queries and AI Recommendations

Advancements in artificial intelligence have paved the way for sophisticated product recommendation systems:

• Implementing AI Tools: Tools like Reco, which integrate with WooCommerce, use machine learning algorithms to analyze browsing habits and purchase history, providing highly personalized product suggestions.
• Develop Customized Queries: For those who prefer hands-on customization, developing specific WP_Query instances to pull products based on unique algorithms can be an alternative. You could write custom SQL queries to fetch products that are frequently bought together or that share similar meta field values.

Best Practices for Displaying Related Products

1. Understand Your Audience: Tailor related product algorithms based on user behavior and preferences.
2. Test and Revise: Continuously A/B test different strategies for displaying related products to see what converts the best.
3. Visual Appeal: Maximize product imagery and ensure that layout designs remain clean and inviting.
4. Mobile Optimization: As a substantial amount of shopping occurs on mobile devices, ensure related products are mobile-friendly.

By implementing a strategic approach to displaying related products in WooCommerce, you are not just encouraging more sales but are also improving the shopping experience for your customers. With the right combination of tools, customizations, and best practices, your WooCommerce store can effectively use related products to drive additional revenue and enhance customer satisfaction.