Boost Revenue with shopify related products: A Quick Guide

Showing related products on your Shopify store is one of the easiest ways to lift your average order value (AOV). It’s the digital equivalent of a great salesperson who knows exactly what else a customer might need.

Think of it as the perfect, low-effort upsell. A customer buying a new digital camera? They'll almost certainly need a memory card, a camera bag, or maybe even a specific lens. By placing those suggestions right on the product page, you're not just selling—you're helping them build a complete solution, which makes for a much better shopping experience and a higher cart value.

Why Smart Recommendations Are More Than Just an Upsell

When you get it right, a related products section feels less like a sales tactic and more like a helpful service. It’s a core part of creating a store that guides customers instead of just presenting them with a static catalog.

This isn't just about AOV, though that's usually the first metric to jump up. Thoughtful recommendations have a ripple effect on your whole business.

• Better Product Discovery: You get to surface items that shoppers might have never found on their own, especially if you have a deep or niche catalog.
• A Stickier Experience: When you show you understand a customer's needs, they stick around longer and feel more confident in their purchase.
• Higher Conversion Rates: Presenting a complete package or a better alternative can be the final nudge a hesitant buyer needs to click "Add to Cart."

If you're focused on maximizing revenue from every customer, diving deeper into AOV-boosting strategies is a great next step. Here's a solid resource to get you started: 5 Tips To Increase AOV For Shopify Stores.

Picking Your Approach: How to Show Related Products

So, how do you actually get this set up? There's no single "best" way—the right choice really depends on how much control you want, your comfort with code, and your budget.

This flowchart breaks down the decision. Are you looking for simplicity, total control, or the power of AI?

As you can see, the path of least resistance is often your theme's built-in settings. But for more advanced logic, you'll want to look at apps or even custom code.

To make it even clearer, here's a quick comparison of the main methods we'll be walking through in this guide.

Comparing Methods for Displaying Shopify Related Products

Each path has its place. The key is to match the tool to your current needs without overcomplicating things.

My Advice: Start with the simplest method that gets the job done. You can always level up to a more advanced solution as your store grows. Don't let the hunt for a "perfect" system stop you from implementing a "good enough" one today. Getting something live is better than nothing at all.

Using Your Shopify Theme for Product Recommendations

Before you even think about apps or custom code, the first place you should look for product recommendations is right under your nose: your Shopify theme itself.

Most modern themes—especially anything built on Online Store 2.0—come with this feature baked right in. It’s the path of least resistance and, honestly, the best place to start.

Getting there is simple. From your Shopify admin, head to Online Store > Themes, and hit Customize on your live theme. In the theme editor, use the top dropdown menu to navigate to Products, then select your default product template. This will pull up your standard product page layout.

Look for a section in the left sidebar called "Product recommendations," "Related products," or something similar. If you don't see it, you can probably add it by clicking "Add section." This is your control panel.

Automatic vs. Manual Curation

Once you've found the section, you’ll typically have to choose how it's populated. This is a critical decision that separates a lazy upsell from a genuinely helpful customer experience.

• Automatic Recommendations: This is Shopify's "set it and forget it" algorithm. It looks at purchase history, product descriptions, and collections to generate recommendations on the fly. It's a lifesaver for stores with huge catalogs where manual curation would be impossible.

• Manual Recommendations: This approach gives you absolute control. You get to hand-pick exactly which products to show for a specific item, usually by creating product metafields to connect them.

The right choice really depends on the product. Automatic is fine for a t-shirt page where you want to show other popular designs. But for more technical or complementary products, manual is the only way to go.

For instance, if you're selling a high-end camera body, you don't want the algorithm suggesting a random point-and-shoot. You need to manually curate that section to show compatible lenses, the right batteries, and premium camera bags. You're not just showing "related" items; you're building a solution for the customer.

Practical Tips for Theme-Based Recommendations

Just turning the feature on isn't enough. You need to fine-tune it. Not sure which theme you're running or what its capabilities are? A quick check with a Shopify theme detector tool can give you the details you need.

Once you know what you're working with, dive into the section's settings. You'll usually find a few key options.

Common Customization Options:

• Headline: Ditch the generic "Related Products." Get creative and test copy that fits your brand, like "Complete The Look," "You Might Also Like," or "Pairs Well With."
• Number of Products: Don't overwhelm shoppers. Showing four products is a solid standard that works well on both desktop and mobile without creating clutter.
• Image Style: Keep your grid looking clean and professional. Use a consistent aspect ratio to ensure all your product images line up perfectly. A messy grid looks untrustworthy.

Theme-based options are a fantastic, no-cost way to get started. But they have their limits. If your theme only offers automatic suggestions and you find yourself needing more granular control or smarter personalization, it might be time to look into dedicated Shopify apps.

Using Apps for Advanced Recommendation Strategies

While your theme’s built-in options are a fantastic starting point, you’ll eventually hit a ceiling. When you need more intelligence, more control, and better results than your theme can offer, it’s time to look at the Shopify App Store.

This is where you can find apps dedicated to showing Shopify related products with serious power behind them. They move past simple, collection-based rules and use sophisticated algorithms and AI to analyze customer behavior in real-time. The result is hyper-relevant recommendations that can make a real difference to your conversion rate and average order value.

Think of it like this: your theme is a basic road map, but a dedicated app is a live GPS. It doesn't just show you the route; it reroutes you around traffic, finds shortcuts, and points out interesting stops along the way.

Going Beyond Basic "You Might Also Like"

The biggest advantage of a dedicated app is the sheer variety of recommendation types you can suddenly use. Each one is designed for a specific moment in the customer journey, tapping into different psychological triggers to make a sale more likely.

You can start creating a much more dynamic and persuasive shopping experience across your entire store, not just on one section of your product page.

Some of the most effective formats you can roll out with an app include:

• "Frequently Bought Together" Bundles: The classic Amazon-style widget. It shows items that are almost always purchased together and lets customers add them all to the cart in a single click. It's perfect for building kits or selling a complete look.
• Post-Purchase Upsells: These are offers that appear on the thank you page, after a customer has already completed their purchase. It's a frictionless way to present a compelling one-time offer without getting in the way of the original checkout.
• In-Cart Cross-Sells: Just as a customer is reviewing their cart, you can show them a perfectly timed complementary item. Think batteries for an electronic toy or a screen protector for a new phone.
• "Shop the Look" Galleries: A must-have for apparel and home decor brands. This format lets you use a single lifestyle image to sell multiple products at once, allowing shoppers to buy everything featured in the photo.

These advanced options turn your Shopify related products section from a simple page element into a core part of your merchandising strategy.

The real magic of a good recommendation app isn’t just showing more products; it’s understanding intent. An app might see a shopper comparing three different high-end blenders and use that data to surface a premium model with better reviews, instead of just another random kitchen gadget.

What to Look For: Your App Feature Checklist

The number of recommendation apps on the store can feel overwhelming. Before you even start browsing, you need to know exactly what you’re looking for. Make a checklist.

Start by defining your goals. Are you trying to boost AOV? Help customers discover more of your catalog? Or are you just trying to automate the manual work of creating bundles?

Your checklist should cover these key areas:

1. Recommendation Logic: Do you need true AI-driven personalization, or do you prefer to set your own manual rules? Many of the best apps offer a mix of both.
2. Placement Options: Where do you want to show recommendations? Product pages are a given, but what about the cart, the checkout, the post-purchase page, or even in your email campaigns?
3. Analytics and A/B Testing: You need to know if it's working. Does the app show you how many clicks and sales its recommendations are generating? Can you test different algorithms or headlines against each other?
4. Styling and Customization: How easily can you make the widgets match your brand’s look and feel? A good app shouldn't require you to hire a developer just to change a color or font.

With a checklist in hand, your search becomes a targeted mission, not a random scroll. You'll be able to quickly see which apps are a good fit and which ones aren't worth your time.

Critical Factors to Check Before You Install

Beyond the feature list, there are a few practical things that can make or break your experience with an app. Ignoring these can lead to a slow site, surprise costs, and a lot of technical frustration. You can learn more about how different features work together by exploring what a comprehensive tool offers. For a detailed look, you can read more about the features of an advanced cart management app.

Before you hit that "install" button, take a hard look at these three things:

Choosing the right app is a strategic move. By focusing on your specific goals and doing your homework on the technical and financial side, you can find a tool that will become a true growth engine for your store.

Customizing Recommendations With Shopify Liquid Code

Apps and built-in theme settings get you far, but what if you need total control? For merchants who want to define their own recommendation logic from the ground up, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and dive into Shopify’s templating language, Liquid.

This is the most powerful method, giving you the final say on what shows up and how it looks. It's also the most technical, but the payoff is a recommendation engine that’s perfectly tailored to your business.

Building Relationships with Tags and Metafields

The first step in any custom build is creating the connections between your products manually. You become the matchmaker, telling Shopify exactly which products go together. The two best tools for the job are product tags and metafields.

• Product Tags: This is the quickest way to get started. You can create a specific tag—say, bundle-camera-kit—and apply it to a camera body, a lens, and a memory card. A simple Liquid snippet can then pull in any other products that share that same tag.

• Product Metafields: For a more robust and scalable setup, metafields are the way to go. Instead of cluttering your tag list, you can create a dedicated metafield like "Related Items" and link a specific list of products directly. It’s cleaner and far easier to manage long-term.

Imagine you sell a leather handbag. With a metafield, you can link it directly to a matching wallet and a leather care kit. This guarantees only those two curated items appear as recommendations—no algorithmic guesswork involved.

Implementing a Basic Liquid Snippet

Once your product relationships are set up with tags or metafields, you need to tell your theme how to display them. This means adding a little custom Liquid code to your product pages. If you're not comfortable with code, a skilled Shopify Web Developer can build out complex logic for you.

The best practice here is to create a new section file for your code. This keeps your custom logic separate from the core theme files, which makes future updates and troubleshooting much easier.

Here's the general flow of what that looks like:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
2. Find your theme, click the three-dot menu, and choose Edit code.
3. In the "Sections" folder, click Add a new section. Give it a descriptive name, like custom-related-products.liquid.
4. This is where you'll paste your Liquid code. The code will essentially find the current product's tags or metafields and then loop through and display the connected products.
5. Finally, use the Theme Editor (Customize) to add your new section to your product page template, placing it exactly where you want it.

With that, you have a fully custom Shopify related products block that you control completely.

Safety First Before Editing Code

Working directly with your theme's code can be daunting, and for good reason. One misplaced character can break a page or even your entire storefront. Always, always follow this simple rule.

Critical Tip: Never edit your live theme directly. Always duplicate your theme first by clicking the three-dot menu and selecting "Duplicate." This creates a safe copy where you can test your changes without affecting your customers.

Once you’ve added your code to the duplicated theme, preview it extensively. Click through various products to make sure your new recommendations are working correctly and haven't created any weird bugs elsewhere.

For merchants who plan to make frequent code changes, using a professional workflow with Shopify CLI or Theme Kit is a must. These tools provide version control and a much safer way to develop, preventing costly mistakes on your live store. A few precautions here can save you a massive headache later.

Just flipping the switch on a Shopify related products feature won't magically boost your AOV. Where and how you show those recommendations is often more important than the products themselves.

Think of it like setting up a physical retail store. You wouldn't just throw a pile of accessories in a random corner and hope for the best. The same logic applies to your online store—strategic placement is everything. It turns a simple suggestion into a natural part of the shopping journey.

High-Impact Placements Across the Customer Journey

The product page is the obvious starting point, but stopping there leaves money on the table. You need to think about other key moments when a customer is ready for a relevant suggestion. Each placement has a different psychological trigger.

Here are the three most effective spots to place your related product carousels:

• Product Detail Page (PDP): This is ground zero. A customer is actively considering a purchase, making it the perfect time to show a "Complete The Look" or "Frequently Bought Together" section. Done right, this feels like helpful advice, not an upsell.
• Cart Page or Drawer: This is your last chance to add value before checkout. It’s the ideal spot for an impulse buy. Think low-cost, high-value add-ons like a protective case, batteries, or a cleaning kit. The customer is already committed to buying, so a small, smart addition is an easy yes.
• Post-Purchase Thank You Page: This placement is pure, frictionless profit. The main sale is already complete, so any add-on purchase here is a bonus. Offer a special one-time discount on a related item to encourage an immediate second purchase and build momentum.

By placing recommendations at these different touchpoints, you create a guided experience that feels helpful, not pushy.

Key Insight: Don't use a one-size-fits-all approach. A "You Might Also Like" section on a product page is about discovery. An in-cart recommendation is a direct play to increase Average Order Value. Make sure your headline and product selection match the context of the page.

Mastering the Visuals and Call to Action

How your recommendations look is critical. Shoppers make snap judgments based on what they see. A messy, unprofessional widget gets ignored, but a clean, sharp one invites clicks.

First, your product imagery has to be high-quality and consistent. Use the same aspect ratio for every image in the carousel. Nothing screams untrustworthy faster than a jumbled grid of mismatched product photos.

Next, show the price. Don't force people to click just to see how much something costs. Displaying the price directly in the widget makes it easy for shoppers to evaluate and removes friction. If you're showing a sale item, display the original price next to the discounted one—it’s a classic conversion trigger for a reason.

Finally, your headline and call to action (CTA) need constant testing. You’d be surprised how much impact a small wording change can have.

Headline Ideas to A/B Test:

• You Might Also Like
• Complete The Look
• Frequently Bought Together
• Customers Also Bought
• Perfect Pairings
• Upgrade Your Purchase

The headline sets the entire tone. "Frequently Bought Together" suggests a practical need, while "Complete The Look" is all about inspiration. Test them to see what story connects best with your customers.

Designing for a Mobile-First World

The majority of online sales now happen on mobile, which means optimizing for small screens is non-negotiable. A related products grid that looks perfect on a desktop can quickly become a cluttered, unusable mess on a phone.

For mobile, the swipeable carousel is the gold standard. It’s an intuitive interface that everyone knows how to use. It lets you showcase plenty of products without overwhelming the page, keeping the design clean while encouraging shoppers to browse.

Make sure your touch targets—the product images and any "add to cart" buttons—are big enough to tap easily. A frustrating mobile experience is one of the fastest ways to lose a sale. A smooth, swipeable interface ensures your Shopify related products work just as hard on a phone as they do on a desktop.

Thinking Beyond B2C: Smarter Recommendations for B2B and Wholesale

If your typical customer is another business, your entire approach to product recommendations needs a rethink. While standard e-commerce thrives on discovery and impulse buys, the B2B and wholesale world runs on precision, re-orders, and absolute compatibility.

Showing a professional buyer "you might also like" suggestions is often just noise. A contractor buying a specific power tool doesn't need to 'discover' a competing brand. They need to find the right replacement batteries, bulk packs of saw blades, and the exact safety gear for that model—fast.

Tailor Recommendations to the Professional Buyer

This is where Shopify's B2B features, like company profiles and customer-specific catalogs, become your foundation. When a logged-in B2B customer is browsing, your recommendations should instantly adapt to their unique pricing and product access.

Instead of showing general retail products, you can set up your recommendations to highlight what they actually need:

• Bulk-Buy Options: Is a customer looking at a single unit? Show them the case-pack version with their wholesale discount front and center.
• Complete Kits: Bundle a primary product with its most common accessories into a single, easy-to-add kit.
• Essential Components: For any technical gear, this is non-negotiable. Clearly display the items required for operation, like a proprietary power adapter or a software license.

This small shift changes your recommendations from a simple upsell into a genuinely helpful service. You’re not just trying to sell more; you’re making their procurement job easier and helping them avoid costly ordering mistakes.

For B2B, the goal of a recommendation is not to distract, but to complete. Your suggestions should help the buyer build a correct and complete order efficiently, reducing friction and eliminating the need for follow-up support calls.

Weave Recommendations into the Draft Order Workflow

One of the most powerful—and most overlooked—places for B2B recommendations is right inside the draft order process. This is where your sales team can stop being order-takers and start being consultative partners.

Picture your sales rep on a call with a client. As they build a draft order in the Shopify admin, they can see exactly what the client needs. A smart recommendation engine can prompt the rep with compatible parts or items that client might have overlooked.

From there, the sales rep can manually add those suggested items directly to the draft order before sending it off. It’s an expert-led upsell that feels like a service. The rep becomes a solutions provider, ensuring the client gets everything they need in one shot. You can dig into more strategies like this in our guide on improving B2B and wholesale cart management.

Clearly Separate 'Required' from 'Recommended'

For B2B buyers, the distinction between what is required for a product to work and what is simply recommended is critical. Getting this wrong leads to frustrated clients and expensive returns.

Make it painfully obvious.

Using clear headings for these sections, like "Required for Operation" and "Frequently Paired With," helps buyers make the right call instantly. It’s a simple UX tweak that builds trust and cements your store as a reliable expert—which is the ultimate currency in any B2B relationship.

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