How to Recommend Products That Fit Well Together

When you visit a physical store, a good salesperson might suggest a shirt that complements the pants you’re buying. On an online store, that "salesperson" is a product recommendation engine. Simply showing "related products" based on a category isn't enough; to truly increase sales and average order value, you need to recommend products that logically fit together. This guide will show you how to use smart cross-selling to make recommendations that feel helpful, not pushy, a feature that can be fully automated with a tool like EcomStar.

The Science Behind Smart Cross-Selling

Effective cross-selling is rooted in understanding customer needs and behavior. A smart recommendation works because it solves a problem, enhances the original purchase, or provides additional value. When you present a customer with a product that complements what they’ve already chosen, you're not just trying to sell more; you're helping them get the most out of their purchase. This approach builds trust and leads to higher conversion rates.

4 Tactics for Recommending Complementary Products

Tactic 1: "Frequently Bought Together"

This is the most powerful cross-selling tactic. By analyzing your store's purchase data, you can identify products that customers consistently buy in the same transaction. For example, if customers often buy a phone case with a screen protector, recommending the screen protector on the phone case product page is a natural, data-backed suggestion that is highly likely to convert.

Tactic 2: Create Bundles & Kits

Take the "frequently bought together" concept a step further by creating a pre-packaged bundle. By grouping complementary products and offering them at a slight discount, you make it easy for customers to purchase the complete solution. Think of a "Coffee Starter Kit" with a mug, beans, and filters. This provides clear value and a strong incentive to increase AOV.

Tactic 3: Based on Visual or Thematic Match

This tactic is especially effective for fashion, home goods, and other visually-driven industries. Create sections like "Complete the Look" or "Shop the Room" that display products that are visually or thematically cohesive. This helps the customer envision how multiple items can work together, encouraging them to add more to their cart to achieve a desired aesthetic.

Tactic 4: Post-Purchase Offers

After a customer has completed their initial purchase, their guard is down, and they are in a high-intent state. This is the perfect moment for a one-click upsell of a small, complementary item. Offering an accessory or a warranty as a final, seamless add-on can significantly boost your AOV without disrupting the main checkout process.

How to Implement These Tactics on Shopify

While you can manually create "related products" in Shopify, this is time-consuming and often lacks the data-driven intelligence needed for high conversion. Manually creating bundles and managing post-purchase funnels is even more complex. For truly smart, automated recommendations, you'll need a dedicated app that can analyze your store's data and present personalized, relevant offers.

How EcomStar Automates Smart Recommendations

EcomStar is built to help you implement all these tactics effortlessly. Our platform uses smart, AI-driven algorithms to automatically identify and recommend products that are frequently bought together. With our intuitive funnel builder, you can easily create compelling product bundles and set up one-click, post-purchase offers for those perfect final add-ons. EcomStar removes the guesswork from cross-selling, allowing you to boost your sales with recommendations that are always strategic and never pushy.

Final Thoughts

Recommending products that fit well together is a powerful way to increase your Shopify store's revenue and provide a better shopping experience. By moving beyond generic "related products" and implementing data-driven, strategic cross-selling tactics, you can turn every customer interaction into an opportunity for growth.

Ready to start making smarter recommendations? Check out our guide on upsell timing to learn more.