Related Products on Shopify: What the Row Should Show and Why

A row with a reason earns the click

A strip of other products under the one a shopper is viewing can help them find the right size of something similar, the item that completes a set, or the product they looked at yesterday. It can also be noise: one loose suggestion and shoppers learn to scroll past the whole row. The difference is whether the products have a clear reason to be there, and whether the heading says what that reason is.

To plan a row for your own store, the related products tool for Shopify picks the source, layout, number and heading from your catalogue and pages, then previews the row as a real store widget.

Where the products come from

• Goes well with. Products that complete the one on screen: the toner after the cleanser, the case for the phone. Shopify shows these when you set them up per product in its Search & Discovery app, so they are only as good as the pairs you choose.
• Similar products. Shopify's own suggestions, built from your products and sales. Useful when a shopper might want another style; thin in a new store, where Shopify may have no suggestions yet.
• Products you pick. A fixed set you choose, such as best sellers on the home page. It works on any page and never surprises you.
• Recently viewed. What this shopper opened before, so they can find it again. It needs the shopper's cookie consent and shows nothing to a first-time visitor.

Suggestions need a product to suggest from, so they belong on product pages and the cart page. On the home page or a collection, use products you pick or recently viewed.

Layout and how many

A slider suits a longer list on a product page, as long as the next card peeks in so shoppers can see there is more, and it never moves on its own. A grid suits a short, fixed set and the cart page, where a slider is fiddly. A bundle, with every item ticked, a running total and one button to add them together, suits products used as a set; products that need a size or colour picked cannot be added that way and need their own page.

Show as many as you genuinely have, not a forced number. Four to eight is plenty on a product page; on the cart page, keep it to a few so the cart stays easy to review.

Headings that tell the truth

Name the row by its reason: Goes well with, Similar products, Recently viewed. Avoid vague headings like You may also like, and avoid headings that claim buying data the row does not have, such as Frequently bought together or Customers also bought, unless the products really come from what your customers bought together.

Next step

Decide what the row is for and where it goes, then open the related products tool to plan it and preview the Product row widget from the Nudgesmart app. You publish it from the app and add it to your page. If you are thinking about a bundle price rather than a bundle row, the bundle pricing calculator covers the discount side.

For how a product row fits with the other blocks on a page, see which product page widgets earn their place.