The Power of Product Recommendations: Boosting Sales and Building Trust
In this blog post, we will cover:
- What Is Product Recommendation for E-Commerce Sales
- The Benefits of Product Recommendation
- Product Recommendation: 6 Effective Strategies for E-Commerce
- How to Make Your Product Recommendations More Effective
- Conclusion
Product recommendation is one of the marketing tools that has maintained efficiency. It’s still one of the best ways to improve the upsell revenue of a business. Yes, that’s right. Something as simple as a product recommendation can make the difference between a one-time customer and a loyal one.
Today, we want to delve into product recommendation strategies to help you understand its potential and see its value. That way you can invest in product recommendations and boost your e-commerce sales. Before we explore the strategies, let’s start with the basics.
What Is Product Recommendation for E-Commerce Sales?
Product recommendation is simply a personalized suggestion. Customers and shoppers get them based on factors like purchase history, browser history, or demographic information. It’s a way to show customers products or services they might want, even if they’re not actively looking for them.
The Benefits of Product Recommendation
The main benefits of using recommended products in your e-commerce strategy are the following:
1. It Increases Conversion Rates and Sales
When you show customers products or services that resonate with them, they’re more likely to add them to their cart or make a purchase. That’s why it’s such an effective strategy for conversion rate optimization. Not to mention it will improve your revenue by driving more sales.
2. It Improves the Shopping Experience
Another thing product recommendations do is improve the shopping experience by making it easier. It’s very similar to having an assistant helping customers find what they need or discover new products. It makes things more convenient, leading to more enjoyable shopping and greater customer satisfaction.
3. It Drives Trust
When product recommendation is done well, it shows customers that your brand goes above and beyond. You understand their unique preferences and cater to them, that’s the message it sends. This is a great way to foster trust, which leads to loyalty, repeat purchases, and greater revenue.
Product Recommendation: 6 Effective Strategies for E-Commerce
Now that we've covered the benefits of product recommendations, let's delve into practical strategies that work perfectly for e-commerce:
1. Recent Activity Popups
Recent activity popups show real-time actions that provide social proof, which can be very persuasive. For example, showing customers recent purchases or popular items through pop-ups will show them what other people are valuing. The essential thing is to use authentic social proof. Otherwise, it will hurt the trust your customers have in your brand.
2. Best Sellers
Showing best-selling and top-rated products is one of the most common product recommendation strategies. Every online store does this because it works. Using popups to deliver this information and show real-time actions will increase sales. Why? Because people don’t want to miss out on good things. Besides using popups, you can also create a dedicated landing page for your best products (like Amazon).
3. Top Trends
Highlighting the top trending items is another product recommendation strategy that works well. It’s particularly effective during the holidays or when there are seasonal items on demand. For this strategy, you have to analyze what products are trending at specific times of the year. Then, you can recommend those products at the right time. For example, Starbucks does this with seasonal products. Such as pumpkin spice-flavored products during the fall.
4. Discounted Products
You can also use product recommendations to bring attention to discounted products on your website. Stationery Pal does well by showing discounted products first and directing customers to dedicated landing pages. Everyone loves a good discount, that’s why it’s such a powerful incentive. Making visitors aware of special promotions, discounts, coupons, and more, will lead to higher sales.
5. Personalized Product Recommendations
Personalization is very persuasive because it gives the impression you’re speaking directly to customers. To produce personalized product recommendations, you have to use consumer data. Including purchase history, demographic data, and more. That means you have to use tools like geotargeting and page-level targeting to deliver personalized product recommendations.
6. Related Products
This is another popular product recommendation strategy that’s very effective. Recommending related products is a great way to encourage additional purchases and provide even more value to customers. Most e-commerce stores will show related products in the checkout process, making it easier for customers to add them to their cart. You just have to make sure that related products align with the interests of the shopper.
How to Make Your Product Recommendations More Effective
If you want your product recommendation strategy to work, there are a few things you need to do. Such as:
1. Use High-Quality Product Images
This is essential for making a good impression. You need to make sure your product images are clear and visually appealing. If you can’t hire a professional photographer, your smartphone can capture high-quality product images. It may take some practice, but you’ll get good photos. Search for inspiration online to help the process.
2. Incorporate Trust Signals
Using trust signals is a great way to improve credibility and it’s essential for on-site marketing. To do that, you just need to show positive reviews and testimonials. Other trust signals include money-back guarantees, free trial badges, photos uploaded by customers, and more.
3. Design Compelling Websites and Copy
Your products should be accompanied by attractive headlines, valuable product descriptions, and a clear call to action. Additionally, your website conversion funnel should be in top shape. This, combined with compelling copy, will keep visitors engaged for longer.
Of course, avoiding common pitfalls is just as important as optimizing product recommendations. Firstly, you don’t want to saturate customers by providing too many suggestions. This can backfire. Moreover, you need to keep the recommendations relevant and aligned with the user’s interests. In a similar vein, recommendations should be updated regularly to keep visitors engaged.
Final Words on Product Recommendation
Product recommendation is not just a sales tactic, it’s essential to customers’ shopping experiences. That’s why it’s important to execute product recommendation strategies correctly.
If you need help tapping into the power of product recommendation, Fluentos can help. can help. We offer a great variety of solutions, including pop-up designer, to help you take your e-commerce website to the next level.
