How to Add Shopify Frequently Bought Together: Automatic and Manual Recommendations

Providing Shopify frequently bought together bundles is one of the effective sales strategies. These bundles encourage customers to purchase additional items by showcasing products that are often bought together. Thus, you can increase your average order value and revenue.

This article will let you go through the process of setting up these bundles on Shopify. We will go through detailed instructions for automatic and manual methods. You will also know the upselling strategies and the best practices for implementing frequently bought together bundles. Let’s discover now!

1. How Does the Frequently Bought Together Bundle Work on Shopify?

This Shopify product bundle strategry suggests additional products that customers are likely to purchase together when coming to your store. It works by analyzing historical purchase data to identify patterns in customer behavior. When a customer views a product, the system will generate suggestions based on what customers commonly buy together. These suggestions are often displayed in the form of a bundle or package, encouraging customers to add multiple items to their cart.

The Shopify apps that support frequently bought together functions utilize AI-driven recommendation to suggest complementary products. AI can effectively analyze customer purchase behavior and shopping cart data to identify products that are commonly purchased together. It also enhances personalized suggestions that are suitable with each shopper’s interest and current cart items. These apps also allow you to set up the recommendations manually. You can use this function to establish the most relevant products.

For instance, when you view Mod Wax Warmers on the Happy Wax store, the system will suggest some other relevant items like some wax melts or similar wax items.

2. What Is the Advantage of Using Shopify Frequently Bought Together?

Increase average order value.

This feature suggests related products that customers usually buy together, enticing shoppers to add more items to their carts. Customers are likely to be more receptive to purchasing complementary items when displayed with relevant recommendations. In addition, personalized suggestions prompt them to complete their purchases. So, this feature leads to a higher average order value without requiring additional marketing efforts.

Enhance customer experience

When you recommend products that complement your customers’ current selection, you make their shopping more convenient and enjoyable. Tailored suggestions make product discovery easier and simplify their shopping process. Thus, they enhance customer experience and foster customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Improve inventory management

You can utilize frequently bought together bundles to pair slow-moving items with popular ones. This helps you reduce excess stock. Furthermore, new products can be sold as part of a bundle to check their performance. By promoting products that are often bought together, you can manage stock levels more effectively and reduce the risk of overstocking or stockouts.

Gain useful insights

Implementing frequently bought together is also a chance for you to obtain valuable insights. Monitoring the data from your campaign enables you to understand your customer behavior, preferences, and demands. You can analyze these patterns to optimize your strategies to get more sales and conversions.

3. Product Upselling Strategies With Frequently Bought Together 

Combine low-performance products with popular products.

One effective strategy is to pair low-performance or slow-moving products with popular, high-demand items. Bundling these products together allows you to increase the visibility of less popular items and boost their sales. It helps move inventory and provide customers with a perceived value. You can see the example below from REI, an outdoor gear retailer that leverages this approach to increase sales.

Sell unique items only as a bundle.

Providing unique or exclusive items only as part of a bundle can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity. This strategy entices customers to purchase the entire bundle rather than individual items. It works well for products that are not commonly bought alone but complement other items. Here’s an example of pure bundling from ASOS:

Starter kits to start with a hobby

Starter kits are built to support customers who want to start a new hobby or activity. Such bundles usually include all the essential items needed to begin. They make it easier for shoppers to delve into their new interest without having to source individual components. You can see the example below from Happy Wax, which enables customers to build their own melting start kit.

This strategy is a great way to appeal to customers who are new to a particular hobby. It offers them a convenient way to start the activity they want. By providing these kits, you simplify the purchasing decision and encourage customers to buy more. 

Seasonal bundles

You can offer seasonal bundles in specific times of the year. These opportunities are holidays, festivals, or seasonal changes. The bundles usually include items that are relevant to the season or occasion, allowing customers to buy products that fit the current theme conveniently. You can see the example below from Bloom & Wild. It provides flowers and chocolate for Valentine’s Day.

Seasonal bundles focus on the increased demand for themed products during specific times of the year. They create a sense of urgency and relevance, incentivizing customers to purchase before the season ends. Match your bundles with seasonal trends to drive sales and improve the shopping experience.

Complementary Product Bundling

Complementary product bundling means pairing items that naturally complement each other. This strategy improves the customer experience by offering solutions that make sense together and improve the functionality of the products. It encourages customers to buy additional items, helping you increase the average order value.

In the example below, Canyon upsells accessories like a cycling bell or drop when customers view its Aeroad bike.

Bundle new products with existing products. 

Bundling new products with popular, established items can assist in boosting their visibility and sales. This strategy enables you to leverage the popularity of existing products to promote new ones. It encourages customers to try your new items.

For instance, Olive & June offers bundles that include popular and limited-edition items. This gives customers a chance to explore the brand’s full range of products.

This approach helps new products gain traction and provides customers with a comprehensive solution. It increases the likelihood of a purchase.

4. How to Get Reports for Frequently Bought Together Products in Your Store?

In your Shopify admin dashboard, you can click on Analytics > choose Reports > choose Online store cart analysis (under Behavior category).

At this place, you will see an in-depth report of customer shopping cart behavior in your store. The report will help you analyze the pairs of products that customers have frequently added to their carts over the past 30 days. It lets you know which pair of products have the highest add-to-cart percentage, which products are most frequently added to the cart first, what impact promotions have on add-to-cart rates, and more. As a result, you can make decisions based on data for your different strategies, including pricing, product bundling, and upselling on your Shopify store.

5. How to Add Frequently Bought Together Bundles on Shopify?

You can add these product bundles to your Shopify store by using two main methods: automatic and manual. Let’s see the details below.

5.1 Automatic recommendations

Automatic recommendations are usually displayed as an add-on section on the product page, cart page, or checkout page. You can create such recommendations by using Shopify apps. These tools analyze your store’s sales data and use algorithms to identify products often purchased together. They automate the process of suggesting frequently bought together bundles, letting you save time and streamline the bundling process. The tools are very convenient, especially when your store has a large sales history data.

One popular app that can provide automatic recommendations is Frequently Bought Together. They give tailored product suggestions based on your historical sales data. The recommendations for a product will include items that are commonly purchased with it, sorted from most frequently bought together to least frequently bought together.

Pros

• Save time and effort for you
• Quickly suggest products for various customers
• Very easy and convenient to implement
• Useful in case of large sales history data

Cons

• It may suggest irrelevant products because the app relies heavily on your store’s order history to recommend upsell products.
• The operation may be unstable in the case of new stores without a large sales history data.
• Only suitable for stores with basic upselling (can only upsell in the form of add-ons section)

5.2 Manual recommendations

Different from automatic recommendations, manual suggestions are usually in the form of pop-ups. The pop-ups will display when customers add an item to cart or perform checkout, depending on your setup. 

These suggestions require your manual work, so it’s more time-consuming in comparison with the automatic way. However, it’s helpful if your store is new without a good sales history yet. That’s because such a sales history is needed for relevant automatic recommendations. These suggestions can also be used if you want to adjust the recommendations for some particular product.

For establishing pop-ups, you can utilize Shopify apps like BOGOS. It’s an easy-to-use app that allows you to create and customize your recommendations effectively.

Pros 

• You can choose the most related products.
• Helpful when you haven’t had a good sales history.
• Better conversion rate since you have full control of your upselling strategy.

Cons

• Take time and effort.

6. Best Practices to Use Shopify Frequently Bought Together Bundles

Choose complementary products

A successful frequently bought together bundle includes products that complement each other. You can analyze your store’s sales data to identify which products are often purchased together. This can include a main product and some related ones that naturally go hand-in-hand, like a camera with a camera case or a phone with a protective screen cover. To enhance the effectiveness of your bundles, you may group products that fulfill a complete need or solve a particular problem for your customers.

It’s also crucial to keep in mind the customer journey and preferences. Use Shopify’s analytics and customer feedback to adjust your product pairings. This will ensure that the bundles you create are both relevant and attractive to your target audience, maximizing their potential for increased sales.

Provide discounts

Providing discounts on bundles incentivizes customers to purchase more. Discounts can make the bundle more attractive compared to buying each product individually, thus encouraging higher cart values. You can experiment with many types of discounts, such as a percentage off the total bundle price, a fixed amount off, or tiered discounts.

The discount should be substantial enough to entice customers, but it also needs to maintain profitability for your business. So, don’t forget to keep the balance between offering a compelling deal and ensuring the profit margins. 

Select strategic locations for showcasing bundles.

The placement of your frequently bought together bundles on your Shopify store plays an important role in their success. Some areas you can consider are product pages, the shopping cart, and the checkout page.

On product pages, display bundles as a recommendation for customers who are viewing a particular item. This can be done through a “Frequently Bought Together” section or a “Complete the Look” feature. On the cart page and during checkout, you can highlight bundles as an upsell option. This helps to encourage customers to add more items before completing their purchase. 

Effective placement ensures that your bundles are seen by customers at crucial points in their shopping journey. The strategy allows you to maximize the likelihood of additional purchases.

Monitor and optimize bundle performance.

You will also need to monitor the performance of your frequently bought together bundles to maximize their effectiveness. You can use Shopify’s analytics tools or third-party apps to track crucial metrics like conversion rates, average order value, and more. Such data help you understand which bundles are performing well and which may need adjustments.

Then, you should optimize your bundles based on performance data and customer feedback. Continuous optimization is required for effective campaigns. Besides, you can experiment with different product combinations, discount structures, and placements to find what works best for your audience. A/B testing can be particularly useful in comparing different bundle strategies to determine the most effective approach.

7. Conclusion

Shopify frequently bought together bundles are common strategies to drive sales and enhance customer experience for your Shopify store. They bring a lot of advantages when running an ecommerce business. If you haven’t implemented such a strategy, try it with our guide and practices! 

8. FAQs