What are recommendation blocks on a site for? What problems can they help solve? Recommendations may appear in different locations on sites. What is the best format for using recommendation blocks to attract customers and increase sales?
Why product recommendations are necessary
The task of any element of an online store is to sell a product or motivate customers to make a purchase. Therefore, it's important to use the entire space for maximum benefit and efficiency. A winning strategy is to add special recommendation blocks on different pages of the site. This helps drive visitor interest and increase the chances of making a sale.
Recommendation blocks can increase sales conversion rates by 10-20%, depending on the specific product category.
The success of recommendation blocks hinges on providing a personalized experience that consumers value. In fact, more than 80% of people are ready to share personal data in exchange for a more customer-oriented purchasing experience.
3 tasks that are solved by recommendation blocks
Owners of online stores typically share a common goal: maximizing profit. This can be achieved by optimizing advertising costs and increasing the site's conversion rate. Product recommendations help to achieve the set goal.
The main advantages of recommendation blocks include:
- Increasing the purchase amount: For example, a customer may add an item to their shopping cart and then see a different option with better specifications for a higher price. If quality is more important than price point, that customer is likely to make a choice in favor of the latter.
- Making cross sales: When people see related products in the recommendation blocks, they may add those items to their shopping cart as well.
- Keeping buyers on the site: For example, imagine that a customer is searching for a specific product and sees a list of recommendations that they may also want to purchase. If they click on those recommendations, it will take them to another part of the site and encourage them to keep exploring.
Recommendations help to maintain customer loyalty and facilitate navigation on the site. It has a positive effect on sales in every case.
How to place recommendation blocks successfully
Blocks with recommended products are often placed on different pages of the site, including:
- Home page: This is the best place to present products for a site-wide promotion or popular items that the majority of users may be interested in.
- Product categories: As a rule, product categories tend to contain blocks showing similar items. Labels can help customers understand each block's purpose. For example, blocks that state “You may be interested in this" or “90% of buyers choose this right now!" clearly explain what each section contains. Another option is “Recently viewed." This will allow the person to return to previous product pages if they're searching for the right item.
- Product card: On individual pages, it's better to place a recommendation block with an open-ended heading that shows related items across multiple categories: “We also recommend" or “Frequently bought together."
It's usually not appropriate to place recommendation blocks on informational pages or payment areas.
Many successful online stores add recommendations to the shopping cart section. When a person has added all of their intended purchases and is going to place an order, then you can try to tempt them to increase their orders as they check out. This way, you get additional profit from the same order.
Special attention should be paid to the proper placement of recommendations. It's better to place product promotions in the upper part or on the side of the page. Related or similar items can be placed in a different block lower on the page.
Remember: People don't like being overloaded. Therefore, try to select the best possible recommendations and only display products that will be useful for the specific visitor.
Use the search bar and recommendation blocks in tandem
Owners of large online stores often forget that a recommendation tool can be added to their site's search function. It's a big omission because modern users prefer not to waste time searching for products through a catalog or multiple web pages. Instead, they look for them through the search bar.
If your site search tool has a built-in feature to provide personalized recommendations, you can increase your chances of getting more profit. By improving your interface, you can provide a more convenient shopping experience to visitors who come to your online store.
Our intelligent search engine, Evinent Search, can make the search function on your site simple and effective. Evinent Search will ensure that search results are relevant and site visitors receive expected results. Sign up for a free trial and evaluate the features of the program yourself.
