How to Set Up Up-sells and Cross-sells in WooCommerce
Learn the difference between the two features and how to recommend the right complementary products to boost your e-shop's sales.
Recommending related products is the strategy used by Amazon and the world’s largest online stores. WooCommerce allows you to set up two types of product promotions: the Up-sells (Cross-sells) and the Cross-sells. Let's take a look at exactly what each one is and how they're configured.
Understanding the Difference
Before you begin the setup, you should know where each option appears and why:
Where they appear: Inside the product page, below the description, under the heading “You may also be interested in…”.
Example: The user sees a $200 cell phone, and you upsell them on the next model, which costs $300.
Where they appear: Inside the Shopping Cart page, just before the Fund.
Example: The customer has added the cell phone to their cart, and you suggest a case or a screen protector.
Where are these settings located within the Product?
The process is carried out separately for each product through the management system:
- Go to Products and open the product you want to edit.
- Scroll down in the box Product Data.
- Click the tab Linked Products in the left-hand menu.
[ Screenshot: The “Product Data” menu with the “Related Products” tab selected ]
Adding Products
There you'll find two search fields: Cross-sells (Up-sells) and Cross-sells.
Click inside the corresponding field and start typing the first 3 letters of the product name you want to suggest. Once the system displays it in the list, click on it to add it. You can add as many products as you like to each field.
In the "Cross-sells" field (in the shopping cart), choose to include small, inexpensive, and absolutely essential accessories (impulse buys). If a customer is shopping for a dress and you suggest another dress in their shopping cart, all you’ll accomplish is confusing them and delaying the completion of their order. Instead, suggest a belt or a pair of socks!
[ Screenshot: Example of entering products in the "Up-sells" and "Cross-sells" fields ]
Storage and Control
Once you've selected the right products, go to the top right of the page and click the button Update.
Right after that, visit the product page in your e-shop to make sure the up-sells are displayed correctly at the bottom, and add the product to the cart to check how the cross-sells appear.
By default, WooCommerce automatically displays “Related Products” at the bottom of each page based on shared categories or tags. However, if you manually set **Up-sells**, they will replace the automatic related products (depending on your theme). Make sure you select products that are actually available for purchase and in stock; otherwise, that section will remain empty.
[ Screenshot: How cross-sells appear live on the shopping cart screen ]
Would you like to automate the “Frequently Bought Together” suggestions?;
Manually adding up-sells and cross-sells to hundreds of products takes an enormous amount of time. At Skynetix, we can upgrade your store with smart plugins such as **Frequently Bought Together** or **Recommendation Engines**. These systems automatically create product bundles with special discounts (e.g., “Buy the T-shirt + the shorts and save €5”), allowing customers to add both products to their cart with just one click!
