Why Product Recommendation Matters In Ecommerce Design?

Product recommendations are the new kid on the scene when it comes to eCommerce design. Gone are the days of endless scrolling, trying to find what you're looking for. In the few short years since their introduction into our lives, product recommendations have become one of the most highly regarded (and rewarded) parts of an eCommerce design.

In this post, we're going to explore why they matter to a marketing agency and what you should take into account when creating a product recommendation platform for your site.

How important is product recommendation?

To understand why product recommendation is so important, you need to look at how they've developed over recent years.

For many years, eCommerce sites had no alternative but to rely on customers searching for the product they wanted. Even when shopping carts were first introduced into eCommerce design, there was little scope for customers to easily and quickly decide what else they might like to buy alongside the product they'd already selected.

It led to a couple of big problems for different marketing firm.

Firstly, customers have never been as impatient as they are now.

We live in a world where we expect everything to happen now. We don't want to wait 10 minutes for something to load on our computer. We want instant answers and gratification, and shopping is no different. We don't want to scroll through endless pages of products only to be disappointed that the one we were looking for isn't available.

The second problem stems from the first: This wait time has led many customers to abandon their shopping carts completely, unsure of what else they might buy to accompany the product they were just looking for.

Research carried out by Adobe found that 40% of customers who abandoned their shopping carts did so after having added one product – and therefore one row – into it.

These two problems are the fuel that has driven product recommendation into the limelight. For eCommerce businesses looking to increase conversions, reduce their shopping cart abandonment rate and drive their average order value, it's become a no-brainer: You need to implement a product recommendation platform.

But what types of recommendations work?

he general rule of thumb when it comes to product recommendations is the more relevant they are, the better they will be received by your customers. So, you want to give customers products they know they want and help them discover something new that they didn't think they needed.

This is why a combination of product recommendations can be so effective: The more offers you display and the more varied those recommendations are, the more likely you are to give your customers what they want.

If you think about it as a digital agency, your customers already have an idea of the products they're interested in. So they only have to think about products with some relationship to the product they were initially looking at and then apply that concept further. In this way, even if a customer is browsing for a new TV, they may be interested in other electronics, perhaps even a new phone or tablet – so this makes for an excellent opportunity to show them related products.

Alongside recommendations on related products,complementary accessories or products for the same user are also recommendations. These are all great ways to help your customers find products they didn't even know they wanted.

Recommendations based on past purchases are also a great way to remind customers of products they've bought in the past and could continue to buy. It helps you cross-sell products you know your customers will be interested in and gives them ideas of what else they could buy from your site.

Conclusion

Product recommendations are an absolute must-have for any eCommerce design that wants to increase revenue, conversion, and average order value.

To ensure they bring these results, you'll need to factor in your customers' browsing habits – analyze customer data to find out which products they've purchased before and which ones they've abandoned.

Also, consider the products your customers are browsing right now, so you can give them suggestions that help them find what they're looking for.