WooCommerce Related Products: Create Upsells and Cross-sells

Learn how to create WooCommerce related products to increase average order value on your WooCommerce store.

Looking to increase sales and improve product discovery in your WooCommerce store? Adding WooCommerce related products is one of the easiest ways to do it. This article is your complete guide to configuring related products in WooCommerce, whether you’re creating upsells, cross-sells, or custom product recommendations by category or tag.

You’ll learn how to show related products in WooCommerce using both default settings and a free plugin. We’ll also show you how to remove or disable related products when needed — all with easy, actionable steps.

Ready to set up WooCommerce related product recommendations in your store? Let’s jump in!

Related products in WooCommerce are suggestions displayed alongside the product a customer is currently viewing. These items are typically from the same category or share tags with the viewed product, offering a more tailored and relevant shopping experience.

You can configure default WooCommerce upsells and cross-sells using the built-in options. However, for greater control over how related products WooCommerce displays, such as showing specific items or applying tag-based logic, a plugin like Related Products for WooCommerce by WebToffee is a great choice.

First, let’s look at how to display related products in WooCommerce for upsells and cross-sells.

To add related products in WooCommerce using the default options, follow these steps:

1. Go to Products > All Products on your WooCommerce dashboard.
2. Edit the product to which you want to add recommendations and navigate to WooCommerce ‘Linked Products.’
3. In the WooCommerce Linked Products section of the ‘Product data‘ widget, select the desired Upsells and Cross-sells before updating the product.

This is how the upsell recommendations would be displayed to the customers.

Cross-sells are usually displayed on the WooCommerce cart page. Showing related products on the cart page increases the average cart value, enhances customer loyalty, and boosts brand engagement. Here is how it would look in your store.

The Downside of using WooCommerce Related Products

Before going further, it’s important to understand why a third-party WooCommerce related product plugin might be necessary for more effective recommendations.

Common issues with the default display of related products in WooCommerce include:

• Displaying related products depends largely on the theme or child theme used by your WooCommerce store.
• Lack of customization options for presenting WooCommerce related product listings.
• No ability to custom-create related product recommendations.

The solution? As previously mentioned, choosing the right recommendation plugins can make a significant difference. Let’s explore this in more detail.

If you want to set up related products in your WooCommerce store in addition to the standard upsells and cross-sells, the Related Products for WooCommerce plugin by WebToffee is an excellent option. This free plugin allows you to integrate custom-related product recommendations into your WooCommerce store.

In addition to adding custom-related products for individual products, you can automatically relate all your products globally based on their tags and categories. For example, you can automatically relate all products under ‘Clothing’ with this plugin.

To install the plugin,

1. Go to your WordPress admin console and click on Plugins > Add New in the navigation bar.
2. Search for the plugin ‘Related products for WooCommerce’ in the search bar.
3. Once you locate the plugin, click on Install Now and then on Activate to activate the plugin.

Show WooCommerce Related Products By Category

You can relate products by categories or subcategories. Moreover, you can set up related products globally (that is, a single product relation for all products), or you can set up local and customized product relations for each product in your store.

Case 1: Show Related Products in the Same Category on All Product Pages

To set products related by the same category to the related products widgets globally, follow these steps:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Related Products.
2. Select the working mode as ‘Custom related products.’
3. Under the option ‘Display products from,’ select ‘Category‘.
4. Sort the related products by criteria like Popularity or Price.
5. You can select whether to display the products in ascending or descending order.
6. Check the ‘Slider‘ option if you want to display the WooCommerce products related by categories in a slider.
7. Set the number of products to be displayed on the page.
8. Make all the other necessary changes and click on Save Changes.

This will add a new section named ‘Related Products’ to all product pages in your store. Each section will recommend products belonging to the same category as the main product.

Case 2: Show WooCommerce Related Products in the Same Category on Individual Product Pages

If you want to add the product relations on the individual products page instead of setting up a global configuration:

1. Go to Products > All Products and select the product to which the Related Products field has to be added.
2. Tap on the WooCommerce ‘Linked Products‘ in the ‘Product data‘ widget.
3. Add the categories that you want to relate to the product within the ‘Categories‘ section. Only the products belonging to the specified category will be allowed to be displayed as the related product recommendations.

Here, only the products belonging to the ‘clothing’ category will be displayed as the related products of this product.

Show WooCommerce Related Products By Subcategory

The ‘Related Products for WooCommerce’ plugin allows you to relate a product with other products within the same or different subcategories. You can add product relations individually for specific subcategories or use WooCommerce related product shortcodes to relate products with selected subcategories globally.

Case 1: Add Related Products on Same Subcategories to All Product Pages (With a Custom Code Snippet)

You can use a custom code snippet to relate WooCommerce products by their respective subcategories.

To do this, you will have to insert the code snippet given below into the functions.php of the active theme file.

Case 2: Add Related Products on Same Subcategories to Individual Product Pages

To locally add product relations with specific subcategories,

1. Go to Products > All Products and click on the product that you want to relate with WooCommerce product subcategories.
2. Click on ‘Linked Products‘ and add the product subcategories that you want to relate to this product within the ‘Categories‘ field.

Only the products belonging to the specified subcategory will be added to the related products widget.

This is how a related products widget with products belonging to a specific category or subcategory will look like.

Similarly, this plugin helps you to recommend related products based on the same attributes.

While WooCommerce related products can help boost sales and improve product discovery, there may be cases where you want to disable them – whether to create a better shopping experience, prevent distractions, or highlight specific upsells instead.

If you’re using the Related Products for WooCommerce plugin, disabling related product suggestions is simple:

• Go to WooCommerce > Related Products in your WordPress dashboard.
• In the WooCommerce related product settings page, locate the option Disable recommendation and toggle it on.
• Click Save changes, and WooCommerce related product suggestions will no longer appear on product pages.

1. Ensure Product Relevance

The most critical factor in recommending related products is relevance. Your product suggestions should genuinely complement the item your customer is currently viewing. This means linking products by shared categories, tags, or specific attributes.

For instance, if someone is browsing a laptop, recommending laptop bags, cooling pads, or extended warranties makes more sense than showing unrelated electronics. Relevant product suggestions not only encourage additional purchases but also improve the overall shopping experience.

2. Use a Smart Recommendation Plugin

While WooCommerce offers built-in options for upsells and cross-sells, these are quite limited and depend heavily on manual setup. To go beyond basic functionality, it’s worth using a plugin like the WooCommerce Product Recommendations plugin by WebToffee.

This tool allows you to automatically recommend products based on categories, tags, or even custom rules. You can also configure global or product-level recommendations, override theme defaults, and control where and how related products appear, giving you full flexibility.

3. Prioritize Placement for Visibility

Where you place your related product recommendations can directly impact their performance. Ideally, these products should be placed in high-visibility areas, such as just below the product description or near the “Add to Cart” button.

Additionally, showing cross-sells on the cart page can help increase average order value before checkout. Using sliders or tabbed widgets also helps in keeping the product page clean while still promoting relevant items effectively.

4. Limit the Number of Recommendations

More isn’t always better. Displaying too many related products can overwhelm your customers and lead to decision fatigue. It’s best to show a focused set of 3 to 6 highly relevant items. This not only keeps the product page clean and easy to navigate but also increases the chances of customers engaging with the suggestions rather than ignoring them altogether.

5. Highlight Offers and Bundles

Make your related products more enticing by highlighting discounts, bundles, or promotional offers. Labels like “Save 10%,” “Frequently Bought Together,” or “Bundle & Save” can catch the customer’s eye and encourage them to explore more. Bundling complementary products is especially effective in increasing the total cart value while offering convenience to the shopper.

6. Use High-Quality Images and Consistent Design

Presentation plays a key role in how users perceive related products. Always use clear, high-resolution images that match the quality of your main product photos. Maintain consistent design, font styles, and button placements so that the section feels like a natural extension of your product page rather than an afterthought. A polished, cohesive design helps in building trust and increasing conversions.

7. Test and Optimize Regularly

Your store’s performance can improve significantly when you take time to analyze and tweak your related product strategy. Use A/B testing to experiment with placement, copy, titles (e.g., “Customers Also Bought” vs. “Complete Your Purchase”), and layouts. Additionally, monitor your analytics to see which products get the most clicks or result in additional purchases. These insights can help you refine your approach and improve results over time.

8. Personalize Where Possible

Adding personalization to your related product strategy can take your WooCommerce store to the next level. If you’re using a plugin or third-party tool that supports customer-specific data, you can tailor product suggestions based on browsing history, past purchases, user location, or even preferences. Personalized related products are far more likely to resonate with individual shoppers, leading to better engagement and higher conversion rates.

Leveraging WooCommerce related products is a simple yet powerful strategy to enhance your store’s performance. Whether you’re aiming to drive upsells, promote complementary items, or boost overall sales, showcasing relevant product recommendations can make a noticeable difference. With the help of a free plugin like WebToffee WooCommerce Related Products, setting this up is quick and beginner-friendly — no technical expertise required.

It’s a smart way to increase engagement, improve customer experience, and ultimately grow your revenue. That wraps up our guide on how to show, customize, and manage related products in WooCommerce. Have any questions or feedback? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.