Suggestions work when they solve a problem the customer would otherwise discover afterwards. Bundles work when the combination is genuinely cheaper or more convenient than buying the parts. Anything else reads as a sales tactic.

The test that decides everything

Would the customer thank you for the suggestion, or notice that it raised the total.

Suggesting a fixing kit alongside a shelf passes. Suggesting an unrelated item because it has margin does not, and customers recognise the difference immediately.

That recognition matters beyond the individual sale, because a customer who feels sold to becomes more guarded about everything else on the site.

The suggestions that actually work

What they will need to use it

The strongest category. Batteries, fixings, adaptors, blades, filters, or anything without which the purchase is incomplete.

A customer who receives a product and cannot use it that day is annoyed with you, not with themselves. Suggesting the missing piece prevents that.

What runs out

Consumables that will be needed again. Offering a larger quantity, or a second, is useful rather than pushy.

What protects the purchase

A cover, a case, a sealant, or a maintenance item. Framed as protecting what they just bought rather than as an addition.

The size or quantity above

Where the next size is better value per unit, saying so lets the customer decide. This is a genuine service and it happens to raise the order.

A service alongside a product

Installation, fitting, or setup. For a business that does both, this is the most valuable suggestion available and it is frequently not offered at all.

What fails

Unrelated items, presented as recommendations. Customers can tell, and the mechanism loses credibility for everything else.

The more expensive version with no explanation. Showing a costlier alternative without saying what the difference buys reads as an attempt rather than as help.

Too many suggestions, which turns a product page into a catalogue and dilutes the item they came for.

Suggestions after the decision. An interruption between the cart and the payment adds friction at the point where abandonment is most expensive.

Where in the process

Timing matters as much as the suggestion.

On the product page, below the main item, works well. The customer is still deciding and additional information is welcome.

In the cart, as a small list of genuinely related things, is the safest position. They have decided on the main item and adding is easy.

At checkout, only for something trivial and directly related. Anything requiring thought at this point loses orders.

After purchase, in the confirmation or a follow-up, is under-used and safe. It cannot cost the sale because the sale is complete.

Bundles

A different mechanism with its own rule: the bundle has to be better than buying the parts.

Better means genuinely cheaper, or genuinely more convenient because it removes a decision the customer would otherwise have to make.

A bundle priced identically to its components, presented as an offer, is recognised as one. So is a bundle including something the customer does not want in order to get the thing they do.

The clearest version is a starter or complete arrangement: everything needed for a common situation, at a stated saving, with the contents listed.

The practical requirements

For service businesses

The same principle in a different form, and it is where most of the value is for a trades business.

A customer booking one job frequently needs a related one. Somebody replacing a fixture may need the isolation valve done, and somebody having exterior work may want the adjacent section while access is set up.

Mentioning it while you are there, with a price, is the highest-converting suggestion available in any business, because the access and the travel are already paid for and the customer knows it.

The honest framing is what makes it work: telling somebody something will need doing within a couple of years and that doing it now saves a second callout is useful information that happens to be an upsell.

The measurement

Watch average order value and the rate at which suggestions are accepted, and watch the abandonment rate alongside them.

A suggestion mechanism that raises the average and raises abandonment is losing more than it gains, and that pairing is the check most businesses skip when they see the average rise.

Pricing presentation generally follows the same honesty test, which is set out in writing about price without committing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the test for a good suggestion?

Whether the customer would thank you for it, or notice it raised the total. Customers recognise the difference immediately, and it affects how they read everything else.

Which suggestions work best?

What they will need to use the item, what runs out, what protects the purchase, the better-value size, and a service such as installation alongside a product.

What fails?

Unrelated items, a costlier version with no explanation of the difference, too many suggestions, and anything inserted between the cart and payment.

Where should suggestions appear?

On the product page and in the cart. At checkout only for something trivial, and after purchase in the confirmation, which is safe and under-used.

What makes a bundle legitimate?

It has to be genuinely cheaper or more convenient than buying the parts, with the saving shown as a figure and the components still available separately.

How does this apply to a service business?

Mentioning related work while you are on site, with a price, since access and travel are already paid for and the customer knows it.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Suggestions on your product pages that nobody takes?

We check whether they solve a problem the customer would hit anyway, which is the difference between helpful and ignored.

Start a Conversation