You added a product to your cart on Amazon once and immediately saw a popup: “Customers also bought…” and you added something else. That’s a WooCommerce upsell popup doing its job.
The good news? You can set up the exact same thing on your WooCommerce store in about 15 minutes — no coding needed. This guide walks you through every step using UpsellWP, including how to pick the right trigger, target the right shoppers, and customize the popup to match your brand.
A well-placed popup is one of the fastest ways to lift revenue from shoppers who are already in buying mode without spending a cent on additional traffic.
Table of contents
What are WooCommerce upsell popups?
A WooCommerce upsell popup is an overlay that appears during the shopping journey — usually right after a customer adds a product to their cart or clicks “Proceed to Checkout.” It shows one or more related or higher-value products the shopper might want to add before completing their purchase.
Unlike a static product recommendation block buried at the bottom of a page, a popup appears at the exact moment a customer is already in buying mode. That timing is why they convert so well.
UpsellWP supports two popup triggers and five product suggestion methods, giving you precise control over what appears and when. We’ll cover all of them below.
Also Read: Best WooCommerce Wishlist Plugins
Why use upsell popups in your WooCommerce store?
Most WooCommerce stores leave money on the table at the cart stage. A shopper has already decided to buy — they just haven’t been shown what else they might want.
Here’s what a well-configured upsell popup does for your store:
- Raises average order value (AOV): each accepted offer adds revenue without a new customer acquisition cost
- Improves ecommerce conversion rate: relevant suggestions feel helpful, not pushy; see our WooCommerce conversion rate optimization strategies for the full picture.
- Increases customer lifetime value (CLV):shoppers who discover more products tend to return
- Works passively:set it up once, and it runs on every qualifying cart automatically
Also Read: best WooCommerce exit intent popup plugins
What you need before you start
Before jumping into the steps, make sure you have the following ready:
Software requirements:
- WordPress (latest stable version)
- WooCommerce (installed and active)
- UpsellWP
Store requirements:
- At least one published product to use as the offer
- Admin access to your WordPress dashboard
Time estimate: ~15 minutes for a basic popup campaign
Difficulty: Beginner — no coding required
Tools / materials
UpsellWP is the WooCommerce upsell popup plugin used throughout this tutorial. It covers the full customer journey — from product pages and cart to checkout and post-purchase with 12+ campaign types in one dashboard.
How To Add WooCommerce Upsell Popups?
You can add upsell popup in WooCommerce by following these 3 steps. Here, I have used UpsellWP plugin to demonstrate the steps.
Step 1: Installation and Activation
- To install the plugin, go to WordPress dashboard -> Plugins -> Add new plugin.
- Select upload plugin -> choose file and upload the downloaded zip file.

- Once installed, click Activate plugin to activate.

Step 2: Add New WooCommerce ‘Upsell Popups’ campaign
- Now go to UpsellWP -> Campaigns -> Create new campaign.

- Select Upsell Popups and enter the campaign name for reference.

Step 3: Choose the Trigger Option
UpsellWP provides 2 trigger options,
- Display popup after the customer clicks ‘Add to Cart’ button.
- Display popup once the customer clicks ‘Proceed to Checkout’ button.
Trigger 1: After Product Added to Cart
- Select After product added to cart.
- Choose if you want to show popups for ‘All products/Specific products/Specific categories’.
- For instance, I have chosen ‘All products’ here.
- You can also select if you want to show popups for ‘Cart products/Recently added products’.
- For instance, I have chosen ‘Cart products’ here.

- From the products section below, choose the method of product suggestion.
- For instance, I have chosen ‘upsell products’
- You can choose any product suggestion method based on your business requirements.
Note: Use this guide to show cross-selling products in the popup window.

- Scroll down to the discount field and set the discount type as fixed, percentage, or no discount.
- Set discount value in the value field.
- For instance, I have chosen ‘percentage discount’.

- To change the popup template, click change template.

- Select Edit content/style to customize the content and design of the template.

- Scroll down to conditions and select the conditions based on cart, purchase history, user, or date & time.

- For instance, I have set the condition to ‘Products in the cart’
Note: You can set any conditions.

- Scroll up to the Optional settings to set priority and from & to date of the campaign.
This is totally optional which you can set based on your WooCommerce store needs.

- Now click Save & Close.

This way, you can show upsell popups after clicking the add to cart button.
Trigger 2: Click ‘Proceed to Checkout’ Button
- Select Click ‘Proceed to checkout’ button
- In the products section, choose Use upsell products

- Now set the discounts, edit template content, and add conditions.
This step is similar to the one we have seen in trigger 1.

- Scroll up to Optional settings and follow the steps used in trigger 1.
- Now, Save & Close.

This way, you can display WooCommerce upselling popups after clicking ‘Proceed to checkout’ button.
Best WooCommerce Upsell Popup Plugins
1. UpsellWP

UpsellWP is the best WooCommerce popup plugin to show personalized upsell offers in the popup window. It provides advanced popup settings and configurations that let you design a personalized popup window based on your brand color and voice.
Additionally, this plugin provides upsell and cross-sell features like frequently bought together, order bumps, one-click upsells, cart upsells, next order coupons, and more.
UpsellWP is available in both paid and free versions. The paid plan starts at $75/year.
2. Cart Upsell for WooCommerce

Cart upsell for WooCommerce integrates smoothly with your WooCommerce store and lets you show related products in the popup window.
You can show specific products based on product type, category, and cart total. You can also customize the design, layout, and content of the popup. With this WooCommerce upsell popup plugin, you can set time-specific upsell offers and drive customers to make immediate purchases.
Pricing starts from $29/year.
3. WooCommerce Fast Cart

WooCommerce fast cart is another popup plugin to trigger popups immediately after the customer clicks ‘add to cart’ button. Through this popup, customers can make direct checkout without redirecting to other pages of your store.
The paid plan for this plugin starts at $79.
Tips to get more from your upsell popups
Once your basic popup is running, these WooCommerce upsell popup tips will help you squeeze more value from it:
Match the offer to the trigger product
The more relevant the popup offer, the higher the acceptance rate. A shopper buying a yoga mat is far more likely to add a yoga block than a random best-seller. Use the Specific Products method or Cross-Sell linked products to keep offers tightly relevant.
Use a small discount to reduce friction
A 10–15% discount on the popup offer gives shoppers a reason to say yes without destroying your margin. Use the {discount} variable in your popup title so the savings are immediately visible.
Test both triggers separately
Run one campaign with the Add to Cart trigger and another with the Proceed to Checkout trigger. Track which one gets more acceptances in UpsellWP’s built-in analytics. The winning trigger for your store depends on your product type and customer behavior.
Keep the popup simple
One offer per popup converts better than showing five products at once. Decision fatigue is real – give shoppers one clear choice.
Layer popups with other upsell types
Popups work best as part of a broader upsell funnel. Combine them with checkout order bumps and one-click upsell strategies to capture revenue at every stage of the buying journey. For a deeper look at sequencing, the post-purchase one-click upsell guide covers what to show after payment.
Turn every add-to-cart into a revenue opportunity with UpsellWP.
Conclusion
Adding a WooCommerce upsell popup is one of the quickest ways to increase your average order value without changing your existing product catalog or checkout process. With UpsellWP, you can create targeted popup offers in about 15 minutes by choosing the right trigger, recommending relevant products, and applying smart conditions.
Keep your offers closely related to what customers are already buying to improve acceptance rates and avoid overwhelming shoppers with unnecessary popups. Once your campaign is live, monitor its performance using the built-in analytics and experiment with different products, messaging, and designs through A/B testing.
Small, data-driven improvements can lead to higher conversions, more revenue per order, and a smoother shopping experience for your WooCommerce customers over time.
Further reading on Upsells and Cross-Sells:
- Best WooCommerce upsell plugins
- Best WooCommerce order bump plugins
- Best WooCommerce frequently bought together plugins
Frequently Asked Questions
Install UpsellWP, then go to UpsellWP → Create New Campaign → Upsell Popups. Choose your trigger (Add to Cart or Proceed to Checkout), select the products to recommend, configure any conditions, customize the popup template, and click Save & Activate. The entire setup takes about 15 minutes.
UpsellWP supports two popup triggers:
– Add to Cart – The popup appears immediately after a shopper adds a product to their cart.
– Proceed to Checkout – The popup appears when the shopper clicks Proceed to Checkout from the cart page.
You can choose the trigger that best matches your upsell strategy.
Yes. UpsellWP’s Conditions section lets you display popups based on:
– Specific products in the cart
– Product categories
– Cart subtotal
– Customer login status
– And other targeting rules
This helps you show more relevant offers and improve conversion rates.
Yes, you can customize the design of the upsell popup using UpsellWP in your WooCommerce store. You can personalize the title text, CTA text, layout, color, and style of the popup.
The most common reasons are:
– The campaign is still in Draft status instead of Active.
– Your test cart doesn’t meet the configured conditions.
– A caching plugin is serving an outdated version of the page.
Make sure the campaign is Active, verify that your conditions are met, clear all caches, and test again in an incognito browser window.
