How to Show WooCommerce Product Add-ons and Increase AOV?

Missing out on the WooCommerce product add-on option can decrease your target customer traffic by 71%.

According to a Deloitte study, customers are more likely to buy when they can customize products to match their needs and preferences.

But, how do you provide product customization options in WooCommerce? The solution is showing personalized product add-ons.

With add-ons, customers can choose their preferences for the product. This can also help you show upsell and cross-sell items for the product to increase order value.

In this blog, let’s discuss WooCommerce product add-ons in detail.

You’ll learn to show product customization options with addons in your store in multiple ways using an UpsellWP plugin and explore real-life examples to personalize your customers’ shopping experiences.

Let’s get started.

What are WooCommerce Product Add-ons?

WooCommerce product add-ons are a strategy for showing product customization options, such as item colors, sizes, and other attributes, helping customers choose products based on their preferences, needs, and interests.

Using the product add-ons for WooCommerce, you can also suggest cross-sells and upsells based on customers’ main purchases. This helps enhance the customer experience and increase sales.

For example:

If a customer is buying a smartphone, you can provide them with WooCommerce product add-ons, such as:

• Customizing the phone with varying features includes phone colors, RAM & storage, camera specs, and more.
• You can also provide a gift wrap option and a warranty for the items.
• You can also upsell or cross-sell items like phone cases, headphones, or chargers.

Why Provide Product Add-ons in WooCommerce?

Allowing customers to customize their products will help them happily complete their purchase with their favorites.

For a WooCommerce store owner like you, providing product add-ons gives benefits such as:

• Enhance Customer Experience: Customers appreciate WooCommerce product add-on options as they can personalize items to their tastes and needs. This elevates their shopping journey and increases their loyalty.
• Increase Sales and Revenue: When customers find products they like, they are willing to pay and buy them immediately. It results in a successful sale and increases your revenue.
• Reduce Cart Abandonment: When you don’t have specific product customizations that customers are vying for, they probably leave their cart. You can enable add-ons to meet their demands to reduce these cart abandonments.
• Grow Stronger Brand: Customers will remain loyal to a brand and make repeat purchases if they get personalized shopping experiences. Again, product customization will help you retain customers and grow a long-term relationship with them.

How to Show Product Add-ons in WooCommerce?

Showing WooCommerce product add-ons can be done with a plugin like UpsellWP, as it is unavailable in the default settings.

With plenty of product add-ons plugins available for WooCommerce, you can choose the best one with a personalized customization feature.

I’ve used the UpsellWP plugin for this guide, which has 10 pre-built upsell campaigns, including product and cart add-ons. Its easy-to-use interface simplifies the steps, and customization features help you customize your upsell suggestions based on your sales goal and brand.

To install the UpsellWP plugin:

• Open your WordPress” dashboard.
• Go to “Plugin” -> “Add New Plugin”.
• Search for “UpsellWP”.
• Click the “Install” button to install and activate the plugin on your site.

To create a WooCommerce product add-on campaign:

• Go to “WordPress dashboard” -> “UpsellWP”.
• Navigate to the “Campaigns” page and create a “Product Add-ons” campaign.

Now, let me show you how to create and display customized WooCommerce product add-ons in six ways.

Method 1: Showing Related Products as Add-ons

You can use the “related products” method and show product add-ons for WooCommerce based on the same tags or categories.

For example, if a customer is looking for a “T-shirt,” the site automatically shows products from the same “T-shirt” categories or tags.

To show related product add-ons in WooCommerce:

• Create a new “Product Add-ons” campaign.
• Enter the campaign name for reference.
• In the “Filters” section, choose to show add-ons for all or specific products. For example, let’s show it for “All Products”.
• In the “Product” section, choose the product suggestion method as “Related Products”.

Note: The add-ons are grouped with the main products in the cart. To allow customers to remove only add-ons, you can enable the “Allow customers to remove Add-ons from the cart” option.

• In the “Cart Item Quantity”, you can synchronize products and add-on quantities, allowing customers to change or set fixed quantities.
• In the “Discount” section, you can optionally choose specific discount types to apply discounts to add-ons.
• You can also decide where to show add-ons by choosing the “Display Location”.

• In the “Template” section, you can customize the add-on layout:
  • You can change the template design
  • You can add a title to the add-on in the “Content” section.
  • Customize the add-on image size, background color, font color, and border of the template in the “Design” section.

• Save the changes.
• Finally, enable the campaign immediately or schedule it in advance.

If you create multiple campaigns, you can use the “Priority” option to prioritize which campaigns to apply first.

When customers view a product, add-ons will be displayed from the same product categories or tags.

Related Read:
How to Add and Customize WooCommerce Related Products?

Method 2 & 3: Showing Upsells or Cross-sells as an Add-on

As you may know, upsells are upgraded product suggestions based on current products, and cross-sells complement the main item.

You can show these upsell and cross-sell suggestions as a product add-on to offer more product varieties and help customers explore your store.

To show upsells or cross-sells as WooCommerce product add-ons:

• Create a new “Product Add-ons” campaign.
• Enter the campaign name.
• Filter “All or Specific” products.
• In the “Product Suggestion Method”, as “Use Upsell/ Cross-sell Products”.
• Optionally set add-on discounts, synchronize product quantities, and customize template styles.
• Save and enable the campaign.

It will take products from the “Linked Products” section if you’ve already linked upsell or cross-sell items to your products.

If you do not know this default “Linked Products” option, you can use it to show upsells on product pages and cross-sells on cart pages. Check out this “Show cross-sells using default settings” blog to know about this option.

The plugin will show the linked upsell or cross-sell products as an add-on in this campaign.

Note: I’ve included two methods (upsells and cross-sells) in these steps.

Method 4: Showing Custom Products as an Add-on

The UpsellWP plugin provides a dedicated add-on feature for each product. After installing this plugin in your WordPress dashboard and activating the “Product Add-ons” campaign, navigate to “Products”.

Add a new product or edit an existing product and scroll down to the “Product Data” section. Here, you can choose an option like “Upsell Products (UpsellWP)”.

From here, you can add custom products as an add-on suggestion to the main products.

After adding it, go to the “UpsellWP” dashboard to show these custom products as an add-on.

• Create a new “Product Add-ons” campaign.
• Filter specific or all products.
• Choose “Custom Products” as “Product Suggestion Method”.
• Select “Discount Type” for the add-on. For instance, choose “Free”.
• Optionally synchronize item quantities and customize the template.
• Save and enable the rule.

The “custom products” you added to the product will be shown as an add-on, and the chosen discount type will be applied. Here, the add-on will be offered for free.

Method 5: Showing Specific WooCommerce Product Add-ons

You can use this method to show specific items as add-ons for specific or all items.

To show specific items as a product add-on in WooCommerce:

• Create a new “Product Add-ons” campaign.
• Enter the campaign name.
• Filter specific or all products to show the add-on. For instance, choose a specific product, such as a “t-shirt”.
• Choose the “Specific Products” as “Product Suggestion Method” and set the particular items.

• You can choose the discount type for the add-ons. For example: 10% discount.
• Optionally customize the add-on title and template styles.
• You can also allow customers to remove add-ons from the cart.
• Save and activate the campaign.

As we discussed before, you can change the add-on position before or after the “Add to Cart” button.

Also Check
How to Add WooCommerce Upsell Popups?

Method 6: Showing Add-ons From the Recommendation Engine

UpsellWP has a dedicated “Recommendation Engine”, which is an advanced tool for analyzing customer data and purchase patterns. The collected data will show the most relevant and needed products as upsell suggestions to enhance customer experience.

To know more about “Recommendation Engine”, and how to create one, you can check this page: “How to create and customize a recommendation engine”.

For example, we can display the best-selling products as an add-on. You can create a best-selling product engine and link it with a WooCommerce product add-on campaign.

• Create a new “Product Add-on” campaign.
• Filter specific products or categories to show the best-selling products.
• Choose “Use Recommendation Engine” as the product suggestion method and select the specific engine.
• Select the “discount type” for the add-on product.
• Optionally set other conditions, such as synchronizing item quantity and customizing template styles.
• Save and enable the campaign.

An Example of a Best-Selling Recommendation Engine:

Now, the add-ons will display the best-selling products based on the selected sort option and discount type.

These are the six methods in UpsellWP to create and manage your WooCommerce product add-on campaigns.

Are these add-ons really applicable in real life? Let’s explore some examples to confirm it.

Tips to Optimize WooCommerce Product Add-ons for Better Conversions

Product add-ons for WooCommerce are a profitable strategy when you show them in strategic ways.

Here are a few tips to show customization options for better conversions:

• Keep It Relevant: Suggest add-ons that make sense with the main product. For example, offer a phone case with a phone, not random extras.
• Show Clear Benefits: Let customers know why the add-on is useful (e.g., “Protect your screen with this tempered glass”).
• Use Eye-Catching Labels: Highlight add-ons with tags like “Best Value” or “Popular Choice” to grab attention.
• Keep the Design Clean: Avoid clutter. Use dropdowns, checkboxes, or swatches that look good and are easy to use.
• Limit the Choices: Don’t overwhelm shoppers. Offer a few high-impact add-ons instead of too many options.
• Add Images: Visuals help. Show pictures of each add-on so customers know what they’re getting.
• Use Bundles for Extra Value: Group popular add-ons into discounted bundles to increase AOV (average order value).
• Test and Adjust: Track what’s working. Change placement, text, or add-on pricing based on performance.

Related Read:
What is One-Click Upsell? 9 Strategies to Increase Upsell Sales.

Real-Life Examples for Product Add-ons

In addition to the above upsell and cross-sell add-on suggestions, here is how popular brands utilize product add-ons in different ways:

1. Amazon’s Product Specs as an Add-on

Amazon uses the add-on section to provide different product specifications. It helps customers to customize their product features based on their budget and needs.

2. Nike’s Product Sizes as an Add-on

Using the add-on feature, Nike allows customers to purchase their favorite shoes in the right size, helping them buy comfortable shoes.

3. Nykaa’s Product Quantities as an Add-on

Nykaa also utilizes this product add-on section to allow customers to buy their cosmetic items based on the needed quantities. It helps customers to purchase cosmetics based on their usage and budget.

Like these brands, you can use the WooCommerce product add-on to help customers customize their product features, quantities, colors, or other attributes to elevate their shopping experience.

You can also gain product trust by offering warranty and customer service options to products with add-ons.

Conclusion

WooCommerce Product add-ons help you offer customized product options that attract customers and meet their demands. This will increase your sales and revenue.

Showing the most relevant customization options or upsell suggestions is a must-try strategy to retain customers and grow your business.

You can also use the UpsellWP plugin to easily manage your product add-on campaigns and save time and effort.

A Few More Blogs To Increase Average Order Value:

• Steps to show low-cost upsells on the checkout page as an order bump: How to Show a WooCommerce Order Bump?
• Steps to show one-click upsells post-purchase to retain customers and increase sales: How to Create WooCommerce One-Click Upsells?
• A complete list to find the best plugin: 5 Best Product add-on plugins for WooCommerce.

Frequently Asked Questions