The cart is a high-intent moment: the customer has already decided to buy and is ready to pay. That is exactly why it is an excellent opportunity for a thoughtful suggestion of an additional or complementary product that raises the order value without disrupting the purchase. The key is the right measure and relevance: the suggestion must help the customer, not confuse them or push them away from completing the purchase. Below is how to set up cross-selling and upselling in the cart so it increases the order and at the same time keeps a smooth path to payment.
Relevant suggestions, not random ones
Suggestions in the cart should stem from what the customer already has in it. A complementary product that connects meaningfully with the chosen one works like a useful tip, while a random suggestion works like an intrusive ad. Example: with a phone in the cart, offer a case and a screen protector, and with shoes, suitable care products or socks.
The more the suggestion is related to the purchase, the greater the chance the customer accepts it. Unrelated suggestions not only fail to sell but can feel disruptive and reduce trust in the recommendations.
Bundles, add-ons, and "frequently bought together"
Besides individual complementary products, bundles and "frequently bought together" suggestions work well, offering the customer a logical whole in one place. A customer who sees that others often buy something else with the chosen product usually understands this as sensible advice.
A bundle with a small saving compared with buying separately further encourages the decision. It is important that adding a suggestion is simple - with one click, without searching for the product again.
Do not block the path to checkout
The main goal of the cart remains completing the purchase, so suggestions must never push aside the continue button or confuse the customer. They work best when calmly placed below the cart summary or to the side, not as a large block that covers the path to payment.
There should be few suggestions, carefully chosen. Too long a list of add-ons burdens the customer with decisions at the very moment they want to finish, and can increase the chance they abandon the cart.
The right price and clear value of the suggestion
The best sellers are affordable add-ons that represent a small extra cost compared with the main product. A customer who has just confirmed a more expensive purchase adds a small extra without much thought.
With the suggestion, clearly show the value: what the add-on is for and why it suits the chosen product. Example: "Add a screen protector for 9 EUR and protect your screen" works better than merely showing the product without an explanation.
Automating the suggestions
Manually setting related products for each product individually is time-consuming with a larger catalogue and quickly goes out of date. That is why cross-selling is often automated in practice:
- Rules: suggestion slots are filled automatically by rules, for example "show accessories of the same brand", "show products from the same category", or "show products in a similar price range". The rules are evaluated in real time, so the customer always sees current suggestions without anyone entering them manually.
- "Frequently bought together" from purchase history: the system analyses past orders and automatically identifies products customers often buy together, then builds suggestions from them. These are based on actual customer behaviour, not guesswork.
- Personalised recommendations: more advanced systems tailor suggestions to the individual visitor based on their behaviour and viewed products.
With all approaches it helps to track the performance of individual rules (views, clicks, orders, revenue) and keep those that increase sales the most.
How to set it up in Magento
Magento supports manually set related products and cross-sells and upsells by default, which you configure on each product and which appear in the cart or next to the product. This is enough for a small set of carefully chosen suggestions.
For automation - rules, "frequently bought together" from purchase history, or personalised recommendations - a dedicated module is required. Such a module fills the suggestions automatically and keeps them up to date, can show them in several places (next to the product, in the cart, at checkout, or even in a post-purchase email), and offers an overview of the performance of individual rules.
How to measure whether it works
The main indicators are the share of orders that include the suggested add-on (the attach rate) and the average order value. If both rise after introducing the suggestions, cross-selling is doing its job.
At the same time, keep a close eye on the cart abandonment rate: if it rises after introduction, the suggestions are probably too intrusive or too numerous. The goal is more sales without more abandoned carts.
