Learn How To Optimally Use Shopify Recently Viewed Products For Your Ecommerce Store
Do you know and understand your online store customers?
If your answer is “Yeah, a bit”, “Maybe”, “I think I do”, it’s time to know your customers better.
Until you can confidently say, “Yes, I know my customer very well”, you’d have a tough time growing your Shopify business.
And one of the basic things to do to know customer preferences, behavior, and likes, is to use the Shopify recently viewed products feature on your site.
In this blog, we take a thorough look into: what is recently viewed products, how this feature works, why you need it, and how to use it optimally.
What are ‘recently viewed products’?
In the context of eCommerce stores, recently viewed products refers to products or services that shoppers browsed or explored over a recent time period. With this feature, shoppers can quickly track and go back to the products they recently showed interest in.
With this reference, shoppers can study and evaluate many product options quickly and easily. This makes shopping convenient. On many eCommerce platforms, you can find recently viewed products shown in a separate area or sidebar or at the bottom of the page.
This feature can be used to increase customer engagement, promote repeat visits, and make it easier for potential customers to make purchase decisions.
However, the Shopify recently viewed products feature should not be confused with other similar options, such as most viewed products, recommended products, customers also bought, etc. All these features show different products, which may not necessarily be the ones customers already browsed.
Here’s an example of recently viewed products from Flipkart’s website:
Don’t have recently viewed products on your Shopify store? Install Flits Recently Viewed Products app.
The psychology behind ‘recently viewed products’
How much you help your online customers in their shopping process can affect their emotional responses to your brand. Let’s understand the psychological effects of ‘recently viewed products’ on customers.
According to recent consumer behavior studies, consumers are looking for the simplest way to decide things like what to buy. If you’re aware of decision fatigue, you know how it can impact your customers’ browsing behavior on your site. They might browse for hours and still not be able to make a purchase decision.
Customers who face decision blocks, want to simplify their online shopping processes by swiftly discovering and validating the products that meet their needs. And that’s where the psychological effect of ‘recently viewed products’ comes in.
When customers see that you’re resharing the items they were interested in, they feel more assured. Besides, they narrow down their search to the few items you show them in this section, which reduces their decision fatigue. This makes them feel more connected with your brand because you’ve helped them shop better.
Besides this, there are many more advantages of having this feature on your eCommerce store.
Benefits of Shopify recently viewed products
You might think the only purpose of this feature is to show customers products they browsed recently. But you’d be surprised to know this feature is also responsible for boosting sales and improving customer satisfaction. Here are some benefits of eCommerce recently viewed products.
1. Generate more sales
Customers might want to continue shopping on your site from where they left off. That’s where ‘recently viewed products’ helps. It shows them a list of the products they may have recently looked at. It prompts customers to finish the purchase by serving as a reminder for recently viewed items that once piqued their attention.
2. Simplify checkout
Customers who want to purchase products from the recently viewed products section can simply click on the ‘add to cart’ or ‘buy now’ button and proceed with the purchase. This reduces the amount of time they’d have taken to search for the product all over again, thus simplifying the process and making it faster.
3. Boost engagement
Think about it – what do you do when shoppers return to your website to browse products? Do you just leave them to find their own way on your website? Or do you try to help them, engage them with different marketing tactics? Shopify recently viewed products helps engage return shoppers. It drives them to take desired action. It tries to help them shop and make purchase decisions.
4. Enhances customer experience
Customers value a simple approach to locate an item they recently saw. It could be challenging for a shopper to find an item again if they can’t recall exactly how it looked or in which section it was located. But if you have recently seen products featured, you can help make customers’ experience better and convenient.
But to enjoy these benefits, you will have to put some marketing strategies in place.
7 best Shopify recently viewed products strategies
If you’re wondering how to display recently viewed products and the best ways to maximize its returns, follow these 7 strategies, to start with. These will cover the best and most effective marketing strategies. In addition, you could explore other strategies once you get going.
1. Include ‘recently viewed products’ in the Shopify customer account page
Customers tend to go to the customer account page as soon as they log into an eCommerce site. And so, it would be beneficial if you include the recently viewed products tab in the customer account.
Customers might go to the customer page for various reasons—to check store credits, to follow up on recent orders, to reorder an item, etc. Meanwhile, if they notice the recently viewed products tab on the page, it increases the chances of them clicking on the tab.
Here’s an example of a Flits customer account page that includes a ‘recently viewed products’ tab.
| The bottom line: When customers get an overview of their activities, it enriches and enhances their shopping experience. Moreover, they will know they can go to your Shopify customer account page for all the information they need, including referring to the products viewed recently. |
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2. Combine recently viewed products with other features on the customer account page
Another strategy to increase the usage of the ‘recently viewed products’ feature is to make it a part of other marketing features and strategies on your Shopify site. Let’s look at some examples and use cases:
- Combine recently viewed products and Shopify store credits to increase sales and encourage shoppers to use their credit points. At times, shoppers need a subtle nudge towards making purchases. Give them the idea that they can buy products using store credits.
- Encourage shoppers to add items from the recently viewed section to their wishlist. Most eCommerce sites keep recently viewed products for a short period and hence, if customers want to save those products for later purchase, they could add it to their wishlists. That way, you can increase the probability of selling those items in future.
| The bottom line: Customers don’t always know the many ways in which they can use features on your website, unless you tell them about it. By creating campaigns that combine eCommerce recently viewed products with other features, you can make them feel like there’s a lot they can do on your website. |
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3. Create personalized campaigns based on recently viewed products
The best advantage of having a comprehensive Shopify customer account page with multiple features is data collection. The customer account page can give you insightful data from different sections. This data can be used to create personalized and targeted marketing strategies. Here, we explore strategies to use data collected from recently viewed products.
- Offer discounts on recently viewed products
- Give real-time incentives to boost sales of recently viewed products
- Send alerts and notifications about discounts on recently viewed products post-browsing, once customers leave your website
- Create bundles of one recently viewed product and one other related products and offer a better price on the bundle
- Offer free shipping on recently viewed products
- Send product recommendations based on recently viewed items
Here’s an example:
| Hi Leanne,
Based on your recent activity, we think you might like to browse these sports shoes:
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| The bottom line: Customers like shopping from brands that provide personalized experiences because it makes them feel like the brand understands them. It also makes them feel special. |
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4. Create upselling and cross-selling campaigns
Once you know the kind of products your customers are browsing, you can create upselling and cross-selling marketing campaigns based on information from your Shopify recently viewed products section.
Upselling: Send products recommendations of higher values based on what the customer has already viewed. When you do this, ensure that you share valuable recommendations. The products should also be better in quality and add more value to customers.
Cross-selling: Cross-selling is an interesting marketing concept. Here, you recommend products that are related to what the customer recently viewed. For example, if a customer viewed baby toys, you could share recommendations of baby books or baby clothes.
Here’s an example of how Amazon does it:
| The bottom line: Customers will know that you want to add more value to their life by sharing related and better product suggestions. And when you tell them exactly what to do with the suggestions via CTAs, you can drive desired actions. |
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5. Display recently viewed products via all communication channels
Just like product recommendations, you can also display recently viewed items in your different marketing and communication channels.
For example, if you’re sending an order complete email to a customer, you could include recently viewed items at the end of the email.
Similarly, use channels such as WhatsApp, Messenger, push notifications, etc. to remind customers of the products they were interested in. Take it a notch higher by including some details about the products that entice customers to buy them. For example, price drop details or unique features, etc.
| The bottom line: Customers are picky about how they like to be communicated to. And so, when you reach out to them on the channels they prefer, you can expect more responses and better results from your campaigns. |
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6. Combine ‘recently viewed’ with ‘frequently bought together’ on the cart page
Most eCommerce stores do not fully utilize the cart pages. Customers usually come to your site and leave after purchasing one item. But what if you could increase their order value by recommending a complementing product?
The cart page is a good space to cross-sell by combining one recently viewed item with one other recommendation. Along with the item they have viewed, showcase things that other customers have bought. The customer will be more likely to add the products to their cart as a result of seeing the value in buying many products in a bundle of sorts.
| The bottom line: When customers see they can get more value by buying more, they wouldn’t hesitate to make that purchase. Moreover, they are already in the cart section and ready to make purchases, which can increase the chances of impromptu purchase. |
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7. Use FOMO and scarcity tactics
Now that you know what items your customers have viewed and are interested in, you can use psychological ploys to urge them to buy those items. How? Via FOMO and scarcity tactics.
Customers are more likely to commit to buying an item if they think it may go out of stock soon; this sense of urgency intensifies their shopping experience. The fear of missing out (FOMO) could persuade them to buy something if they had previously been undecided.
As the stock diminishes, send alerts and notifications to remind customers about the recently viewed products.
| The bottom line: Don’t be afraid to tap into your customers’ fears and emotions by using marketing tactics. It’s a type of instant gratification, which the human brain has come to love so much. |
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Meet Flits Recently Viewed Products App
The Flits Customer Account Page app offers recently viewed products as an add-on feature. The add-on feature is easy to install in your Shopify customer account page, integrates with other third-party apps and tools, and helps automate activities around recently viewed products.
What is more, the add-on feature also allows customers to add the recently viewed product to their cart, enabling faster checkout. The Shopify recently viewed products add-on also helps drive sales by nudging customers via reminders and increasing conversions. And you can easily make this feature a part of your customer account page, too.
Should you have a Shopify recently viewed products strategy?
The answer is yes, why not! Most eCommerce stores have the feature on their sites. That’s because it helps drive engagement and sales.
And you can leverage these advantages by creating focused recently viewed product strategies to attract more sales.
However, you will have to rely on automation and digital efficiency. Choose the Flits customer account page app and install the recently viewed products add on feature. It will help you execute the above strategies with ease and efficiency.
Install Flits Customer Account Page and Recently Viewed Products on your Shopify store.
