Link relevant collections to expose more products

Advice often says to link products to other products. This can help boost cart sizes (complementary products) and reduce bounce rates (alternative products).

Less often used but with potentially more value is to link to relevant collections. When linking to a collection page you have the ability to start a whole new browsing path for customers as they discover other things you offer.

Treat them just as you would products: think of collections that are complementary or alternatives.

Complementary collections

We've already seen the power of recommended products. What if those recommendations include potentially dozens of different options.

Imagine a collection that includes products featuring golden retrievers. Linking to that collection from a golden retriever graphic t-shirt is bound to get a lot of browsing traffic and sales.

Linking will also give lesser known or buried collections more visibility, both to customers and bots. Not every collection can fit in the menu, nor should they be given prominence. But these specialized collections can help customers find more products to buy.

Alternative collections

Just as with products, you can use collections to recommend alternative products. Linking with a link like "Other DESCRIPTIVE WORD" can get browsers to consider alternatives, especially with different styles. You can even slice how the alternatives work.

e.g. On a black dress product page you can link to "Other black dresses", or "Other formal dresses", or "Other strapless dresses"

Each of these can be mini-collections that you wouldn't use anywhere else. Even with only a handful of products they can be valuable to prevent a customer from leaving.

Remember the goal is to get relevant products in front of buyers, but you'll never know what's best for everyone. Giving browsers options and making it easy to look around will help them decide to help.