A growing data foundation is a valuable start
Smart Related Products learns from qualifying recent WooCommerce orders where customers bought more than one product together. Newer stores, smaller catalogues, and products with less multi-product purchase history can have fewer qualifying relationships at first-but every relevant order helps build a stronger foundation for future recommendations.
What Smart Related Products needs to find a relationship
A smart relationship begins with qualifying multi-product orders in WooCommerce Analytics. The selected history period, qualifying order statuses, minimum shared-order threshold, and category or tag matching rule all shape which customer purchase patterns can contribute.
Recent qualifying ordersUse a history period and order statuses that reflect the purchase behavior you want recommendations to learn from.
Shared-order confidenceSet a minimum shared-order threshold that gives each smart pairing the level of evidence that fits your store.Make the most of the data you already have
Review your recommendation settings before assuming the store needs more history. A narrower history window, a small group of qualifying order statuses, or a high shared-order threshold can intentionally limit the relationships available to a product.
- Confirm WooCommerce Analytics and the required lookup tables are available.
- Review the selected history period and qualifying order statuses.
- Check the minimum shared-order threshold and category or tag matching rule.
- Use Purchase Data Coverage to see how broadly the current settings support qualifying relationships.
Keep product discovery useful while history grows
A thoughtful fallback gives you control over the experience when a product does not yet have enough qualifying smart data. Choose whether WooCommerce should show its defaults, best sellers, newest relevant products, or no related products for that situation.
- Use a fallback that feels natural for your catalogue and the existing Related products area.
- Set product-level choices where a particular product needs a more deliberate approach.
- Return to smart recommendations as real co-purchase history grows stronger for that product.
Next steps
Use these guides to strengthen your recommendation foundation and choose the right experience for limited-history products.
