Articles on: Auto recommendations

How to link specific upsells to specific products at scale (using metafields)


Overview


Merchants can now specify UpsellPlus to recommend products from specific metafields they have already created. This upsell strategy can be used on our upsell types that support Autopilot:


  • Checkout
  • Drawer Cart
  • PDP
  • Post-purchase pages


You can learn more about 'Autopilot' here: [Introducing 'Autopilot': Upsell random products by collection
](https://help.upsellplus.com/en/article/introducing-autopilot-upsell-random-products-by-collection-1uwja9l/)


Table of Content







Adjusting the Autopilot Instructions:


Prerequisites


Before using metafield-based recommendations, you need to:


  1. Have the UpsellPlus app installed on your Shopify store
  2. Set up product metafields that contain complementary product IDs
  3. Have products with these metafields in your store


Setting Up Product Metafields


Creating a Metafield Definition


  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Custom data
  2. Click Add definition
  3. Select Product as the resource
  4. Enter a name for your metafield (e.g., "Complementary Products")
  5. Choose a namespace (e.g., "custom") and key (e.g., "metafieldsupsells")
  6. Select Product reference as the type and enable Allow multiple values
  7. Click Save


Adding Metafield Values to Products


  1. Go to a product in your Shopify admin
  2. Scroll down to the Metafields section
  3. Find your newly created metafield
  4. Click Add products and select the complementary products you want to recommend
  5. Click Save



Setting Up Metafield-Based Recommendations in UpsellPlus



For Checkout Offers


  1. In the UpsellPlus app, go to Offers > Checkout
  2. Create a new offer or edit an existing one
  3. In the Products tab, select Autopilot
  4. Under Include products from, select Metafield
  5. Click Select metafield and choose your metafield from the list
  6. Configure other offer settings as needed
  7. Click Save



For Cart Drawer Offers


  1. In the UpsellPlus app, go to Offers > Cart Drawer
  2. Create a new offer or edit an existing one
  3. In the Products tab, select Autopilot
  4. Under Include products from, select Metafield
  5. Click Select metafield and choose your metafield from the list
  6. Configure other offer settings as needed
  7. Click Save



For Post Purchase Offers


  1. In the UpsellPlus app, go to Offers > Post Purchase
  2. Create a new offer or edit an existing one
  3. In the Products tab, select Autopilot
  4. Under Include products from, select Metafield
  5. Click Select metafield and choose your metafield from the list
  6. Configure other offer settings as needed
  7. Click Save



For Product Page Offers


  1. In the UpsellPlus app, go to Offers > Product Page
  2. Create a new offer or edit an existing one
  3. In the Products tab, select Autopilot
  4. Under Include products from, select Metafield
  5. Click Select metafield and choose your metafield from the list
  6. Configure other offer settings as needed
  7. Click Save



Smart Rules Configuration


To ensure your metafield-based recommendations appear at the right time, you should configure smart rules:


  1. In the offer settings, go to the Conditions tab
  2. Add a condition with Cart products is Has any of
  3. Select the products that have your metafield values set up
  4. This ensures that recommendations will appear when these specific products are in the cart



Testing Your Metafield-Based Recommendations


To test if your metafield-based recommendations are working:


  1. Add a product with metafield values to your cart
  2. Proceed to checkout or view the cart drawer (depending on your offer type)
  3. You should see the complementary products from the metafield being recommended



Troubleshooting


Recommendations Not Appearing


If your metafield-based recommendations are not appearing:


  1. Check Metafield Values: Ensure your products have the correct metafield values set
  2. Verify Smart Rules: Make sure your smart rules are correctly configured to trigger for the right products
  3. Check Offer Status: Ensure your offer is active and scheduled correctly
  4. Inventory Settings: Verify that the recommended products are in stock if you have "Hide out of stock products" enabled




If incorrect products are being recommended:


  1. Check Metafield Selection: Ensure you've selected the correct metafield in the offer settings
  2. Verify Metafield Values: Check that the metafield values on your products contain the correct product IDs
  3. Exclusion Rules: Review any exclusion rules that might be filtering out the expected products



Best Practices


• Use Descriptive Metafield Names: Choose clear names for your metafields to make them easy to identify
• Limit Recommendations: Don't add too many product IDs to a single metafield to avoid overwhelming customers
• Combine with Other Criteria: For more targeted recommendations, combine metafield-based inclusion with other criteria like collections or tags
• Regular Updates: Keep your metafield values updated as your product catalog changes
• Test Across Devices: Ensure your recommendations display correctly on both desktop and mobile devices



Updated on: 23/05/2025

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