Recommendation Lists are used to add product recommendations to your pages in Elevate. They display dynamic, algorithm-driven product suggestions that complement your main product listing and help guide shoppers through their journey.
What is a Recommendation list?
A Recommendation list is a product list powered by a recommendation type (for example, Top products or Alternatives).
Unlike the Primary list, which defines the main product selection on a page, Recommendation lists are used to introduce additional, context-aware suggestions.
You can add one or more Recommendation lists to a page to support:
- Product discovery
- Cross-selling and upselling
- Personalized experiences
How Recommendation lists work
Recommendation lists are automatically generated and continuously updated.
They use Elevate’s algorithms to:
- Analyze shopper behavior (clicks, purchases, browsing)
- Understand product relationships
- Identify trends and high-performing products
Based on this, Elevate selects and ranks products in real time.
Where can you use Recommendation lists?
You can add Recommendation lists to different types of pages, depending on your goal:
- Category and landing pages - to inspire browsing and introduce additional products
- Product detail pages (PDP) - to suggest alternatives or complementary items
- Cart and checkout pages - to increase basket size and conversion
Recommendation lists can be used alongside a Primary list or as standalone elements.
How recommendation lists are used on your site
Recommendation Lists are configured in the Elevate application, but how they appear on your site depends on where they are used in the customer journey.
There are three main contexts:
Landing pages
On landing pages, recommendation lists are typically configured directly in the Experience app.
- You define which recommendation lists should be shown
- You define which recommendation type should be used (done directly in the Recommendation List settings)
- You define the position of the list (e.g. below the main product list, on a PDP, or in a specific section)
- These configurations are then used automatically when the page is loaded
You can influence how recommendations supports your business goal by choosing the right combination of placement and recommendation type.
For example:
Use Top products on a landing page to drive conversion
Use Alternatives on a PDP to support comparison
Use Add-to-cart recommendations to increase basket size
Product pages (PDP)
On product pages, recommendations are used to show things like:
- Alternatives
- “Style with”
- Upsell suggestions
These recommendations are based on the product being viewed. Which recommendations are used on Product pages is determined by which recommendation algorithms your integrators have set up. If you want to change how recommendations work here, discuss with your integrator. More information for developers here.
Add-to-cart and cart interactions
When a customer adds a product to the cart, recommendations can be used to:
- Suggest complementary products
- Increase basket size
These are triggered by the add-to-cart action and displayed in the cart or popup experience. Which recommendations are used in cart interactions is determined by which recommendation algorithms your integrators have set up. If you want to change how recommendations work here, discuss with your integrator. More information for developers here.
Important to know
- You configure recommendations in Elevate
- Your development team controls how they are displayed on your site
- Recommendations behave differently depending on context (page type and user interaction)
If you want to understand the technical implementation in more detail, see the Developer docs: Recommendation lists on landing pages
Primary lists vs Recommendation lists
It’s important to understand the difference. In short: Primary list is your core assortment, while Recommendation lists provide additional suggestions.
Primary list
- Defines which products appear on a page
- Based on product selection and filters
- Can be manually controlled
Recommendation list
- Suggests additional products
- Powered by recommendation types (algorithms)
- Automatically updated based on behavior and data
Read more about working with Primary lists on pages here
Best practice
Use Recommendation lists to complement your main product listing, not to replace it.
- Combine them with a strong Primary list
- Choose recommendation types based on page context
- Let Elevate handle optimization and avoid over-controlling
Learn more
To continue working with recommendations:
- Recommendation types – understand the different types and when to use them
- Best practices – learn how to use recommendations across your site
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