Guide for Automatic Related Products for Magento 2

Most online entrepreneurs strive for an increase in revenue. There are many ways to boost sales, and cross-selling and up-selling is one of them. Essentially, these techniques mean recommending users relevant items. However, basic Magento doesn’t have sufficient tools for this purpose. Automatic Related Product Magento 2 modules (or ARP for short), like the one made by Mirasvit, are created to fix that lack of functionality.

Features of the ARP

So, what toolkit do these extensions provide? Can’t you just marry Magento and SEO to help customers find more of your products through search engines? While SEO is always useful, ARP helps drive commerce in a different way – from within.

The module will add a block with relevant items for the user’s consideration somewhere on the store’s page. It will automatically fill that block, depending on certain rules and triggers. You can choose the design of the ARP block and what items may be recommended. In return, the extension will create reports about users’ behavior. This data can then be used to adjust marketing.

Why is ARP useful for e-commerce?

The value of cross-sell and up-sell techniques employed by ARP modules can often be disregarded. However, that is a mistake that costs merchants their potential revenue. Here are three reasons why Automatic Related Products recommendations are useful for any store:

• People don’t know what they want. And we don’t mean it as rudeness – that is just a psychological fact that is true for anyone, including you and us. A lot of wants and needs appear spontaneously. Relevant recommendations create a trigger for that.
• Understanding feels nice. When you create a good recommendation, a customer feels understood. Positive experience strengthens the bond with your shop.
• Convenience is the key. But maybe the customer already knows that he wants, say, a set of batteries together with a new wireless mouse. So why make him search for those batteries if they can be recommended through ARP?
• Visibility helps sales. Recommendations also may bring into the light those items that users may not ever search for themselves. And if they see those items – they might buy them. This means even slow-going stock will have a chance.

Automatic Related Products module by Mirasvit

The last question is: how to install and configure the ARP module? For example, the one made by Mirasvit.

Installation

First, which is important, make a database and web directory backup. Then, enter the server’s SSH console and open the Magento store’s root directory. Go to the “Downloadable Products” page (https://mirasvit.com/lc/customer/products/), copy installation instructions from there to the console, and press Enter.

Next, you’ll have to type in a few commands. Enter them string by string and ensure the server has completed the previous task before typing the next one in. Here are the needed commands:

1. php -f bin/magento module:enable Mirasvit_Core Mirasvit_Related
2. php -f bin/magento setup:upgrade
3. php -f bin/magento cache:clean
4. rm -rf pub/static/*; rm -rf var/view_preprocessed/*; php -f bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy
5. php -f bin/magento indexer:reindex mst_related_index

Lastly, make sure that the cron job system is functioning properly. The module relies on it.

Settings

After the installation, you may find all the settings in the admin panel. Click on the “Marketing” option in the sidebar on the left. There will be a “Related Products” category. All settings can be found in the submenus there.