Beauty and cosmetics are a highly personalized and sensorial vertical where customer preferences are shaped by factors such as skin type, skin tone, product ingredients, and beauty routines.
Customers in this category often seek guidance and inspiration, making recommendations essential not only for product discovery but also for fostering trust and long-term brand loyalty.
What you can achieve with Smart Recommender
Routine-based product discovery
Help users create comprehensive beauty routines by recommending related skincare and makeup products.
Example: Pair a cleanser with a serum and moisturizer on product pages or cart pages.
Trending now to spark exploration
Highlight trending items using real-time data.
Examples: “Viral on TikTok” or “Customer Favorites This Week.”
Placement: Homepage and category pages to drive urgency and excitement.
Personalized recommendations by skin type or tone
Tailor suggestions using behavioral data and declared preferences.
Examples:
Matte foundations for oily skin.
Warm-toned lipsticks for medium skin tones.
Retarget lapsed users with new launches
Re-engage dormant shoppers by highlighting new arrivals that are similar to their past purchases.
Example: Feature new anti-aging serums to a customer who has previously browsed skincare products.
Upsell with Complementary Products
Boost Average Order Value (AOV) by recommending add-ons.
Examples: Brushes, applicators, primers.
Placement: Cart page to encourage routine completion.
A/B testing to discover winning strategies
Experiment with recommendation logic, messaging, and widget placement.
Examples: Compare “Top Picks for You” vs. “New in Skincare” to identify what resonates most.
Walkthrough: Increasing AOV with Skincare Routine Bundles
Many beauty shoppers seek guidance in creating comprehensive skincare routines. Recommending complementary products—such as pairing a cleanser with a toner and serum from the same routine—can increase order value and improve customer satisfaction.
In this example, we’ll show how to test two cross-sell strategies on a product detail page:
One recommends toners with cleansers
The other recommends serums with cleansers
1. Create your Recommendation Strategy
It's time to create your first recommendation strategy. Navigate to the Recommendation Strategies and click Create.
Select your page type as Product Detail Page.
Select your algorithm as Purchased Together to recommend suitable products for cross-selling.
Enter the number of products you want to recommend.
Exclude the recently purchased products in the last 4 weeks to keep your customer engaged.
Add a filter for the category attribute to display recommendations from the “Toners” category.
Then, create your second strategy that you want to test against.
Select your page type as Product Detail Page.
Select your algorithm as Purchased Together to recommend suitable products for cross-selling.
Enter the number of products you want to recommend.
Exclude the recently purchased products in the last 4 weeks to keep your customer engaged.
Add a filter for the category attribute to display recommendations from the “Serums” category.
2. Launch your campaign
Now, launch your first campaign using your strategies.
Go to the Web Smart Recommender page and click Create.
Select your integration method for the widget.
On the Segments step, pick the audience.
For this example, you can select customers with a low AOV under Purchasing Behavior and set your threshold.
On the Rules step, decide where and when to show your campaign.
Use Page Rules to target the product detail pages of cleanser products.
On the Design step:
Assign your two strategies to the variants.
Assign traffic allocation for each variant.
Now you’re ready to design your widget. Click Edit Design to open the Advanced Product Card Designer. Here, you can customize your product cards however you like.
Make sure all the attributes you want to display are included in your product catalog. If you need to show more information on your product cards, you can create custom attributes from Product Attributes page.
After finalizing your campaign design, the next step is to select the locales and stores where you want the campaign to appear.
Once your targeting is set:
Review the campaign details.
Confirm that all settings match your objectives.
Click Launch to activate your first campaign.
3. Track your campaign metrics
You’ve launched your campaign—great work! Now it’s time to track how it’s performing.
Go to the Smart Recommender Analytics page.
Locate your campaign under the Campaign and Variant Metrics table. Once the experiment duration ends, click your campaign name.
Compare key metrics, including Direct Revenue, Average Order Value (AOV), and Conversion Rate.
You can see which product category—toners or serums—led to higher AOV for low-spending customers.
If one variant is clearly winning, adjust the traffic allocation to 100%. This ensures the best-performing strategy receives all traffic and maximizes impact.
You can also test and compare additional cross-sell strategies by adjusting the rules and filters based on other product categories, such as pairing moisturizers or SPF products across other skincare categories.
4. Optimize your campaigns
Once your campaigns are live and running, it’s time to review results and apply data-driven improvements.
Go to the Smart Recommender Analytics page.
Evaluate campaign performance based on engagement metrics.
Track Engagement Funnel Metrics: Understand how users interact with your recommendations at every step. View product impressions, clickthrough rate, add-to-cart rate, and conversion rate for each campaign to pinpoint where you’re driving engagement and where there’s room to improve.
Compare Campaign and Variant Performance: Use the Campaign and Variant Metrics table to review key KPIs like AOV, Conversion Rate, and Direct Revenue. Identify which strategies are delivering the best results and refine or scale your winning variant accordingly.
Analyze Product-Level Impact: Visit the Top 100 Product Analytics to see which products are performing well within your campaigns. Consider giving extra visibility to low-performing but strategic items by highlighting them in future recommendation widgets.
Review Category Trends: Use the Category Analytics view to assess which product categories drive the most conversions. You can prioritize high-performing categories to maximize conversions or spotlight underperforming categories to help boost their visibility and performance.
Use cases based on the page types
Home Page
New Arrivals for You
Re-engage dormant customers by spotlighting new arrivals similar to their previous purchases—like featuring new anti-aging serums to someone who frequently browses skincare.
Create a strategy with the New Arrivals algorithm to highlight new products on your homepage.
Enable the “Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity” toggle to personalize based on each shopper’s preferences (e.g., skin type, tone, or concern).
Segment your campaign for returning users to ensure recommendations are shown to customers with known affinities.
A/B test different widget placements (top vs. bottom of the page) to optimize click-through rates.
Starter Routines for Beginners
Help new customers build a skincare or makeup routine with beginner-friendly kits, such as cleanser, moisturizer, and SPF, or foundation, blush, and lipstick.
Create a strategy using the Top Sellers algorithm to feature best-performing starter products.
Add a Category + is + Starter Kits filter to narrow the selection.
Segment your campaign to new users to ensure you're targeting first-time or returning customers with low engagement.
To recommend kits, create a custom attribute called Kit ID on the Product Attributes page. Assign the same Kit ID (e.g., Summer Kit 01, Oily Skin Routine 02 ) to all items in the kit. Then, use the Kit ID attribute in your filters to recommend other products from the same kit.
A/B test your different starter kits to identify the kit that drives the most conversions.
Recently Viewed Items
Re-engage returning visitors by reminding them of beauty products they explored in previous sessions, such as the serum they almost added to their cart.
Create a strategy using the Recently Viewed algorithm to resurface items that users have interacted with.
Exclude already purchased products from the recommendation.
Set segments for returning users to ensure you’re addressing the right audience.
A/B test the Recently Viewed algorithm against the User-Based algorithm to find out which one better converts returning visitors into buyers.
Recently Viewed and User-Based are personalized algorithms that rely on a user's past behavior. To use them effectively, ensure your segments are set to returning users.
Product Detail Page
Real-Time Beauty Trends
Increase discovery by showcasing products that are frequently viewed immediately after the current one, such as serums after a toner or brushes after a foundation.
Choose the Real-Time User Engagement algorithm to display products that others explore in the same session.
Exclude recently purchased products to avoid repetition.
Use widget titles like “Others Also Explored” or “What People View Next” to create a sense of urgency and curiosity.
More from This Routine / Concern
Drive relevance by showcasing additional items from the same beauty routine or targeting the same skin concern.
Use the Trending Products algorithm.
Apply filters:
Routine Step + matches the item they’re currently viewing (e.g., “Step 2 – Serum”)
Skin Concern + matches the item they’re currently viewing (e.g., “Dryness” or “Acne”)
Connect filters with an OR connector to maximize relevant results.
You can create custom attributes like “Routine Step” or “Skin Concern” on the Product Attributes page to power these filters.
Use dynamic naming for widget titles, such as “More for Your Acne Care Routine” or “More for Your Routine: Step 3 – Moisturize”.
Category Page
Discounted Beauty Deals
Support price-conscious customers by showcasing top discounted items in the makeup or skincare category they're browsing.
Use the Highest Discounted algorithm to prioritize deals.
Add a Category + matches the currently viewed category filter to ensure relevance—e.g., show discounted eye shadow in the makeup category.
Turn Attribute Affinity off to focus purely on value.
Add prominent discount labels, such as “25% Off,” to product cards. A/B test placing the widget at the top vs. the bottom of the category page to determine optimal visibility.
Trending in This Category
Help customers discover what’s hot in the category they're browsing, such as “Top Trending Serums” or “Viral Lipsticks.”
Use the Trending Products algorithm to recommend viral products.
Apply Category + contains currently viewed category as a filter.
If your category type is hierarchical, enable the “Expand the category filter to include recommendations from the next category if there aren't enough products to display.” checkbox to make sure recommendations are shown even though there aren’t enough products to recommend from the category the user is visiting.
Turn on the Attribute Affinity toggle to personalize based on beauty concerns or preferences.
A/B test different headlines like “What’s Hot Right Now” vs. “Bestsellers in Skincare” to see which resonates more.
Cart Page
Complete the Look / Routine
Boost AOV by recommending essential add-ons—like a setting spray with foundation, or eye cream with a serum.
Use the Most Popular algorithm.
Add a Category + is one of + Brushes, Tools, Accessories, Minis filter to surface practical, low-commitment extras.
Leave Attribute Affinity off to keep focus on cart-relevant items.
A/B test copy like “Finish Your Routine” or “Don’t Forget These Essentials” to drive urgency.
Boost to Free Shipping
Encourage upsell by showing beauty products that help users reach a shipping threshold.
Use the Checkout Recommendation algorithm and set a spend threshold (e.g., $75).
No filters are required; Attribute Affinity is optional.
Use copy like “You’re 10 USD away from free shipping!” or “Add one more item for free delivery” for added urgency. Alternatively, use the Purchased Together algorithm to recommend high-likelihood upsells based on what's in their cart.