Car rental is a convenience-driven, trip-specific vertical. Travel dates, destination, budget, car type, and last-minute changes shape bookings, and renters compare vehicles and extras such as insurance, GPS, or child seats.
This article shows how to use Smart Recommender in Insider One to upsell higher-value vehicles, cross-sell extras, and encourage repeat bookings. It includes an A/B test walkthrough for add-on cross-sells and strategies for each page type.
Before you start: Make sure your product catalog includes the attributes this article filters on, such as Category, Car Class, Pick-up Location, and Add-on Category. Create missing custom attributes on the Product Attributes page and mark them as filterable.
What you can achieve with Smart Recommender
Premium vehicle upsells
Highlight premium or larger cars available for the renter's dates and location.
Convenience add-ons
Show GPS, child seats, or insurance during booking.
Drop-off suggestions
Suggest convenient drop-off locations if they exist as items in your catalog.
Win back inactive renters
Show personalized offers tied to past rentals.
Last-minute upgrades
Recommend a larger or electric vehicle at checkout.
Vehicles by trip type
Use Attribute Affinity to match compact cars to city trips or SUVs to family holidays.
Budget-friendly options
Highlight discounted cars for price-sensitive renters.
A/B testing
Test placements, bundles, and pricing formats for upgrades and add-ons.
Walkthrough: Boost booking value with add-on cross-sells
Insurance, GPS, and child seats are often last-minute decisions that add meaningful revenue. This walkthrough tests which add-on type adds more value at checkout.
It tests two strategies on the checkout page:
Variant A: Recommend insurance packages.
Variant B: Recommend in-car extras such as GPS, child seats, or Wi-Fi.
Note: In this article, average order value (AOV) in Smart Recommender Analytics represents the average booking value per order.
Step 1: Create the recommendation strategies
Navigate to Recommendation Strategies and click Create. Configure the first strategy as follows:
Select Cart Page as the page type.
Select Purchased Together as the algorithm.
Enter the number of products to recommend.
Exclude add-ons the renter already selected.
Add a filter for the category attribute: Category + is + Insurance Packages.
Create the second strategy with the same settings and change only the category filter:
Category + is + In-Car Extras.
Note: Keep every other setting identical between the two strategies. If more than one setting changes, you cannot tell which change caused the difference in results.
Step 2: Launch the campaign
Navigate to Web Smart Recommender and click Create.
Select the integration method for the widget.
On the Segments step, select customers with a low AOV under Purchasing Behavior and set your threshold.
On the Rules step, use Page Rules to target the vehicle booking checkout page.
On the Design step, assign one strategy to each variant and set the traffic allocation for each variant.
Click Edit Design to open the Advanced Product Card Designer and customize your product cards.
Select the locales and stores where the campaign appears.
Review the campaign details, confirm that every setting matches your goal, and click Launch.
Note: Every attribute you show on a product card must exist in your product catalog. To show more information, create custom attributes on the Product Attributes page.
Step 3: Track campaign metrics
Navigate to Smart Recommender Analytics.
Find your campaign in the Campaign and Variant Metrics table. When the test period ends, click the campaign name.
Compare Direct Revenue, Average Order Value (AOV), and Conversion Rate for the two variants. This shows whether insurance or in-car extras add more value per booking.
If one variant clearly wins, set its traffic allocation to 100% so every visitor sees the better strategy.
After you find a winner, test other add-ons, such as roadside assistance or fuel plans.
Step 4: Optimize your campaigns
After the campaign has run long enough to collect data, use Smart Recommender Analytics to improve it:
Engagement funnel: Review product impressions, click-through rate, add-to-cart rate, and conversion rate to see where shoppers drop off.
Campaign and variant performance: Compare AOV, Conversion Rate, and Direct Revenue in the Campaign and Variant Metrics table, then refine or scale the winning variant.
Product-level impact: Open Top 100 Product Analytics to see which recommended products perform best. Give extra visibility to strategic products that perform below expectations.
Category trends: Use Category Analytics to find the categories that drive the most conversions, and decide whether to prioritize them or promote weaker ones.
Use cases by page type
Home page
Popular cars for your trip
Show the most viewed vehicles at the renter's pick-up location.
Create a strategy with the Most Popular algorithm.
Add the filter Pick-up Location + is + your target location.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle. This prioritizes preferred car types, such as SUVs or compacts.
Premium deals
Feature limited-time offers on premium cars.
Create a strategy with the Trending Products algorithm.
Add the filter Car Class + is + Premium.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Upgrade Your Ride."
Product detail page
Better alternatives
Suggest similar vehicles in a higher class.
Create a strategy with the Similar Products algorithm.
Add the filter Car Class + is one of + Premium, Luxury.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Drive in More Comfort."
Trip essentials
Recommend extras that suit the selected vehicle.
Create a strategy with the Complementary Products algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is + Extras.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Complete Your Journey."
Category page
Best value in this category
Show the most discounted vehicles in the class the renter is browsing.
Create a strategy with the Highest Discounted algorithm.
Add the filter Category + matches + the category they're currently viewing.
Leave Attribute Affinity off.
Top picks for families
Show the most booked family vehicles, such as SUVs and vans.
Create a strategy with the Top Sellers algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is one of + SUV, Van.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle.
Cart page
Add-ons before checkout
Show popular add-ons such as insurance or GPS.
Create a strategy with the Most Popular algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is one of + Insurance, GPS, Extras.
Vehicle upgrades
Suggest the upgrades other renters added to similar bookings.
Create a strategy with the Purchased Together algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is + Upgrades.
Tip: Pair the widget with copy such as "Upgrade to a premium car for 30 USD more."