Pets and animal care is a loyalty-driven vertical where pet type, age, health needs, and recurring essentials such as food and litter shape buying behavior. Pet owners shop on a routine and value convenience, trust, and personalization.
This article shows how to use Smart Recommender in Insider One to support those routines and help owners discover useful accessories. It includes an A/B test walkthrough for pet food 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, Pet Type, Season, and Kit ID. Create missing custom attributes on the Product Attributes page and mark them as filterable.
What you can achieve with Smart Recommender
Restock reminders
Show returning shoppers the consumables they buy often, such as food, litter, or grooming wipes.
Starter kits for new pet owners
Recommend bundles such as "New Puppy Essentials" so new owners get every must-have item.
Well-timed cross-sells
Show chew toys, treats, or supplements on food product pages to grow the basket.
Re-engagement
Show inactive shoppers products that match their pet type and purchase history.
Checkout add-ons
Suggest leashes, dental chews, or flea treatments on the cart page to raise average order value (AOV).
Pet-type personalization
Tailor homepage widgets by pet type, such as "Everything for Your Cat," using browsing and purchase history.
Affinity-based discovery
Use Attribute Affinity to prioritize preferred flavors (salmon, beef), formats (dry or wet), and brands.
A/B testing
Test bundle composition and widget placement to find what drives engagement and repeat orders.
Walkthrough: Boost AOV with pet food cross-sells
Pet care purchases are often part of a routine, such as restocking food or grooming supplies. Recommending related items at the right moment raises AOV.
This walkthrough tests two cross-sell strategies on pet food product detail pages:
Variant A: Recommend grooming essentials.
Variant B: Recommend wellness products.
Step 1: Create the recommendation strategies
Navigate to Recommendation Strategies and click Create. Configure the first strategy as follows:
Select Product Detail Page as the page type.
Select Purchased Together as the algorithm.
Enter the number of products to recommend.
Exclude products purchased in the last four weeks.
Add a filter for the category attribute: Category + is + Grooming Essentials.
Create the second strategy with the same settings and change only the category filter:
Category + is + Wellness Products.
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 product detail pages of pet food.
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 grooming essentials or wellness products raise AOV more for low-spending customers.
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 pairings, such as treats or toys, by changing the category filter.
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
Seasonal picks by pet type
Show trending seasonal products for each pet type, such as flea control for dogs in summer.
Create a strategy with the Trending Products algorithm.
Add two filters: Pet Type + is + Dog, and Season + is + Summer. Connect them with an AND connector.
If you do not have Pet Type and Season attributes, create them on the Product Attributes page.
Tip: A/B test pet-type visual cues (icons, colors) or the widget position.
Starter kits for new owners
Help new owners get every essential, such as food, bowls, and a bed.
Create a strategy with the Top Sellers algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is + Starter Kits.
Target new users on the Segments step.
Note: To recommend the rest of a kit, create a custom attribute called Kit ID on the Product Attributes page and give every item in a kit the same value (for example, Puppy Kit 01).
Tip: A/B test headlines such as "Everything Your New Puppy Needs" and "Find the Right Food for Your Pet."
Recently viewed items
Remind returning shoppers of products they explored earlier.
Create a strategy with the Recently Viewed algorithm.
Exclude products the user already purchased.
Target returning users on the Segments step.
Note: Recently Viewed and User Based rely on each user's past behavior. Target returning users so these widgets always have data to show.
Tip: A/B test Recently Viewed against User Based.
Product detail page
Frequently bought together
Show products other shoppers bought in the same session as the current item, such as food bowls with pet food.
Create a strategy with the Purchased Together algorithm.
Exclude recently purchased products.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Often Bought Together."
Gear for the same pet
Show related gear for the same pet type, such as harnesses next to a dog leash.
Create a strategy with the Viewed Together algorithm.
Exclude recently purchased products.
Add the filter Pet Type + matches the item they're currently viewing.
Tip: Try headlines such as "More for Your Dog."
Category page
Seasonal deals by pet type
Show the most discounted seasonal products in the current category, such as cat grooming tools in shedding season.
Create a strategy with the Highest Discounted algorithm.
Add the filter Category + contains + the category they're currently viewing.
Add the filter Season + is + the current season and connect it with an AND connector.
If your categories are hierarchical, select the Expand the category filter to include recommendations from the next category if there aren't enough products to display checkbox, so the widget still fills when the current category has few products.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle. This prioritizes the shopper's pet type.
Trending in this category
Show what is trending in the category the shopper is browsing, such as dog toys.
Create a strategy with the Trending Products algorithm.
Add the filter Category + contains + the category they're currently viewing.
If your categories are hierarchical, select the Expand the category filter to include recommendations from the next category if there aren't enough products to display checkbox, so the widget still fills when the current category has few products.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle.
Cart page
Finish the kit
Suggest practical add-ons for the items in the cart, such as liners and scoops for a litter box.
Create a strategy with the Most Popular algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is one of + Litter Accessories, Bowls, Leashes, Treats.
Leave Attribute Affinity off.
Reach free shipping
Show products that help shoppers reach your free shipping threshold.
Create a strategy with the Checkout Recommendation algorithm and set the spend threshold (for example, 50 USD).
No filters are required. Attribute Affinity is optional.
Tip: Use copy such as "You are 8 USD away from free shipping." If you do not offer free shipping, use Purchased Together instead.