Log In
Sign Up

How to generate and approve AI cross-sells

Shoppers see linked products on WooCommerce product pages and in the cart after you approve them in the WooDonkey dashboard. The WooDonkey Companion plugin applies storefront behavior for the Add-to-Cart Popup, but this dashboard page does not directly interact with the storefront.

What it is

AI Cross-Sells is a WooDonkey dashboard tool that suggests complementary products for your store. You find it in the sidebar under Advanced Tools, then AI Cross-Sells. The page title is AI Cross-Sells, with the subtitle ‘Review the AI’s suggested cross-sells for each product, then approve and link them in your store.’

At the top right, the Actions button opens a dialog for store-wide operations. You can filter the product list by status: All, Untouched (default), Pending approval, or Approved. A search bar allows you to find products by name or SKU. Products are displayed 30 per page, with Previous and Next pagination controls.

When no products match the filter, you see ‘No products to show.’ During initial loading, ‘Loading…’ or ‘Loading recommendations…’ appears. If the AI is actively analyzing a product, the status ‘AI is analyzing the product and finding products that pair well with it…’ is shown. If no recommendations are found, it states ‘No recommendations have been generated for this product yet.’ with a Generate recommendations for this product button.

A bulk action bar appears when products are selected, showing ‘{{n}} selected’ and buttons for Regenerate, Clear, and Approve.

Each product row has a kebab menu Actions with options: Add manually, Regenerate, Approve (no confirmation dialog), and Clear All. Product rows also display pills indicating recommendation status: None, Pending · count, or Approved · count.

Individual recommendation cards show a score badge or the label Manual. Each card has a Remove button. Approved recommendations are marked ‘Linked in store.’ The AI’s reason for a recommendation is not displayed.

How it helps you

This tool helps you identify and link relevant cross-sell products without manual research. The AI analyzes your catalog using signals like co-purchase history, shared tags, overlapping categories, and semantic similarity to suggest products that pair well. Once you approve these suggestions, they are linked as cross-sells in your WooCommerce store, making it easier for shoppers to discover related items and potentially increase their order value.

What is included

  • AI Cross-Sells Page: Located under Advanced Tools in the sidebar. This page lists your products and their AI-generated cross-sell recommendations.
  • Status Filters: Filter products by All, Untouched (default), Pending approval, or Approved.
  • Product Search and Pagination: Search products by name or SKU. The list displays 30 products per page with Previous and Next navigation.
  • Store actions Dialog: Accessed via the Actions button at the top right.
    • Semantic index: Contains Build index / Rebuild buttons (Rebuild is disabled when the index is ‘Up to date · {{total}} products’). A Stop button is also available.
    • Generate recommendations: Includes a Run for the whole store button. Status: ‘AI recommendations for all products.’
    • Approve and link: Features an Approve all button. Status: ‘Link all pending recommendations.’
  • Product Row Actions: Each product row has a kebab menu Actions with options: Add manually, Regenerate, Approve (no confirmation), and Clear All.
  • Recommendation Cards: Display a score badge or the Manual label. Each card has a Remove button (which deletes the recommendation row). Approved recommendations are marked ‘Linked in store.’
  • Bulk Actions Bar: Appears when products are selected. Includes Select all, ‘{{n}} selected’, Regenerate, Clear, and Approve buttons.
    • Bulk Regenerate Confirmation: ‘Regenerate recommendations for {{n}} products? This runs the AI for each selected product and uses AI credits. Keep this tab open until it finishes.’ Button: Regenerate. (Note: Ranking and embeddings are not billed in the current credit table.)
    • Bulk Approve Confirmation: ‘Approve & link {{n}} products in your store? This links each selected product’s pending recommendations as cross-sells in your store.’ Button: Approve & link.
    • Bulk Clear Confirmation: ‘Clear recommendations for {{n}} products? This removes all recommendations for the selected products. This cannot be undone.’ Button: Clear.
  • Recommendation Generation Logic: Candidates are limited to 30, with the top 10 ranked. Signals used include co-purchase data, shared tags, overlapping categories, and semantic similarity (if product embeddings exist). Only published and in-stock products are queued for recommendations.
  • Manual Recommendations: You can add products manually via the Add manually action, searching by name or SKU. Manually added recommendations have a source of Manual and a score of 100.
  • WooCommerce Product Editor Integration: The Linked Products tab in the WooDonkey product editor includes an AI Cross-Sell recommendations widget with Generate recommendations, Refresh, and Add buttons. Changes made here only update the local product form until the product is saved.
  • Add-to-Cart Popup (ACP) Integration: The Add-to-Cart Popup reads the WooCommerce cross_sell_ids written by this tool. ACP source options include Upsell + Cross-sell (default), Upsell only, and Cross-sell only. Companion 1.375.0 or newer is required for the popup to display on the storefront.
  • Toasts: Notifications include ‘Recommendations regenerated’, ‘Linked {{pushed}} products in the store’, ‘Recommendations cleared’, ‘Product added to recommendations’, and ‘Done – {{ok}} products updated’.

How to turn on and manage each capability

How to use AI Cross-Sells

  1. Open AI Cross-Sells: Navigate to Advanced Tools > AI Cross-Sells in your WooDonkey dashboard.
  2. Build the Semantic Index (if needed): If the semantic index is not ‘Up to date’, click the Actions button at the top right, then select Build index under ‘Semantic index’. Wait for the status to show ‘Up to date’.
  3. Generate Recommendations for a Single Product: Find the product you want recommendations for. If it has no recommendations, click the Generate recommendations for this product button. Alternatively, click the kebab menu Actions for the product, then select Regenerate.
  4. Run Generation for the Whole Store: To generate recommendations for all eligible products, click the Actions button, then under ‘Generate recommendations’, click Run for the whole store. This process runs in the background.
  5. Review Pending Approval Recommendations: Use the Pending approval filter to view products with new AI suggestions. Expand a product row to see the recommended cross-sells.
  6. Approve Recommendations for a Single Product: For a product with pending recommendations, click its kebab menu Actions, then select Approve. This action links the new recommendations with any existing WooCommerce cross_sell_ids for that product. There is no confirmation dialog for single product approval.
  7. Approve All Pending Recommendations: To approve all pending recommendations across your store, click the Actions button, then under ‘Approve and link’, click Approve all. This process runs in the background.
  8. Add a Recommendation Manually: Click a product’s kebab menu Actions, then select Add manually. Search for the product you wish to add as a cross-sell and select it.
  9. Clear Recommendations: To remove all recommendations for a product, click its kebab menu Actions, then select Clear All. There is no confirmation for a single product. Bulk Clear on selected rows does ask for confirmation.
  10. (Optional) Manage from Product Editor: You can also manage AI Cross-Sell recommendations from the WooDonkey product editor. Go to a product, navigate to the Linked Products tab, and use the AI Cross-Sell recommendations widget to Generate recommendations, Refresh, or Add. Remember to Save the product to apply any changes made here.
  11. Configure Add-to-Cart Popup: Ensure your Add-to-Cart Popup is configured to display cross-sells. In its settings, set the ‘Recommended products source’ to Upsell + Cross-sell or Cross-sell only. Companion 1.375.0 or newer is required on your storefront for the popup to display these recommendations.

What to know before you start

  • Default Filter: The default view when you open AI Cross-Sells is filtered to Untouched products.
  • Approval Required: Recommendations are not pushed to your WooCommerce store until you explicitly click Approve for individual products, Approve & link for bulk selections, or Approve all via the Store actions dialog.
  • AI Credits: The ‘Regenerate recommendations for {{n}} products?’ confirmation dialog states that the process ‘uses AI credits.’ However, the ranking and embedding steps involved in this feature are not currently billed in the WooDonkey credit table.
  • Semantic Index Rebuild: The Rebuild button for the semantic index in the Store actions dialog is disabled when the index is already ‘Up to date’.
  • Product Eligibility: Only products that are published and in-stock are included in the queue for AI Cross-Sells recommendations.
  • No Shortcode: There is no shortcode available for displaying AI Cross-Sells.
  • Companion for Display: WooDonkey Companion 1.375.0 or newer is required for the Add-to-Cart Popup to display cross-sells on your storefront. However, the Companion plugin is not required for generating or managing recommendations within the WooDonkey dashboard.

Problems you may hit, and how to fix them

  • Symptom: Shoppers do not see AI Cross-Sells on WooCommerce product pages or in the cart.
    Fix: Recommendations must be approved in the AI Cross-Sells dashboard. Use the Approve action for individual products or the Approve all option via the Store actions dialog.
  • Symptom: Products are not appearing in the AI Cross-Sells queue for recommendations.
    Fix: Only products that are published and in-stock are included in the queue for AI recommendations. Ensure your products meet these criteria.
  • Symptom: When generating recommendations, the status shows ‘No candidates found.’
    Fix: Ensure your orders and products are fully synced with WooDonkey.
  • Symptom: A bulk regeneration of selected products stopped before completing.
    Fix: Bulk regeneration runs in your browser tab. You must keep the tab open until the ‘Done – {{ok}} products updated’ toast notification appears.
  • Symptom: Cannot generate recommendations while a store-wide ‘Approve all’ task is running.
    Fix: Store-wide generation and approval tasks cannot run concurrently. Wait for the background queue to finish the ‘Approve all’ task before initiating generation.
  • Symptom: The Rebuild button for the semantic index in the Store actions dialog is disabled.
    Fix: The semantic index is already ‘Up to date’. No rebuild is needed at this time.
  • Symptom: The Add-to-Cart Popup is empty or not showing cross-sells.
    Fix: Check the Add-to-Cart Popup settings to ensure the ‘Recommended products source’ is set to Upsell + Cross-sell or Cross-sell only. Additionally, WooDonkey Companion 1.375.0 or newer is required on your storefront for the popup to display these recommendations.
  • Symptom: Approving AI Cross-Sells added new recommendations but did not remove other existing WooCommerce cross-sells.
    Fix: Approving AI Cross-Sells unions new recommendations with any existing WooCommerce cross_sell_ids. It does not overwrite or remove previously linked cross-sells.
  • Symptom: The regenerate confirmation dialog said ‘uses AI credits’ but my credit balance did not drop.
    Fix: The dialog says the run uses AI credits. Ranking and embeddings are not billed in the current credit table, so the credit balance may not drop.

Related reading