18 Surprising Things You Can Do in WooCommerce

I am a big fan of WooCommerce due to its flexibility and customization that allows us to build awesome websites on WordPress!

Here is my list of 18 surprising features and tips that you may not know were possible when using WooCommerce.

Let’s jump into it!

1. Price Matrix Tables

Price Matrix tables are essential for B2B businesses that do a large quantity of order quantities for a single product.

A price matrix table allows customers to see the sizes, colors, and inventory available all in one clear table making it easy to add multiple quantities to their Cart.

Here is a GIF example of a price matrix table we developed for a wholesale apparel company, to give you a complete visual of how this works:

Interested in adding a price matrix table to your WooCommerce store? Check out the Bulk Variations plugin. Or, if you want to list more than 1 product with many variations you could also use the Product Table plugin.

2. Subscriptions

Users may be tempted to use a SaaS such as Recurly or Chargify for their subscription products. However, if you are already using the WooCommerce platform, use WooCommerce Subscriptions.

We have worked with clients that do over $50,000 in subscription revenue every month, all on WooCommerce using the subscriptions plugin.

Below is an example. If you’re interested check out my post on how to set up subscriptions with WooCommerce.

In addition, customers have the ability to edit their subscription with the following options:

• Ship Now
• Skip Next Shipment
• Change Frequency of Subscription (i.e. change from every 1 month to every 2 months or every 3 months)
• Change Next Shipment Date
• Update payment method
• Cancel subscription
• Change Address
• Change Payment Method

The ability to Ship Now, Skip Next Shipment, Change Frequency of Subscription (i.e. change from every 1 month to every 2 months or every 3 months), and Change Next Shipment Date can be accomplished with the Toolbox for WooCommerce Subscriptions helper plugin. This plugin is an add-on for WooCommerce Subscriptions.

Here is a tutorial on how to get started with WooCommerce Subscriptions!

3. Slide Out Cart (with cross-sells)

A slide-out cart help increase your average order value.

How so? A lot of eCommerce sites make the mistake of redirecting the customer to the Cart page after adding a product to their cart.

With a slide-out cart, customers can see recommended products to go with the product added to their cart.

For example, I add a Navy 1/4 Zip pullover to my cart, I see recommended jackets that go with this style.

After a user adds a product to their cart, two additional products are recommended to be purchased.

🚀 This site is included in the WooCommerce showcase. Go check it out!

4. One page Checkout (3 column)

Offering customers the ability to see a one page checkout in WooCommerce is crucial. In the example below, we combine the following:

• Cart
• Free Shipping Meter
• Cross-sells and Upsells
• Coupon Code
• Shipping address
• Delivery options
• Gift note
• Gift Card
• Payment (Stripe)

Here is an example of a one-page checkout we developed using WooCommerce.

One page checkout can increase conversions by speeding up the checkout process.

5. Email product page to friend or coworker

Allow customers on your WooComerce store to easily send a particular product you offer to their friends or even coworkers!

Perfect for WooCommerce wholesale stores that want their sales reps and distributors to share products across their network.

See the GIF below of how this works.

Here is what the email notification looks like!

6. Search Bar That Autocompletes

Notice when you type something in google the search bar shows suggestions?

After typing in “vest”, the search results populate with suggested products.

This can be set up with the Product Search plugin.

Now, your customers can search for a product based on name, SKU, color, etc.

7. Hide Price for Logged Out Users (Logged-in Pricing)

Do you run a business where users that are logged in see different pricing? Or maybe you want to add a wholesale area to your WooCommerce site?

For example, let’s say your site shows non-logged-in users a retail price of $100.

If a user has been approved for a distributor account, their price would be 1/2 the price after logging in.

This is just one example of how you can show different prices based on if the user is logged in. Another possibility could be to show different prices if the user has the role of customer vs. distributor.

8. Recommend Products In Your Blog Sidebar

Writing content for your WooCommerce site is beneficial to document your journey.

Whether you are writing about the process it took to create that awesome new product just launched or spotlighting a holiday gift guide, showing select products in your blog sidebar can easily convert the casual fan to purchase your product.

9. Delight Customers with Tracking and Delivery Updates

Customers are eagerly waiting for their shipments.

Adding a shipment tracking link to their Orders page allows you to keep customers updated on the whereabouts of their orders.

Looking to add the “track shipment” link to your WooCommerce Orders page?

Use the Shipment Tracking plugin to set up this functionality on your store!

10. Allow customers to upload AI, PSD, EPS, SVG, PNG and DST files

If your company offers screen printing or embroidery services, allow your customers to upload their logos on your product pages.

The problem is that customers want to upload AI, PSD, EPS, SVG, PNG, and DST files that can be massive in size and will not work with WordPress’s maximum upload size.

Use a 3rd party integration such as Cloudinary to allow customers to upload their logo on the product pages. Here is an example below.

11. Size Charts

Size charts are effective ways for customers to know if your products will fit them.

For example, checkout the size chart we created below.

If you are looking for a size chart plugin I recommend checking out the Size Chart for WooCommerce plugin.

12. Coupon & Promo codes before checkout page

A complaint of many Shopify store owners and developers (that’s us) is that users are not able to add a coupon code until the final Checkout page.

In WooCommerce, you are able to apply a promo code on a link, Cart page, or Checkout page!

My favorite coupon code plugin is WooCommerce Smart Coupons.

It allows you to specify an exact coupon expiry date and time of when your coupon will expire.

Check out the recent video I did on how to set this up!

13. Unlimited product options and variations

WooCommerce allows for unlimited product options & variations. Product options think size, color, features, price, etc.

Product variations would be a Small Blue T-Shirt. A downside of Shopify is that they limit each product to 3 product options and 100 product variations.

Learn more about how to get add image swatches to variations in WooCommerce.

14. Do (and build) more with the WooCommerce API.

WooCommerce’s API allows you to connect your store to your existing product lifecycle management system, customer relationship manager, or business database.

Below are just a few of the features of WooCommerce’s API:

• Create, modify, and delete products, product variations, orders, and customers.
• Display real time shipping rates and methods
• Add, update, delete product images
• Retrieve all current tax rates or batch update all tax rates across your store
• Access sales reports based upon top sellers and time period (i.e. top sellers in the month of April)
• Connect inventory to your centralized inventory management system to keep your inventory across all channels correct

Get started with the WooCommerce API without knowing how to code.

15. Migrate from Shopify/BigCommerce/Magento to WooCommerce

If you are currently using Shopify, Magento, Bigcommerce, or another e-commerce platform, it is easy to move to WooCommerce.

Already on WooCommerce? See how to migrate WooCommerce customers and orders between sites.

16. Multiple WooCommerce Registration Forms

Using Gravity Forms, you can set up multiple customer registration forms with WooCommerce. In this example, we set up 2 unique registration forms for a client:

• New Web User form: for current customers that did not have an online account set up yet.
• New Customer Registration form: new prospective customers that had to be approved.

What would be a situation where I would use multiple WooCommerce Registration forms? If you have a B2B WooCommerce store and are looking to have wholesale customers register and undergo an approval process before they are able to shop.

17. Use WooCommerce Integrations With Your Existing 3rd party Tools

WooCommerce is the most popular CMS in the world. Due to its popularity, there is an integration for almost any email marketing software, CRM, and marketing tool on the market.

Want to add customers to your CRM in Zoho, Insightly, SalesForce and others? This takes 10 minutes when Zapier or Integromat.

What about automatically adding customers to your MailChimp, Constant Contact, or Drip list? Done.

18. Online Courses

Easily set up an online course using the LearnDash integration with WooCommerce.

You could also use WooCommerce Memberships that also integrates nicely with WooCommerce and WooCommerce Subscriptions.

19. Over 100+ Payment Gateways Options

Easily take payments on your WooCommerce store from Stripe, PayPal, Square, Apple Pay, Authorize Net, Amazon Pay, and many others.

Is your business set up to send invoices and receive checks or cash on delivery? A payment gateway can easily be set up to accept payments by cheque or cash on delivery.

Want to check if the payment gateway your business uses is offered on WooCommerce? See all the payment methods WooCommerce offers.

Now it’s your turn. What is possible in WooCommerce that is surprising to you?

I would love to hear your thoughts!