Plans: Premium, Enterprise | Platforms: Shopify
Overview
AfterShip Returns supports an AI-powered exchange recommendation feature on your store and the AfterShip Returns page to offer customers personalized recommendations when they are exchanging their original purchase for a different item in your store.
You can select a preferred AI-powered product recommendation strategy to give customers the best return experience and increase the likelihood of them clicking the Shop Now button.
You can also control which products appear as recommendations by filtering by collection or excluding products with specified product tags, such as digital products (gift cards) and shipping insurance.
Important considerations
The product recommendations engine has been moved to the AfterShip Returns page editor from the Refunds and Exchanges section.
You must enable the Shop with refund value resolution method under the Refunds and Exchanges section before setting up exchange recommendations.
Set up exchange recommendations
Go to Customizations > Returns page in your AfterShip Returns admin.
Select Customize in editor to open the returns page editor.
From the dropdown, select Return request > Shop now step.
Select Shop with refund value/Ship without refund value from the list of resolution methods.
Edit the customer-facing content as needed, including the title, price description, and primary, secondary buttons, marketing image, store banner, background color, font..
Exit the Shop with refund value settings and select Recommended products.
Toggle on Product recommendations to activate the feature.
Select a Recommendation strategy from the options. See Recommendation strategy for details.
Configure Product filters as needed. See Product filters for details.
Select Save.
Recommendation strategy
AfterShip Returns uses AI to power all four recommendation strategies. Select the strategy that best fits your store's goals:
Recommendation type | Definition |
Similar products | Uses AI to recommend products that are semantically or visually similar to the item being returned, without using any customer data. |
Bestsellers | Uses AI to surface your top-selling products based on sales volume over the last 30 days. Out-of-stock products are excluded. If a customer has already purchased the top-selling products, the most viewed products are recommended instead. |
New arrivals | Uses AI to suggest products recently added to your store. |
Frequently bought together | Uses AI to recommend items that shoppers commonly purchase together — for example, a screen protector with a smartphone. Only in-stock items are considered. If a customer has already purchased the frequently bought together products, the most viewed products are recommended instead. |
Product filters
Toggle on Product filters to control which products AfterShip Returns recommends for an exchange. You can use a collection filter and a product tag filter together. A product must meet every active filter to appear as a recommendation.
Filter by collection
Note: Works with Shopify only.
Use the Filter by collection dropdown to choose one option:
Include collections: Only products from the selected collections appear as recommendations.
Exclude collections: Products from the selected collections don't appear as recommendations.
Important: You can use Include collections or Exclude collections, but not both at the same time.
To filter by collection:
In the returns page editor, select Return request > Shop now step.
Select Recommended products.
Toggle on Product filters.
Under Filter by collection, select Include collections or Exclude collections.
Select the collections to include or exclude.
Select Save.
Tip: Use Include collections when you want to offer only a few collections. For example, select 30 collections to include instead of excluding 670 from a 700-collection catalog.
Exclude by product tag
Note: Works with Shopify, Magento 1, and AfterShip Commerce API. The tag must exactly match the tag on your eCommerce platform.
Under Exclude by product tag, enter the tag of any product you want to hide from recommendations. AfterShip Returns excludes every product with that tag.
For example, to hide gift cards, check the tag on your digital products in your Shopify admin, such as Digital product. Enter that tag in the Exclude by product tag field.
How filters affect recommendations
Recommendations show up to 6 products. If fewer products match your filters, shoppers see only the matching products.
If no products match your included collections, AfterShip Returns ignores the collection filter and recommends products based on your recommendation strategy.
Filters apply to the Recommended for you popup and the recommendations section on your returns page.
Goal | Filter to use |
Hide free gifts or samples | Exclude by product tag (for example, |
Offer exchanges from a few collections only | Include collections |
Hide a few collections from a large catalog | Exclude collections |
Store banner
The store banner appears on your online store while customers shop for new items during a Shop now exchange. It shows customers their balance as they browse, so they know how much they can spend or how much they need to pay. The banner text changes depending on whether the customer's return has refund value.
Shop with refund value
When a customer's return has refund value, the banner shows how much store credit they have left to spend.
Default text: You have
${RemainingCredit}credit to use.Requirement: The banner only shows if you set up Exchange on your store as your exchange flow.
Ship without refund value
When a customer's return has no refund value, the banner shows how much they need to pay for the new items they add to ship together with their exchange.
Default text: You need to pay
${RemainingCredit}for the exchange.When it shows: When a customer adds a new item to ship with their exchange.
Customize the store banner
In the Returns page editor, select Shop now from the page dropdown.
Select Shop with refund value or Ship without refund value.
Under Store banner, edit the Text field.
Under Background, select a banner color.
Under Font, select a text font.
Click Save.
Note: Keep the ${RemainingCredit} merge tag in your banner text. It updates automatically to show the customer's remaining credit (with refund value) or the additional amount they need to pay (without refund value).
Customer experience
Let's say a customer has purchased a pair of sunglasses from your store and now wants to return them. You offer customers an exchange option, allowing them to exchange their purchase for any other item in your store, with additional credit for choosing an exchange instead of a return.
To ensure that gift cards don't appear as product recommendations during the exchange process, you've excluded them from the recommendations list by adding the associated tags—"Digital products" in the Exchange for other items settings within the returns page editor.
As a result, when customers reach the exchange selection step during the return process and click the Shop now with ${creditTotal} button, the product recommendations shown will exclude items tagged as "Digital products." This applies both in the Resolution selected popup and the Recommended for you section on your returns page.
FAQs
1. Can I use Include collections and Exclude collections at the same time?
No. Choose one option in the Filter by collection dropdown.
2. Can I include collections and exclude product tags together?
Yes. A product must be in an included collection and must not have an excluded tag to appear as a recommendation.
3. What happens if no products match my included collections?
AfterShip Returns ignores the collection filter and recommends products based on your recommendation strategy.
4. Do product filters hide products in my Shopify store?
No. Product filters only affect recommendations on your AfterShip Returns pages.
Need help?
For any further questions or help, please contact our chat support team or reach out to us at [email protected].