How to Force Include Draft Products in Related Products WooCommerce
WooCommerce’s related products feature is a powerful tool for boosting sales by suggesting relevant items to customers. However, by default, it only displays published products. This article will guide you through the process of modifying WooCommerce to include draft products in your related product suggestions, enabling you to strategically showcase upcoming items or test product relationships before launch.
Introduction: The Need to Include Draft Products
Often, you might want to pre-plan your product relationships. For example, you might have a new product nearing completion and want to test its association with existing products before its official release. Including draft products in related product suggestions allows you to:
- Test product pairings: See how your draft products perform within the context of your existing catalog.
- Prepare for launch: Fine-tune your related product suggestions before officially publishing the new items, ensuring a smooth launch.
- Improve user experience: Offer more relevant product recommendations even if some products are still under development.
- Streamline workflow: Manage and test product associations more efficiently within a single interface.
Modifying WooCommerce to Include Draft Products
The default WooCommerce functionality excludes draft products. To override this, we’ll need to modify the core WooCommerce query used to retrieve related products. This can be achieved using a custom function hooked into the `woocommerce_related_products_args` filter. This filter allows us to modify the arguments used for the related products query.
Here’s the code snippet you need to add to your `functions.php` file (or a custom plugin):
add_filter( 'woocommerce_related_products_args', 'show_draft_products_related' );
function show_draft_products_related( $args ) {
// Remove the post status restriction.
unset( $args['post_status'] );
// Include draft products explicitly.
$args['post_status'] = array( 'publish', 'draft' );
return $args;
}
This code snippet first removes the existing `post_status` argument (which defaults to ‘publish’) and then re-adds it, including both ‘publish’ and ‘draft’ statuses. This ensures that both published and draft products are considered when WooCommerce generates related product suggestions.
Important Considerations and Potential Downsides
While including draft products offers advantages, it’s crucial to be aware of potential drawbacks:
- Visual Appearance: Draft products may not have all their information fully populated (images, descriptions, pricing etc.). This could lead to inconsistent visual presentation on your product pages. Ensure your draft products have at least basic details before including them in related products.
- User Confusion: Customers might be confused by seeing products that aren’t available for purchase. Consider adding a clear indication (e.g., “Coming Soon”) to draft products in your related product displays.
- Maintenance: Regularly review and update the related products assigned to your draft items. As products progress through development, their relationship to other products might change.
Remember to back up your website before adding any code modifications. If you are unsure about directly editing your `functions.php` file, it’s always best to create a custom plugin.
Conclusion: Balancing Benefits and Drawbacks
Including draft products in WooCommerce related products can be a highly effective strategy for streamlining workflow and enhancing your product recommendations, but it’s not without its challenges. By carefully weighing the benefits against the potential downsides and implementing the code changes thoughtfully, you can leverage this technique to optimize your product presentation and ultimately boost sales. Remember to always thoroughly test your changes after implementation and monitor the user experience to ensure it remains positive. Always prioritize the user experience; a slightly less-than-perfect related product suggestion is preferable to a confusing or frustrating one.
