Variants or Separate Listings: What's Better for Your Store?

As you add products to your store, you might wonder, “Should this be a variation of the original product or its own listing?”

Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. You’ll need to determine which produces the best conversion rate and lifetime value for your business. 

Which approach is right for your store? This article will help you decide whether to make variations or separate listings. 

‍Note: If you sell subscriptions, we've included additional considerations for each approach.

When You Should Use Variants

First, let’s talk about circumstances where you should use variations. 

When Your Options are Similar

If a product’s options are similar, it’s important to set them as variations of the same listing. If you split them into multiple products, you risk confusing your customers. They might wonder what’s different between the two products.

Confusion is a powerful source of friction for your customers. If they don’t understand your store, there’s a good chance they’ll abandon it. 

Group similar SKUs together as variations of the parent listing. Doing this keeps everything in one place, so the customer always flows toward checkout rather than hitting their back button to revisit the category page.

For instance, suppose you have two listings for “Rosemary Hand Soap,” one for a 6-ounce bottle and one for an 8-ounce bottle. Some customers may find that confusing, especially if they don’t recognize the measurement difference.

Group similar SKUs together as variations of the parent listing. Doing this keeps everything in one place, so the customer always flows toward checkout rather than hitting their back button to revisit the category page.

Instead, group similar SKUs together as variations of the parent listing. Doing this keeps everything in one place, so the customer always flows toward checkout rather than hitting their back button to revisit the category page.

When They Don’t Need to See the Difference

Like most Shopify stores (and other ecommerce platforms), customers only see one version of the product on collection pages, search result pages, and home page widgets. For instance, if you offer a T-shirt in six colors, they will only see the color you set as the main image.

If there’s a significant difference between the two products, separating your listings is important. But if the difference is easy for customers to grasp without seeing a unique photo, it’s fine to use variations.

Take the T-shirt example. Shirts with different designs merit individual listings. This way, customers can see them as they browse categories and search results. 

However, shirt size doesn’t play a big role in getting customers to click on the product page. That makes it reasonable to keep them as variations. The same goes for other invisible options, like flavor, weight, etc. 

When You Have a Large Product Line

Stores with small product lines often break similar products into separate listings to make their store seem larger. For instance, a store might create a listing for “Bone Broth 4 oz” and “Bone Broth 8 oz” so their bone broth category has more than one product. 

But if you have several products, it’s smarter to keep things simpler by reducing your listings in favor of variations (where appropriate). This way, customers can target the “Bone Broth” listing and explore the product details page as they decide. 

If You’re Selling Subscriptions…

Customers like subscription products with variations because it gives them control over the experience. It helps them overcome the built-in anxiety that can be a part of committing to a subscription. Letting them choose an option gives them ownership of the decision.

If they have to pick two or three options and decide whether to subscribe, you’ll burden them with too many choices. So if a product has several variations and a subscription option, consider breaking some variations into different listings.

When shoppers can subscribe to a product, you don’t overload it with too many variations. If they have to pick two or three options and decide whether to subscribe, you’ll burden them with too many choices. 

So if a product has several variations and a subscription option, consider breaking some variations into different listings. 

Furthermore, in order to reduce the subscription sign up anxiety, it helps to supply educational content about the ability to swap variants. This reassures them that it won't be difficult to make a change. Remind them that they’ll receive an upcoming charge notification before each renewal with an opportunity to change variants and/or delay their shipment.

If they have to pick two or three options and decide whether to subscribe, you’ll burden them with too many choices. So if a product has several variations and a subscription option, consider breaking some variations into different listings.

‍All Girls Shave Club is a great example of this. Notice how their product page has a “Subscription Details” link. When you click the link, a tooltip appears with key details about subscribing.

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Pro tip: When ARPU users send upcoming shipment emails to their subscribers, they can offer their subscribers the chance to delay the upcoming shipment and swap variants (as well as other options, like offering upsells, gifts upsells, or custom campaigns). 

When You Should Use Separate Listings

Variations are great for keeping your ecommerce store organized, but in the following circumstances, a separate listing is best. 

When the Products are Materially Different

Products that are materially different deserve their separate listings. If you stack dissimilar products into one listing, your customers will be confused and could fail to find the products they want. 

For example, let’s say you sell hair products for women. It makes sense to have a listing for shampoo and a separate listing for styling cream. Those are materially different and deserve individual listings.

It would not make sense to create a listing called “woman’s hair care” with variations of “shampoo” and “style cream.” That’s confusing and contrary to most shopping experiences. 

It’s also essential to make your product titles (displayed all over your site) descriptive and accurate. Shoppers should be able to browse titles quickly and search for them, too.

When Your Products are Complex

Complexity can be overwhelming for customers. It creates friction in their shopping experience. If you put too much complexity in front of your shoppers, they may shop at a more straightforward store. 

If a product requires the buyer to make several choices (for example, size, color, material, and style), creating a separate listing for each permutation would make a BIG collection/category. Customers may not want to sort through a wall of seemingly identical products.

In these cases, use one listing with variation selectors so customers can “flow” through their choices. Making their choices on the product details page is more likely to help them move toward checkout and less likely to cause them to go back.

If You’re Selling Subscriptions…

Subscription sellers may find it helpful to use separate listings when they think their customers won’t realize a subscription is available. It’s especially true for products the buyer doesn’t usually purchase on a subscription basis.

For instance, suppose you sell premium cooking oils like olive oil, avocado oil, and sunflower oil. You would typically buy these oils from a grocer, perhaps even a luxury grocery store. Shoppers may not know they can purchase these products as a subscription.

Subscription sellers may find it helpful to use separate listings when they think their customers won’t realize a subscription is available.

In this case, you might test your product’s listing using a separate listing for your subscription to appear whenever someone browses a category. You could have one product called “Premium Olive Oil 12 oz” and “Premium Olive Oil 12 oz Monthly Subscription.” Make sure to use different images, so it’s clear which is the subscription. 

Notice how Brave Coffee and Tea Company uses separate homepage listings to make it really clear subscription is available? While a customer can opt to subscribe to a coffee flavor once they’re on the product page (they’re listed separately), they can also choose subscription from the start (see the homepage splash of options) then select cadence, flavor, and grind (see Coffee Subscription Box product page).

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Intuition and Customer Expectations

All the best practices in the world are irrelevant if your customer wants something different! Customer research and actual conversations are critical.

Talk to your customers. Ask them about their experience on your site and what would have improved their experience. If you have multiple customer segments, talk to people in each group to understand your audience’s needs accurately. 

Consider reviewing heat maps and video sessions to get factual data. These tools allow you to study how your customers really explore and use your ecommerce site.

Furthermore, don’t discount your intuition. There are plenty of situations where following a rule doesn’t make sense. For instance, it makes sense to use a color variation for bath bombs, but different paints deserve individual listings. 

Don’t rely on rigid rules too much. Sometimes using a variant or a separate listing is about feeling.

Which is Right for You?

Hopefully, we’ve helped you decide whether to use variations or individual listings for your products. The choice is often straightforward, but you’ll need to investigate further in some cases. When in doubt, experiment with both methods and settle on the one that converts best. 

If you sell subscriptions, offering variant swaps can increase subscription LTV. If you’re using Recharge and want to offer variant swaps, ARPU can help you provide a link to a frictionless swap path (no login required) in your upcoming charge notifications and Gorgias communications. Learn more here.