How to Use a Wishlist to Sell More in Your Online Store
Miguel Nicolás
14/07/2026
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Your store's wishlist is not just a "save for later" button. Learn how to make the most of your wishlist.
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What advantages does a wishlist have? Well, among other things, it can reduce cart abandonment, boost your email campaigns, provide you with insights and purchase intent data, and also help you rank better in search engines.Impressive, isn't it?Most online stores that integrate a wishlist understand it as a feature with little value. It is there, it works, but nobody pays much attention to it.This is a mistake, believe me. Because if there is one feature capable of working silently for you on several fronts such as conversion, customer loyalty, SEO and demand analysis simultaneously, wasting it is a sin.Let me give you a fact that will make you think: 75% of online shoppers add products to the cart without completing the purchase. There is interest, that is obvious, but they are simply not ready yet. The wishlist is the tool that catches that intention before it fades, and gives you a second chance to turn it into a sale.In this article I will explain how to really make the most of it.
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What it is and why it matters more than it seems
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A wishlist within an eCommerce allows users to save products they are interested in without the need or commitment to add them to the cart or complete a purchase.It is a very clear signal of intent: that user has seen the product, liked it, and has not bought it right now for some reason (price, timing, a specific doubt), but has not given up and intends to come back.What happens if you do not have wishlists or, even worse, if you do not manage them? Basically, you are wasting business opportunities, because that signal is lost forever the moment the user closes the browser. And with it, all the work you did to attract them to your store.According to Yotpo data, 40% of online shoppers believe that their shopping experience would improve if eCommerce stores offered them a wishlist. So stop thinking of it as an extra, and start seeing it as an expectation of your customer that improves their user experience.
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The wishlist as a conversion tool: activating purchase intent
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Saving a product is not the same as buying it, but it is much more than simply browsing. The user who adds something to their list has already made a decision: they want that item. What they need is a little push at the right moment.This is where automation comes in, which is the greatest ally for making wishlists dynamic. With the right tools, you can configure automated emails that are triggered according to what is on each user's list:
- Price drop. If a product someone has on their list drops in price, that is the best moment to notify them. It is the email with the highest conversion rate of all the emails you can send related to the wishlist, because you arrive with the exact solution to the typical friction users usually have: the price.
- Low stock or stock running out. "Only 2 units of a product you have saved are left" is a message that creates urgency without the need to be aggressive. It is real information, not artificial pressure.
- Seasonal reminder. If someone saved something in October, a reminder in November (before Black Friday or Christmas) can be the final incentive for them to buy it, either for themselves or, as is more common during those periods, as a gift.
The key in all these cases is personalisation: the message is sent because that person has shown interest in that specific product. Instead of shooting blindly, we are acting like a sniper. -
Wishlist and remarketing: the second opportunity that many stores waste
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One of the least exploited applications of this type of list is integration with remarketing campaigns (or retargeting, that is, reaching users again with advertising after they have already visited your store).Users who have added products to their wishlist are the most qualified audience you can have: they already know your store, they have already expressed interest in a specific product, and they are closer to making a purchase than any new visitor.You can create specific audiences in Google Ads or Meta Ads with these users and show them exactly the products they have saved. The CTR (click-through rate) and conversion rate of these ads greatly exceed those of generic ads, precisely because their relevance is at its highest.If you combine this remarketing layer with the automated emails mentioned above, you are covering almost every possible channel to recover purchase intent that, otherwise, would have been lost.
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Wishlist and data: understand what your customers want before they tell you
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Beyond individual conversion, the wishlist is one of the demand analysis tools with the greatest potential for an online store. When hundreds of people add the same product to their list without buying it, that data is telling you something important: something is wrong.The price may be a barrier, of course. But it is also possible that there is a product-related question that the product page does not answer or, perhaps, that it is simply a product with a long and thoughtful purchase cycle.In any case, you have actionable information: which products generate desire, which ones have friction in conversion, and which ones you could prioritise in a discount campaign or in a content improvement.You also have the possibility of using this data to anticipate seasonal demand. If a product accumulates wishlists in November, it will probably have a lot of activity in December. This makes it easier to plan stock with a greater margin and avoid stock shortages at the time of highest demand.
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Wishlist and shopping experience: how it reduces friction in the decision-making process
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There is one detail that is very often overlooked: the wishlist does not only benefit those who end up buying. It also improves the experience of users who are not yet ready to do so, and this has a direct impact on how they perceive your store.Shopping online involves making decisions. The user lands at your store with limited time very often, doubts about the size or the model, or simply at a moment when they are "just looking". If the only options are to add the product to the cart or leave, most of them leave.But what would happen if there were an option to save it for later? The user would leave with something: a list, a connection with your store, and the certainty that, if they want to come back, the purchase will be easier.That is reducing friction in the decision-making process. You do not force the purchase to happen now; you make it easier for it to happen naturally, when the customer is ready. This mindset change from: "buy now", to: "come back whenever you want" increases sales, because it retains users who would otherwise have left without leaving any trace.The wishlist also improves the experience for long purchase cycles or high-value purchases. If someone is thinking about renovating their living room or comparing running shoes across several stores, being able to save options in one place and compare them again a few days later is a huge advantage.Stores that make this possible are sending a very powerful implicit message: there is no rush here; we are here whenever you need us. That generates trust, and trust converts.Finally, there is a side effect that is also very interesting: the wishlist can become a tool for giving gifts or receiving them. Many stores that have this feature allow users to share their lists, which are sent directly to the people who want to buy them a gift. We give them the what and the how, but also the where: our store.
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How to implement a wishlist that works
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Adding the button is not enough. For the list to be useful, you need to work on some basic details:
- It should not require mandatory registration. Asking users to create an account before saving a product is the most common mistake and the one that generates the highest abandonment rate. Allow users to save favourites without logging in and, once they have been engaged, offer registration as an option to keep the list across devices.
- It should be visible and accessible from any page. The icon should be in the header, close to the cart, and also appear clearly on the product pages.
- It should be connected to email. Without integration with your email marketing tool, the wishlist is just a bookmark. With it, it becomes the beginning of an automated conversion flow.
- The add button should be immediate. One single click, with no intermediate confirmations or pop-ups interrupting the browsing experience.
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Real examples of well-implemented wishlists: what to look at
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Sometimes the best way to understand how something should work is to see how those who do it well do it. Here are some references worth reviewing, each with a specific lesson that you can apply to your own online store.
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#1 – Amazon
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Without a doubt, it is the undisputed benchmark. Its wishlist has been in operation for decades and has evolved into a social tool.The marketplace allows you to have multiple lists, make them public or private, share them with family members, and receive automatic notifications of price drops or low stock.But probably the most interesting aspect is how they integrate the wishlist with recommendations: when someone visits your public list and buys something, Amazon notifies you. We can say that the wishlist becomes a social sales channel.
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#2 – ASOS
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ASOS calls its wishlist "Saved Items", and it works flawlessly, especially on mobile, which is its main channel. This eCommerce allows users to use the feature without the need for prior registration.If you look closely, you can see a heart icon that appears on every product in the category listings, not only on the product page, making saving an item a natural and intuitive gesture while browsing.In addition, when a saved item is out of stock in the selected size, ASOS automatically notifies users if it becomes available again. A small detail with an enormous impact on recovering lost sales.
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#3 – Zara
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Inditex's store uses the wishlist as a central part of its shopping experience, both in the app and on the website.The most remarkable feature is the consistency across channels, since what you save in the app is available on the website and vice versa, all with instant synchronisation. For a store with such frequent repeat visits, that continuity is what makes users return to their list instead of starting from scratch every time.
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#4 – IKEA
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IKEA applies the wishlist (which they call "Favorites List") in a way that is especially useful for its type of products, as it allows users to add items from different categories and then share the entire list with a family member or partner to plan a joint purchase.It also offers the possibility of checking whether the products on your list are available in the nearest physical store, completing the circle between the online and offline channels. It is a clear example that a wishlist can be much more than a product bookmark and can become a multi-channel experience.
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The common pattern in all these cases is easy to identify: the wishlist is not an accessory, it is a strategic feature integrated into the purchasing flow, connected with other systems (email, CRM, recommendations...) and designed to bring the user back. That is exactly what you should aim for in your store, at the scale that suits your business.
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Do you have wishlist in your store? Are you using it to sell, or not yet?