You remember that time you were shopping on an e-commerce store and during your time touring the website, you can product recommendations that were outside the specific item you were looking for.
That act right there, where you get to see related products pop up is what we call upsell. Store owners use this measure to put products in front of customers so that they can develop an interest that can eventually lead to a purchase.
Upsell and cross-sell are twins of marketing as they work together and are almost similar. Both marketing strategies are targeted at making your customers spend more, boosting sales, and increasing revenue.
Sometimes, these strategies might require that you attach an offer like a discount or free shipping to get the desired result.
This is what we would be looking at in this blog post. Strategies that you need to make your upsell and cross-sell yield desired result.
What do Upsell and Cross-sell mean?
Upsell is a marketing strategy that is not limited to the e-commerce industry. It cuts across other industry that has sales involved. Upselling is a technique used to persuade customers to buy or develop an interest in another product. The end goal of upselling is to get customers to spend more and increase their average order value.
An example of an instance is when a customer visits your store to buy a laptop, you can upsell other higher-end models to the customer. This is also applicable when the customer is still checking out and has yet to finalize the purchase decision.
Cross-sell is a twin marketing technique as upselling but in another form. Cross-selling involves marketing complementary or frequently bought-together items to customers during and post-purchase. The same way the goal for upselling is to boost sales, average order value, and revenue is the same goal for cross-selling.
A familiar example is when a customer looking to buy or who has bought a laptop from your Shopify store, you can recommend items that will be needed alongside the laptop bought. Products such as bags, mouse, external keyboards, etc can be cross-sold.
Strategies To Upsell On Your Store
1. Bundling
One way to upsell and cross-sell work is to suggest products to customers as a bundle. Usually, bundling is to give customers the chance to have a discount when they buy multiple items together. That is when customers buy a bundle, they pay less than they would have paid if the items were bought individually.
Displaying these recommendations in special spots in your store can also push customers to click the buy button. You can look to recommend bundles on your homepage, customers cart (cart upsell), or thank you page (order status page).
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These three spots summarize your store’s sales funnel. From the top funnel (homepage, product page), middle funnel (cart page), and bottom funnel (order status page). Bundling can also help your customers to spend more and take purchase decisions faster.
2. Sales urgency
Every customer is drawn to make quick purchase decisions for products that they are interested in when they see a timer running. Sometimes, merchants use sales count or visitors count to create sales urgency.
When customers see that there are other people looking at the same product they are interested in, they tend to make a purchase decision as soon as possible.
Sales urgency is another strategy you can employ to boost sales when you upsell or cross-sell. When you create a product recommendation, you can add a discount that runs on a timer or has the quantity of the product that is available displayed.
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3. Customer segmentation
Segmenting your customers based on purchase history, interests, and preferences can help you reach each customer. Knowing these key signals helps you to know what product to upsell or cross-sell to customers.
Cross-selling or upselling is not limited to in-store, you can also engage customers through emails or push notifications. Customer segmentation will allow you to tailor the right upsell or cross-sell to each customer.
4. Social Proof
The reason why some customers will buy from your store is a review from an existing buyer that they read on your store. It is a common ritual for online buyers to check reviews and other social proof channels before patronizing a store. Social proof encourages customers to make purchase decisions.
As you have a page dedicated to your reviews, you should look also to show social proof post-purchase. With the Thank You Page Builder, you can display social media links on your order status page to further strengthen customer loyalty.
5. Be specific with products
When you want to upsell, you are most likely tempted to showcase multiple products. One mistake you don’t want to make is to choke your customers with recommendations that leave them confused about which one to buy.
So when looking to upsell, choose fast-selling products or a product within customers’ range of interest. This becomes actionable for customers on what item you need them to buy.
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6. Post-purchase optimization
Sales do not end after your customer make payment for their orders. There are still ways to make these customers return to your store and make another purchase.
Shooting at customer retention is shooting at two things. You get to have a steady customer base who always return to make orders. And the worth of the orders increases over time due to how much they’ve trusted and known your brand.
Upselling post-purchase can be one of your sales strategies. You can have bundles or products recommended on your thank you page.
Wrap
Store merchants are always looking for ways to increase sales and revenue. One effective strategy is to implement upselling and cross-selling tactics. Upselling complementary products, recommending higher-end versions of products, and bundling items together, businesses can encourage customers to make additional purchases.
Understanding your customers’ needs and preferences is key to implementing these strategies successfully. Integrating upselling and cross-selling into your marketing process, you can increase customer satisfaction and drive growth for your business.
