Upselling and cross-selling can be referred to as the art of introducing customers to add-on products or services. When a customer is interested in a product or a service and is ready to purchase, we offer complimentary add-ons which adds value to the original item. Offline retailers have been practising the upsell strategies for decades. The best example of an upselling strategy is the combo offers of fries and coke along with a burger, which is the original product. This sales strategy provides various advantages for both the customer and the merchant. According to one Forrester research analyst, sales strategies like upselling and cross-selling are responsible for an average of 10-30% of eCommerce revenues.
If you are an eCommerce business owner, then you should be using upselling and cross-selling techniques in your business to maximise your revenue. But first, you should know why upselling and cross-selling is important.
Difference Between Upsell and Cross-sell
Upselling and cross-selling are commonly confused strategies as they seem similar. It’s vital to understand the basic difference between the two strategies.
Let’s consider you are opting to buy a smartphone with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory.
Upsell: After selecting the smartphone, the eCommerce stores shows various options to upgrade the phone. The upsell strategy is to sell you are higher priced smartphone which is a faster and powerful smartphone. The business is trying to get you to spend more on the same smartphone that you are currently looking at.
Cross-Sell: After you upgrade the smartphone, you are processed to the next screen where you are offered a phone case and a Bluetooth headset as a combination offer along with your purchase. As the phone case and the Bluetooth headset are related items, you are likely to purchase those. This is called as cross-selling.
Why is upselling and cross-selling important?
Properly executed upselling and cross-selling techniques are revenue boosters. As these sales techniques result in selling more to the same customer, the income generated is more. However, the benefits are not one-sided and it extends to the customer’s experience as well.
By effectively upselling and cross-selling, you can ensure that the customer chooses the right product for them. The customer is made sure that they have everything they need to use that product.
For example, batteries are a perfect cross-sell item for electronic products that don’t come with their batteries. This would increase the total cart value and also prevents the customer from receiving an item they can’t use immediately.
What Should You Upsell Or Cross-sell?
Ultimately, the purpose of upselling and cross-selling can be misused by various merchants. Upselling and cross-selling should focus on increasing the customer experience, rather than focusing on selling more and increasing average customer cart size.
Consider what makes sense to show your customers at which point of their purchase. Irrelevant suggestions result in poor click-through and conversions and do not enhance the customers’ purchase experience or your revenues.
Value: When choosing to upsell and cross-sell products to display, only suggest products that can increase the overall order by less than 25 per cent. If the original product the visitor is priced at $100, avoid showing customers cross-sells and upsells which are greater than a $25. This could discourage the customer from buying the product.
Familiarity: Introducing visitors and customers to unfamiliar products can confuse them. If a customer is familiar with an add-on product, the more likely they are to buy it.
Don’t Overdo It: Always be tactful when deciding what to upsell or cross-sell. Promoting the add-ons in every page is only going to damage the customers’ perception of your brand, resulting in a steep fall of the overall conversions.
Why Do You Need An Upsell Funnel Engine
An upsell funnel engine can help you increases your store revenue by hooking customers with irresistible offers without ruining their shopping experience. The funnel engine can help you create upsell (some provide options for cross-selling and downsell) in the product sales funnel with ease.
Helixo’s upsell funnel engine provide you with the best upselling and cross-selling strategies. With a lightweight script of 9KB, the funnel engine smoothens out the user experience of your customers. With over 5000+ merchants and serves 10 Million requests every month, Helixo focuses on providing Shopify eCommerce clients with the best experience.
