Improve e-Commerce Sales With Upsell And Cross-Sell Tactics
Every e-Commerce platform has features built-in that empower you to automate upselling and cross-selling tactics with the goal of increasing your average order value (AOV). You are sure to have come across these tactics while doing your own online shopping, but you may be wondering how these automated technologies can improve your sales?
What Is Upselling?
Upselling in the digital world differs from upselling in brick and mortar locations. In brick and mortar stores, an upsell is any item you can suggest to a customer to entice them to spend more than they were originally planning on spending. This might be a small-ticket promotional item at the register such as 2 for 1 Scotch tape at Christmas time, adding an extra topping to their sundae, or suggesting a blouse to layer under their blazer.
In the online world, upselling is specific to the item being purchased. For example, if a shopper is shopping for winter snow boots your upsell plugin will populate comparable but more expensive alternatives, often with better features. Or a larger bottle of body lotion or a two-pack of foundation instead of one.
Depending on how advanced your upsell code is, it may even offer a side-by-side comparison of product features and functions. The comparisons upsell feature is popular for electronics but is appropriate for a variety of products. Sometimes the price increase is significant, sometimes it’s only a few dollars—but every dollar adds up. Bold offers one of the best upsell tools for Shopify, check it out.
“Upselling is the reason why we have a 54” television instead of the 48” we planned for; the reason why we go for 7 day European Sojourns instead of 5 day simple French Affairs.”
vwo.com
What Is Cross-Selling?
Cross-selling is the process of suggesting items that are directly related to the purchase, that the customer will need to purchase either now or later. For example, a case for the smartphone they are purchasing, a laptop bag for their new laptop, or additional toothbrush heads for their electric toothbrush.
Bundling is also a type of cross-selling, where your plugin suggests 2 or 3 items that are often purchased together. For example, the electric toothbrush they are buying, extra toothbrush heads, and a travel electric toothbrush case. If they are purchasing books on business management, other books on the same topic. Or the matching gloves, scarf, and hat for the earmuffs they are purchasing. Even if they don’t purchase precisely what is suggested, bundling suggestions are often “saved for later” and inspire additional shopping. You can start testing the benefits of bundling with this great app for your store.
Why Upsell And Cross-Sell?
Statistics vary by industry, but support the value of enticing existing customers to spend more:
- The average online shopping cart abandonment rate is around 80%.
- It costs up to 5 times to acquire a new customer than encourage an existing customer to shop again, or shop more.
- Increasing customer retention by just 5 percent can increase profits from 25 to 95 percent depending on your ticket average.
- Your odds of enticing an existing shopper to buy are 60 to 70 percent more, while enticing a new shopper to buy falls at 5 to 20 percent.
According to Forrester research analysis, upsell and cross-sell strategies are solely responsible for an average of 10-30% of e-commerce business revenues.
Sucharita Kodali – Forrester VP, Principal Analyst
If you have yet to add or activate your upsell plugin or having upsell code added to your site, the statistics above highlight the monetary value. However, these statistics don’t highlight the consumer value of helping them make a better purchase by reminding them of what else they need to buy!