Up-Selling, Cross-Selling and Down-Selling … Oh My!

Cross-selling is suggesting other relevant products people can try

What is an example of Cross-Selling? When you buy a cell phone online, and the online store suggests screen protectors for that model, that’s Cross-Selling.

Up-Selling is persuading the customer to upgrade their product or buy a more expensive version of it ...

How do you Up-Sell? Let’s stick with the cellphone example. If you’re about to buy the model with 32GB of storage space, the online store can suggest you get the one with 64GB or 128GB.

Here’s the great thing about Up-Selling. It doesn’t just increase AOV; it also increases customer lifetime value. In other words, customers spend more while they remain customers. And that’s why it’s so important for your business. In this article, I’m going to share my favorite Up-Selling tips. I’ll dive into some proven Up-Selling strategies and will provide examples to inspire you in your business. If you choose, you can implement your own revenue-boosting Up-Sell strategy.

Choose the RIGHT Up-sell

When you look at eCommerce Up-Sell examples,
you’ll see there are several types you can offer.

The Version Upgrade

As I mentioned earlier, you can ask shoppers to get a
different version of a product you’re offering. It can be
bigger, stronger, faster, better – you get the idea.

Product Protection

Another favorite Up-Sell, both online and offline, is the
“protect your product” Up-Sell, which asks you to extend
your warranty so you effectively guard your product
against something going wrong. For example, if you buy a
phone, you can often get a screen replacement warranty.

Customization

You know those “customize your product” features you get
on some sites? Well, that’s a series of Up-Sells, because
every customization you add increases the price.

Extended Service Period

Instead of a physical product, you can Up-Sell by offering
better value for a longer contract. And you can also offer better
deals for early renewals. This works well for SaaS products.

The Bundle

Bundling is a bit of a grey area because it’s both Cross-Selling and
Up-Selling, but if you package related items together and show that
it’s better value, you can increase your sales of all the items in the bundle.

Always Offer the Up-sell …

The more Up-Sell opportunities you show customers, the more chances they must take one. So, offer your Up-Sell everywhere it makes sense. Some typical locations for upsells include:

On product pages, where you have multiple chances to show off product versions

When people add items to the cart, as it’s a great time to show supplementary products
or services that help them get more value from what they’re already planning to buy

When the customer reaches a success milestone. For example, in Asana, when you’ve
added a few tasks, you’ll get an email showing you how to manage tasks even better
with their premium product.

But Don’t Be Pushy

Even though you want customers to see your Up-Sells, you don’t want to annoy them. Show your Up-Sell popup at the wrong time, and they may not buy anything at all. Show it at the right time, and you’ve got a much better chance of making a better sale.

Some online retailers handle this by placing the Up-Sell information well below the product information, so only people who are really interested ever see it. Another option is to show your Up-Sell when people have made the decision to buy. For example, if you show it once they’ve added an item to the cart (but before they checkout) that can be a great time to get an additional sale.

There’s no point in showing your Up-Sell when people have just landed on the page because that could annoy them enough to leave. Instead, use a “scroll trigger” to wait till they’ve scrolled a certain distance so you know they’re interested.

Make Your Up-Sell Relevant

Relevance is key when deciding on your Up-Sell. If someone’s buying a book on Marketing, there’s no point in recommending a book on childcare (which is Cross-Selling anyway). Instead, you’ll recommend something else related to what they’re looking at, like an audio version of the book or another book by the same author.

When you’re Up-Selling, you’ll have to sell the benefits of the Up-Sell, and show why it’s important. This kind of customer education can help make the sale. For example, Amazon highlights the benefits of getting audiobook versions of purchased books.

Personalize Your Up-Sell Recommendations

Recommendations work better if they’re personal. Accenture’s latest research shows that 75% of consumers are more likely to buy if the retailer either:

Knows their purchase history

Recommends purchases based on that history

Addresses them by name

You can do this in a “Smart Tags feature” that lets you take the information you already have from your Email Marketing, like the visitor’s name, and use it as part of a personalized campaign that appears when they visit your site. And, of course, you’re not limited to the name. You can also vary onsite campaigns based on the products people have already viewed.

Get the Language Right

Language is an important part of all successful Marketing, as we’ve seen before in our article on conversion-boosting power words. But it’s even more important to persuade your customers when you’re aiming for the Up-Sell. Some of the best Up-Selling examples get this right by making visitors imagine how they could make use of the upgrade, or by triggering the fear of missing out (FOMO). This is psychologically proven to help make more sales. For example, show everything they’d be missing if they took the free plan.

Use Urgency

As we’ve seen before using urgency can help increase the value of the Up-Sell. If your Up-Sell is available for a limited time only, or there are limited quantities, you’ll want to highlight this in your Marketing. One way to do that is to create a sale timer for your website. You can also change display rules to show the Up-Sell offer to those on specific pages, such as the page with the product you’re offering the Up-Sell for.

Offer Free Shipping

Offering free shipping is proven to boost sales. Around 90% of customers say free shipping is their main incentive to shop more online. So, how does this work with Up-Sells? You can remind people how much more they must spend to qualify for free shipping. That’s a big incentive to continue adding items to the cart, especially if not too costly.

Provide Social Proof

Social proof lets people know that others like them found the product or service valuable. It’s something you see on the top online retail sites. For example, Amazon shows you:

What people bought with the product you are buying

What people also looked at

The products they recommend going with what you’re buying

All of these create valuable Up-Sell opportunities. Add in customer
reviews for each item, and you’re priming customers to buy more.

Limit the Price Increase

I recommend that you don’t price your Up-Sells too high. After all, it’s supposed to represent a quick win for your customers. The price of the Up-Sell shouldn’t be more than 40% more than the item they’re already looking at or buying.

Others out there put that figure even lower, suggesting that the Up-Sell be no more than an additional 25%. The best advice? Test different options with your own customers till you find what works.

Use the Rule of Three

You’ll often hear Marketers talk about the “rule of three”. It’s to do with the fact that people respond to patterns, and three seems to be a magic number. In this case, I’m talking about using the rule of three in pricing. There are multiple studies to show that when there are three price levels, people often go for the middle one. You’ll also hear this called “price anchoring”. Either way, Up-Sells look more attractive if it’s one of at least 3 options available …

Offer Substitutes

What if your usual Up-Sell item is out of stock? Don’t let that stop you from offering the Up-Sell. The best Up-Selling examples show that you always have an alternative. For example, if your Up-Sell for a particular phone is upgrading the memory from 64GB to 128GB, and you’re out of the upgrade, suggest 128GB phones in different models from the same manufacturer. Or, you could simply suggest a phone with similar features where your Up-Sell IS available.

Up-Sell After the Purchase

While many Up-Sells are offered on product or pricing pages, these aren’t the only places to show off your Up-Sell offer. In fact, you can offer an Up-Sell even after customers have completed their purchase. For example, sometimes you get a limited time to edit or upgrade your order before it ships. And on sales pages, you’ll often see a deal for a limited time product that complements what you’re already buying.

Follow Up via Email

While we’re on the topic of post-purchase Up-Sells, don’t forget about email. Email Marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach your customers, and there are a few Up-Selling email examples that can help you make more sales. For example, even if people don’t take the Up-Sell when they purchase, you can still offer it again by email. And you can sweeten the deal by offering an additional discount on the upgraded product or service.

As an example, you can offer a free gift when someone takes the Up-Sell. You can also use email to offer Up-Sells as part of your shopping cart abandonment emails. The average shopping cart abandonment rate, according to the Baymard Institute, is 69%. That’s a lot of money to leave on the table.

Consider Downselling

Finally, if Up-Selling isn’t doing the trick, consider Down-Selling – offering a product that’s slightly reduced in price and features a way to get your customer to become a customer.

Consider downselling if your customer:

Only looks at items in a particular price range, using the sorting features on your site

Has added an item to the cart, but returns to your site to look for cheaper versions

Has abandoned an upsell in the cart and does not respond to abandonment emails

Downselling can help to build trust by offering options that suit your customers’ pocket and showing that you’re responsive to their needs. Examples include:

Offering a more cost-effective version of a computer,
like one with a less expensive power chip

Creating a self-study version of a course that’s less expensive
than the one with your personal input

Popping up a coupon to give a discount when it looks like
visitors are about to leave the page

The great thing about downsells is that once visitors become
customers, you’ll have other opportunities for upsells later.

5 Effective Up-selling Examples

Want a few more examples of Up-Selling in action? Check these out.

You can have a button inviting logged in users to upgrade to premium, along with a page showing the benefits of upgrading. Note, you can also have three different package options …

Williams-Sonoma offers a discount for new customers,
which encourages them to buy more.
AppSumo’s email shows existing customers the benefit of getting multiple deals
in one by moving from a pay per deal to a monthly all in one model.
Dropbox uses an in-app banner to encourage the upgrade to the Business version.
Clicking on the button gives you the USP of the upgrade.
Amazon’s messaging includes letting you know when there’s a newer model
or version of the item you’re looking at.