5 Upselling and Cross-selling Techniques Nobody Will Tell You About [With Examples]

You have successfully created your eCommerce website & fortunately, it is gathering significant momentum. But, for how long? Can an initial ignition keep the fire burning all along? Think again. That is when you summon engaging marketing techniques and work around with them to acquire and retain new customers. Upselling and cross-selling your products are also strategies, designed to bring in more business and grow the already existing base. Let’s dig deeper to get a better idea about these terms.

What Is Upselling?

Upselling is a smart sales technique to persuade your buyer to purchase more than they intended to buy. It involves the process of selling something additional or more expensive versions of a product to your customer. For example, if you are in a store to buy a dress from your favorite brand and the salesperson convinces you to buy another dress that is released recently from their collection, they are upselling their products to you. Also, if you are purchasing a phone online and they recommend purchasing a newly launched phone, they are upselling their products to you. You must apply this technique appropriately to attract more sales and increase the average order value of your store.

What Is Cross-Selling?

Cross-selling is the process of selling complementary products or services that would be required with the product being purchased. For instance, if you buy a phone on an online website, they will recommend you phone covers and screen guards to cross-sell their products. Just like when you buy a dress and sites show you recommendations for matching shoes or accessories. That is cross-selling your products.

If you are looking to sell additional products along with what your buyer is buying, cross-selling will come in handy.

Difference Between Upselling & Cross-Selling

The terms up-selling and cross-selling are usually used interchangeably because they practically serve the same purpose. But if we look closely, they have two different functions. 

Upselling serves the purpose of increasing the average order value. It involves selling the expensive version of the same product the buyer intended to buy, whereas cross-selling is the process of selling additional products that add value to the customer’s initial purchase. Both the tactics aim to increase average order value and ultimately increase sales. But, cross-selling aims to sell more products and upselling targets to sell better products. Upselling aims at qualitative increase while cross-selling promotes quantitative sales.

Techniques For Successfully Upselling & Cross-Selling Your Products 

Product Recommendations

Product recommendations can help positively when you’re trying to upsell or cross-sell your product. When you display recommendations like ‘other products you may like’ and ‘frequently bought together,’ you’re instilling an idea of other products in your buyer’s mind that they can add to their cart and complete their purchase. As you show the results based on their past searches, buyers also get a sense of a personalized experience. This gives you a window to upsell and cross-sell your process.

Price Anchoring

Price anchoring is a great psychological tactic to upsell to the buyer. Displaying a low-cost product first and following it up with an expensive product, persuades the buyer to purchase the cheap product, even though it may exceed their initial expected spends. Through this tactic, you anchor a particular price in the buyer’s mind. This price becomes the reference point, and they compare all other costs with this. So if you place an already expensive product first, followed by an even more expensive product, the first product will sell. 

Offer Rewards

Offering rewards in the form of coupons can be a great incentive for purchasing an expensive version of the same product. You can provide vouchers for their next purchase and call them back to your store for buying more. This way, you can upsell and also prompt future sales. 

Bundled Products

Selling bundled products is an excellent means to cross-sell. It has many advantages. First, you save the buyer time, and they finish their journey faster. This improves the customer experience. Next, you sell more than the customer intended to buy. For example, a buyer will purchase a bundle of 5 items even if he requires just two of them if you keep the bundle price lower than the cumulative cost of individual items. It’s a great strategy to cross-sell. 

Offer trials

When you’re upselling a product, offering free trial products alongside is a good idea. This gives the buyer an illusion of purchasing more at a lesser price. Buying three products at the expense of one is always a win-win for the buyer. This way, you persuade them for a slightly expensive version of the product and give them an incentive for making the plunge. 

Final Thoughts

Cross-selling and upselling can bring a significant boost to your business if you apply them correctly to your website. You can increase sales and also engage customers by providing them a means to engage with your store. So buck up and involve strategies like these to get those numbers increasing.