Revenue is not just the quantifiable result of how your online business is performing; it is the very intent of your online business in the first place. With cut-throat competition in the e-commerce world and tricky customer situations, you’ll have to pull every string to make sure you are making good amount of money. Two old-school sales ways to do that is by upselling and cross-selling products. And even if you don’t know what that is, you have been both upsold and cross-sold to hundreds of times.
What is Upselling?
You go to a barista to grab a quick latte on your way to work and you hear
“Do you want to upgrade to regular sized latte? The difference is only $1?”
And you go “yeah sure why not”
Congratulations, you’ve just been upsold to.
Upselling is convincing the customer to buy a higher priced similar product in lieu of the one they originally intended, because of more value. Simply put, you are buying a better version of the same product at a modestly higher price. All e-commerce websites should harness the potential of upselling. Ebay and Amazon has been upselling for years.
How to increase online sales through upselling?
Upselling works fantastically in face-to-face sales where the salesman has already earned the trust of the customer. And his suggestion of upgrading is taken seriously. But when you are upselling online, the first thing you need to focus on is to make the difference between the two products stand out.
One way to do that is by highlighting features that you won’t get with your original choice. Adding a compelling customer testimonial next to the product work wonders too since 88% of people trust online customer reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
Too many options aren’t always good. Research has proven that when faced with an overwhelming number of options, the buyer might cancel or put off his decision to buy. Stick to the maximum of 3 to 4 options. You can only upsell if your customer has decided to or is considering to buy the product, which is why including options in your checkout page is a clever way to upsell.
One of the most powerful retail sales tips that most sales guru ubiquitously agree with is upselling. The fact that spending more money is justified through getting a better product is why the pricing consideration doesn’t glare hurtfully.
What is Cross-Selling?
Also called add-on sales, one common example is “do you want fries with that”
Cross-selling is recommending related products to score a double sale.
Fashion retailing websites do this rather beautifully. Search for a top online and they’ll give you a glimpse of the entire look complete with accessories and shoes. And often the customer ends up buying at least one of the recommended items.
How to increase online sales through cross-selling?
Cross-selling complimentary products on an e-commerce website is a little different from upselling.
Sometimes cross-selling could be the reason why the customer makes both the sales. You can promote it on your product page as “customers who bought this also bought this” or “best suited with”
Your customers are more likely to buy a complementary product is they are of a lower value.
Even persuasive subtle techniques like free shipping on orders above a certain amount could help boost revenue through cross-selling.
Presentation is the key. Be sure to present your products in an add-on format rather than an option. When customers see the complete look or how much better both the products are together, they wouldn’t mind shelling out extra.
While both upselling and cross-selling are excellent revenue generating techniques that will make you reach big numbers, customers should always think that the purpose is enhanced value. Shoppers today are smart and can instinctively pick up when they are being seen as a big fat wad of cash and when they are being given an earnest suggestion.
