E-commerce upselling is a great tactic to maximize the revenue you generate from every visitor to your store. Upselling works for e-commerce brands across all industries, as long as you are upselling your products in a strategic manner.Â
In this article, we will take a look at upselling examples and tactics for e-commerce brands that truly work. This discussion will highlight effective upselling strategies you can use to boost your e-commerce site’s overall sales and profitability.
In essence, upselling means getting customers to spend more than they had originally intended. Upselling focuses on compelling customers to purchase more items by providing them with great deals. These deals may utilize discount strategies or focus on combining complementary products. Upselling techniques, therefore, aim to get customers to buy more, leading to a boost in an e-commerce site’s revenue and profitability.
Upselling and cross-selling are similar strategies, but have slight distinctions. Upselling involves offering customers an upgraded, more expensive version of a product, or a greater quantity of a product. Cross-selling involves offering customers other products that are add-ons or somehow related to their first product. Both are extremely effective!
Consider this example:
A customer visits a cosmetics site looking for lipstick. The customer has a specific product in mind. When at the site, she discovers a great deal. One lipstick costs $5. If she buys two, she gets them for $6.
In this example, the customer spends more than she had intended. She planned to buy one lipstick. Instead, she took advantage of the deal and bought two. That additional dollar spent seems like savings to the customer. While that is true, it’s also additional revenue for the company.
E-commerce upselling can help boost your brand’s sales and drive profitability. But there are other key advantages you must consider.
You can expect to see your items sell much faster, causing a reduction in your brand’s overall sales cycle. On average, sales jump from 10% to 30% due to upselling techniques. As a result, your inventory reflects your brand’s revenue boost.
On the whole, it is much more cost-effective to sell more to existing customers than to acquire new ones. Some estimates suggest that upselling can be up to 20 times more effective than selling to new customers. This figure seems to indicate that your focusing on e-commerce upselling is far more profitable than marketing techniques aimed at bringing in new customers.
Upselling is great for boosting customer retention. After all, it’s much easier to sell to existing customers than to attract new ones. But how much more effective is upselling compared to new customer acquisition? According to some estimates, upselling techniques are up to seven times more effective. While acquiring new customers is always great, retaining existing ones is much more profitable.
The likelihood of selling to a new customer ranges between 5% and 20%, while the probability of selling to a returning customer ranges from 60% to 70%. Since customers are already familiar with your brand, it is easier for you to compel them to spend more – all you need is to focus on the right upselling strategies.Â
Upselling strategies focus on getting customers to purchase more of the same product. To achieve this aim, upselling strategies need to focus on creating offers that would compel customers to buy more of the same. It is important to note that these strategies work with items that customers can purchase multiple items.
Think about that for a moment.
There are items where it would be impractical to buy multiple items. For example, it is quite difficult for an individual to buy two or three cars at the same time. While it is possible, it would be extremely rare to find this situation. It’s important to create an upselling strategy that makes sense for your brand and industry.
Getting upselling tactics right requires a combination of know-how and experience. To make this learning curve easier for you, we’re going to discuss six great examples of e-commerce upselling that you can start using in your own store.
One extremely effective example of an e-commerce upsell deal is to sell multiple quantities of a product as a single item. For example, you can create a three pack of shirts and sell this as a single product in your store. Add it to collections to increase visibility, add a minimal discount, and watch as your customers purchase the three pack rather than a single product.Â
In the example above, Shekou offers a three pack of sweatpants at a discounted price. Customers can choose the size and color of each product, but it’s treated as a single product, with one add to cart button. This upsell deal encourages customers to purchase the three pack instead of a single pair of sweatpants.Â
Creating personalized upselling deals is a great way to win points with your customers. The more accurate you can make your upselling deal, the greater chance there is that your customer will go ahead and make a purchase. When upselling several products together, carefully consider which products have the best chance of resulting in a sale.Â
Beauty brand Lula Fox lets customers browse a gallery of “looks” until they find a look that suits their skin tone, complexion, and style. Customers can then click on the look and see the individual products included to create that look. This makes it easy for customers to find everything they need in one place.Â
Pricing tiers are a great way to upsell to your customers. Take a product in your store, and offer it in different quantities for different prices. This makes it easier for your customers to buy in bulk, and is an extremely effective strategy for consumable products that your customers may be looking to “stock up” on.Â
When using tiered upselling, it’s a great idea to spell out the savings your customers are getting. This encourages buyers to purchase in greater quantities, as they are thinking about the savings rather than the money spent.Â
Just like personalized upselling deals, upselling with related products has a high chance of succeeding. Display additional products on your product pages that are add-ons to the product your customer is viewing.Â
Make sure the products displayed are relevant to the customer, otherwise your upsell will likely be ignored. Also, place deals high up the page – many customers don’t scroll below the add to cart button and may miss out on your upselling efforts.Â
Adding upselling deals to the cart is a great time to target your customers. Once your customers reach the cart page, they are preparing to make a purchase. Therefore, there’s a good chance they will buy into whatever the extra product is that you’re trying to offer them.Â
Once again, tailoring your e-commerce upsell deal based on the products your customer already has in their cart is a great way to increase the likelihood of a sale. If necessary, check your sales history for examples of products that are commonly purchased together.Â
Popups can be a nuisance for online shoppers, especially if they can’t easily be closed. However, they can also be an extremely effective way of upselling to your customers. Popups are eye catching and require action from your customers, often resulting in a larger sale.Â
Popups are effective when they suggest complementary products. Moreover, these products provide customers with a better value, such as a combo deal or a discount. Ultimately, “surprising” customers can lead to upselling by triggering an impulse buying decision.
PickyStory is an e-commerce conversion platform specializing in product bundles and upsell deals. Once you have decided on the best approach for your e-commerce upselling efforts, PickyStory allows you to create bundles and deals tailored to your customers.Â
With PickyStory, you can:
Upselling and cross-selling strategies are a great way to boost your brand’s revenue and profitability. These tactics can help you get the most out of your customers’ purchases. With PickyStory, you have the right combination to help you get the most out of your brand’s e-commerce upselling strategies.Â
PickyStory is the e-commerce conversion platform. It enables merchants to uplift their revenue in store. PickyStory offers a variety of deals like Bundle Products, Combo Products, Bundle Builder, Kits, Looks, and coupons.
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