Technology has changed every aspect of the world. Shopping as we know it has been changed as well. With the rise of eCommerce behemoths, eCommerce has changed the way we buy and sell fundamentally. While eCommerce has changed the way we buy and sell, some sales strategies have also transcended regular commerce into eCommerce. One of those sales techniques is upselling and finding the best products to upsell.
To put it simply, upselling is a strategy where you, the retailer, make the customer buy more than they originally intended. This doesn’t mean increasing the price, it means giving them added value.
With the rise in eCommerce, upselling isn’t going away any time soon. That leaves us with a burning question. How do we incorporate upselling into our eCommerce and how do we find the best products to upsell in eCommerce?
In this article, we’re going to discuss upselling and the best ways to find the best upsell products.
What is Upselling in Ecommerce?
Upselling in eCommerce is the same thing as upselling anywhere else. What makes upselling in eCommerce different is there’s no salesperson actively convincing you to buy the product.
What replaces a salesperson in eCommerce upselling is the strategic placement of your upsell products. What does this mean?
Upselling is a delicate art and if not done properly, can lose the sale itself.
An example of an upsell product would be when a customer wants to buy a device, you can offer them another device with a better memory or better processing power. That is essentially the basis of upselling.
Upselling is often mistaken to be cross-selling, but they are two distinct sales tactics.
What is the Difference between Upselling and Cross-selling?
As explained above upselling in eCommerce is giving the customer a better version of what they’re buying while cross-selling would be offering related products as add-ons.
Here’s another example of upselling in eCommerce: If a client is interested in buying a 2020 gaming PC, upselling them would be trying to convince them to buy a slightly more expensive 2021 version of the same PC.
Cross-selling in eCommerce on the other hand would be trying to convince that customer to buy gaming headphones, screen protectors, etc. to go along with the gaming laptop.
For a successful eCommerce business, it is always advised to use both. To make sure the tactics are effective, some rules must be applied. We’ll get to that in later parts of this article.
When trying to upsell a customer on your eCommerce website, it should be done on the product page of the current item they’re checking or when they’re checking their cart. If you put the upsell offer when they’re checking their cart, it may motivate them to complete the purchase. Upselling with the product or the cart page is great because the customer hasn’t decided yet on what to purchase and may be open to suggestions.
For cross-selling in eCommerce, it is advisable to use the final sales page to cross-sell to customers. This way the client has made up their mind on what they’re buying and may be open to additional items.
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How to Find the Best Products to Upsell in Your ECommerce Website
Choosing the best products for your eCommerce upsell is another important part of the upsell strategy. In this section of the article, we have curated the best methods to select products to upsell on your eCommerce website.
Review Similar Orders and Past Purchases
It is easier to get a customer to purchase a similar product instead of a different product entirely. Interesting your customers to buy a better version of the product they’re currently checking out is guaranteed to increase your upsell.
Reviewing customer behaviour is also a great way to decide the best products to upsell. By reviewing past orders, you get an idea of the kind of products that sell well and with this information, you can optimize your eCommerce upsell by pairing products of the same category with other products that are guaranteed best-sellers.
Upsell Items on Sale or Overstocked Items
Upselling in eCommerce is also a great way to clear items that are either overstocked or happen to be on sale. This is a great method to clear up items on sale or items that have been overstocked.
However, there is a downside to this. We agree that upsell items are items that are similar to the current items the customer is interested in. In upselling products that are on sale or overstocked, you may entirely discard this personalization importance.
For example, if a customer is buying a calculator and the overstocked items are shoes, it would be a terrible idea to try to upsell the shoes to them. But if the overstocked items or the items on sale are similar, upselling them would be a fantastic idea.
Upsell Larger sizes of the same product
One of the easiest ways to upsell a customer in eCommerce would be to try to interest in buying a bigger product. In eCommerce, bigger items often give the illusion of better value. In some cases, it is true. So, to justify the extra cost of the items in the customer’s mind, a bigger-sized item may just do the trick.
For example, if a customer is buying a 16’ mattress, upselling them to an 18’ mattress would be hard for the customer to resist. In this example, cross-selling them would be with products of bedcovers and pillows.
Upsell them on Better Quality
For some products, a bigger size doesn’t mean better quality. So, if you can’t upsell using size, you can upsell using better quality.
If you’re selling a performance-based product like electronics, upselling them to products that perform better may be enough to do the trick. Products with better features could be added as well, features such as increased battery life, bigger storage capacities, better ram, pro versions of the same devices, etc.
An additional way to upsell a customer on a more expensive product would be to offer free shipping. Over 90% of customers say free shipping is a great incentive to buy a product.
ECommerce Upsell Techniques that Works
Upselling is effective and is a great eCommerce marketing technique, but if it isn’t done properly, it could cause more harm than good. As said earlier in this article, if the Upsell isn’t done properly, you may lose the sale.
Keep your upsell simple and subtle
The same way a real-life salesperson is subtle when convincing you to buy an additional product, that is also how your eCommerce upsell should be.
A pushy salesperson is often irritating, this is exactly how a pushy eCommerce upsell is too.
As said above, a suitable place to place your upsell products would be in the cart or below the product page. The reason eCommerce upsell is put below a particular product’s page is to ensure that the customer is interested in the product they’re checking out before trying to upsell them to another product.
Keep the price close
Keeping the price close is also a great way to upsell a product. An additional $5-$10 increase in the price of an upsell product would sit better with a customer compared to a $500 difference in the upsell price.
If someone wants to buy a purse for $20, it’s okay to upsell them a bigger purse for $25. It would be unacceptable to try to upsell them to buy a branded purse for over $500.
If the customer senses your upsell is trying to swindle them out of their cash rather than interesting them in a better offer, that may cause you to lose the customer.
Do not create too many options
There is a rule that says objects or things that appear in threes are often more effective or produce better results.
Your upsell in your eCommerce website shouldn’t overwhelm your customers with the need to make too many decisions. This may leave them confused and may end up costing you the sale.
You should start by offering your customers a low number of upsells and see which works better for your audience and customers.
Upsell when reminding them of their abandoned cart
In eCommerce, cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges. An avenue to upsell and remind a customer of their abandoned cart is to upsell them on a better product.
For this strategy to work effectively, there should be a countdown that tells them that that particular offer is only valid for a specific period. This way they’re more motivated to take action.
Conclusion
Giant eCommerce corporations utilize upselling and cross-selling as a method to increase their revenue, you should too.
To succeed in eCommerce upselling, you need to convince the client that you’re giving them better value. You need to make a client believe that they’re getting better value more than spending more money.
We’ve discussed some eCommerce upselling techniques in this post, but in actuality the possibilities are endless. ECommerce upselling is a great strategy to drive up your sales. If you haven’t tried it before, you should.
