Two increasingly popular strategies to boost sales within your online business are the practice of Upselling and Cross-selling.
Yet, many small businesses out there still are not fully sure what they are, or they may be under the impression that it’s a complicated strategy to implement with their website. Fortunately, that is not the case.
Upselling and cross-selling are easy and basically free ways for you to not only start making more sales on your products and/or services, but also for you to build brand reputation, trust, recognition, and loyalty.
So without further ado, let’s get into what cross-selling and upselling is, and 6 popular techniques to use them effectively!
So, What’s the Difference?
Upselling is the practice of asking customers to buy a a product or service that is more expensive/better than the products they currently have in their cart, like a phone upgrade. This usually happens during the checkout process.
Cross-selling is a strategy to sell products that relate to the what your customers are interested in, but at a lower price. These are usually complimentary, like when a fast food cashier asks if you want extra fries or sauce.
Upselling and cross-selling can both significantly boost your marketing efforts without any extra cost. All you have to do is add the proper modules and integrations within your website, which I am happy to say you can with Bookmark’s online store features.
Now that we’ve defined these terms, let’s look at four ways to use these strategies to grow your business.
6 Smart Upselling & Cross-Selling Techniques
Be Relevant & Consistent
As handy as upselling and cross-selling IS, you still need to be relevant. Your customer would appreciate this instead of just pushing everything on them. This is where people drop the ball and also can lose valued customers. For instance, if someone is looking for eggs, you shouldn’t or wouldn’t sell them milk.
Also, consistency is key! Your mission isn’t complete when the sale is complete. The fact is, you need to nurture them, even after the sale. Send them newsletters giving them news about your company. It could contain product updates, events you are hosting, or even discounts that you have going. At the very least, a simple phone call once in a while can go a long way.
Don’t Upsell Everybody
Like everything we do in life, you must use this practice with integrity. We all know when a brand is trying too hard to sell us a product or service, and usually that’s a warning sign for us to leave. The better you are in communicating with your customer to know what they want and need, the better chance you have with retaining them making the sale.
Be up-front and honest with customers if you try to upsell or cross-sell while in communication with them.
Upselling and cross-selling is all about convincing a customer to spend money on your deal-on top of the money they’re already spending on the primary product. So you should make sure to reward your customers for spending more. Some ideas for showing your thanks could include:
Timing is Everything
Upselling and cross-selling often occur online during the checkout process, because that’s when buyers are the most certain of their spending. This can be very effective, but you can also integrate them within your regular sales strategy.
Bringing up an upsell naturally in conversation with your customer can help secure more sales. Just remember to be as human and personal as possible.
You can even time your upsells with specific milestones you or your customers reach, like hitting your monthly sales goals.
Show them how happy others are
The proof is in the pudding! Most people need evidence to convince them before making big, expensive purchase decisions-I know I do! After all, that’s the logic behind the value of customer reviews.
Before you hop on a call to try to convince your customer to upsell, make sure you have evidence from other customers (like reviews) to back you up. Especially customers who’ve found success using that specific add-on product.
Social proof is an influential, convincing factor, so make sure you have those resources on hand that suggest the success of customers using both products to make your pitch more trustworthy.
Offer Bundles
There is another popular selling technique known as bundling. Bundling is the offspring of cross-selling and upselling. You bundle together the main product and other auxiliary products for a higher price than the single products sold alone.
Bundling is also quite often used along with a discount to increase the perceived value of the offering.
Pure Bundling is when products are made available only in bundles and cannot be bought individually. Mixed Bundling is when both options (individual buy and bundle buy) are made available.
Track your goals
By understanding your goals from the start, you can ensure that everything in your cross-sell and upsell strategy is aligned to help you achieve them. By mapping your goals for each stage of the revenue funnel, you can measure your impact along the way.
A few things that can help you track your goals is calculating your wins, opportunities, SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads), MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads), and campaign successes. See what products work for what people, and always be open to changing your strategy. Test some products with others, and keep a close eye on what’s working and what’s not.
If you’re going to start upselling and cross-selling, then you need to stay on top of these things. Without staying focused towards your goals, you will lose track of the success of the campaign.
Key Takeaways
Cross-selling and upselling are vitally important for your team to increase revenue in the most efficient way possible. These techniques help strengthen client relationships, uncover revenue opportunities, and drive sales for your organization.
And don’t forget, you aren’t alone. Bookmark has everything you need to get started .
It’s that time to sign off, and I hope you come back next week for our next blog to help upgrade you and your website.
Originally published at https://www.bookmark.com on August 17, 2021.
