5 Top Cross-Selling Techniques to Lure Customers to Spend More On E-Commerce Store

I just got cross-sold!

I planned to buy a stapler from Amazon. They offered me a tape dispenser of $6.29 and a pack of 2 scissors of $7.56 with the stapler which were a necessity for the office. I ended up buying all the three at an amazing cost of $19.83 and I just got cross-sold!

So what is cross-selling? Let us brush up the basics.

Cross-Selling

A technique where a customer is made to make more purchases on products related to the one they have already bought.

For Example:

Offering complimentary products to your customers like:

1. Popcorn with Movies.
2. French fries with Burger.
3. Pizza with Coke.
4. While booking a flight, you are offered cabs and hotels in your destination city.

Cross-selling Vs. Upselling

Though both concepts have the same focus, they are not the same and are often misunderstood. In this section, your doubts will be cleared about both the techniques with the proper distinction between them.

Cross-Selling

I had planned to buy a Cap sleeve draped dress online. The next thought that gyrated was the accessories that I need to have with the dress. Thanks to Amazon, they offered all the necessary items like matching sandals, handbags, bracelets, and watch with it. My time was saved. I didn’t need to wander and switch between pages to find the accessories for the dress.

In other words, cross-selling is a sales technique where the retailers offer products related to the product you have already bought thus contributing to the increase of the average checkout price.

Up-selling

I was looking for an e-commerce website that sells Tommy Hilfiger watches. I had a model in my mind that I desire to buy. The retailer of the online shop where I was the customer strategize his e-store in such a way that I ended up buying a better version of the one I desired. I got similar, higher-end watches with proper comparisons and benefits of choosing the best. So finally I can conclude that I got up-sold and the e-store generated more profit through up-selling.

Though the aim of upselling is to generate profit for the e-commerce store, it generates through selling an expensive version of the one that we have planned to buy rather than selling an additional item.

Every e-commerce business launches with the aim of getting more visitors to their stores and this blog is aimed to provide its readers with those

5 Top Cross-Selling Techniques

1. The Products that Interest our users.
2. Providing Proof
3. Marketing through e-mail
4. Get the Look!
5. Scarcity and Urgency

Further, this blog addresses the queries regarding:

• How to add cross-sell to a product for WooCommerce Store?
• Advantages of Cross-Sell products
• The 3 Golden Chances to Cross-sell
• The key takeaways

Let us dive into the details.

1. The Products that Interest the Users

This is an automatic cross-selling technique where the items are displayed depending on the customer’s choice of items. For best results, try to customize the offer with a personal touch.

Example: If your customer had bought a laptop you can suggest laptop covers, mouse, and so on.

You need to keep in mind:

1. The browsing history of the user.
2. The wishlist the user has marked.
3. The probable products that aren’t explored

Another part that interests your customers are the offers with the products they choose from.

The product in the talk is a television and the products that are essential to buy with this may be a Mount bracket, soundbar, and so on.

In this section, the e-store owner should make provisions for the users by suggesting products that will be essential for the smooth functioning of the product they have bought.

2. Providing Proof

How do you buy a product?

1. Recommendations
2. Social Proof
3. Feedback and Ratings

We always look upon our peers to validate our decision of buying the product. The key to the success of online stores is social proof. The users can see what their peers have bought and what their views on it are. Moreover, the customers when they will witness the reason for buying two products together, they will be more confident about their decision.

3. Market through E-mail

A follow-up email to your clients after a few days of their purchase helps your customers to stay updated about the products they could have with the one they had already bought. This email is normally a newsletter that offers products complementing your purchase in the first place. For example, if your customer had bought a laptop, within a stipulated period you can send him newsletters that offer products like cases, mouses, or any other accessories.

You can also remind them about the inspections and replacement parts that will help them to probably buy those items and services from you.

The frequency of these emails can be either weekly or on days as per your preferences. You need to work a lot on making these newsletters a personalized one.

4. Get the look!

There are people who are lazy enough to go shopping. There are people who are a little off-beat in terms of fashion. The option ‘Get the Look!’ is for people of these categories mentioned.

If a customer is looking for a shirt, there will be recommendations from the shop assistant for trousers, tie, socks, and shoes. The customer is shown the entire view with the product he/she desired to buy and thus creates a wish to have the entire look for themselves.

You can show the entire outfit in product cards and related products in the shopping cart as cross-sell after that.

Keynote: 

Pitch your low-barrier items to cross-sell on the product page and high-ticket items to cross-sell during checkouts.

5. Scarcity & Urgency

The value of the items and opportunities increases with the decrease in their availability. The satisfaction of getting the last item in the stock is incomparable. A sense of urgency is created when the goods are available in limited quantity and shoppers worry about the only chance they might get to grab it.

This can be used to boost sales while cross-selling products.

1. The scarcity with stock and size: It is an ideal practice to put up the units your store has. Another option is showing the scarcity of color or size specific to the item.
2. Offers that shows sensitivity to time: Have you ever gone through products showing ‘This offer is valid only for today!’? This is another way where businesses can promote the urgency of deals and discounts for a limited period.
3. Email giving them a last chance: Customers do come back if you are able to give them what they want on their choice of product. If any customer is abandoning the shopping cart due to any kind of charges or expecting a discount, just email them that deal for a limited time as a surprise for them and curb the shopping cart abandonment rate.

Moving ahead, the next concern is:

How to add cross-sell to a product for WooCommerce Store?

Step 1: Go to WooCommerce -> Products

Step 2: Select the product you wish to show cross-sell

Step 3: Scroll down to the Product Data Panel

Step 4: Select the Linked Products tab in the left menu

Step 5: Add the product you wish to link to by searching for it.

Step 6: Update

How to add Cross-sell during checkout for WooCommerce Store?

If you want to add paid extras and services to your checkout page then WooCommerce Checkout Add-Ons will allow you to do this via field types.

If you want to have the power to handpick and recommend products tailored to the items that are already in the cart then, WooCommerce Cart Add-Ons is that you need.

Advantages to Cross-Sell products

Let us take a look at the advantages that one can enjoy by cross-selling the products:

1. Increased Sales

One of the most important reasons for writing this article and your visit is having an increased amount of sales. With every recommended item with the product that the user wishes to buy, the products are crossed-sell in every order.

2. Cost Optimization

What you think is cheaper, one order with several products or multiple orders with one product?

3. Customer Loyalty

Concerning to the user’s requirements, you will make him more contented by adding value. The more is the satisfaction, the more loyalty towards your brand.

4. Get to know your audience

Analyzing the client’s behavior allows you to know your clients well. This helps in an effective strategy that would drive in more sales.

5. Sell ‘unknown’ products

Trust on this. Selling an infamous product would woo your customers and rush sales as everyone would be curious enough to try their hands on them. A well-defined situation and a proper strategy are the secrets for the success of this tact.

6. User Experience

With every offer you make for cross-selling, you are engaging your customers with your website and thus providing great user experience.

The Golden Chances to Cross-Sell

The three golden chances to cross-sell your products to your website visitors are:

1. Before Buying
2. At the time of the checkout process
3. On the completion of their purchase 

The key takeaways

If you are hurrying in creating offers for your cross-sell pin these points: 

1. The customer experience is of prime importance.
2. Grab the attention of your customers by promoting appealing and relevant offers.
3. It is ideal to limit the upsell offers to less than 25% of the total cart value.

Conclusion

Every e-commerce business is launched with the aim to rush their stores with visitors and gradually increase sales. Cross-selling is an effective way that contributes to your goal and generates higher revenues. With these 5 effective cross-selling techniques, you can attract your audience to your online store and witness an escalated rate of conversions. If you are struggling to add cross-sell to your WooCommerce platform, the section ‘How to add cross-sell to a product for a WooCommerce Store’ will guide you and address your problem well. If the takeaways are what you are pinning at, then the section, ‘How to add cross-sell during checkout for WooCommerce Store’ will serve your purpose. You can go with a trial and error method as well with the products rather than jumping to a high-pitch plan for sales.

Though this blog has addressed almost all the points necessary to cross-sell a product, you can take help from any WooCommerce development company like Fortunesoft for getting the right E-commerce store for your business.