Upselling is one of the most unexplored and underestimated sales strategy. Online marketers are clearly not addressing this front because they seem to be unaware of the overwhelming benefits. Suppose you call Customer Service to ask about an internet package that you’re interested in. If they don’t offer to bundle it up with a TV package (upselling) that you may be interested in too. That would be their loss!
Marketers and brands are always been interested in new ways of bringing more and more traffic to their website. They are all about generating leads. But they tend to overlook upselling.
Upselling ensures making the most of all the sales, which you are already getting. And guess what! It requires lesser effort and costs. There’s no reason you shouldn’t try it. Let’s discuss how you can incorporate the upselling strategy to gain an edge over all your competitors. And of course, to get a steady boost in revenue.
What exactly is Upselling?
Upselling is all about maximizing the revenue you make from every sale. It is about focusing on the buyers who are already interested in purchasing from you. And not wasting your time on the leads that need convincing to make the first purchase from you.
For instance, you have an online shop and you offer an extended warranty for your products at a little extra cost to someone who is already buying your product. This may sound a bit pushy. But if you manage to do it right, you can witness a significant boost in your revenue. Therefore, upselling is when you offer additional services with a purchase or a product’s higher-end version to your customer.
Significance of Upselling in E-commerce
Usually, sales strategies invoke certain negative feelings in the customers. But only if they are done right, they could be promising in providing a better shopping experience. There are several reasons for online retailers to rely on upselling. Some are as follows:
Deeper Relationships with the Customers
Upselling is really not a dirty sales tactic. You just have to do it right. Your upselling has to focus on assisting with your customers win. You are to suggest upgrades, premiums, and add-ons to provide them more value. Your customers need to essentially feel that they have secured a better deal. Once your customers are satisfied, they will trust you more and will help you generate more revenue.
Upselling to Existing Customers is Easier
Honestly speaking, lead generation is quite an expensive practice. On the other hand, optimizing the sale to an interested customer is much easier as well as cheaper. Upselling to a customer who has already shopped with you and trusts your brand is a piece of cake. Stats indicate that the chances of upselling to the existing customers are around 60 – 70 percent. And the probability of selling to a brand new prospect is as low as 5 – 20 percent.
Enhances CLV (Customer Lifetime Value)
The net profit contribution that a customer makes to a brand or a company over a period of time is called Customer Lifetime Value. You can divide your customers into three easy categories:
- Profitable.
- Not profitable.
- Very profitable.
The higher the CLV, the more revenue is generated by the customer. And that’s without having to invest in anything extra. This proves that upselling is one of the most effective sales tactics to turn customers into very profitable shoppers.
Customers Always Come Back for More
Upselling allows you to provide value to your customers. And that makes them come back for more. They trust your brand and recommend it to others. To guarantee satisfied and happy customers, ensure providing excellent customer service.
Upselling Statistics
We have established that E-commerce upselling is the easiest possible way to increase your sales. And that too without any extra work.
Check out the following stats:
- It increases the revenue by 10-30 percent on average.
- 70-95 percent of the revenue comes from renewals and upsells and renewals on average.
- Upselling is about 68 percent more affordable as compared to acquiring a new buyer.
Who wouldn’t want to enjoy these lucrative results?
Best Practices in Upselling
Before we discuss these tactics, you should know pre-conceived notions about upselling. If you ask a regular customer to tell you what comes to his mind when he thinks of the word upselling. The most probable and common answer would be a bunch of sleazy salespersons trying to stack their pockets by selling unnecessary stuff! And unfortunately, it happens to be true in many cases. If you want to see a witness, as someone who has purchased a car from a dealership!
This image of upselling as a “dirty” word can only be changed if you do it just right. Imagine being in your customer’s shoes and then weigh the bargain you are offering. This is the most practical way to come make the best of your upselling efforts.
Following are the best times for upselling tactics:
- Before the Customer Makes a Purchase: Simply display all the recommendations right at the bottom of your product or category page. You can also list them in the sidebar.
- During the Purchase: You can use pop-ups to display recommendations. You can also display them on the checkout page, in the shopping cart, and even in the emails of abandoned shopping carts.
- After the Purchase: You can use personalized emails to follow-up and entice your customers to come back for more.
Always give priority to your customer’s benefit. If you provide value to them every time, they will keep coming back for more. It has to be a mutual benefit for it to be successful.
A Few Suggestions
Always upsell your product that is most reviewed, most relevant, or most sold. Remember, every product isn’t good enough to be upsold. Therefore, prefer the ones we have mentioned. Keep in mind that you have to go about upselling in a way that makes your customers’ lives better, easier, and faster. If a customer is interested in your particular product or a package, offer them one with better bandwidth and a slightly higher price. You can convince them for the most selling internet plan. You’ll learn to be better with upselling.
Good luck!
