How To Upsell & Cross-Sell On Shopify Like A Pro

by

Chris Rausch

|

April 3, 2023

reviewing online sales metrics from shopify upsell app

Are you doing everything that you can to maximize your Shopify store’s sales?

In the pursuit of sales, it’s essential that you put yourself in the best position to increase income, lower expenses, and maximize profitability.

If you’ve already created a marketing strategy, written effective web content, and offered some popular products for sale, but you’re still not seeing the growth that you were hoping for, you need to increase your average order value (AOV).

Fortunately, the right Shopify upsell app will make it easy for you to generate more income, sell more products, and increase your cash flow so that your business can continue to grow - and we’ll show you how.

The Importance of Average Order Value (AOV)

customer spending more to increase average order value

Your average order value is one of the most important metrics for you to keep in mind when setting pricing, evaluating marketing options, and analyzing your business plan.

Simply put, AOV is how much the average buyer spends on your products in a single purchase. This figure can include one product or multiple products and varies greatly on the market you’re in as well as the pricing in your store.

Average order value can help inform a lot of your business. If your AOV is higher, you’ll generate more profit per purchase which allows you to spend more on advertising to grow your customer base. If it’s too low, you know that the issue isn’t getting customers - it’s getting them to spend enough to offset the lead generation cost.

Using Upselling and Cross-selling to Increase AOV

cross selling bundle to increase Shopify upsell AOV

Upselling is an incredibly common everyday marketing strategy that you’ll see all of the retail and ecommerce titans doing. From “supersizing” your fast food order to “buy one, get one” deals at your favorite shopping center, businesses everywhere are working to increase their average order value so that they can increase profitability.

When upselling, you’re providing the buyer with a tailored offer to upgrade a feature, increase quantity, or otherwise generate a higher price tag on a product that they’re already buying. By doing so, you’re unlocking more revenue at no additional acquisition cost and with minimal time investment. 

Like upselling, cross-selling aims to increase the average order value of your store. However, instead of increasing quantities or upgrading the quality of your product, you’re offering complementary products that help to complete the purchase for the customer. Adding fries to an order, buying a discounted bundle of all your favorite products, and accessorizing an outfit are all examples of cross-selling that you’ve probably seen before - and you can do it too.

But, you need to be sure you’re implementing your upsell and cross-sell opportunities correctly to make the most of this effective sales strategy.

How to Implement Shopify Upsell and Cross-Selling Offers

making effective offers with a shopify upsell app

Ready to start generating more revenue? Here’s everything you need to keep in mind when getting started with cross-selling and upselling on Shopify.

Provide Value With Your Offer

While the point of an upsell or cross-sell is to increase your average order value, you also want to be sure that you’re providing value to the customer so that they actually accept the offer. This starts by making sure all your offers make sense. The upgrade options you provide should be within a reasonable price range of the current product and any cross-selling bundles should include products that make sense together like seasonal candles, a full set of toys, or batteries with an electronic device. 

The other crucial element is making sure the offer makes monetary sense. Since the upsell opportunity doesn’t cost you anything, you can offer a great deal on the upsell that doesn’t need to account for acquisition costs. Just be sure your margins aren’t too thin - selling more doesn’t help if that extra income isn’t profit!

Make Your Offer Visible But Not Inescapable

Nobody likes to be bombarded with pop-up offers or have to click through a sequence of screens to get to checkout. In fact, the more steps it takes to checkout, the lower the chance of converting the sale.

When implementing your upsells and cross-sells, be sure to place them in accessible but non-intrusive places. Product pages, carts, and checkout are all great places to embed an offer in places your customer is already going to be. Plus, they all make sense for a “related products” section that makes cross-selling easier. 

Keep in mind that while popups are a great way to get a customer’s attention, they can get annoying quickly. If you’re using a popup to make an offer, stick to just one even if you make two separate offers to avoid turning the customer off the purchase entirely.

Try Multiple Offer Types

There are a lot of different ways to unlock greater revenue and increase your AOV with upselling and cross-selling offers.

For upselling, you’ll want to consider offering larger quantities, upgraded models, and subscription offers as ways for your customer to spend more money.

For cross-selling, consider bundling the different styles of your products into a set, offering accessories to the main product like a phone case for a new phone, and making recommendations based on products past customers have bought together.

No matter what kind of offer you’re making, be sure to experiment with different styles of discounts, bundles, recommendations, and price ranges so that you can find what works well in your market.

Use Both Pre-Purchase and Post-Purchase Offers

When you think about upselling or cross-selling, you probably think about a quick pop-up before checkout that makes another offer before you complete your purchase and move on. But, there’s also the opportunity for a post-purchase upsell with a Shopify upsell app.

Making an offer after the purchase is a risk-free way to try to generate some more income. Since they’ve already completed their purchase, you’ve secured the sale - so making another offer isn’t going to take that sale away. Plus, you’ve already collected their payment information which makes it incredibly easy for your customer to press another button or two for the upsell offer.

How UpsellPlus Makes It Easy to Shopify Upsell or Cross-sell

If you want to successfully increase your average order value with upselling and cross-selling, you need the best upsell app for Shopify.

UpsellPlus provides you with all the tools you need to create and implement offers that convert. With it, you can add a pre-purchase or post-purchase upsell or cross-sell offer to your cart, checkout, post-purchase or cart side drawer so that you have full control over how you present them.

All offers can be customized to your branding and go live with just a few clicks. Plus, ShopBrain, UpsellPlus’s algorithm helps you find the product recommendations that make the most sense for better conversions.

Start your free trial of the best Shopify upsell app so that you can start generating more revenue today.

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