Meanwhile in Snack Bar Jan. Jan: "So, mister you want three fries. I suppose you want mayonnaise with those? French fries without a snack are like a bicycle without handlebars, my wife always says. Add three XL special fries? Surely a thirst quencher shouldn't be missing? And would you like the fries cold or hot when you get home? Hot... I thought so, then we'll just add a Snackbar Jan hot bag for a few euros extra. Anything else?"
This is an example of a snack bar owner who has mastered the art of upselling and cross-selling just fine. If you don't have the skills of snack bar owner Jan or don't have a snack bar at all, but as an e-commerce business you're curious about how to increase your sales and customer satisfaction with upselling and cross-selling, the tips below can get you started.
Upselling meaning
Before we continue: first, briefly, the meaning of upselling. Upselling is a sales technique in which you offer customers an upgrade of an existing product: the mayonnaise with the fries. Airlines do this, for example, by offering a seat with extra legroom and Apple markets Pro models of phones and computers with slightly better specifications.
Cross-selling significance
Cross-selling is not about upgrading a product, but offering a completely new product to a customer: often related to another chosen product. So the customer buys a laptop and you offer them a laptop bag, or paper with a printer, socks with running shoes and so on.
6 tips to get more out of upselling and cross-selling
1. Be relevant
Sauce is a relevant upsell for French fries and a battery for a digital camera. Think carefully about which of your products belong to one group and try to offer the most relevant products to your customers.
2. Limit the choice
The bigger the offer the better, right? In the case of upselling and cross-selling, this is certainly not the case. In fact, marketing research shows that when upselling and cross-selling, it works better to show a limited number of products. The customer will then more quickly make the choice to buy that product as well: especially if it (tip 1.) is relevant.
3. Offer bundles
No matter how relevant your upsell or cross-sell is, the price goes up and the customer doesn't always want that. To also give your customer a financially attractive choice, it can help to offer the product at an attractive price in a bundle. This sales strategy is also known as "product bundling.
4. Make it personal
Even though customers choose to buy online, they still want to have the most personalized shopping experience possible. You can do this, for example, by sending customers a personal message during their online shopping experience, recommending a product or asking if they need help. WiQhit is an example of a tool that lets you set up this process in a smart and automated way. It also helps to translate the service experience people have in a physical store to online as much as possible. 'Guided selling' can help here: check out Aiden's tool, for example.
5. Use smart tools
Above we already mentioned two tools you can employ to get more out of your upselling and cross-selling: and they are not the only ones. More and more software tools exist in today's digitized world to smartly automate marketing processes: take advantage of them.
6. Engage your customer service
Good customer service can give your upselling and cross-selling a big boost. Important here is to have as much information as possible about a customer so that you can offer them a customized product. With Belco's customer service software, you can automatically see a customer's most important data, such as contact and order history, on the so-called customer card.
By actively thinking along with a customer, you can offer an upgrade or an additional product from a service perspective instead of a sales perspective.
Do you have questions as a result of this blog? Let us know! Wondering if Belco is for you? Try our software 2 weeks for free and experience what it's like to work in an all-in-one customer service environment. This trial is completely free and ends automatically after 2 weeks.
