Cross-selling and up-selling – increase your sales with ease!

What is cross-selling?

The purpose of this technique is to draw customers attention to products that s/he may need but have forgotten about. It could happen that the consumer would be forced to purchase them at a later date, so it is good practice to suggest that s/he buy something additional related to the selected product that may be useful to him in the future.

Thanks to this, the customer will likely buy them from the advertiser, instead of from the competition, thereby increasing the advertiser’s revenue.

Cross-selling is a safe marketing strategy because, in the worst case scenario, the customer will refuse to buy additional products and will stop at what he wanted to buy. However, offering complementary goods too intrusively may make the customer feel bad and, as a result, he may switch to the competition. Therefore, you should exercise moderation and limit yourself to two or three additional products.

The use of cross-selling

Cross-selling is widely used in sales practice and has been bringing tangible benefits for many years.

There are several typical cross-selling solutions that are used very often, even intuitively. Examples here could be:

• Other customers also bought… – such a formula is becoming more and more common under a product purchased online. It presents product combinations developed based on previous customers’ purchases. If someone has already bought such a set, there is a good chance that another customer will also be interested in such a combination.
• Cheaper in a set – offering a set of complementary products at a lower price will make the customer more willing to buy all the equipment at once in your store. An additional advantage of this solution is the selection of appropriate products for the set, so the customer does not have to wonder how to match the purchased elements (e.g. what batteries will be needed for a given device).
• Free shipping on purchases over… – By offering discounts for larger purchases, the customer is encouraged to select additional products. This is an important factor in increasing the effectiveness of cross-selling.
• Not only products! — cross-selling does not have to apply only to complementary products. Instead, we can also offer the client a specific service, for example installation of purchased household appliances or the first launch and formatting of an electronic device.

Cross-selling in SEO texts

This marketing strategy can also be found in SEO texts. In particular, information and links to complementary articles can be included in the description of a given product or category. The description of the offer, however, may mention subsequent services that are used together in order to create the impression of a complete offer (e.g. from design, through production, to transport and assembly at the destination).

Internal linking should often be to complementary products to best utilize its potential.

What is upselling?

However, this process should run smoothly and the price differences between the subsequent models offered should not be too large. The seller must also sense to what extent the buyer will be interested in higher-end products. If a customer buys a laptop from a store, for instance, the seller can then, after a short while, offer the customer a different notebook model that has better RAM and costs only a few thousand naira more. The buyer may be tempted by the better properties of the device and buy a more expensive product.

Poorly conducted up-selling may lead to the customer feeling cheated and leaving the store without making any purchase. Therefore, you should use this marketing strategy carefully.

The use of up-selling

Like cross-selling, up-selling has found wide application in practice. There are also a few tricks based on this.

Typical examples of the use of up-selling are:

• Store advisor – his task is often to convince the customer that better equipment will be more useful to him in the long run.
• Promotions on high-end products – a price reduction can encourage a customer to buy a better product so that they can save on it (compared to the price without the discount).
• Enlarged set – enlarged fries or a larger drink are typical examples of up-selling in restaurants.
• Also services – in addition to products, you can also sell services using an up-selling strategy. An example would be internet speed. Often, the customer is offered a faster connection for a small additional fee.

Up-selling in SEO texts

Up-selling in SEO texts is not easy because product descriptions are aimed at many customers. However, it is always worth showing a few arguments for buying a higher-end product. These should be simple benefits so that the customer doesn’t start to think too hard. Then they may give up the purchase and look for a more suitable device on other websites.

Differences between cross-selling and up-selling

Najważniejszą różnicą między cross-sellingiem, a up-sellingiem jest rodzaj proponowanych przez sprzedawcę produktów lub usług. W pierwszym przypadku są to dobra komplementarne, które uzupełniają koszyk zakupów. W drugim natomiast będzie to produkt z wyższej półki, posiadający większą cenę i lepsze parametry. W obu przypadkach jednak chcemy zachęcić klienta do zwiększenia portfela zamówień.

The most important difference between cross-selling and up-selling is the type of products or services proposed by the seller. In the first case, these are complementary goods that complement the shopping basket. In the second case, products will be a higher-end product, with a higher price and better parameters. In both cases, however, all the advertiser wants to do is to encourage the customer to increase their order portfolio.

What to watch out for in marketing strategies?

When using marketing strategies, we should always make sure that our actions are subtle and delicate. Otherwise, the customer may feel lost or cheated, which will not have a positive impact on building a lasting relationship with them.

In any case, you need to exercise moderation. In cross-selling, it is worth limiting the value of additional services and products to 20% of the price of the main product. Above this value, the customer will treat the proposed products as a new purchase. Also in the case of up-selling, the price difference should be small to encourage the customer to make a purchase.