How To Increase Your Sales Using Upsells

Craft Maker Pro » How To Increase Your Sales Using Upsells

Lack of selection is not a problem when it comes to shopping online – this is why you should take your craft business marketing strategy to the next level.

upsellingIn order to stand out and reach the sales goals you’ve set, you need to the unconventional methods that successful online sellers make. I am talking about two essential strategies that have become a cornerstone of e-commerce success: cross-selling and up-selling.

Up-Selling

One of the most important jobs a handmade business owner has to do is to add value to a sale that the customer is already willing to make. Up-selling occurs where a customer is ready to order a product, or has already made a purchase from you, when you immediately offer an upgrade or addition to the deal.

For example, up-selling is presenting a mid-range product, say, a $30 box of chocolates, then offering a $40 worth of two boxes of chocolates right next to it.

upsell

One of the most common up-selling techniques is either discounted or free shipping on a specified purchase amount. Encouraging customers to purchase additional items with free shipping or discounts on orders over a specific sales threshold – free shipping for a minimum of $100 in purchases, for example – is a pretty easy way to improve your sales volume incrementally.

Figure out where in particular on your site you want to place an up-sell. Look through your site to find the most strategic points to place offers. However, it might require a huge site redesign, or a huge rethinking of inventory.

Cross-Selling

Cross-selling refers to the practice of promoting complimentary items related to the item being sold.

For example: Cross-selling is to offer a related product; if a customer buys a book, you should also attempt to sell them a bookmark or a “crystal cover”.

cross_selling_example

Once a customer has placed items in his cart, and goes to the check-out page to complete the sale, place hot products right there. It is usually best to offer a mix of price points at the check-out page but don’t offer a $1,000 item on this page. Also, don’t forget one of the great truths of online selling: low-dollar items make impulse purchases more likely.

If you are not able to redesign your website, it’s still effective to simply post a best-guess generic offer on this page like the top three of your top ten best-selling products.

The old adage about “less is more” comes into play here. It’s not a good idea to overwhelm your shopper with too many cross-sell and up-sell choices. The average is about three product suggestions per product page as customers really can’t absorb any more than that.

I am not telling you to eliminate products. Instead, I’m showing you how streamlining your offerings could potentially increase your sales drastically. How do you streamline? You could create specific, specialized categories.

Try these two techniques because the bottom line is that it increases the average order 10 times. When it gets harder to acquire a new customer, this strategy is an alternate way to boost revenue.

Gary Capps
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