Selling is the ultimate aim of every business. To increase sale and generate more profit a business need to predict and analyze. Analyze the customer behavior and predict what will they be more likely to buy from your store. What customers are looking for at your store? Study and analyze customers’ purchase patterns and make relevant strategies to sell more. The upselling and cross-selling functionality tools will help you understand the customer’s needs and behavior.
There are various tools and extensions available for Magento 2 that help in cross-selling and upselling. There are product recommendation options that let you boost sales by encouraging the customers to buy more.
Since many people get confused between cross-selling and upselling approaches, we will help you understand cross-selling and upselling in this guide so that you can apply the strategy to your store to increase sales.
Difference Between Cross-selling and Upselling
The upselling method is used to increase the order value. The products are recommended to customers when they are landed on the products page. The products are usually of the same kind but higher in quality and price. For example, if customers are searching for a laptop, the upselling approach will be recommending them the same laptop but with better functions, extra ram, more Gb, and a metal body.
Cross-selling is an approach that is made to generate impulsive purchases, products are displayed on the product pages and shopping carts to encourage customers to buy more products that don’t have to be necessarily more expensive but somehow related. You recommend products that customers would like to purchase along with the primary product they are interested in. For example, if a customer is searching for a laptop, you will recommend them a laptop bag.
Tips on using upsells and cross-sells
Here are some tips that surely going to help you while applying cross-selling and upselling strategies.
Show a Range, But Don’t Overload With Suggestions
Displaying too many products will lead customers to confusion, instead try to show more related and more suitable products. It is better to display fewer but more suitable products. If you still want to show more products, use a carousel to display them.
Keep Upsell Appropriate
Completely different items can’t upsell as well. For example, it would not be suitable to show a MacBook to a customer who was browsing a Windows laptop. The same goes for items with a different set of features and totally different costs. To make it simple, keep in mind that both of these products must fulfill a customer’s requirement while planning your upselling.
Allow to Buy Bundle Products Separately
Bundle products work better if you allow customers to buy a specific product from the bundle of products. Additionally, there should be some benefits for the customers to buy the whole bundle, like offering discounts.
Don’t Stick to The Price Only
Many factors influence the purchase decision of a customer, like a discount, free shipping, coupons, gift cards, etc. There is nothing like a customer won’t buy an expensive item, customers will more likely to buy a more expensive item if the item is willing to fulfill their needs perfectly. The same thing is applicable in upselling, if you are showing more expensive items to the customers, make sure that they meet the needs of the customers and are more suitable for them.
Offer Value
Think about why customers would purchase an expensive product or more products. If you want your customer to purchase more items, make sure to offer value. Only then your strategy is successful.
When Upselling Works?
- When the suggested isn’t much expensive
- When the products have the same features and same brand.
- A substitute for the original product but has better features and quality.
When Cross-selling Works?
- When the recommended product is cheaper than the main product
- When a suggested product is valuable to purchase with the main product
- Suitable bundling like a laptop and a laptop bag
Things To Keep In Mind
- The only way to succeed in upselling is to understand the customer’s needs. For example, if a customer is searching for a mask that helps to brighten the skin, showing them a mask that is beneficial for dry skin won’t work.
- If you show a close substitute of the product as an upsell, it may lead to confusion. Like if a customer has added a product to its cart and you are suggesting another similar product, it clearly won’t give any positive results instead it will confuse them which one to buy.
- If the customer is there on your site for a particular product they will ignore upselling, just keep their behavior into consideration and make a strategy according to their purchase pattern and behavior.
Knowing the perfect product to offer is important in cross-selling and upselling. However, some research and analysis are the keys to knowing the customer behavior and offering them accordingly. We have tried to give clarity about upselling and cross-selling, hope this article is helpful for you.
