The Power Of Upselling: 4 Strategies To Increase Average Order Value On Shopify

In this article, you’ll find 

1. Introduction
2. The Benefits of Upselling
3. Effective Upselling Strategies
4. Upselling on Shopify
5. Shopify Apps for Upselling
6. Implementing Upselling on Shopify
7. Real-World Examples of Upselling
8. Potential Pitfalls of Upselling
9. Should You Opt For Upselling? 
10. FAQs

Introduction to Upselling 

Has this ever happened to you?

You walk into a coffee shop and place an order for your usual order. But before you make a purchase, the barista stops you. She tells you about the special promotion they are running, where you can get a decadent vanilla latte for just $1 more. 

What will you do? 

You will most likely opt for that delicious upgrade! This is the power of upselling. 

To put it simply. Upselling is a sales technique where you persuade the consumer to spend more. But it must be executed thoughtfully and ethically. The key here is to offer relevant and valuable upgrades that align with your consumer’s needs. 

In this article, we will uncover our favorite strategies to increase your average order value on Shopify. Just keep reading to unpack all the secrets and make more profits as you go. 

The Benefits of Upselling

If you are skeptical of whether or not upselling is for you, the truth is that when done right, it can fetch you a myriad of benefits and create a positive impact on your consumer. Below are some advantages of upselling. 

1. Upselling increases in Revenue

According to Forrester’s research, upselling can generate over 30% of e-commerce revenues. That’s a big number one must not ignore. 

Let’s take a small example here. Imagine you are at a fast-food restaurant and you order a burger meal. The cashier offers to upgrade it to a larger size, complete with extra fries and your choice of a drink, all for a nominal additional charge. You are most likely to go for the upgrade because it’s too hard to say no to extra fries, isn’t it? 

Here, the cashier not only contributed to an increase in revenue but also left the customer quite happy! 

As we have uncovered, upselling is nothing but encouraging your customers to spend more. Here, you either suggest a better yet more expensive product or you offer add-ons or upgrades. This automatically increases your average order value, thereby producing more profits.

2. Upselling enhances Customer Relationships

Say you are browsing for a new T-shirt online and choose a classic black one. You add it to your cart, and are ready for checkout. Suddenly, you receive a chat message asking you to try another newly launched brand. 

They offer an amazing discount and also tell you about the excellent qualities and environmentally friendly nature of the brand. 

Intrigued, you explore the suggestion and find something even better than your initial choice, all while spending less than what you were about to.

So, the next time you want a T-shirt, you visit the same online store and maybe even tell your friends about it. 

Therefore, when done strategically, keeping your customers’ needs in mind, upselling can be viewed as a way to help them. 

Usually, when you are trying to offer something more, you look at your customers’ preferences and purchase history to ensure a tailor-made recommendation. This makes your customer feel valued and builds loyalty towards the brand. It makes them feel genuinely cared for, enhancing the satisfaction quotient. 

That’s not all. Satisfied customers can recommend your brand to their friends and family, which helps you expand your consumer base. 

3. Upselling Ensures Greater Customer Satisfaction 

Upselling should not be viewed merely as a profit-making technique. In fact, by suggesting upgrades, you can meet your consumers’ evolving needs and preferences.  

When you do it right, it leads to higher customer satisfaction and can build loyalty. 

For example, think of someone who wants to buy a phone. Let’s consider they have chosen the base model of a version. As a mobile phone vendor, if you recommend another phone with better features at a marginally higher cost, you are providing them with an option that they may or may not have thought about, and should they choose the better model, they are going to be more satisfied with their purchase. 

4. Competitive Advantage 

As a business, standing out from the competition is always essential. It can help you do just that when you upsell the right way. 

So, use the right strategies and go for a personalized approach to hit the right chord. 

For example, let’s consider a rental car company that has introduced an upgraded package with premium features such as GPS navigation, in-car entertainment, 24/7 customer support, and more. All this is priced slightly above competitors’ standard offerings. It not only ensures convenience but also creates an enhanced travel experience for the customer, helping the company gain a competitive edge!

5. Inventory Management 

When you promote or upsell complementary products or bundled offers, you can easily optimize inventory management and reduce the stock of slow-moving items. And, it also helps you offer attractive discounts and enhance their overall shopping experience. It’s a win-win for both you and the customer.

Effective Upselling Strategies

Now that you know the major benefits of upselling, let’s understand the effective strategies you can use to upsell effortlessly. 

1. Understanding Your Customer

If your customer is a middle-aged woman looking for suitable attire for a formal event. You will not send her recommendations for superhero t-shirts. This is just one simple example. Knowing your consumer well is the key to upselling. 

When you build an understanding, you easily recognize the needs and habits of your customer. This makes it easier for you to send personalized recommendations that resonate with them. Here’s how you do it:

• Use all the existing data, such as browsing behavior, purchase history, and more. 
• Group your customers based on their shopping habits and tastes. 
• Opt for customer surveys and collect regular feedback. 
• Analyze and monitor your customers’ website behavior. 
• Try to conduct A/B testing on various offers in hand. 

2. Highlighting Product Benefits

When you highlight the benefits of the product you wish to upsell, it clarifies the ‘why’ that pops into a customer’s psyche. That’s not all. You can also capture their attention and encourage them to proceed to checkout. Let’s understand how it is done:

• Be very clear and concise in your messaging. 
• Don’t simply focus on the product. Instead, try to convey how product X can help your customer. 
• Don’t just list the features. Avoid jargon. Point out the benefits in an easy-to-understand fashion. 
• Include all the unique selling points of the product. 
• You can always use emotional appeal to showcase how product X can offer joy or comfort.

3. Limiting Choices

When upselling, you don’t want to confuse or overwhelm your customer. It may lead to indecision, or they may even move on without making a purchase. So limiting their choices can be a beneficial strategy. 

Here, you offer your consumers a set of carefully curated products as per their needs or requirements. 

Why does this help? Because it leads to quicker decision-making, usually in your favor. What are the strategies you can implement to limit choices?

• Offer a small variety of products 
• Make sure you showcase the top-selling products 
• You can add a ‘recommended for you’ feature 
• Try implementing a question-based, guided selling technique for a personalized approach

4. Creating Urgency

Have you seen the rush in malls and stores during the holiday season? That’s because of the discounts and limited offers. We see that almost 42% of people shop during a discount or a promotion. Even if the discount is not too steep, it still encourages shoppers to purchase due to the sense of urgency. Some strategies you can use include:

• Create limited-time offers on top-selling products 
• Make use of countdown timers on the website
• Highlight how you only have limited stock available 
• Organize flash sales where you give out amazing discounts for a brief period
• Use of abandoned cart reminders. 

Upselling on Shopify

With Shopify by your side, upselling is made easy. 

Using Shopify’s product recommendation feature or the upsell apps helps you integrate upsell prompts seamlessly. 

Using the upsell app, you can create attractive product bundles, offer discounts on multiple purchases, provide limited-time deals, and more. To make it more enticing, you can also implement cross-sell or upsell items post-purchase on the cart or the checkout page. 

You can also explore other strategies, such as email marketing to share personalized recommendations with your consumers. However, ensure you cater to your customer’s needs to ensure smooth sailing on Shopify.  

Shopify Apps for Upselling

To make upselling on Shopify easier, several upsell apps can be installed and integrated into your Shopify store. This helps you add new functionality, features, and services. And when it comes to customization, the upsell apps make it effortless. Let’s unpack a few of them and understand how you can use them. 

1. Ultimate Upsell & Cross-Sell

Ultimate Upsell is an excellent upsell app that helps you display pop-ups or slide-ins using upsell or cross-sell options. It enables you to add a personal touch based on your consumer behavior. This upsell app works when your customers add their products to the cart. Here, you offer recommendations that are hard to resist to make upselling seamless. 

2. Bold Upsell

Again, with bold upsell, you can create pop-up options. However, it can also be embedded on the product page. With the help of this upsell app, you can target specific products. 

3. Reconvert Upsell and Cross-Sell 

This is a post-purchase upsell app. You can use this app to offer discounts or any additional products on the Thank You page, which is usually displayed after a purchase is successful. This upsell app can be more of a reminder of products that your customers missed out on. 

4. Zipify OneClick Upsell 

Another upsell app is Zipify OneClick. As the name suggests, customers can add products to their cart just with a click. You can entice them with personalized suggestions to encourage them to click on the upsell products. 

5. Boost Upsell 

This is an incredible upsell app, which not helps you upsell or cross-sell but also helps analyze your upsell campaigns. If you are new to upselling, it can help you understand your rights and wrongs. This upsell app lets you create targeted upsell offers on the cart page. 

6. Smart Upsell – Upsell Bundled Products 

Smart Upsell – Upsell Bundled Products is an upsell app that can create offers on bundled products. Here, you can group related or complementary items to present to your customer as a package deal. 

If you want to start upselling, exploring and utilizing the right upsell app can be beneficial. 

Implementing Upselling on Shopify

Don’t worry. Implementing upselling on Shopify is all about the right strategy and tools. When you have it all together, your upselling becomes unstoppable. 

Here’s how you can effortlessly implement upselling on Shopify:

• Make sure you choose the right upsell app that aligns with your store’s needs. Don’t jump into what everyone is doing. Instead, see what works for you. 
• Opt for personalized recommendations on product pages, cart pages, and checkout. 
• Utilize the right strategies mentioned earlier, like creating a sense of urgency.
• Choose upsell apps that display pop-ups when your customer adds a product to their cart. 
• Don’t forget to optimize the upselling features for smartphones and tablets. After all, most of us tend to shop on our phones. 
• Try and test different strategies to understand which one works the best. 

Real-World Examples of Upselling

Want to see how it’s done? Looking for an example? Just unlock your phone and open the Amazon app. Add any product to the cart, and you usually come across something along the ‘Higher rated items to consider…’ strategy, where they try to upsell a product.

In addition to that, there are also “Frequently bought together” and “You might also like” sections which are nothing but cross-selling strategies with an intent to increase the overall order value. While the recommendations are based on your purchase history, they are usually higher-priced items recommended to entice you. 

The truth is that you come across upselling on an everyday basis. For instance, when you go to Starbucks or any other coffee shop for a caffeine shot, they upsell their drinks asking you if you would like any syrups, an extra shot of expresso, or whipped cream, which comes at an additional charge.

Even Netflix uses upselling on its subscription plans. With a higher-priced plan, customers can avail of a variety of additional features that are missing in the basic one. These are just a few examples of successful upselling. 

Potential Pitfalls of Upselling

Pros and cons usually go hand-in-hand. While we talked about a set of benefits of upselling earlier, it’s now time to understand the pitfalls. These disadvantages are more like a caution sign telling you what not to do when you are upselling. 

1. May Lead To Discomfort  

You don’t want your customer to feel uncomfortable. Never be too aggressive with upselling. You don’t want to induce a sense of pressure. Instead, it should feel natural. 

When you push your customers too much, you may even lose out on the original purchase they intended to make. 

2. Can Make The Customer Confused 

If your consumer is looking for vegan-based products, you won’t suggest cow-based milk and cheese. It can be counterproductive. Irrelevant upsell not only leads to confusion but the dissatisfaction it causes can make you lose a customer. Therefore, don’t upsell for the sake of it. Have a proper strategy in hand to back you up. 

3. Distraction From The Main Purchase 

When your customer becomes overwhelmed with too many upsell options, it can distract them from completing the main purchase. That’s not something you want. And if it becomes too much, they may simply abandon their cart. 

4. It can Be Viewed As Too Expensive 

Maybe all your upsell recommendations were accepted by the customer. But sometimes, when the upsell increases the total order value, customers may feel hesitant to complete the order. So, always play it safe. Don’t go overboard with upselling. 

Remember, upselling must be perceived as adding value and not as something manipulative or deceptive. Therefore, never overdo it. Always maintain a sense of transparency when you upsell. Aim to give the customer a positive experience. 

Should You Opt For Upselling? 

Yes, upselling is a powerful tool that can help you increase revenue almost effortlessly while adding value to your customers. However, it is vital to understand your customer first and build your strategies accordingly. Always keep your focus on enhancing your consumer’s experience and not just making profits. This helps you strike the right balance building trust and loyalty while maximizing your profits. 

FAQs

Does Shopify allow upselling? 

Yes, Shopify allows upselling. In fact, it also offers a variety of tools and apps to make it easier. You can take a look at the above article as we talk about it in detail and also offer the right set of strategies to help you out. 

How do I upsell my product on Shopify?

Using the following tips can help upsell your product on Shopify. 

• Choose the right upsell app for your store 
• Identify the right opportunity to upsell 
• Create exciting upsell offers at various stages of shopping
• Make sure your campaign is personalized to your consumer 
• Optimize it for smartphones and tablets 
• Don’t be pushy 

What is an example of upselling on Shopify?

One simple example of upselling on Shopify is below.

Let’s say a customer is trying to buy a smartphone. You can go for a pop-up display with an upsell offer, such as Upgrade to phone B – It comes with more storage, a faster processor, and an enhanced camera for just $50 more. 

What are the four stages of upselling?

There are four stages of upselling. 

• Pre-purchase upselling: This occurs before the purchase is complete usually when the consumer is browsing through. 
• During purchasing upselling: This upsell stage takes place during the checkout process. 
• Post-purchase upselling: This process is used after the customer has completed their initial purchase. 
• Repeat purchase upskilling: This stage focuses on repeat customers and the suggestions offered are based on their purchase history and preferences. 

Is upselling a good skill?

Yes, upselling is a very good skill when done right. It is important to strive to add value to your consumers rather than trying to push them toward making a purchase.