This is a simple guide to increasing sales and cross-selling

Cross-selling and upselling are simple methods to increase the profits of each and every purchase. Find out how you can use them with this comprehensive instruction.

I'm a sucker for an upsell.

If you can offer me a bigger bottle of my most-loved product for skin care or toner at a 5% discount, and I'll probably go for it. You wouldn't think I would -- I'm as resistant to a sales pitch like iron is to sandpaper -- but it gets me hook, line and sinker.

I'm not alone in this. It is a common occurrence to purchase more than you intended to in the event of a tempting offer is so prevalent that it's earned its own name: Target syndrome .

But while upsells and cross-sells do terrible things to my bank balance but they hit it out of the park to the creators' bottom line.

It is estimated that upsells generate 33%or more in revenue for subscriptions such as memberships. There is even more to special products, such as online classes and digital downloads.

While I'm most likely planning myself to invest even more money on some of the best information products available by writing this article We'll dive into this strategy in-depth this morning.

In the beginning, we'll discuss the benefits of cross-selling and upselling and then look at several examples, review the four proven and tried methods to make more money from your sales, and finish it off by demonstrating the steps to cross-sell and upselling via your website.

Let's get to it.

What's up with the sales?

It is a method of selling in which a client is provided with higher-priced versions of the product with a lower price, in order in order to make a bigger profit. It's common on many ecommerce websites and in offline shops.

McDonald's (in)famous "would you prefer to make it bigger?" is a good illustration, even if it's a worn one.

An alternative example is a linen retailer that sells various sheets. If a client purchased a queen fitted with 300 threads sheet and was offered a 500-count sheet of identical size, that would be an upsell.

The upsells do not have to have a discount, though they often do to make the upgrade more enticing. If you decide to include a discount in your strategy of upselling, make sure to ensure it's not such an astronomical price that it tarnishes your brand's image.

Regardless of whether you add discount, or do not add it in the sale regardless of whether you add a discount or not, this is a bargain that's worth looking into. Trying to sell the same upgraded variants to a potential customer requires much more effort as compared to selling them to your current customers.

Even if this is the first time someone buys from you as upsells are provided during the purchase process itself, they're already an existing customer. The probability of selling to the existing customer is between 60 and 70% which is a vast cry from the probability of selling to an unknown customer with a rate of 5-20%.

What's more, 40% of online retailers' profits come from only 8percent of their existing customers, according to the report from 2012 Adobe report. The data was sourced from more than 5,000 firms across the globe, so although it's a more recent data point to consider however, it's a test of time for its rigor.

If that's not enough to persuade you, the next could be the best option

The decision to redouble their efforts in the upselling method and turning it into a headliner in their selling techniques has helped one luxurious hotel chain increase their annual income in the amount of $2.4 Million .

Granted, it probably won't produce the exact same result for you unless your business is also the hotel industry However, the principle remains:

The upselling method is a low-cost method of sales that increases profits on a sale-by-sale level to improve the bottom line of your business without similar rigors as a brand fresh sale would.

And, if you have an appropriate website platform it's easy -- but we'll discuss it in a moment. We'll now need to wade a little further deep into the murky waters, as there are a lot of variables that can get difficult.

What is cross-selling?

Cross-selling occurs when you sell the same or similar products in a transaction. As with upsells and cross-sells, they could and often do include discounts, but are not required for it to qualify as a cross-sell.

This is usually where the situation gets a little convoluted. In the Mcdonald's case It's about lunchtime at the time I'm writing thisthe drinks and fries which are included in a "meal deal" include cross-sells.

The linen retailer selling pillowcases that are the same color and size in conjunction with the sheets would be cross-sells, but not an upsell.

Put another way, if upsells are the upgrades to the original product, then cross-sells are the accessory.

Cross-selling is effective because it relies on two critical aspects: simplicity and familiarity.

For those who are familiar with the brand, 59% of clients would rather purchase from brands they know when they're ready to buy the latest product. Cross-selling offers those new products in a setting that is familiar and, consequently it's comfortable.

You not only have the chance to increase your profits from a sale and increase your profits, you also have the ability to offer additional services to solve your customers' challenges.

For the ease factor of cross-sells, that comes back to cognitive fluency (sometimes also called processing fluency ).

We humans like things to be straightforward and easy. The simpler something is perceived to be, the more enjoyable it is for us to make decisions about it. Designers of user experience often use the power of cognitive processing to make decisions faster and easier for users.

The more cognitively fluent something is -- say the font you choose -The more intuitive it is - the more quickly the user process the info and can move on to the next task.

It is likely that you have guessed the same desire to simplify marketing reduces the time between considering and the point of conversion.

But rather than tell us what to do, let's go through an illustration.

It's a pretty dollar, and it requires lots of effort and time to know about the various lens types, how lighting plays into photography, and what cameras work best with what imaging software.

Finally, you find the camera you want: a Nikon COOLPIX on Amazon .

You go to add it to your cart, ready to check out, when suddenly, you're given all the equipment you require to make the most out of your camera, at discounted prices.

You've made a decision to purchase this camera through this seller So it's a familiar purchase, and , if done correctly like it was in this case in which the components are justifiable additions to the main item -- it's easy.

It's likely that you'll need these items eventually, aren't you? Save money today and pay for other pieces once you've made an offer to make.

The reason it works is that it provides buyers with the opportunity to be lazy in the decision-making process, and buyers enjoy having a lazy day. (Self fully as well.)

The key to making it work for you is, since most of us are in business, keeping your cross-selling strategy as customer-centric as you can.

Do that, and it could be like the marketing firm with high-tech capabilities like Merkle's client, who raised profits by 50 million with a customer-centric approach.

Hopefully, the delineation between cross-sells and sales is easier to discern at this point however, in the event that there's a difference, let's have a (quick) glance at two companies online that offer both cross-sells as well as upsells.

Upselling vs. Cross-selling examples

Cross-sells and Upsells are linked strategies. However, they don't require to be employed in conjunction. But when they are? It's gold.

Check out how 1800Flowers upsells this (amazing) blue orchid set , offering vases and extra stems for upgrading it. Because flowers need water as well as something to hold that water, the choice to include a vase falls in the upgrade option.

The top option with windchimes are a type of cross-sell, but where their cross-sells really shine are after you have set a date, and begin working on the checkout.

Flowers that model my hair's color preferences along with chocolate pretzels, without any additional shipping fee? Yes, please.

Another example is to look into Xfinity . If you're in the market to purchase internet services there are upsells as well as cross-sells for you on the same page.

Each successive choice is only slightly more expensive in comparison to the previous one which is a great decision on their part. A monthly cost of $5 for streaming on the top network isn't an issue.

After we've cleared up any confusion about cross-sells and upsells four strategies that are common some not-so-much -- to maximize the effectiveness of these strategies for sales.

4 tips for how to upsell and cross-sell

Tip #1: Sell similar products

In deciding which product to cross-sell or upsell consider it as this:

If you are looking for products with siblings Not cousins.

For upsells, you want the older, maturer sibling -- the variation of your item that's more robust than the initial choice. For cross-sells, you want one that, though it's not an exact copy of the one you chose, works naturally with your current selection.

For instance, if you were purchasing an burger, which deal is most likely to choose?

Upsell: A bigger hamburger that includes bacon, avocado, and avocado.

Upsell: Fried chicken sandwich with bacon and avocado.

The cross-sell is a hamburger with a drink and fries.

The cross-sell is a hamburger with eggs benedict.

You need to sell related items that the customer might be interested in, not just those you wish to sell.

This is especially crucial if you deal with a business-to-business (B2B) market, because 83 percent of B2B customers think it's too important their companies are trying to help them instead of seeking to make a quick buck.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) customers feel the same way as consumers, according to 56% saying that engaging with them requires businesses to have a deep understanding of their wants and needs and, more importantly showing that they truly care.

Being attentive to the client during an upsell or cross-sell means giving them items that achieve their goals and not your own.

So regardless of how much you'd prefer to offer an individual digital download along with your online course even if it's not useful to the user, it'll not make half the amount.

Neither will duplicate products.

Tip #2: Do not upsell or cross-sell duplicate products

In the same vein as our family analogy in selling brothers and sisters, there's one caution about selling products that are related to each other: avoid selling twins.

If you offer products that repeat each other in particular, with the exact result, for example, learning conversational phrases in a foreign language in a week -expect to receive many returns and requests for refunds.

In the end, unless someone happens to be a collector of software for language learning and apps, they're likely to purchase identical items for comparison than to save everything.

For instance, if I were shopping to purchase a new mask, I may opt for the one on Amazon below However, I wouldn't keep all three. This would throw the sellers' books offand, if they have an awkward return policy, I'd be prevented from purchasing from them again.

It's not a good situation for anyone to be in.

But perhaps it sounds far-fetched to you or like nobody in your customer base could ever think of doing that. It's possible you'd not do it.

There's more than just personal experience, which is a good thing. This isn't just a normal practice, it's becoming the new normal. 41percent of people buy variations of products with the intention of returning them.

So, unless you're confident in dealing with a large volume of returns and strain for the sake of a likely small profit increase, you should cross-sell products off of your upsell and cross-selling list. There are more effective methods of leveraging your inventory.

In fact, this is the point where the following tip steps in.

Tips #3: Upsell in steps and be careful not to make a jump in levels.

If there's one thing to be remembered about upselling or cross-selling, this is it:

Make it simple. The more people have to think about your offer and consider it, the longer they have to abandon itor, even worse, your original offer altogether.

Let me explain what I mean.

Imagine signing up for a free membership in order to test something -- for the sake of illustration, say that you signed to sign up for SmartInsight's free membership .

(If you're in search of marketing tools, then you should, for what it's worth. There are a lot of excellent resources that are suitable for beginners in marketing.)

If you were asked to join one of their paid memberships during the course of registration, would you be inclined to accept?

Probably not, right? This is a big ask to go from zero to, at the very least, $79 within the same conversation. It's important to nurture yourself to a greater extent before the best time to think about changing to a paid subscription regardless of whether it's worth the money.

Let's take the same scenario, but instead of having to upgrade from free to $79, suppose you're given a resource kit that is paid (i.e. digital download) at a price of less than $5 if you do it then and there. It's likely that you'll think about it longer, wouldn't you?

In the end, what you choose to use as cross-sells or upsells is up to you, but think baby steps.

A person who wants to download a free source will be more inclined to sign up for the purchase of a five-dollar upsell over a $150 dollar upsell. Create smaller, upsell-ready products that can transition between low-dollar and high-dollar products over the lifetime of the buyer.

The focus on monetizing customers that's the reason you should upsell has the greatest effect on the bottom line and is almost two times as effective in improving retention  However, all of it is no gain if you dissuade customers with too many demands or even losing them completely.

When it comes to timing, do keep your cross-sells and upsells in a hurry -- and genuinely so and that's the best way to do it.

Tip #4: Make it genuinely important and unique to the transaction

It's one of those marketing foundation tactics that everyone is tired of hearing about. Nevertheless, it's just too powerful to not end this collection of tricks. Each day, you come across new stories from businesses small and large about how urgency increased their sales.

A good example is how creating urgency was instrumental in helping an entrepreneur increase conversions by 332 percent . It's not an error, or even the addition of a "3".

It's just that efficient.

As for creating urgency with upsells is simple, just offer an offer that they can't get outside of the specific transaction flow they're using.

If they're buying an online course on how to operate an loom and then you offer the same course to learn making thread dye for the same price, you shouldn't offer the discount you previously offered to the same customer post-purchase. It must be authentic. If it's not, people are likely to notice it.

In a case that's very recent, I'm a big Hot Topic fan, but I wasn't able to get out this past weekend to use the " hot cash " also known as hot cash, or the name they use for the redemption plan they offer.

This was an unfortunate incident certain, but more beneficial to my pocket. What I don't want is to drop more money on additional band t-shirts.

However it is, they've extended their sales period so I can make amends, which is awesome for consumers.

It's great for the retailer also, from glance, in case it gets more sales that could have been lost.

However, it reduces my future plans that I could be required to join during the redemption period later on. The urgency is mitigated, even with boosters like the on-site countdown feature to let me know what time is left.

Actually, because of their generous offer to grant me two more "hot cash" discounts via email I'm much more likely to stay a bit longer of the next time period to see if they'll do this again.

Although their offering can be beneficial in the short-term, the long-term effects can be more nefarious and undermining.

The essence is that:

If it's not a genuinely urgent purchase, you shouldn't make it as a cross-sell or an upsell.

Okay. This is enough to cover urgency- as for the authenticity and exclusiveness of your cross-sells or upsells, it's quite easy to do so if you're using .

Let me show you.

How do you cross-sell or upsell on your site

In other words, start at your dashboard .

On this page, navigate on to the product's page and scroll until you find the product you want to add an upsell or cross-sell to.

In the interest of a good example, and because I am a firm believer in the best way to show off my cat as often as feasible, I'll use the free digital download.

Click on the relevant product link and then select"pricing" "pricing" tab.

Scroll until you hit the second section, "upsells". You can also use cross-sells -- the only difference is the type of product you'll add to it.

Click on "add an upsell".

To make an upsell, you can add a product that's upgraded version of your existing product. My example could be the most stunning photos of my cat.

Also, from here, you'll want to set the discount amount. It can be as little or as high as you want it to be, however the higher the discount then the more likely they are likely to take advantage of your offer (see our 4th tip).

Click "save" when you're content, and . . .

That's it. The upsell has been activated. If you'd like to include an additional upsell or cross-sell simply press"add an upsell" or "add the upsell" button once more and repeat the process.

Here's an example of both the cross-sell with photos of Veronica's cute dog to go with my catin addition to an upsell and cross-sell together.

It's much easier than it. To check out all the other features has to offer, sign up for a free account .

Increase sales of digital goods with upsells and cross-sells

Cross-sells and upsells don't require a lot of effort They should not be if they aren't The benefits to your bottom line aren't easy to comprehend, either.

Each strategy is effective in their own right, but when together, they're more effective.

Here's what you have to remember:

An upsell is when you offer a customer an upgrade or a variant of the product they're buying, such as the upgrade from 300-thread-count sheets 500-thread-count sheets.

Cross-selling is the process of offering a client coordinated products in addition to what they're buying for example, an additional case to protect it to a new phone.

Whatever deal you're offering, your product must be positioned clearly and demonstrate a benefit for customers, not the bottom line.

But, they should not be duplicates. Most people buy simultaneous variants of products to return them, so you're just trying to handle many refunds.

When you are providing an upsell or cross-sell, the cost shouldn't be too far out of your customers' comfort range so that they panic instead of completing the purchase.

In the end, cross-sells and upsells are only effective when they're truly essential. If you're offering a deal they can get outside of the transaction, it's not as persuasive.

If not, have fun upselling and cross-selling. My bank account might not be rooting for me, but I do.