How to cross-sell on Shopify

Is your Shopify business struggling to maintain high profit margins and experiencing a low average order value?

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When it comes to maximizing your sales, you need to make use of all of the best tools and strategies available to you. If you don’t, you’re leaving money on the table that is crucial to your growth and success.

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To increase your sales and average order value, you need to be implementing cross-sells as part of your on-site sales strategy.

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What is a cross-sell?

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A cross-sell is an offer made to a customer that attempts to increase the amount they’re spending in your store by increasing the number of items purchased. They’ll often consist of bundles, pairs, and complementary products that make sense to purchase alongside the customer’s primary product selection.

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Cross-selling is everywhere in the market - both online and offline. Meal deals at your favorite fast food restaurant, starter packs at subscription delivery services, collections of products like a line of toys, case recommendations for your new phone purchase, and batteries for your electronics are all examples of different kinds of cross-sell offers you’ve seen before.

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Cross-sell vs. upsell

While they often go hand-in-hand for businesses, upsells and cross-sells are not the same.

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An upsell aims to increase the amount spent on a single product, including offering upgrades, quantity increases, and subscriptions.

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Cross-selling targets complementary products and focuses on selling quantity over quality, allowing you to move more inventory at a time.

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The benefits of using cross-sells

There are a number of reasons to implement a cross-sell offer strategy in your Shopify store. Cross-sells help to:

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Increase AOV for free

Business is all about your profit margins. You likely spend a lot of money trying to convince customers to come to your store and do everything you can to keep expenses low. But, if your average order value is too low, the customers you’re working so hard to acquire won’t generate effective profits for your business to use to grow.

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Cross-selling is a simple, fast, and easy way to increase your store’s AOV. While new customers have an acquisition cost through your various marketing channels, cross-sell offers unlock greater earning potential at no additional cost because they’re already on your site.

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Outside of your margins on sold products, you don’t need to account for other expenses when making a cross-sell offer to a customer. This allows you to earn some free profit that can go towards a number of things, including reaching more potential customers and growing your business.

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Provide value to customers

Cross-sells don’t just help you to increase your profitability - they’re also convenient for your customers.

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By offering complementary products or discounted offers, you’re providing value by helping customers to receive a more complete experience or service. They may not know about any essential accessories for the product they’re purchasing or might not otherwise be able to afford the products they want without your offer.

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Cross-sells are also low-risk - they provide value to customers who benefit from them but don’t impact customers that aren’t interested. It never hurts to make an offer!

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Clear unpopular products

A lesser-known benefit of cross-selling is the ability to tailor recommendations or bundles to include products of your choosing. You may have a specific type or variation of a product that isn’t selling well on its own, but when included as part of a handcrafted bundle, it will sell so that you can manage inventory more effectively. Just be certain that your recommendations make sense; otherwise, the cross-sell offer may be seen negatively.

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How to build cross-sell offers

For the best results, be sure to build cross-sells that help your business - not hurt it.

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Here’s how to build effective cross-sell offers for your Shopify store:

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Consider the customer journey

You’re the expert of your business. When it comes to selling customers your products, it’s essential that you inform them as much as possible and guide them through the sales process so that they feel that their experience is complete. This not only allows you to increase sales but improves your relationship with the customer and builds trust.

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When you consider the customer’s journey, you can build offers that are helpful to new buyers and meet the needs of your customers. Do they have everything they need to participate in your niche? Are they aware of all the options available to consider? Show that you’re more than just a business - you’re their connection to your industry.

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Make sure cross-sell offers are relevant

One of the most important things to consider when building cross-sell offers is the relevance of the offer. You don’t want to come across as a heartless salesperson - your goal is to be a friendly resource making relevant recommendations that add value to your customer’s buying experience.

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Only offer relevant accessories, make bundles that include similar products, and reference customer segments to ensure that there are offers for all kinds of customers so that everyone can enjoy additional value.

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Use feedback and data

A major benefit of online sales is the sheer amount of data that’s available to you. You’re able to see what new customers buy, what returning customers are looking for, which products are in-demand, and which need some help to get moved. This information is essential when it comes to building cross-sells that convert because you’re able to see what sells together and make informed, value-based bundles available that some customers may not consider. Some tools may even be able to create bundles for you based on past customer data, allowing you to easily tailor your offers for conversions.

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Take advantage of FOMO

Cross-sells, like many marketing strategies, can be carefully inserted into the customer journey to generate conversions. You can implement them on product, cart, checkout, and post-purchase pages with time-sensitive offers that encourage customers to commit to the purchase in places where they’re most likely to convert. By taking advantage of a fear of missing out, you’ll be able to add more to your AOV and sell more products.

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Build effective Shopify cross-sell offers with UpsellPlus

When it comes to cross-sells on Shopify, the tool you use can make all the difference.

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With UpsellPlus, you’ll be able to create custom offers that can be placed anywhere. Bundles, recommendations, one-click purchases, and many more cross-sells can be implemented in your store to help increase your sales and average order value.

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UpsellPlus also offers ShopBrain, an algorithm that uses your store’s data to build effective cross-sells so that you don’t have to worry about analyzing data for yourself. With just a few clicks, you can have dynamic offers created based on real feedback and results for the best chance of converting.

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Get started with a free trial today and begin generating more income with simple and effective cross-sells.