How to improve at cross-selling on Shopify

Are you having trouble with your cross-selling strategy? 

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Upsells and cross-sells are low-risk, high-reward strategies to implement that can greatly improve your revenue and average order values. However, they’re not always easy to implement effectively.

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If you’re looking to learn how to improve at cross-selling in your Shopify store, look no further - we’ll show you how you can build more effective cross-sells to achieve better results (and the best tool to do it with).

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What is a cross-sell?

A cross-sell is when you offer your customers additional products or services in addition to the purchase they’re already considering. Companies use cross-sells in every industry and every niche worldwide, but you’ll commonly see them at your local fast food restaurant, favorite clothing store, or hobby-based business.

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Cross-sells should be related to the main purchase in some way and complement it so that customers are more tempted to accept the offer. Your goal is to create a high-value offer and provide a more complete experience so that you can increase your total revenue and average order value with no additional acquisition costs to consider.

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Some common examples of a cross-sell include:

• Fries or a drink to your burger
• A keyboard or mouse for a computer purchase
• Wax for a surfboard
• A belt that matches a shirt or pants
• Batteries or chargers for electronics
• Cases for phones
• Extended warranties or insurance for home products

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Benefits of knowing how to improve at cross-selling

If you know how to improve at cross-selling, you’re going to become more successful as an online business.

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When your revenue and AOV grow, you’re able to spend more money on advertising to acquire more customers that help to organically grow your market share. A greater emphasis on evergreen marketing like SEO and social media presence can help drive more business in the future and paid marketing allows you to better capitalize on your busiest times of the year.

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Once you begin building better cross-sells, you’ll also be able to provide more complete shopping experiences for your customers that lead to better relationships, improved satisfaction, and more referrals from happy customers. By tailoring your cross-selling offers to provide relevant recommendations, your customers will be happy to get everything they need in one place and feel better informed about their purchases in the case that they’re new to your niche.

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A cross-sell strategy helps you to generate more revenue, grow your AOV, improve customer experiences, and expand your business. There’s no limitation on the benefits of implementing effective cross-sells (and upsells) for Shopify, so it’s something that everyone should implement.

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4 ways how to improve your cross selling

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Learn your customer’s journey

One of the best ways to improve your cross-selling is by putting yourself in the shoes of a potential customer. Depending on your niche, you could have customers of all different experience levels - those who know just what to look for and those who need some more help. As the owner of the store, you’re the expert that they look to and will need to guide them through the process so that they can get everything they need.

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When you learn your customer’s journey, you can tailor your cross-sell offers to meet the needs of each customer. You can build bundles that are an all-in-one starter kit for new customers showing an interest in your primary product. Or, recommend essential accessories based on their purchase so that they leave your store with everything they need to get started. Your goal is to provide a complete experience for your customers that makes you the only place they need to visit - and when you create effective cross-sells, you’ll build better relationships and foster more returning customers.

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Use logic to control offer flows

While cross-sells are a minimally invasive and low-risk sales strategy, you still want to be certain you’re showing customers offers that make sense. Bundles that don’t make sense or recommendations that don’t work for a customer’s purchase are easy ways to make it seem like you don’t know what you’re doing or come across as too pushy, turning customers away.

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With your Shopify cross-sell app, be sure to implement logic into your offer flows so that you can be sure you’re only showing relevant offers to your customers. You could create an offer that only recommends a phone case that fits their new phone or a charger that works with the electronics's specific port type so that you’re only providing valuable considerations.

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Offer great value (that you can afford)

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It’s no secret that people like to save money where possible - and your cross-sell offers should take advantage of that.

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While convenience is one benefit of cross-sells, it’s not the only element to consider for how to improve your cross-selling. Whether you’re recommending accessories, additional products, or warranties, you’ll need to tempt your customers with an offer that provides them value. Cross-sells take advantage of customers you’ve already acquired, so they have the potential for a much higher profit margin. This allows you to provide discounts on your recommendations that make them harder to refuse and can encourage customers to spend more.

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Use FOMO to your advantage

FOMO, or fear of missing out, is a highly effective sales strategy. It encourages customers to take action quickly so that they have less time to look elsewhere or second-guess their decisions, allowing you to improve conversions.

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When building your offers, consider using time-sensitive elements and verbiage to encourage customers to act quickly on your offer. A countdown timer on your checkout page helps boost conversions, so you can use the same strategy on post-purchase pages to convert on one-click cross-sells. You may also use phrases like “one-time offer” or “while supplies last” to demonstrate scarcity and urgency that gets your customers to accept your offers.

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UpsellPlus makes it easy to improve your cross-selling

Your cross-selling strategies should be limited only by your imagination - not your cross-sell and upsell app for Shopify.

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UpsellPlus provides you with all the tools you need to build better offers, including the ability to tailor your offers with logic, create discounts that generate interest, and customize offers to induce FOMO that encourages more sales. Plus, you can add it to the post-purchase page for one-click cross-sells and in various positions on each page so that you can discover what works best for your store.

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Get started with a free 7-day trial today.

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