Targeted upsell

Upsell involves suggesting higher priced products to customers considering purchase. In most cases, customers are open to the idea of purchasing other items but to drive upsell you must target them with the right message.

Drive purchase and conversion rates by offering discounts, recommendations, free shipping or extra services like gift wrapping and insurance.

Think about tailored offerings and making the purchasing process for valuable in the eyes of the customer.

Recommending accessories, for example, allows customer to benefit from the natural synergies between products without having to travel all over the website, while free shipping (particularly over a certain threshold) increases average order values as customers purchase extra items to avail of the offer. 

You can also offer customers an additional free item once they spend over a certain threshold and personalise it by making it relevant or useful.

Toys R’ Us, for example, automatically sends any customer that spends over £100 a free £15 voucher. Not only does this encourage increased spending first time round, it also gives customers an incentive to return.

The six principles of persuasion

There are six principles of persuasion:

  • Reciprocity.
  • Commitment.
  • Social proof.
  • Authority.
  • Liking.
  • Scarcity.

Using on-site nudges directed at these principles can persuade customers to act in your favour.

Urgency messaging such as limited-time offers, countdown timers, live updates indicating low stock levels and information on current observers and recent purchases are easy to implement on your site and are highly effective in driving conversions. No one likes to miss out on a deal, after all. 

Similarly, information surrounding the number of current observers and recent purchases instils a feeling of scarcity in customers and encourages them to buy now.

Recent purchase information acts as a best sellers list of a sort, causing people to flock to popular items and validating the purchase decision.

Naked Wines, for example has a feed showing the wines that people have bought in the past few minutes. Customers can see the popularity of given products in real-time. Improve the ease of shopping by allowing customers to filter search results.

 

Too much choice can paralyse a customer and lead to abandonment, so allow them to view a more specific, relevant range of products.