91% of consumers are most inclined to buy from brands that remember them and offer them great deals.
When it comes to increasing eCommerce sales, cross-selling accounts for nearly 20% of more sales & 30% of more profits. But! What is cross-selling?
cross-selling simply means suggesting an additional product to the main product that the client wants to buy. The suggested or add-on product is just a recommendation towards the primary product. Thus, driving the sales volume & enhancing customer experience.
Now is cross-selling Outdated or trendy? Invespo says cross-selling only causes 7% of website visits but 20% of revenue. Cross-selling has been used for decades in traditional businesses like banks, retails, restaurants. (I.e Coke with a Pizza) these are tried-and-true tactics that can be used to maximize revenue in the eCommerce business as well. So, if you thought cross-selling is outdated. Remember Old is Gold.
Now if that's not interesting what is it! Let’s dive into its meaningful understanding with these examples straight away to understand the real cross-selling meaning.
Looking to start your ecommerce business?
The cross-selling takes place every day, every minute, every second & even now. Surprised! You may have come towards terms “You may also like”, “Others also purchased”, “frequently bought together” etc. right. You may not even realize this but you were attracted to that. Even if it was a thought. That's cross-selling at its best.
Now let's show you 3 outstanding Examples of how cross-selling happens in eCommerce:
Example 1: A Telecom Shop Offering an iPhone and below that also offers an add-on product like headphones, back covers, or even discount on other products below with a “Brought together” message.
Example 2: Here is another very simplistic & informal approach by Dollar Shave club to gently
Example 2: Here is another very simplistic & informal approach by Dollar Shave club to gently remind their users through email campaigns & make them feel a “hey, don’t forget this” vibe.
Example 3: AT&T uses cross-selling to great effect in its product pages. As a Fashion Retailer, it involves the sale of compatible products to compliment the product & person’s appearance.
They club premium products together for i.e if you are purchasing a premium bag from Arlette’s Mignon it will offer you Coccinelle’s metal charms.
Interesting isn't it! How we see them every day & they make a simple domino effect to raise revenue. So let’s dive deep to understand what is cross-selling.
In cross-selling, even the best of the products fail if served at the wrong time. So, the first thing is to figure out the behavior of a consumer & provide them with personalized offers based on the behavior they exhibit. Mapping out the points helps in the creation of hotspots to let the consumer know that ‘You know their choice’.
Drive Human Curiosity! List the suggested products at the end of the product page. Add statements like “Others also bought/liked”, “buy the look” and similar statements to hook the customers. Customers are most likely to see the product at their checkout page and get their attention by using “customers who purchased this item(s) also purchased”. Remember, every product won't sell, but at least it will be labeled in their subconsciousness.
The cross-selling book of magic has many tricks and here is a masterful one. Many times you may have seen purchase 3 for $99. Even though you require one, you go for it. Similarly one can apply a shipping charges trick which is to have free shipping one needs to have a minimum cart value. These discount tricks not only increase the value of your brand but also make you a reliable partner for the customer to purchase more.
Every consumer wants attention. Offering bulk deals with discounts & rewarding loyalty points for purchasing is a very common tactic used by businesses. What more can be done is by increasing their discount benefits to other segments. As well as making playful deals. I.e offering a $30 product at $1 after purchase of goodies worth $500. This not only builds a terrific relationship with the eCommerce brand but also adds value to buyers' purchases.
Even if customers have not added products during the previous stages of the purchase process, the opportunity is not lost. You can always opt for a smooth cross-selling approach of sending a thank you page or a follow-up mail with a one-click option to remind them of the deals. Wondering What more can be done? Just add a limited-time offer and let the cross-selling magic unfold.
You should keep a limit on how many items are suggested. Bombarding the customers with tons of suggestions will amount to more confusion & irritation. Leading them to abandon your site completely. So, here’s a suggestion: try focusing on those products which are relevant and reach out to them. This will do you two benefits, increase their attention time on these cross-selling products & increase your conversion ratio.
Keep an eye out! Suppose a customer or client is navigating your site & reading blogs. Find out what additional services & products you can recommend based on their past activity. cross-selling is only effective if you know your customer well. And in this digital marketplace don't hesitate to make a data-driven suggestion to them. You can use CRM’s like Hubspot & agile CRM or others to reach them out with your data-driven suggestions for effective cross-selling.
Sumo estimates that the average pop-up conversion rate is approximately 3% but it can go as high up to 10% with the right cross-selling pop-up strategy. Interestingly in pop-up strategy, it is much easier to convert customers who are interested in spending money.
But how to rake up that percentage? Here are our suggestions.
Make use of social selling techniques & create a promotion for one of your services if you think it’s available. For eg: if there is a big Black Friday sale coming up, reach out to the clients & customers. Your social media to your good effect in cross-selling. Use social media influencers to reach out to a wider audience, provide them with discounts & incentives. cross-selling can be effective in many ways so don't forget to utilize every option you have.
Wait! There’s more. Now, that you have briefly uncovered what is cross-selling? The cross-selling meaning of and the best strategies to generate a good lead in the market.
It's time we also tell you how to win customers effectively using the above cross-selling strategies. Let's find out a few best-selling practices in cross-selling.
As mentioned, timing is everything in cross-selling. Knowing when to jump or delay is one of the toughest aspects of cross-selling. 40% of customers are frustrated when CSRs try to sell products during customer service interactions.
Similarly, they abandon their cart if the pop-up messages or similar suggestions start appearing as soon as they proceed towards checkout.
What to do?
Address potential customer objections in cross-selling conversations. Thus making it easy for them to say “yes” to the products which provide high value. The whole purpose is to give an immersive customer experience even through cross-selling which should be always given priority.
What to do?
Who doesn't like to be a little pampered on special occasions? Your customer's data like birthday, anniversary, or similar occasions can be used for making your customer not only feel delighted but formidable that they matter to you. This cross-selling practice has huge potential to increase customer loyalty as well as revenue.
What to do?
Don't exaggerate the discount strategy too much. A relevant product comes with a relevant price and it goes the same for the cross-selling of products. Too much discount sometimes makes things suspicious for consumers. If a product has a limited-time discount or a discount that is personalized brings more attention, rather than jamming with constant discount pop-ups in case of cross-selling.
What to do?
Don't be pushy. Find your customers effective touchpoints throughout their journey and effectively target them using ads, social media influencers, and effective email campaigns. But remember not to overdo it. Build a credible response system and brand image one that cites cross-selling without irritating consumers.
What to do?
With loads of data available it's easy to understand consumers' behavior. Collect internal & external data to build a strong consumer profile & strategies to use in cross-selling. Understanding the mitigating behaviors of consumers is critical to developing effective portfolio allocation strategies.
What to do?
While all of the above cross-selling practices can seriously boost your eCommerce business to top-notch. You can also outsource a leading eCommerce development & strategy company like JanBask Digital Design. The highly coordinated team at JanBask has proven methods of increasing leads, with cost-effective & time-saving methods leading you to focus on business while we take care of rest.
Cross-selling, upscaling, or bundling which strategy is the best for your business let's save it for the end. Let’s understand what's the real deal and what unique proposition each one brings to the table.
| Cross-selling | Upselling | Bundling | |
| Definition | Cross-selling is a simple process that encourages customers to buy more goods or services along with their primary purchase. | Upselling is the other pair of cross-selling which beliefs in the process of encouraging customers to purchase a "higher-priced" product. | Bundling is a byproduct of both upselling & cross-selling, where the customers are encouraged to purchase more with certain discounts. |
| Product Relationship | Cross-selling is used to sell more by adding more products to customer plans which they want to buy. | Improve sales value by recommending a more expensive product. | Here it is a combination of high price & relevant products that customers will be interested in purchasing. |
| Purpose | In cross-selling the purpose is to sell additional products, especially the underperforming ones. | The purpose is to increase the value of a product. Suppose it's 50$ it can be increased to 60$. | The purpose is to combine high-performing & low-performing products to make it a value pack. |
| Difficulty | Cross-selling is easier as one product can be linked to the primary product without the huge cost. | Upselling is easier but difficult to attract buyers due to high prices. | Bundling offers the easiest of the lost with high discounts on combination purchases. |
| Example | Purchasing a $100 wristwatch, a strap belt, or additional watch protection can be suggested for purchase. | A wristwatch that was initially $100 but increased to $120 during festival season as per high demand. | 3 wrist watches combo costing $259 if purchased. |
So, what to choose: cross-selling, upselling, or bundling. Frankly, it depends upon many things but a recent study by Bain showed that reducing complexity and options can increase revenues by 5-40% and reduce costs by 10-35%. So, the best way to choose a strategy is by using the A/B test but having said that cross-selling is still the most efficient and proven method to increase your business.
So, after getting to know, what is cross-selling and cross-selling mean to find out how dynamically cross-selling can be for your business.
According to a study by Marketing Metric, the likelihood of selling to an existing client is 60 to 70%. cross-selling helps you increase value by identifying customers’ buying behavior and preferences
Cross sale offers familiar products that the customer may be interested in purchasing. This targeting & personalization helps in elevating sales.
It's more expensive to invite new clients than the current clients who spend more on your products. A good cross-selling campaign that is customized and relevant helps you retain more consumers.
cross-selling improves conversion rates. The right strategy led a company named Bitdefender to raise its cross-selling conversion rate from 4.8 to 14%. So, an effective strategy can improvise cross-selling conversion rates.
To achieve customer lifetime value is a long process but if your AOV is improved, sales are improved, the customer base becomes loyal & conversion rates improve. Then automatically you will be able to see a customer lifetime value in the long run.
So, what now! We have told you every secret from our bags of best practices to improve your cross-selling to develop a better eCommerce experience for your customer. So, Let's conclude.
60% of the carts in eCommerce websites remain empty. But this can be changed.
Cross-selling is a priceless tactic to entice your customers to buy more; to boost your income. And to support that even upselling & bundling can be used to provide a seamless user experience.
Remember to be proactive in your campaigns but don't overdo it. Use the data for personalization & remember timing is everything. Once you have grasped over all these things you are bound to be successful.
Having said that to bring the best experience to customers you will need superior marketing techniques & a developed eCommerce platform to be successful.
So, What’s Next! JanBask Digital Design provides ECommerce Website Development Services exclusively for every digital business. So, if you are looking for a cost-effective, leading & profitable eCommerce digital solution. Reach us out today.
Want to Create your online ecommerce store?
A Specialized Team for custom web solutions for your business through Web Design, Web Development, Digital Marketing Services such as SEO, Social Media Marketing.
Leave a Reply