The holiday shopping season is approaching, and retailers worldwide are gearing up to make the most of it. Focusing on existing customers and fulfilling their expectations can increase sales regardless of your business’s industry. Zippia’s 2022 stats say 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers. Of course, existing customers already know your products and their benefits and will likely be convinced to go with your brand. Whether you sell fashion products, gadgets, or apparel, upselling and cross-selling are the two proven marketing strategies to attract existing customers. They can work wonders for your online and offline stores.
Upselling — the basics
Upselling is a sales technique businesses use in which they offer an upgraded or premium version of the product or services that the customer intended to buy initially. Upselling works when you understand the customer’s needs and pain points and offer a valuable product that best suits those requirements.
Let’s see upselling with an example. If a customer is looking for headphones for their remote work, suggesting headphones with noise cancellation is upselling. The upselling is a win-win for both parties, as the customer gets better-featured headphones at a slightly higher price while the brand gains credibility by selling the right product to the right customer.
Upselling also happens online. For instance, Amazon upsells by recommending similar premium products with more features at a higher price range for customers to review. Customers can quickly compare the products and their features and choose the most suitable product.
Cross-selling — the basics
Cross-selling is about encouraging customers to buy supplementary products or services to the ones they already bought. Ideally, your suggested product should complement the buyer’s initial purchase. For example, suggesting a new case for a laptop, or a brush for makeup products.
Cross-selling is quite common. A waiter suggesting bread to go with your soup comes under cross-selling. When it comes to ecommerce stores, cross-selling or recommending relevant products is even more prevalent. You might have come across product recommendations like “Customers also bought,” “You might also like this,” “Items frequently bought together,” and so on.
Cross-selling demands a fair share of work from sellers. They must research and suggest relevant products that complement the customer’s initial buy. Just like upselling, cross-selling is about offering value for customers’ money.
Tips for upselling and cross-selling during the holiday season
1. Educate the customers about the benefits of your products
Let your customers understand the benefits they can enjoy by buying your products. More than listing out every sophisticated feature in detail, focus on sharing the benefits your customers get by buying your product. Get creative and make videos to illustrate the value of your products. Video content is more engaging, and people get the takeaway message effortlessly.
In your product description, introduce space for videos. Besides illustrating your product benefits, you can also cross-sell by recommending complementary products or services that go with the primary products. For example, if you’re selling a washing machine, make a video of a person outrageously spending on repairing the appliance as they didn’t buy the insurance, which would have cut those unwanted costs. Thus the customers will quickly grasp the importance of insurance or warranty and consider buying it. However, never overdo it, and be genuine with your recommendations.
2. Show relevant products that your customers will be interested in
When it comes to product recommendations, relevancy is the key. Understanding your customer’s needs, wants, and pain points will help you suggest the most suitable product. However, when you sell on multiple online and offline stores, tracking your customer’s order histories and understanding their buying patterns and preferences can be overwhelming without software.
This is where having a centralized system that connects all your online and offline stores, giving you real-time sales updates pays off. DEAR syncs all sales channels, enabling you to view all sales transactions through its intuitive dashboard. Additionally, DEAR generates accurate reports and gives real-time insights into your business. Thus, you can picture your best sellers, slow performers, and customers’ buying history and recommend the most relevant product they can’t turn away.
3. Create a sense of urgency with irresistible discounts and deals
What is the point of shopping during the holiday season? The answer is DEALS. Bludot says nearly everyone (around 88%) looks for discounts. Of course, everyone likes to shop more for less price. You can upsell and cross-sell products by offering discounts and bundling similar goods together. Creating a sense of urgency by giving time-bound deals works wonders during the holiday shopping season.
For example, you can provide deals like,
- Buy two tops and get the third top at 50% off for the next two weeks,
- Flat 30% off on all kid’s toys and games on Christmas eve,
- Bundle similar products and offer them at a discounted price for a limited period—for instance, a hair dryer, hair brush, and hair straightener.
- Premium branded watches on sale for Christmas.
- Shop for XYZ dollars to unlock a discount.
Refer to your past sales reports and find better deals for your customers. Upselling or cross-selling is about more than just selling right away. You can send promotional offers to your customers earlier through emails. DEAR allows you to segment your customers and send personalized emails to a specific group. For instance, if you want to share upcoming beard trimmer deals, you can quickly select the group containing male customers and send the message instantly.
4. Sell strategically and avoid being pushy
Upselling or cross-selling products by recommending them on every page is a big NO. Upselling is more suitable when a customer is searching for the ideal products. Thus, you can recommend upgraded products when the customer is still on the products listings page.
Recommending supplementary products or cross-selling goes well on the check-out page. Both upselling and cross-selling should work well only if you price right. Suggesting a product with a slightly higher price close to the original item is ideal for upselling, while recommending a lower price than the actual product is ideal for cross-selling.
5. Reward your customers with gifts
The holiday shopping season is the perfect time to enhance brand loyalty. Reward your customers for buying from your brand by offering them gifts, for example, giving them free lipstick if they bought a bunch of makeup products or a free cake pan if they buy a conventional oven. That way, the gifts will benefit your customers, and they will remember your brand positively. Personalized gifts tell your customers that you care.
Summing up
Modern customers are informed buyers. They expect genuine products that benefit them and provide value for their money. Hence, brands need to walk the extra mile to understand customer needs and sell relevant products that better suit their needs. Upselling and cross-selling are proven marketing strategies that help brands to suggest ideal products to customers and boost sales. With DEAR, understanding your customer’s buying patterns, order histories, and sales transactions is effortless. Boost your holiday sales with DEAR Systems. Call DEAR experts now.