Recently I attended the street food fair in Los Angeles. With a craving for some sweet potato fries, I approached a food stand and ordered a small portion. I was about to pay when a girl offered me a variety of sauces in addition to my fries. She let me taste every single sauce, and I got so excited that ordered two as a side to my portion of fries.
This is a perfect case of using cross-selling as an effective marketing technique. And if you think about it for a second, you come across the examples of cross-selling every day. At a shopping center, when you buy groceries, clothes, and even when you buy the magnets to put on your fridge – everywhere you’ll be presented with an offer to buy something in addition to your purchase.
In e-commerce, cross-selling can catch your eye more often. The most evident case of cross-selling in e-commerce is Amazon’s recommended products (options to purchase in addition to the desired product):
Oftentimes in cross-selling, you are presented with discounts, which makes buying some products together with a better deal than buying them separately.
In terms of customer retention, cross-selling is aimed at creating a positive customer experience. For an e-commerce business, this results in increased sales as well. According to Barilliance, product recommendations account for up to 31% of e-commerce revenues.
Since we’ve already mentioned Amazon, the company reports that 35% of its e-commerce revenue is generated by the product recommendation engine. That’s about $4.5 billion of their last-reported revenue.
Cross-selling is a very effective marketing technique. When used right, it can easily give a new life to your online store.
How? Take a look.
No Pressure
The aim of cross-selling is positive customer experience and customer retention. Pressuring customers with expensive offers is not what you should aim for. Although increasing sales is one of your goals, retaining customers is more important.
The trick here is to offer cheaper products that would complement the main product. The psychology behind this technique is that when you offer cheaper products in comparison to a more expensive one, the value of the cheaper products decreases. Thus, a customer will be more likely to buy it.
This ‘no pressure, only value’ technique is widely used by Staples. When you proceed to checkout, you get a notification about the cheaper products that would complement your purchase. The website also often shows discounts to create more value for the customer:
Offering cheaper options at the checkout is a good way to catch the attention of a customer without being too intrusive. Your online store can benefit from this technique even more than by offering expensive items because you create more value for the customer.
Employ Psychological Tricks
Marketers know that when it comes to different selling techniques, it’s all about employing different psychological tricks.
In cross-selling, a widely-used psychological technique is social proof. You’ve come across it many times when shopping at an online store:
This technique is aimed at making your offers less of a hard sell. People trust the reviews and opinions of others, which influences their purchase decisions (this is how influencer marketing became a thing).
When it comes to cross-selling, this technique is again aimed at creating more value. But in this case, you share the experience of other customers to prove that othersa are safe buying products from you. Thus, the social proof technique also established trustworthy relationships between your brand and your customers.
Another way to influence your customers psychologically through cross-selling is addressing them by name in promotional emails:
However, you can personalize emails without mentioning any names. Your goal is to cater to the needs of your customers by analyzing their purchase history and taking into consideration the products they reviewed. This way there’s a better chance that you’ll give them what they want.
Offer a Good Deal
When it comes to cross-selling, value is everything. If you want to level-up your online store, it is very important to present your customers with the offers from which they can get substantial benefits.
If you want cross-selling to be successful, offer your customers the best deal to attract their attention. You can offer several products as one bundle with a discount, pointing out exactly how much money your customers could save:
This technique also allows you to be flexible with the products you offer, as long as they are relevant and selling them in a bundle makes sense to a customer. It is also a good method to hit your customers with the discounted offers right away at the top of the search results on your website. They are always looking for a good deal, and you should have it ready for them.
Know Your Products and Your Audience Well
Cross-selling is an effective marketing technique as long as you know who you offer your products to and which products are the best ones to offer in each particular case.
When used properly, the cross-selling technique is a perfect way to market your brand. It can increase sales substantially, retain customers and even bring dormant customers back to you, as long as you hit them with the right offer.
Kate is a passionate writer who likes sharing her thoughts and experience with the readers. Currently, she works as content editor and internet researcher, you can check her website https://hu.flatfy.com. She likes everything related to traveling and new countries.
