Cross Sells, Upsells and Related Products in WooCommerce & E-Commerce
Consider this: you’re paying for a pen at the shopkeeper’s counter. Then your kid asks for some of the sweets at the counter. The guy behind the counter grins as the kid’s stubby finger points at the enticing jar. She finally gets her demand met.
Guess what? You got cross-selled.
Upsells, cross-sells, and related products are the strategies behind Amazon’s 35% revenue. And Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research analyst, found out that eCommerce sites attribute 10% to 30% of their revenues to product recommendations.
You, too, can reap big from these strategies. This article will show you how robust upselling, cross-selling, and related product techniques can enrich your business.
Cross-Selling
Cross-selling strategy involves selling items that complement the one that the buyer is purchasing. They can be from different categories but help the buyer improve the target product’s usability or features.
If you’re selling a smartphone in your store, you can suggest items like headphones, screen protectors, or phone cases. The buyer will see how these other items can increase the longevity of their phones and improve their use.
How Do You Set Up Cross-sells in Woocommerce?
Follow these steps for each product on which you want to display a cross-sell:
- Head over to Woocommerce then Products and select the item
- Navigate to the Product Data panel
- In the left menu, click the Linked Products tab
- Search the item you’d like to link to the current product and add it
- Update
Depending on the theme template, upsells will appear on the cart page with a thumbnail image below the cart items table.
The Benefits of Cross-sells
Here’s what you stand to gain in cross-selling:
1. Building customer loyalty
Customers usually have the pain point of looking for additional products that will improve the functionality and durability of their main product. By cross-selling, you’re taking this burden away from them, thereby cementing trust.
Take the issue of mobile insurance as an example. Suppose you’re selling a smartphone worth $ 200 on your online store, and you’re providing $10 insurance. If a customer purchases the phone plus the insurance and the deal eventually proves to be profitable, you’ve won their heart.
2. Distinguishes your Brand from the Rest of the Pack
With cross-selling, you can try different ways to create a rich customer experience. It allows you to establish a unique selling advantage that differentiates you from the competition. Make the cross-sells reasonable and valuable, and your customers will always choose you instead of your competitors.
3. More Profits, Lower Prices
You can throw in some discounts in your cross-selling strategies, especially if the product has been gathering dust on the online shelves. Yes, discounted prices may make a dent in your profit, but the chances of selling away the product improve. So a low yet quick profit is better than a missed sale.
This idea also makes your customers happy since they get to save some dollars. So it’s a win-win situation for your eCommerce store and buyers.
4. Cement Customer Relationship
This technique allows you to keep your current customers coming back for more and maintain a lasting relationship. Yes, your end goal is to make some profits. But first things first- show that you care for their needs and you’re trying to solve them. Don’t shove your cross-sells down their throats if they don’t want to buy them.
5. Gain New Leads
Robust cross-selling can also award you with fresh leads. Your raving fans who feel that you care for their needs will recommend your business to their friends and families. And you know how word of mouth can travel like a bushfire, earning you more free leads and customers.
Upsells
Upsells are the items you recommend to the customer instead of what they’re viewing (or viewed) on your eCommerce store. They’re usually more expensive, more profitable, and have better quality.
This strategy allows you to entice the buyer to spend more dollars than their initially planned amount. It’s easier than it sounds:
Suppose you’re selling an empty bean bag in your store at $100. At the cart page or checkout, you can offer the buyers an option of buying beans at $10 if they buy them plus the bag; else, they can be $15 if purchased alone.
Or let’s say you’re an Apple Macbook Pro 14″ going at $1,300. Once your customer adds the item to the cart, your website may take them to the configuration page to ‘upgrade’ the hardware and software components.
How Do You Set Up Upsells?
Just follow the same steps as you did with the upsells:
- Head over to Woocommerce then Products and select the item
- Navigate to the Product Data panel
- In the left menu, click the Linked Products tab
- Search the item you’d like to link to the current product and add it
- Update
Upsells show below the item’s description on the single product page (depending on the theme template you’re using in your store).
The Benefits of Upsells
Upselling gives you an opportunity for more profit when you offer a better version of the item. You can entice the user to buy an upgraded item with more robust features, specifications, volume, or value.
Some eCommerce store owners may argue that upselling strategies are unethical. But that’s not true. In fact, both the buyers and sellers benefit from upsells.
The benefits of robust upselling include:
1. Boost Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
CLV is the net profit a customer brought to your business over time. Higher CLV means your eCommerce is generating profit from each customer without significant investments. It also shows that you have enough room to focus on bringing in new customers.
If you’re looking to enjoy these high CLV benefits, consider upselling. You’ll convert visitors into very profitable long-term buyers.
2. Increase the Number of Return Customers
With upselling, be assured your customers will come back for more. Customers may not buy your suggestions for now, but some may remember to come back for those upsells when they’re ready to purchase. Ensure they’re getting top-notch purchasing and value-added services if you’re looking to convert one-off customers into raving fans.
3. Upselling to Current Customers is Easier
In most cases, gaining new customers require efforts and money, especially if they’ve never heard about your brand. So the easiest profit-making strategy is to make better sales to existing customers since they already trust your brand.
4. Strengthen Customer Relationships
Upselling is not a dirty game, especially if you focus on helping your customer. It allows you to suggest premium products and upgrades that can help them get more value in the long run. In fact, you can use upselling as a customer happiness strategy to bring in more revenues.
A study reveals that sellers have about 60% to 70% chances of selling products to their existing customers. On the other hand, the chances reduce up to 5% to 20% when targeting strangers. So if you’re looking to boost your growth, upselling should be one of your strategies.
Related Products
Most theme templates pull items that share similar categories or tags to the current product. They usually display them automatically on the footer of the existing product page.
How Do You Set Up Related Products?
While you cannot specify these products in your admin area, you can influence their display by categorizing similar items or using the same tags.
Don’t confuse between cross-sells and related products- while the former means those extra items related to what your buyer is purchasing, the latter is similar to the current products in question.
The Benefits of Related Products
If you’re looking to increase the number of items in your customer’s cart, be sure to play well with the appearance of your related products section. This strategy can boost your shoppers’ demand for other items. Here are more benefits of the Related Products section:
1. The Customer Enjoys More Options
In most cases, visitors will search for an item in your store and intend to buy it. But the chances are that they will want to have a look at the related products.
For instance, the user may search for ‘Nike sneakers’ on your website and intend to buy them. But after landing on the product details page, they notice that the Related Products section has similar sneakers (but from local brands) going at a lower price. This gives them a chance to decide whether to settle for branded sneakers or try something new.
2. Cement Trust
Frugal customers will choose quality over brand. Chances of them going for local sneakers will be high. So be sure to offer lower-priced but high-quality products to win their trust.
3. Safest Strategy
Most customers tend to check out products in the Related Products section. And it doesn’t need much analysis and experience to influence it, especially if you’re a greenhorn in the online arena. You only need to choose the products that may be better in price or quality.
Wrap Up
Robust Upsells, Cross-sells, and related product strategies can enrich your customer’s shopping experience and bring more revenue and long-lasting benefits to your business. The ball is now in your court.
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