7 Upselling Examples To Boost Revenue

Upselling is by far one of the best ways to increase revenue. 

It's not just about pushing more products or services but providing customers with valuable add-ons that give them additional value.

No matter what business you might run, knowing how to upsell is extremely rewarding to increase profitability.

This blog will break down 7 real-world Upselling Examples to see how brands benefit from upselling.

You don't necessarily need to grow your number of customers to increase revenue. Instead, you can do this by increasing the average order value (or AOV).

Take a look at this revenue formula to understand what we mean:

Revenue= Orders x Average Order Value

More sales means more money. 

But you can achieve the same outcome by increasing how much people buy from you. Because acquiring new customers is four to five times more expensive than retaining existing ones. That's where upselling helps.

Upselling is a sales strategy where sellers encourage buyers to purchase a more expensive product, or pay additional money to get more features. The goal of upselling is to increase the value of the sales, which consequently increases the business's revenue.

For example, if someone comes to buy a car accessory worth $150, you present them with options to up that purchase. These could be an additional car servicing option worth $50 or another car accessory product for $80.

Suddenly, a simple order of $150 is now worth $230.

Now, you can't upsell every customer, but by using the right strategies, there is a high chance of conversion.

Upselling and cross-selling are frequently used interchangeably but are different concepts.

Upselling definition: Upselling means recommending products or services with a higher price or value than what the buyer was interested in or considering buying.

Cross-selling definition: Cross-selling, on the other hand, means recommending products similar to or complementary to the product they were considering buying.

Let's see a hypothetical up-selling and cross-selling example

For instance, you have a food cart, and a customer asks for a $10 Coke.

Now, there are two things you can do-

Recommend items like burgers and fries that go well with the Coke order. That's called "cross-selling."

Recommend the customer a larger Coke glass for $20; that's called "up-selling."

The objective of both of these marketing strategies is to increase revenue. In exchange for a bit more money, you offer a better product or add more value with complimentary items.

If you are still confused about whether to use upselling or cross-selling for your online store. There are a few factors that you can take into consideration before making a decision.

Choose upselling, if:

Choose down selling if:

Now, let's see some awesome upselling examples that will leave your brain brimming with new ideas on how to upsell your customers and start making more revenue.

There are hundreds of ways you can upsell to your customers. But, all upselling strategies come under one of these three categories.

Below we show 7 upselling examples you can try for your business.

Tiered pricing is a popular pricing model for selling products or services at different prices. Each price range offers a different set of features. Those who need more features opt for a higher-priced tier.

You can create a pricing tier based on the number of users, features, or product usage. Every product or service is different; you have to understand your buyer's needs before you decide how to sell your offer.

Hotjar, a powerful web behavioral analytics tool, employs a tiered pricing model to facilitate upselling, presenting three distinct levels to cater to various business requirements. Hotjar's pricing page also encourages customers to buy an annual plan by highlighting 20% savings.

They also provide a detailed comparison and breakdown for each of its pricing tiers. You get to calculate the value of each pricing tier if you decide to go for an upsell.

In this case, we are talking about pricing using the rule of three. Multiple studies show that when there are three pricing levels, most users go for the middle one.

As you can see, the middle plan (business plan) is the most popular among buyers. This Is called "price anchoring".

Product bundling is an effective way to help retailers achieve their revenue goals—a curated collection of related or complementary products at a discounted price that encourages customers to buy more.

There are three common types of product bundling-

Bundles simplify the purchasing process for customers who are likely to get overwhelmed by seeing different options. 

Plus, the added advantage of saving money boosts buyer's motivation- they don't want to lose money on good deals.

Product recommendation in e-commerce means suggesting items tailored based on the user's past purchase history, preferences, and browsing history.

There are mainly two types of product recommendations:

These are product recommendations powered by AI. The most common algorithm-driven product recommendations are -

• Frequently bought together
• Bestsellers
• Similar products
• Trending products
• Recently viewed products

Amazon's is a great example to show algorithm-driven upselling.

As you can see, when you select a dress, Amazon suggests similar dresses that you might also like. It's a fairly simple way to convince customers to buy more of the same thing and keep them browsing.

Recommendations work way better when they are personal. In fact, people are more likely to buy if the retailer recommends a product based on their needs. Many businesses use quizzes to suggest relevant items tailored based on the answers provided by the customer.

IPSY is a prime example of a rule-based recommendation. They provide tailored skin and hair recommendations after analyzing your issues, preferences, and goals. This approach improves the shopping experience and fosters great customer satisfaction and loyalty.

For best results, you should use a combination of algorithm-driven and rule-based recommendations.

Recommending relevant products tailored to a buyer's need goes beyond simply purchasing products they need. Instead, they feel a sense of belongingness and trust that drives shoppers to buy more.

One-click upsells usually happen immediately after checkout but before the thank you page. The beauty of one-click upsell is that customers don't have to re-enter their payment details. In one click, they can accept and pay for your offer.

For instance,

• Selling an ebook? Upsell to a course
• Selling a course? Upsell to a one-to-one call

The simple idea here is: Once a person completes a purchase, they tend to look for better deals or choose products that complement their purchase. One-click upsell is not here to debate how a person can spend or provide them with an offer that best suits their needs.

Lizzie Davey is an expert freelance writer and course creator who uses one-click upsell to her advantage. Once you buy a course from her website, she will provide you with an exclusive discount on her other courses.

The aim here is to encourage customers to spend more money. Lizzie makes this upsell process as easy as possible so the learner doesn't have to think twice. If they do, they might not go through the checkout.

You can use tools like OptimizePress to personalize your one-click upsell offers via triggers and segmentation.

This is a game changer because the more relevant your offer is to your buyers, the more conversion you will get. You can instantly convert a section of your customers into repeat buyers.

Most customers hate paying for shipping. In fact, 85% of customers rated free shipping as more important than fast shipping. And, when you see something getting delivered for free, you are most likely to add a few extra items to your cart to get it.

The word "free" has a magnetic pull that lights our brains with joy when we see it. 

Businesses that have successfully adopted free shipping have seen 84% less cart abandonment than a 30% increase in order size.

Glossier is a famous beauty brand with a target market of millennial women. They use free shipping countdowns for upsells. Since their platform offers free shipping once a person reaches $50, the shopping cart prompt will constantly remind you to spend this amount to reach the free shipping limit.

So, instead of paying the delivery charges, a customer would be happy to buy more even though that means spending more. It's a powerful motivator to click the "Buy Now" button. 

This raises another question? How do I set my free shipping threshold?

Your free shipping threshold is the lowest price you are prepared to send your items for free. To calculate, use the Median Order Value (MOV). Take an average of all your order values, and you will get a median number to set for customers to avail themselves of free shipping.

A simple way to upsell customers is by offering them a better offer. This could mean a bigger size or a better product with additional features.

Great features are often key to upselling customers to premium products. For instance, when you buy smartphones, you are often served with a popup that asks you if you want to upgrade to a model with additional storage (that comes with an additional price).

Spotify excellently uses the fear of missing out (FOMO) on its users to encourage them to upgrade to its premium version.

While it offers a free plan, its features are quite limited compared to its premium plans. Spotify knows people hate listening to ads, so it has reserved that feature for its paid users.

Brands that get this upselling technique right make visitors imagine how to use the upgrade and why they should do it now. Customers are often less likely to upgrade when they don't understand the value of the premium option.

In-app upsell is a perfect example of monetization happening anytime in the customer journey.

One of the greatest benefits of in-app purchases is that they bring recurring monetization opportunities and generate commitment within the application rather than through other sales channels.

There are two key things to consider when creating an in-app upsell strategy -

Slack is a perfect example of a brand that understands upsell can happen anytime, even if your customers choose low-cost or free-plan.

One of the key features that Slack pitches to its active users is their ability to store all their message history instead of just 10,000 recent messages.

Mind you, 10,000 isn't a small number, but many remote businesses rely solely on Slack for communication. They can't risk losing potential project information just because of an upgrade.

If you try to scroll past messages, Slack will show you "See upgrade options" in bright green. They constantly remind you to upgrade your plan to access message history.

Your pricing page is not the only place to make an upsell. If you serve the right people with the right offer, their chances of conversion increase.

The biggest mistake marketers make is solely focusing on top-of-the-funnel actions. They think they can make more money if they can drive more customers. Sure, the logic behind this is true.

However, upselling is a strategic marketing concept. Consumers' actions at the top of the funnel are rarely an indication of their long-term purchase intent.

To convince buyers that purchasing a complementary product or upgrading to the next service/product is important, requires you to master upselling. And this is a step-by-step method on how to do that -

Understand the pairing your customers need and will respond to. In this case, a seller can upsell the buyer to a 40-inch television screen, but recommending a 50-inch television screen would be huge. There is a high probability the customer will not buy it.

The simplicity and focus of a landing page means it often helps you increase the conversion rates on your website.

A landing page is designed to lead visitors through the decision-making process in a very deliberate way, which can significantly increase the likelihood of converting a visitor into a lead or subscriber.

Cross-sells and upsells can be incredibly powerful when done right. How you implement these upselling examples determines its success.

For optimal results, you must first understand your target audience, their needs and expectations, and the most helpful pairing for them.

Once you have tested and optimized your groupings, the next step is to target the right people at the right time. Leverage various channels to let your customers know about your upsell offer.

You will boost sales while allowing your customers to find the product they are after.