Upselling & Cross-Selling Hacks To Take BFCM To The Next Level

June 17, 2024

September 22, 2022

•

5 min read

To really win this BFCM, you need to be equipped with strategic know-how on ways to entice shoppers to high-value orders. This is where upselling and cross-selling come in. A technique that, when done right, drives up the average order value (AOV) and leaves your customers beaming with joy.

In this article, we’ll give you the inside scoop on the best upsell and cross-sell strategies that will push your BFCM sales through the roof.

Why Upsell and Cross-Sell For BFCM?

One of the greatest advantages of upselling and cross-selling is the effect it has on your bottom line. Both techniques inherently involve prompting customers to spend more than initially planned. BFCM is a perfect occasion for upselling and cross-selling because of several seasons.

Tapping Into the Holiday Shopping Mindset: BFCM shoppers are deal-driven but also value-conscious. They're primed to spend more if they see real value in the products offered. Upselling and cross-selling, when done right, tap into this mindset, presenting enticing upgrades and complementary items that enhance the perceived value of their purchases.
Maximizing Revenue During High-Traffic Periods: BFCM brings a surge in website traffic. Converting those visitors into high-value customers is crucial. Upselling and cross-selling maximize revenue per visitor, turning casual browsers into enthusiastic buyers. By strategically offering relevant products at the right moment, you can significantly increase your overall BFCM revenue.
Boosting Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV): Acquiring new customers during BFCM is a great opportunity to build long-term relationships. Introducing complementary products through cross-selling can expose customers to a wider range of your offerings, increasing the likelihood of future purchases and boosting their overall lifetime value.
Moving Excess Inventory: BFCM can be a strategic time to move products that haven't sold as well throughout the year. By bundling these items with popular products or offering them as discounted add-ons, you can clear out inventory while still generating revenue.
Capitalizing on the Gifting Season: BFCM often coincides with the start of the holiday gifting season. Cross-selling is particularly effective during this time, as customers are often looking for additional items to complete gifts or purchase gifts for multiple recipients.

Where To Upsell and Cross-sell For BFCM Campaigns

When upselling and cross-selling for BFCM, you have a few options as to where to present these products.

Cross-sell & Upsell on Product Pages

Product detail pages are a great place for both cross-selling and upselling. When a customer clicks on to these pages, you know they have a vested interest in the product. It also gives you a very good indication of what a customer is interested in and can be used as a basis to recommend relevant items.

Nine West cross-sell bags that go with the shoes on the product details page

Cross-sell at Checkout

The checkout page is a good opportunity to present complimentary items as the customer has shown high intent of purchasing a product. Remember, it’s much easier to sell to an existing customer. At this point, they are already in your pocket.

SourceBMX cross-sell services and t-shirts at checkout.

Cross-sell in Post-Purchase Emails

In light of the ease of selling to an existing customer, you can also try your hand at cross-selling in a post-purchase email. Trigger them to go just after a purchase has been made, or once their order has been delivered.

Sambag sends a personable post-purchase email to encourage shoppers to buy complementary items. (Source: Salescycle)

Upsell on Collection Pages

You can optimize your collection pages or sales collection page for the promotion of higher-margin products. The first row of these pages should consist of the products within the category that you want to upsell. Be sure to also hide out-of-stock and demote out-of-fashion items on these pages to give more prominence to the products for upselling.

Upsell in Search

Similarly, search can be used as a tool to promote higher-priced products. In the search dropdown suggestions, you can pin such products related to the search at the top.

High-priced items take precedence in the search suggestions on Camilla.

On the search results page, prioritize the products for upsell in the first couple of rows, just like you would on collection pages.

Moreover, Boost AI Search & Discovery lets you shine a spotlight on your irresistible holiday bundles by showcasing them directly within the instant search dropdown. This prime placement ensures maximum visibility, capturing shoppers' attention from the moment they begin their search and enticing them with curated product combinations. It's the perfect way to boost average order value and create a seamless, delightful shopping experience during the busy BFCM rush.

To get all these capabilities plus more, make sure you have Boost AI Search & Discovery installed on your Shopify store.

6 Upsell & Cross-Sell Tips For BFCM

It’s time to dig a little deeper into some effective strategies and tips for optimizing upsell and cross-sell over BFCM.

Tip #1 - Leverage AI and ML to deliver relevant suggestions

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will be your best friends when it comes to providing highly relevant products to upsell and cross-sell to shoppers.

Make use of recommender systems that take a look at what someone has previously purchased or added to their cart to then give personalized product suggestions. These items can be complementary for cross-selling purposes, or a similar premium product that’s also part of your BFCM sale for upselling. This presentation of a better deal can work wonders in encouraging an upsell.

In the same vein, a product that is currently being viewed can be used to generate relevant items for cross-selling and upselling.

Learn more about product recommendations: All you need to know about online product recommendation and how to optimize it

Tip #2 - Figure out which of your products work best for cross-sell or upsell

It’s important to note that not just any old product will meet the criteria for an effective cross-sell or upsell. Some products will actually work a lot better than others. Here are some things you should take into consideration when selecting products for cross-sell and upsell.

Be conscious of price

Cross-selling typically works best on big ticket items rather than on impulse purchases. The customer is highly invested in this product and therefore has a greater interest in it and its complementary products.

For example, when purchasing a smartphone, products that provide protection, like a phone case, require a lot less consideration. Of course you’d want to protect your brand new phone! So, if you have high-ticket products as part of your BFCM sale, this is where you’ll want to drop in some complementary items.

Notice how the recommendations are not just relevant, but also far cheaper than the primary product. (Source: JB Hifi)

Complementary products should also be a fair amount cheaper than the original one to lighten the decision-making process. Between 10% and 50% works well here. When it comes to upselling, the price jump from the original product shouldn’t be too high. A 30% increase is a safe price for an upgraded product.

Investigate what’s frequently bought together

Dig into your data to find out which products are often bought in tandem. This will help to improve the relevance of the items you suggest for cross-selling, thereby heightening the likelihood it will actually be purchased. You can highlight their allure by including reviews, ratings, and testimonials.

Identify your bestsellers

This works for both cross-selling and upselling. These products are trending for a reason, so inclusion of them is sure to boost your AOV.

Decide which products will feel like an upgrade

The point of an upsell is that it is a superior product to the original one. When selecting items for upselling, ensure that it will give your customers greater value. Dissect the features and identify ones that are more advanced in each product category. Make this clear by explaining how these features will give your customers a superior experience as soon as you present it to them.

Tip #3 - Use Pop-ups

Pop-ups are a useful tool in grabbing the attention of visitors who have shown an interest in a particular product. They do, however, need to be crafted and implemented with care if you want to drive additional or higher purchases and not turn off your customers.

(Source: Medium)

Rather than triggering a pop-up each time an item is clicked on, only fire them when a product has been added to cart.

Use personable language and avoid being pushy in the heading. You can also use pop-ups as an opportunity to show the value buying additional related items or upgrading their chosen product can bring. Furthermore, use language to demonstrate how the items are interconnected. For example, with phrases like People also liked, and Frequently bought together.

You also don’t want to overwhelm shoppers with too many cross-sell or upsell options. Stick to a maximum of 3 or 4 to avoid customers facing choice paralysis.

Finally, make sure you do not show the same pop-up to a customer more than once. Otherwise, you’ll come across as pushy, irritating, and unknowing of what your customers actually want.

Tip #4 - Make the offers compelling

To boost your chances of securing purchases from upselling and cross-selling, you need to make visitors to your site feel like it’s a no-brainer.

The value proposition of upgrading to a pricier iPhone is made clear (Source: Digi Smoothie)

When you’re presenting a product for upselling, make sure you state precisely how your customer will get additional value. There should also be plenty of information on the advanced features it has. It’s a good idea to update your product details pages ahead of BFCM so that they clearly show this.

For cross-selling, leverage social proof to sway your customers. This can simply be by including star ratings underneath the thumbnail when you’re suggesting additional products.

The language you use as the heading for cross-sell recommendations can also act as a compelling lure. Try phrases like Looks great with and Complete the look. This type of language shows the value the additional products will bring to the primary one.

Tip #5 - Present shoppers with bundles

Bundles are an excellent cross-selling hack as it causes shoppers to feel that they’re getting a great deal. It also lightens the load on decision-making for your customers as you’ve packaged a set of products that work well together for them.

When you are creating product bundles for BFCM, the collection of items needs to make sense. Choose a few high-priced or popular products to be the centerpiece of the bundle. Then, think about the needs of the customer buying the primary product. Which products or services will make the use of the primary product easier or better? What items are often bought with the primary product?

Skull Shaver shows the saving a bundle can bring their customers.

You should also really emphasize the savings they are getting by choosing the bundle as opposed to buying them separately. You can do this with text saying Save [x amount] with this bundle or showing the original price slashed next to the bundle price.

Bundles work best and are often shown on the checkout page as this is when the intent is highest and the likelihood of a cross-sell is, therefore, greatest.

Tip #6 - Reach out to customers post-purchase

You’re going to see a lot of new customers come to your store during BFCM. These new customers may be a little resistant to making a large or high-priced order. The trust isn’t there yet. But once the customer has received the product and experienced how great it is, seize the opportunity to drive retention with a cross-sell.

Set up an automated email flow that fires off once an order has been received. Thank them for their purchase and curate a selection of BFCM products that complement the one they received. You can also add a sense of urgency by making it clear that these savings won’t be around for long.

Common Mistakes to Avoid During BFCM Upselling and Cross-Selling

The holiday rush may push pressure on merchants and mistakes are unavoidable sometimes. But if you have read this articles, don’t make the following mistakes

Overloading Customers: Too many suggestions can overwhelm customers and lead to abandoned carts. Focus on a curated selection of relevant recommendations.
Sacrificing Profitability: While discounts are expected during BFCM, ensure your upsell and cross-sell offers still maintain a healthy profit margin.
Irrelevant Recommendations: Generic upsells and cross-sells can feel pushy and impersonal. Leverage AI-powered personalization to ensure recommendations align with individual customer preferences and browsing history.
Poor Timing: Presenting upsells or cross-sells too early in the customer journey can be disruptive. Wait until the customer has shown genuine interest in a product, such as adding it to their cart or viewing the product details page.
Ignoring Mobile Optimization: Ensure your upsell and cross-sell offers are optimized for mobile devices. A clunky mobile experience can quickly frustrate customers and lead to lost sales.
Lack of Clear Value Proposition: Clearly communicate the benefits of the upsell or cross-sell. Highlight the added value, convenience, or savings the customer will receive.

Boost Your Sales This BFCM With Upsells & Cross-sells

BFCM is a huge event in the eCommerce calendar, bearing tons of shoppers and tons of savings.

Implementing upselling and cross-selling tactics is a surefire way to drive your sales profits upward. Rather than banking on the sheer number of customers coming your way this BFCM, cross-selling, and upselling help you convert more visits into ones of high value.

Besides, the experience you can build by making use of our cross-sell and upsell tips will keep shoppers coming back even after the holidays.

So go ahead and delight your customers and your bottom line this BFCM.

Doki Nguyen

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Content Marketing Specialist

September 22, 2022

•

5 min read

Upselling & Cross-Selling Hacks To Take BFCM To The Next Level

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