Average Order Value (AOV) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) have become crucial factors for online businesses nowadays.
Research shows that a 5% increase in CLV can boost profits by up to 95% and 72% of salespeople use upselling tactics to make about 30% of their revenue.
If you can increase your AOV and CLV, you will profit more from every buyer while spending less on acquisition and promotional costs.
In this article, you will look at 7 proven upselling techniques that you can actively use to increase your AOV & CLV and eventually earn more revenue.
So let’s begin,
What is Upselling?
Upselling is a marketing strategy where you encourage your customers to consider purchasing a higher-priced product, an upgraded version of a product, or adding complementary items to their initial purchase.
Unlike suggesting related products (cross-selling), upselling aims to enhance the value of the chosen product by showcasing the benefits of the premium or upgraded options.
The success of this strategy depends on how well you understand customers’ preferences so that you can offer the right relevant upgrades that are aligned with your customer needs.
But if done right, upselling can easily lead to higher sales revenue and better customer satisfaction.
In most cases, people offer some sort of a discount for the upgrade, which is fine because additional sales revenue would mean no extra acquisition cost for the extra amount earned.
Benefits of Using The Upselling Strategy
Using upsell tactics will help you get some valuable benefits that will surely align with your business goals.
- Increased Revenue: By encouraging customers to add additional products or upgrade to a premium version, you’ll see an immediate boost in sales. For example, even a simple one-click upsell at checkout can enhance your bottom line.
- Enhanced Customer Experience: When you offer customers personalized recommendations or a premium version of products, they feel understood. Upselling is an opportunity to offer better customer service and improve satisfaction—without being pushy.
- Greater Customer Loyalty: A well-timed upsell, such as a post-purchase upsell or a personalized offer, builds customer loyalty and fosters repeat purchases. Acquired customers are more likely to become profitable customers when they see you care about their needs.
- Higher AOV: With the right upsell options, customers are motivated to spend more per order, leading to a higher AOV. For example, retail upselling and service-based industries alike can benefit from a free shipping threshold, encouraging larger purchases.
- Improved CLV: With a successful upsell strategy, you can increase the CLV by making your existing customers more valuable over their customer lifecycle. This results in profitable customers who keep returning.
- The Bottom Line: Upselling, when done right, isn’t about pushy sales tactics—it’s about meeting customer needs, adding value, and enhancing the overall customer experience. By segmenting customers and using insights from first-party data, you can time your upsells perfectly to create a lasting impact.
7 Upselling Techniques to Trigger More Sales
Now, let us look at a few upselling techniques that you can use to grow your online sales significantly.
1. Follow-up Email Upsell Offers after Orders Are Placed or Completed
Email automation can be used smartly to make upsell offers and trigger more sales. In this strategy, you will leverage customers’ purchase history and make meaningful upsell offers via email afterward.
You can set up an automation to send out upsell offers immediately after an order is placed, or when the order status has changed to completed or delivered. That way, the customer will recognize you and consider accepting your offer.
Let’s look at an example.
Suppose a person purchased a t-shirt from your online shop which you delivered earlier today.
Right after receiving the order, you can send out an email with a special discount offer on more similar t-shirts.
If the customer is happy with the initial order, the discount will persuade him to purchase another t-shirt.
If you run a WooCommerce store, then you can easily set up such automated upsell offers using a plugin called Mail Mint.
2. Relevant Product Bundling
One of the commonly used upselling techniques is creating bundles – yes a product bundle is a type of upsell offer.
Basically, you bundle up a few products that are related in terms of category and use case and offer a small discount on the total price. If the buyer wants, he/she can purchase each of these products individually.
However, the bundle will act as an all-in-one offer along with a discounted price creating a good reason for the buyer to take the bundle instead.
For example, suppose a person searched for a facewash from a certain brand.
In the search results, she found her facewash but also noticed a bundle that included her facewash along with a face cream and lotion from the same brand.
However, the thumbnail said, “Save $30.”
She calculated and found out that the individual prices of each of those items would total an amount that is worth $30 more than the price of the bundle.
Seeing that she would probably need the other two in the future as well, she decided to go for the bundle and save $30.
If you can bundle up the right products and offer a lucrative discount on the total price, it will automatically act as an upsell offer.
You can even offer bundles as the upsell offer as a post-purchase one-click upsell or email upsell offer, which usually works quite well.
3. Tiered Pricing or Upgrade Options
Certain products may have multiple versions or variations with higher value, which is mostly common for digital products, software, or services.
Whenever someone purchases a lower plan, you can run marketing activities to offer him a higher plan.
For example, we sell 3 packages for our plugin, WPVR. If someone purchases the basic plugin,
we then run email automation campaigns to try and convince him/her to upgrade to the larger plan at a small discount.
Of course, the higher plans come with additional features and add-ons which will be great reasons for the customer to upgrade, while the discount acts as an added push.
These offers can be made via automated emails, re-targeting Ads, and internal product Ads.
4. Limited-Time Offers
A limited-time discount offer can be a great upselling strategy to convince potential buyers to place orders.
Suppose you own a yearly subscription-based membership platform with 3 membership levels.
And let’s say, someone has been a member for the last 6 months on the lowest membership level.
At this point, you can send a surprise limit-time discount offer, maybe for 7 days, to upgrade to a higher membership level.
If the offer is lucrative, the customer can decide to upgrade.
The limited time is crucial here. Normally, people will like to take time to make the decision and end up forgetting about it. The fixed time will make them give higher priority to decide before it’s too late.
5. Spending Targer Upsell Offer
You can try using a unique tactic to make customers place more and more orders every month.
Set up a spending program where, based on reaching a certain target spending amount, the customers will be entitled to certain rewards, which can be a special large discount, store credits, or an attractive gift.
For example, you can set up 3 spending targets – $500, $2k, $4k.
Upon spending each target amount in a month, the customer will be entitled to an additional 10% discount on all orders afterward.
So, when someone spends $500 on your store, for every order he makes afterward, he will get 10% off.
Upon reaching $2k spent on orders, his discount will increase to 20% for further orders.
And upon spending $4k, his discount will be increased to 30% for the rest of the orders in that month. On the 1st of every month, this will reset.
This is a tactic where you are upselling the discount itself rather than a product. It’s a unique approach and will work well for selling groceries and household products.
6. Post-Purchase One Click Upsells
One-click upsell has proven to be one of the best ways to trigger high-value conversions for any online business.
In this tactic, you ensure you have already earned money from the customer before making an upsell offer while making it super easy for the buyer to accept your upsell offer.
The way it works is, that when a person goes through the checkout page, the amount is charged, and immediately next a special upsell offer appears (which can be an offer on an upgrade or an additional product).
The buyer can accept this offer with a single click, without having to input payment information again.
Or, the buyer can even reject the offer, which means you have already sold the initial product, and only the upsell offer is not being bought.
It’s an upselling technique that allows you to try to increase the AOV from a customer without the risk of making him stop completing the initial order.
You can easily set up one-click upsell offers using a sales funnel builder such as WPFunnels.
7. Free Trials or Samples
This upselling strategy is common among online businesses such as SaaS tools, subscription-based digital products, and high-ticket services.
You can offer a free trial for 15-30 days for the customer to try out your services and subscribe to your paid plans only if satisfied.
It’s a great way to make the customer love your product before investing in you, resulting in a long-term relationship.
These 7 upselling tactics can be a powerful element of your overall marketing plan to help earn more revenue out of every customer. Now, let us look at a few common ways to make upsell offers.
How to Make Upsell Offers During Different Situations
Depending on the upselling strategy you use, you can make the offer in various ways.
i. Upsell Offers via Emails
One of the most effective upselling strategies is offering relevant products or upgrades directly through email marketing.
By sending personalized upsell offers for bundles, higher-tier plans, or related products, you can drive more sales.
A well-crafted email series with persuasive copy can make your offers feel like the perfect next step for your customers.
To implement this upselling technique, you can use email marketing automation tools like Mail Mint or ActiveCampaign.
These tools allow you to set up automated upsell offers based on customer behavior and preferences, saving you time while maximizing conversions.
Tips for upselling via email include using clear calls to action, creating a sense of urgency, and highlighting the added value.
By using customer segmentation and tailoring your upsell strategy to different shopper segments, you can ensure your upselling tactics hit the right audience at the right time.
This personalized approach will help you boost your Average Order Value (AOV) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) with minimal effort.
ii. Order Bump Upsell During Checkout
One strong upselling strategy is using order bump offers during the checkout process.
This upselling technique allows you to present a relevant, irresistible offer right when customers are about to complete their purchase.
For example, if someone is subscribing to your paid program, you can upsell them an advanced version or a special add-on at a discounted price as an order bump.
This method doesn’t increase the number of items in their cart but rather increases the overall order value by adding value in terms of higher-priced offers.
By using this upselling tactic, you provide customers with more options and enhance their experience, making them feel like they’re getting a special deal.
Upselling tips for order bumps include presenting offers that naturally complement the customer’s current purchase. This upsell strategy works best when you keep the offer simple, relevant, and time-sensitive.
By integrating order bumps seamlessly into your checkout page, you can boost your Average Order Value (AOV) without overwhelming the customer, making the upsell process smooth and effective.
iii. Instant Post-Purchase Upsell
After a customer completes their purchase, you can instantly present them with a relevant post-purchase upsell.
This upselling method works because it taps into their buying mindset and offers them an easy one-click upsell via email or directly on the confirmation page.
Using WPFunnels’ Global Funnels is ideal for setting up seamless post-purchase upsells in your WooCommerce store.
This tool lets you create conditional funnels based on what’s in the customer’s cart. It also allows you to show custom checkout pages and dynamic upsell offers that fit their initial purchase.
This upselling strategy helps you increase order value effortlessly while giving your customers more options that feel personalized and valuable.
iv. Pop-up with Upsell Offer
A well-timed pop-up upsell offer can be a game-changer in boosting your sales. When a customer enters the cart or checkout page with a specific product, you can trigger a pop-up suggesting a better alternative or upgraded version at a discount.
This upselling strategy works effectively when the pop-up is visually appealing and the copy is persuasive, offering customers real value they’ll want to consider.
By using this upselling method, you provide an option that feels helpful rather than intrusive.
A well-crafted pop-up speaks directly to your customer’s needs, showing them an ideal product upgrade that aligns with their preferences.
This type of upsell technique encourages customers to see the benefits of the enhanced product without leaving their cart, making it easy to increase your Average Order Value (AOV) and offer a seamless shopping experience.
Upsell Techniques by Industry
Tailoring your upselling techniques to specific industries can make a significant impact on customer satisfaction and sales. Here’s how you can apply upselling tactics effectively across different sectors:
- E-commerce & Retail: Use product bundling and “frequently bought together” suggestions. Display pop-up upsell offers on the cart or checkout page with relevant add-ons or upgrades to increase order value easily.
- Hospitality & Travel: Suggest room upgrades or additional services like excursions and dining options during booking. Personalized upsell offers can be sent via email or on the confirmation page, offering customers a richer experience.
- Software & SaaS: Leverage tiered pricing upsells or advanced features as a one-click upsell after purchase. Tools like WPFunnels can help by setting up conditional funnels based on customer behavior, making it easy to offer tailored upgrades.
- Food & Beverage: Recommend premium versions or bulk orders at a discount. Use pre-purchase upsells on mobile apps to catch customers at the right moment with enticing options like double portions or premium ingredients.
- Service-Based Industries: Upsell additional services or maintenance packages during customer service conversations. Train customer service to identify customer characteristics and suggest upgrades that solve customer problems or enhance convenience.
Customize your upsell strategy to fit your industry and customer needs. It enhances the buying experience and builds loyalty.
Conclusion
To summarize, Upselling is a smart, simple way for you to add more value to every customer interaction.
With tactics like one-click upsells, pre- and post-purchase options, and personalized timing, you can increase revenue while enhancing customer satisfaction.
When you understand customer behavior and tailor offers to their needs you can utilize the upsell feature perfectly in your WooCommerce store.
With upsell, you’re not just increasing AOV and CLV, you’re building loyalty. If you are using WordPress, try WPFunnels to simplify setup and management.
** FAQs **
What is the key takeaway for upselling?
- The key takeaway is to use upselling to add real value for customers. By focusing on personalized offers and timing, you can increase sales while building trust. When you understand customer characteristics and use segmentation, upselling feels natural and relevant.
How can urgency improve upselling?
- Urgency motivates customers to act quickly, especially in pre-purchase or post-purchase upsells. A limited-time offer or exclusive deal creates a sense of “now or never,” which can lead new customers to make a faster decision.
When is the right time to upsell?
- The best time to upsell is when it feels helpful, not forced. This could be during a customer service conversation, at checkout, or with post-purchase upsells on mobile apps, depending on customer behavior and preferences.
Why is personalization essential in upselling?
- Personalization makes upsells more effective because they match the customer’s needs and capabilities. Customer service reps or salespeople can use insights from customer service conversations to tailor their offers and solve specific customer problems.
How can customer segmentation help upselling?
- Customer segmentation allows you to identify specific groups based on characteristics and behaviors. By targeting the right segments with pre-purchase or post-purchase upsells you can ensure customers see relevant options that meet their interests and needs.
