It’s always a good feeling when someone buys from your brand. But what happens after the first purchase? Will they get their item and never return or come back for more in the near future? As a brand leader, you can help control which outcome is more common for your site.
Cross-selling is the key to increasing revenue per order and repeat revenue. This growth strategy encourages customers to buy more without being pushy, leading to long-term profitability rather than only short bursts of revenue.
What is Cross-Selling?
Cross-selling refers to recommending products that enhance the customer’s original purchase. This could be a website suggesting matching earrings to go with a necklace or conditioner to go with shampoo.
These recommendations should feel natural and helpful rather than overwhelming. In most cases, these products will be something that the customer needs anyway, but they hadn’t thought about purchasing the product at that moment.
Adding cross-selling strategies can give audiences the push they need to buy more, leading to larger average order values (AOV) overall for your business.
Cross-Selling vs. Upselling
Upselling differs because it focuses on getting customers to buy high-end products, such as upgrades, add-ons, and customizations that would increase the price. Rather than recommending a hat to go with a scarf, upselling will try to get the customer to buy a higher-quality scarf.
To some people, upselling can feel pushy, but each approach is effective in the right situations. Upselling can work well if the customer has shown interest in premium features or improved performance. If upselling isn’t right for the customer, cross-selling can be beneficial because it suggests products that are useful when paired with the product they’re already purchasing.
How Does Cross-Selling Help Brands Grow?
Tactics like cross-selling and upselling aren’t just a one-time benefit. By implementing them into the purchase process, they can lead to long-term revenue growth for your brand.
Brands are constantly guiding the “next best purchase” across site, email, paid, and lifecycle marketing, but these tactics are only effective if they resonate with your audience. Rather than focusing on bringing in as many new customers as possible, it’s important to build trust in every customer so they’ll want to buy more from your site.
It can be exhausting for CMOs to constantly track down new customers who may or may not make more than one purchase. Instead of wasting time and money bringing new customers in, cross-selling focuses on increasing order values of existing customers and encouraging them to come back, leading to long-term success rather than inconsistent revenue.
Since cross-selling offers helpful product suggestions, it not only encourages more purchases, but it can also build loyalty. Customers will discover that your shop has everything they need in one place, which is a great incentive for them to keep coming back in the future. Repeat revenue is the key to long-term growth for new brands.
Strategies to Move Customers Past the First Purchase
An effective cross-selling strategy is about more than just implementing product suggestions. You need to thoughtfully incorporate relevant products in places that will drive impact. Keep the following tips in mind for your site.
Determine What to Cross-Sell
It’s hard to get results if you recommend random products. Instead, the suggestions should be intentional. The products should complement the item the customer is interested in and be lower in price. The best offers are the ones that are easy to say yes to because they provide an immediate benefit with no pressure.
Effective cross-selling should also be personalized. The recommendations should take purchase history, browsing behavior, and commonly paired items into account. You wouldn’t want to recommend a laptop to someone buying a sweater. Even if it’s a really cool laptop, the suggestion will likely be ignored if it’s not what they’re looking for at that time.
When shopping experiences are highly personalized, reports show that customers are 110% more likely to add more items to their carts and 40% more likely to spend more than they planned.
Consider When to Offer Products
Choosing the right products won’t be successful if they appear at the wrong time. Offers should show up throughout the purchase journey while buying new products is in the front of the customer’s mind.
Common locations for cross-selling offers include:
On the product page
During the checkout
In a post-purchase message
These are all points where customers are likely to make another purchase if it benefits the items they’re already getting. Test different approaches in these locations to see which ones work the best for your audience.
Bundle Products Together
Sections like “customers also purchased” and “complete the set” can help customers find relevant products they might need. You can take it a step further by offering a discount when purchasing two items together. If someone is already considering buying both options, seeing a discount for the bundle will make that decision a lot easier.
At least one product in the bundle should be a popular item because it can help boost sales for other items that customers might not notice otherwise. The less popular item should pair well with the high-demand item to achieve bundle sales.
With every cross-selling approach, don’t forget to tie in brand building. Rather than only thinking about what you want to sell, think about why it’s important to your customers and use brand narratives to connect with them. When shoppers connect with your brand and understand your values, you’ll experience better customer retention.
Increase Your Average Order Value with Aftersell
Cross-selling is a great approach for repeat revenue, but only if you know how to use it right. Avenue Z partners with AfterSell, an eCommerce platform that specializes in helping customers buy more and continue supporting your business. With Aftersell’s personalized features, brand leaders can more easily set their business up for long-term success.
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