Think back to the most recent YouTube video you’ve watched. Notice the “related” videos recommended for you? Cross-selling in eCommerce works just like that.
Whenever you buy from platforms like Amazon or other Shopify eCommerce stores, related products are put in front of you. This strategy seems simple but it’s among the most effective marketing strategies for increasing revenue.
According to Amazon, cross-selling accounts for 35% of their overall sales. The reason why it’s effective? – convenience. Cross-selling is logical. After buying a phone, chances are customers are going to look for a phone case. So why not push that product in front of them?
Customers won’t have to look far, and they might find something they thought they didn’t need. Just like clicking on the next “related” YouTube video, customers may find themselves going down a product rabbit hole.
But to fully utilize cross sell in eCommerce, we need to understand the basics.
Pushing products related to what a customer already bought is the core concept of cross-selling. Platforms can do this thanks to customer relationship management (CRM) tools and automation.
CRM helps businesses collect and analyze customers’ purchasing data. Automation transforms that data into tailored product suggestions for the customers.
This combination gives customers an unrivaled level of convenience when shopping. When everything’s put in front of your customer, it’s easier for them to buy. Customers are more likely to view cross sell product suggestions as a nice add-on to their purchase instead of another hard sell.
But cross-selling should be distinct from upselling. Here’s a quick rundown on some key differences:
The distinction between cross-selling and upselling is simple. Upselling means suggesting a better, upgraded, and more expensive product than what you intended to buy.
Using our example earlier for the phone, our cross-sell would be suggesting buying a phone case, earphones, or a screen protector. The upsell would be buying the latest model of that phone. But you could still cross-sell another phone case to fit the bigger, upgraded phone.
Now that we know what cross-selling is, let’s take an in-depth look at why it’s so effective.
Customer experience is king when it comes to online shopping. The smoother and more convenient a customer’s purchasing journey is, the more likely they’ll buy again or spend more.
Cross-selling smooths out the purchasing journey through data-driven suggestions powered by automation. When done effectively, it can increase AOV (average order value) and overall revenue.
Salesforce conducted a study showing customers who clicked on recommendations were 4.5x more likely to complete a purchase. Still, cross-selling won’t be effective without CRM.
CRM provides insight as to what gives more value to customers. This includes the products and services they’re looking for. The products your business can provide and the products your customers don’t have.
Understanding these promotes a better eCommerce customer experience. As long as the products pushed in cross-selling provide value, it’s a win-win for both sellers and customers.
Automation streamlines cross-selling processes. It also helps personalize a customer’s shopping experience. This makes automation an essential marketing tool for Shopify and other eCommerce platforms
But for automation to be effective, there are several best practices to keep in mind such as:
Reacting to Customers’ Actions: Automation tools help analyze purchasing patterns of prospects. This gives businesses insight into the customers’ needs based on how they react to pushed content. Business owners can utilize this information to identify when a prospect is ready to buy.
Providing Value: Cross-selling must provide value for both buyers and sellers. An effective way of doing so is through building a long-lasting relationship with customers. This can be done by eliminating reservations a customer has regarding a product. Present information and educate prospects on its benefits.
Organize Data Based on Customers: There is no one-size-fits-all solution for cross-selling. As much as possible, this process has to be tailored to meet specific customer groups’ needs. Businesses can do this using segmentation. An excellent data model allows decision-makers insight into products a customer owns and what they don’t.
Follow-Up Customers: A customer can hesitate on a purchase especially when it’s an expensive buy. Decisions including large financial risk won’t happen overnight. But what marketers should never do is leave the decision to them.
Help customers make that final push with follow-ups. Use optimized headlines for eCommerce and create better copy for your products. Make sure that you’re not forcing anything or hard selling. Provide value and hook the customer in.
In the realm of eCommerce, cross-selling and up-selling have their own advantages and disadvantages. Do too much of either and there’s a high chance of customers being irritated. We don’t want that happening.
What we do want is a way to streamline both organically. Automation helps with this. Here are some of the top automation tools to keep in mind:
Zoko is a CRM that provides personalized cross-sell and upsell recommendations to your customers. They can search, buy products, and get automated product upsells straight from WhatsApp.
Features:
But before you can start automating, you need to understand the structure of the upsell flow. All it takes is three easy steps:
Zoko offers flexible pricing options starting from $34.99/month for their Started pack—best for small businesses trying to find their footing in eCommerce, all the way to $219.99 for their Business package—perfect for well-established shops that need streamlined and centralized controls.
Compat.io is a cross-selling recommendation platform that helps shoppers create personalized carts. Customers are directed to add multiple recommended goods to the cart. The platform also boasts the “shop the look” feature. It can even help cooks find all the ingredients in a recipe.
Pricing for Compat.io is a combination of an annual subscription fee of $2950 and 3.5% of all sales made through their widgets.
Zoorix integrates up-sell and cross-sells through bundles. It can offer upsells on items that customers frequently purchase with one click. This feature alone can result in a massive increase in AOV. The app also has the ability to customize upsell and cross-sell parameters.
Features:
Pricing for Zoorix is initially free. Users get 50 orders/month for free but this can increase to $29.99/month for every 500 orders.
Limespot leverages data from all customers (merchants) to customize each consumer's experience. This program analyzes the purchase history of your store, comparable items, and perhaps rivals.
Their powerful AI blends catalog data with browsing and purchase behavior to create 1:1, real-time personalizations. By customizing recommended items at each step of the user's journey, Limespot can minimize the time between the user's awareness and consideration phase.
Features:
Pricing for Limespot is free for small eCommerce businesses with less than $5000 monthly revenue. But to fully utilize the tool, it's recommended to use at the very least their $20/month package. This already includes email personalization, A/B testing, and more.
Rebuy is a market leader for Shopify/Plus brands that encourages eCommerce retailers to upsell and cross-sell. Their solution improves average order value, offers, customer experience, and retention.
Rebuy's use cases range from pre-purchase to post-purchase. Using Rebuy's smart cart, you may incorporate a free shipping bar threshold, product cross-sells, and much more.
Features:
Pricing starts free for 50 orders every month. It ramps up to $4.49/month plus $0.09 for every purchase made with Rebuy. Enterprise plans are also available for larger businesses.
Whether it's a thank-you page or an order status page, ReConvert makes it easy to add personalized text and advanced functionality for your online shop's customers.
Not only do you get upsells, but you also get birthday reminders, social sharing buttons, and the ability to embed videos and images right into your thank-you pages.
Features:
Pricing starts at $7.99 per month for 100 orders.
Learning how to cross sell products leads to a significant boost in revenue. Any business, be it SMEs or large enterprises can use this strategy.
However, effectively utilizing cross-selling requires the help of two key factors: CRM and automation. These two work together to create a customer-focused system of product suggestions.
So before spending time and resources on cross-selling, here are some important things to consider:
If you want to streamline cross-selling in your eCommerce shop using WhatsApp, look no further than Zoko! Schedule a demo today and see how Zoko can elevate your business!
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