The art of the upsell means taking a sale from a transaction to an interaction, from a conversion to a connection. Doing so makes a big difference, it dramatically impacts your customer’s experience. Adding on to their original purchase becomes their decision rather than a pushy upsell. But here’s the tricky part: People don’t enjoy being sold. Pushing more products and services onto a customer who already committed to buying something from you can backfire and leave them feeling bullied, unappreciated, and downright annoyed.

So how do you strike a balance between making no additional offer and driving customers away with overly aggressive sales tactics? By using strategies that provide more value, give the customer more benefits, and create a better overall experience. Your sales can actually make customers happier and feel more connected to your company and brand.

 

Only Make Relevant Offers 

Before you try to upsell any customer with any product, you first need to ask yourself if your upsell is even relevant. Yes, the goal is to generate more sales for your business — but in the long run, customer happiness (and their lifetime value) will create more revenue and overall success than a one-time sale. Make sure your additional offer is always relevant to the original purchase. 

 

Sell with the SPIN Framework

Borrow a strategy from your colleagues in marketing to bring some artistic flair to your upsell. If you’ve done any copywriting, you may be familiar with frameworks that you can use to make your writing more persuasive. The SPIN framework is one of these. Here’s how it breaks down:

Spell Out the Situation

Present the Problem

Introduce an Idea

Notify Them of What’s Next

This framework for upselling your customers is a subtle way to bring their attention to a pain point or problem they may not even know they had. Present the problem to them — and then introduce an idea on how to solve it. This way of selling is more like storytelling, and it’s powerful. It allows you to bring your customer along on a journey. You paint a picture for them — and they can imagine themselves in every part of it.

 

Use Limited-Time Offers

Nothing gets people in gear like a deadline. Drawing a customer’s attention to a limited-time deal can encourage them to take action and add on to their original purchase.

Design deals and promotions with timelines. Don’t make open-ended offers. And be sure to inform the customer of the deadline once you put it in place.

Here are a few ways to create a sense of urgency to encourage people to take action (and buy more):

• Flash sales.
• Discount events

Offering deals — or even products themselves — for a limited amount of time drives people to take action because it triggers a sense of urgency. If we don’t act now, we could miss out.

 

Provide Peace of Mind

When your customer makes a big purchase, they want to protect their investment. You can help them do that — and upsell them in the process — by providing additional products and services for a small additional cost. These kind of upsells can enhance your customer experience — if your products or services are a great match for the original purchase.

 

Give a Little Gift

To encourage customers to buy a little more than they originally planned to purchase, reward them for spending money with you. There are several ways to accomplish this.

A customer who might have considered a cheaper product can easily justify upselling themselves when they see the offer for the gift card. If they choose to use the gift card on another purchase, it’s like saving money for shopping with the retailer. It also keeps the customer loyal to the brand. You can incentivize customers to say yes to the upsell when you provide store credits or create some sort of loyalty program.

 

Always Look to Provide Value

Again, the art of the upsell is about providing your customer with something of value. Yes, you increase your sales. You can increase your revenue. But your priority should be to increase the happiness and satisfaction of your customers above all else. Providing them with suggestions, ideas, and offers that are relevant to them is a good start.

Recommending products or services that fit their needs and help protect their purchases and investments shows that you understand them — and want to make sure they get the most from what they buy. 

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