Part of being a small business owner is reading your customer base, especially for ecommerce stores. If you run a retail store, you've probably heard about cross-selling, but what you might not know is how important it is to your company's growth. In fact, cross-selling can help increase your sales by 20% while increasing overall profits by 30%. It's a sales strategy you can't afford to miss. If you're interested in learning about how it can work for you, contact us for a personalized overview.
What Is Cross-Selling?
Simply put, cross-selling is the process of choosing complementary products that go with others you offer. For instance, if you sell home goods and someone buys an area rug, a complementary product might be curtains that match the area rug and tie the entire look together. If you sell clothes in a boutique, you might pair certain shoes with a top. If you offer a service-based business, you might suggest one software program to go with another. These are just some examples of how you can put cross-selling to work for you.
How Does It Work?
Cross-selling isn't something that happens automatically. In fact, it requires a bit of work on the company's part in what's known as mapping out products. We'll get more into that shortly, but it almost always occurs at the sale-point, when the customer is ready to check out. Think about the last time you shopped for products online and what you encountered at the checkout stage. If a window popped up offering you items that would work well with what you've got in your cart, that's the company's attempt to cross-sell.
How to Implement Cross-Selling
Now that you know what it is, you need to know how to effectively integrate it as part of your sales strategy. One thing that's important to know is that it will require more time than just simply creating a product listing. This is because there may be several items that go with each product you offer, but it's up to you to determine which ones are not only most closely related but also which ones will sell.There are a few different ways to cross-sell:
- On product pages
- At point-of-sale checkout
- On thank you pages after checkout
- In emails
- Product bundles
Let's take a look at the different methods a little more in-depth.
On Product Pages
This is one of the easiest ways to get other items in front of your shopper's eyes. At the bottom of the product page, you can have a list of a few products that match, with different headings such as:
- Others bought …
- You might like …
- Take a look at …
You'll need an eye-catching way to present these items, as well. Many sites use a photo carousel because they're a great way to grab attention since they're moving. It's perfectly okay to ditch this idea in favor of a simple banner beneath the product description. Whatever works with your site design and aesthetic is what's most important.
At Point-of-Sale Checkout
This is probably the most common method that ecommerce businesses use to cross-sell their products. They've got a committed buyer already in the checkout process, so it makes sense that this would be the time to try to cross-promote. However, it can also deter the shopper if the message is too pushy and it requires automation, so you'll need to spring for extra work on the site behind the scenes to make this work. The need for automation also makes it trickier because it requires actual product mapping. This is easily done but time-consuming because it's a good idea to choose the products personally, rather than have a mish-mash of products that don't fit with what the shopper has already committed to purchasing.
On Thank You Pages
After the checkout process, customers should be automatically taken to a "Thank You" page, where they receive a short message with their order number and details. Here is the perfect time to make other suggestions and perhaps offer free shipping on those products too. You'll already be sending out a confirmed order, and unless the product is oversized, you're not likely to lose out on shipping.
In Emails
Typically, after an order, companies send out an email so that the purchaser can track their order and refer back to it in case they have questions. Here is another cross-selling opportunity. Two or three corresponding products may inspire the additional purchase. If you put a time limit on it, so that it ships with the original order, you might get an impulse buy. This is not the place to be pushy, though. Do not send multiple emails, just the one with the order info and this should be automatic. If you persist, it's considered spamming, especially if the customer didn't authorize receiving product updates or newsletters from you. This is a completely different ballgame, and not related to cross-selling.
Product Bundles
Product bundles are a little different but can result in extra sales. Think of a kitchen goods store, if you sell a mixer, but bundle that with a few attachments at a slightly lower cost, it may result in additional sales. If you're a service-based company, offer a package deal on complementary services or memberships. It's a quicker way to get your goods and services in front of the shopper's eyes. If they don't know about it, they can't buy it!
Timing Is Everything
When it comes to cross-selling, time is of the essence. You need to sell while you have the customer's attention and that's when they're on your website, whether it's browsing or buying. If you waste too much time or try to reach them too late after the fact, say in the thank you page or in an email, you'll likely lose out on the sale.You see, once the sale is complete, the customer is done spending money and is likely already clicking away and ignoring pop-ups or additional messages. Once they navigate away, you've lost their attention and unless it's a really good deal you're offering, they'll likely ignore it.
Mapping Goods
To map out what you're offering, you have to know exactly how to do it. The best way is to look at other products or services within a specific category and try to think of which ones you would combine. Another must in this process is knowing your customer. A lot of times, repeat customers are the ones who are likely to be more receptive to cross-selling because they're already familiar with your company and the rate of service. The automation process is extremely helpful here because it can tap into a buyer profile, see their past orders and evaluate trends, saving you tons of time.Another critical approach is to examine the problems that a customer may try to solve with your products or services. For example, a camera buyer wants to take photos, but the level of cross-selling should depend on the type of camera. If it's a professional camera, filters and lenses are great options to promote. If it's a lower-scale camera, perhaps focus on camera straps and cases. Knowing the target audience ensures you create lists that inspire clicks.Like anything, you'll learn through trial and error. There are also software programs that help evaluate how successful your sales tactics are and which campaigns might need to go the route of the dinosaurs.If you're ready to see how cross-selling can open the doors to more sales, and thus more revenue, it only takes a few minutes of your time. Contact us today and let's see how we can help you get started on the road to more success.