7 Strategies to better
Cross Sell to your Customers

Cross selling can boost profitability of your ecommerce business by identifying appropriate sales opportunities to increase customer encounters. Persuading customers to purchase additional items can be tricky; read on to know more about strategies that can help you better cross sell to your customers and can positively influences your sales:

1)      Leverage customer data

Data is readily available in online businesses; and you need to analyze properly for better cross selling.  You have the previous purchase history; all you have to do is to explore data in search of consistent patterns or systematic relationships, analyze the trends and customer buying behaviors and refer them in cross selling similar customers.

2)      Complementary Product

You need to build a range of complementary products to start with. For e.g. if you sell shoes, get some show polish or if you sell mobile, keep mobile covers  for a last minute cross sell. Make sure that the item you cross sell is cheaper than the original product and simple enough for your customers to make a speedy buying decision.

3)      Also Bought

Introducing ‘Frequently bought together’ or ‘Customers who bought this item also bought’ sections to increase the chances of cross selling. Customers purchasing a particular product might have interests similar to other customers and this helps them discover products based on choices made by other customers in past.

4)      Bundle Offers

Bundling products that fits in naturally together at an attractive price point is one way of cross selling. The idea behind this is to make customer advance a purchase decision (which they might have made in future) in exchange of a price discount. All you need is to find a benchmark price that will make it compelling enough for your customers to purchase while making a profit.

5)      Product Placement

Product placement is critical not only in physical stores but also in digital stores; how you place your products has a huge impact on your sales even in the digital world. You need to look for the products which can go in for impulse purchase. Plus, the items must not only be relevant but also be inexpensive enough to help take an impulsive decision and put it in the right place to get noticed. For e.g. cross selling an inexpensive wine glass at the end of a wine purchase just below the order summary can do wonders.

6)      For Best Results

Leverage your domain expertise to recommend other products to your customers. For example few products go well with certain related products and often customers look for suggestions on such recommendations. For e.g. a specific shampoo labeled “For best results, use shampoo with conditioner Y” can not only be a very effective cross selling technique but also establishes thought leadership for your brand.

7)      Incentivize

Alluring customers with offers such as “free shipping on orders more than $20” or “10% discount on orders more than $100” pushes them to buy that little more. Once a purchase is complete, you can even offer the customer a discount on the second purchase.
Cross selling is not about manipulating customers. On the contrary, it is an effective way to improve your sales by showing customers products of their genuine interest which connects to their original purchase. There is this thin imaginary line between sincerely helping customers through cross selling and being annoyingly pushy. Customers prefer cross selling only if you stay within the boundaries of pertinence and restraint.