Best Practices For Cross Marketing & Up-Selling

Presented by Michael J. Dell’ArcipreteVice President of Marketing

BocaJava.com

GOALS• To increase The Average Order Value (AOV) throughout the site.• To increase customer satisfaction• To increase product category awareness.

Non- Goals- Use Cross-Selling as a “way” to dump slow moving inventory- Use Cross Selling in a way that hurt rates of conversion- Allow the use of Cross Selling to lower customer satisfaction.

• Show relevant items:– accessories or alternatives to the same product – larger sizes or other same-product up-sells when possible

Best Practices

Speak to the customer:

Use personal words like “you” vs. “we” - “You Might Also Like” vs. “We Suggest”

Use emotional words like “need” and “want”

Best Practices

Solve Problems• Offer items that anticipate your customers needs. Let the customer now that you are offering the “Logical Complimentary item.. One that may even remind the customer of something they will likely need in the future.

• This is especially effective when the merchant can offer a special “Combined price” that offers a savings.

Best Practices

Let Customers Sell to Customers.• Offer items that other customers have either bought or recommended. This allows merchants to capitalize on the growing amount of customer generated content.

•This also adds a “credibility” factor to an ecommerce site.. Cross sells should not be “Whatever we have too much stock in”

Best Practices

Up-Sell in the Cart!•Provide enough detail on add-ons (thumbnail, price and description) so customer is less likely to click away from cart page

Let the customer buy without leaving the cart. Customers may think adding a product to the cart will take them away from the cart page and they’ll fear that the new item will “mess up their purchase”

•Offer a mix of price points when suggesting items on the view cart page: ( Good, Better, Best)

Best Practices

•Create urgency in the eyes of the consumer with “Limited Time Offer” or “Limited Quantities” that are truly limited time offers, not recycled offers from past promotions. It is important to establish credibility.

Make it easy to return to the product page after you add a suggested item - even better to keep shopper on the product page but clearly let the shopper know an item was added to the cart

• Show impulse items like gift cards, gift wrapping, warranties, and storage bins. These items are are easily recognized by the customer.

• Offer discounts on one item when you buy another item on the “view cart/bag/basket” page. Bundling offers creates a sense of value for consumers.

• Show “top rated” products along with review content to build trust and catch interest. ***** merchandise and **** merchandise.• Provide an online glossary of product characteristics.

Other Best Practices

Best Practices

Too Many Cross

Sell Offers

Don’t present too many cross sell options. A crowded page looses its effectiveness in presenting an outstanding offer.

Don’t show random advertisements that are totally unrelated to the product or category.

Cross-Selling Techniques to Avoid

Don’t Talk Over the Customer.

Showing unusual merchandise without the benefit of product descriptions will just create an uncertain customer.

No partial descriptions for customers to

establish at least an initial understanding of

the product.

Cross-Selling Techniques to Avoid

No Brand Wars! Don’t suggest competing brands that offers essentially the same product (SONY vs. RCA) in the view cart page - this only results in confusion and can ruin site conversion

Don’t let seasonal items stay past their time of relevancy. (Unless merchandise is being presented as a special offer “Save for next year, by buying now”.

Don’t present out-of-stock items unless backorders are available to customers seamlessly.

Cross-Selling Techniques to Avoid

Other Things to Avoid

Third Party Up-sells

The Players- Web Loyalty- Affinion- United Marketing Group

The Pros- Revenue $$- Higher ROI on Marketing Campaigns- Gain insights into customers reacts to post transactional offers

The Cons- Customer Dissatisfaction- Increase in call center calls (complaints)- Risk tainting brand.