10 And 1/2 ‘Forbidden’ Up-Selling Strategies

If you are currently not using an up-sell in your sales process, then I guarantee that you are doing disservice to yourself and your customers/clients. Up-selling done right, can absolutely increase your VPC (Value Per Customer) and increase your profits as a result.

Lately, I’ve heard marketers talk about the disadvantages of up-selling. There is even a term floating around the Internet among marketers… “Up-Sell Hell”

The negative association with up-selling is a direct result of some marketers overdoing it, or up-selling the wrong way.

Two Common Up-Sell Mistakes:

Knowing what the common mistakes are, you can do it right from the beginning.

Have maximum 2 up-sells with their down-sells (maximum 3-4 pages for your customer to go through). In addition, don’t forget to test the number of up-sells, because each market/niche/industry is different.

Have a very relevant up-sell. In other words, your up-sell should be very closely related to the main product. Usually, the more related it is, the more customers will take you up on the up-sell offer.

Below are 10 up-selling strategies you can use to increase your profits.

1. “Deluxe Up-Sell” – When you sell a basic product and tell people for a little more money they can receive the deluxe edition. (You can call call it anyway you like… Gold, Premium, Platinum, Pro, etc. The basic idea behind the deluxe edition is that it’s better, bigger, advanced, etc.)

2. “Money Up-Sell” – When you offer people the rights to sell the product they are buying from your business. You could charge an extra $30 to get the reproduction rights. (This means that they will be able to sell the same product themselves to others and keep 100% of the money)

3. “Discount Up-Sell” - If you are selling a product people may order again in the future like shave gel, you could offer them a second can of shave gel at a discount. Did you get the idea?

4. “Time Up-Sell” – If you are selling a product or service people subscribe to, like a magazine, you could tell them if they subscribe for two years instead of one, they can receive it half off the cover price.

5. “Quantity Up-Sell” – This is similar to the discount up-sell. The only difference is that you increase the discount by how many products they order. If they order 3 it’s a 10% discount, if they order 5 it’s a 15% discount. Pretty cool, huh?

6. “Package Up-Sell” – When you are selling a product, you could offer similar products in a package deal. Tell the people the other products are cheaper with the package deal versus purchasing them separately. (This is very common in the internet marketing niche)

7. “Affiliate Up-Sell” – When you are selling a product, you could offer someone else’s product as an up-sell. However, you would have to make a commission on the product in order to profit.

8. “Free Up-Sell” – Offer a free sample or trial of your product (your first sale would be free) and then tell people if they order the full version right now they will get a discount. This one is pretty nice too, isn’t it?

9. “Extra Up-Sell” – There are many things you could charge extra for at the time of sale. It could be gift wrapping, imprinting, custom designs, physical version instead of just the digital, etc.

10. “Extended Up-Sell” – If your product comes with a warranty, you could ask people if they would like to extend the warranty one more year for only $24.95.

In conclusion, you can use one or all of these up-selling strategies to increase your profits at the point of the sale. Don’t be afraid to use your imagination to come up with new up-sell strategies.