Introduction

E-commerce has grown so much over the past few years that it has been easier for even start-ups in the fashion industry to reach out to a bigger population. And you know what that means, the competition has become tough! There are many marketing strategies to explore and upselling is one of them. If you have a big catalog, this might get your business going. It will boost your revenues and your customers will feel like VIPs because you personalize their experience.

Almost every marketing expert will tell you that your most important customer is your existing customers. They are the ones you should be selling to because they already know you and you were already successfully able to close a deal with them so upselling something with more value should be easier.

1. Customize the Upsell

Tech companies often offer version upgrades with the phones that they sell. For example, if you’re planning to purchase a 32GB phone, you will often be offered a better deal for a 64GB or 128GB phone. Of course, this doesn’t apply to the fashion industry. But, if you know a fashionista, we love the customized stuff! Plus, our profiles and body types are all different.

This is why it’s important to you have a big catalog. This is so you can pair up items together or create bundles for upselling. Study your market as well and learn at least the top 3 personas that buy from you. Buyer personas will help you learn what your market wants and you can provide their needs.

2. Use Urgency As A Tool

Admit it, we all go crazy when there’s a 24-hour sale on a brand that we love. We actually even end up buying things we don’t need for now or hoard several items at once to maximize the sale. This is because brands are giving us a sense of urgency to add to the cart and you should do it, too.

When you upsell and offer a promo based on the upsell, make sure you do it only for a LIMITED TIME OFFER. This will add value to your marketing strategy. If you can’t do it for a limited time, then do it for a limited quantity. Create campaigns that put together a number of items that are relevant to each other or something that targets a customer’s profile – this way closing a sale will be easier.

Oh, and don’t forget the aesthetics. It feels more urgent when there’s some sort of countdown timer on your website representing the urgency. Or a tickler stating how many more stocks are left!

3. Utilise Email Marketing

If you’re not collecting the email addresses of your customers then you’re losing a lot of business opportunities. Although it’s true that many of us don’t really check our email for newsletters, those who are truly interested in you and those who have made a past purchase and are happy with their experience will be happy with whatever new offer you have for them.

Studies show that there is up to a 70% chance of a successful upsell to an existing client compared to a new customer. So make your upsell offers as creative as you can to make sure you close that deal.

Also, because we are in the day and age of digital marketing, please make sure that you make your emails as enticing as possible. Use graphics instead of text – that will really get the attention of your buyer. And more importantly, don’t forget to add a call to action. “Buy now” should always be your closing statement. You’ve already managed to get into their inbox, don’t be shy to be a little proactive.

4. Personalise the Upsell Offer

Because you will be contacting people via email, which is considered personal data quite frankly, don’t forget to ensure that you personalize your email. This shouldn’t be too difficult because AI is easily available nowadays and you won’t be needing to edit your templates one by one.

A very efficient way to do this is by categorizing your customers based on their purchase history. For instance, in the beauty industry, when a person buys a moisturizer with hyaluronic acid, it’s most likely because their skin is dry. So when skincare manufacturers have something new to offer to people with dry skin, it just makes sense that they sell it to people who fit the profile.

In addition to this, don’t forget to address your customers by name, mention your new recommendations, and include in the email as well that you are recommending this based on their past purchases. This is so they know you’re just not sending them random offers from time to time – you might end up in their spam folder.

5. Make the Upsell Relevant

If someone is buying a bikini, then don’t offer an upsell of winter clothing. Recommend something that is relevant to a bikini like a beach hat, a bikini cover-up or maybe even another bikini. However, when you do upsell, make sure to give great selling points as to why these products are important to the customer.

When you do this, you will increase customer lifetime value because they will remember how you help them not just with supplying the items they need but also by helping them decide what to get that is actually functional for them. Yes, people love brands that care for their customers. And as much as you want to generate sales, put your customers’ needs in mind first when deciding what to upsell and how you should do it.

6. Rule of Three

This rule has been used by so many successful brands. This is based on the principle that potential customers easily absorb information in groups of three or when you say things in 3 words, etc. Marketing experts would tell you that it is easier to charm people into buying your product or service with this rule.

When you offer an upsell, use a string of three words to make it more enticing for your clientele – do it now, add to cart, etc. It also works with branding and advertising – does “JUST DO IT” sound familiar to you? Tag lines matter!

If you have a product you want to upsell, offer 2 other products so you can follow this rule. Don’t add more than 3 because if there are too many choices, it might be hard for your customer to choose what they want. As a result, they become lazy to choose from the options or to even look at them, they decide to look at it later and forget they even planned to purchase from you.

So don’t give your customers a headache – offer less but more relevant options. It’s easier to close an upsell this way. And to be honest, menus and catalogs are prettier to look at that way.

7. Don’t Get Tempted to Price Too Much

Although it’s true that the point of upselling is to get more money, you’re not supposed to offer prices that are too high. Remember that the point of upselling is to show your customers that they are winning even though they’re selling for a higher price. Marketing experts suggest that your upsell price shouldn’t be more than 40% of the base item – the product they’re planning to buy in the first place.

Remember, however, that there are different classes of people based on their purchasing capacity. So a 40% increase might be too much for some. The best way to do this is by testing the waters. Go ahead and create different campaigns at different times. When one campaign works, know how much you profited and see if it is enough to keep the company going. If you’re losing money, then it’s either you need to up your prices more or lower down the increase of your upsell. Yes, it is a trial and error method but you might lose money in the long run.

But if you cross out the formulas that don’t work earlier then it’s easier for you to find methods that work

8. Conclusions

If upselling doesn’t work for you, don’t worry because there are so many other marketing strategies to try. There’s even down selling but let’s talk about it some other time. Start slow with your upsell strategy and don’t test everything all at once. See what combinations work well with each other the most.

And because I’ve already mentioned artificial intelligence in this article, don’t forget that e-commerce websites and whatever platform you’re using has a marketing center to help you out with tracking statistics of all the upselling campaigns that you create. So make use of those because they can show you the campaigns you need to maintain and those that don’t work for you. A helpful tip would be to change your upsell strategy per week, export data at least once a week so you can see how well you’ve done for the past 7 days. After several months of trying different techniques, study the weeks that did the best and base your future forecasts from there.