Free - 5 Ways to Improve online Cross- & Up-Selling

We've all been cross- or up-sold to before. We reach for the magazines or sweets at the supermarket checkout counter. We purchase games the sales person suggests for our new game console. We gleefully pour over the options list for our new car.

Cross-selling is selling an additional product to existing customers, usually related to what they've already bought. Up-selling is selling a better (but usually more expensive) product to customers, after they've decided on a cheaper product.

Cross- and up-selling isn't difficult as you're selling to people who want to buy - probably the easiest job in the world next to selling petrol! The key however is to do it well. Here are a few tips on how to cross- and up-sell online more effectively.

5. Offer alternatives when customers search

Users will often use the site search when unable to find a product using the primary navigation. They are however likely to leave if the site doesn't return useful search results so offering alternative search terms can keep site visitors on your website and increases the chance of a sale.

For example, if users search for 'pink Macintosh' and the site doesn't return a valid result, prompt them to try searching for 'Macintosh' instead. This increases the chances of keeping them on your site.

Conclusion

Cross- and up-selling is relatively straightforward. Doing it well means that you'll not only sell more items, but will keep customers coming back to your site again and again.

This article was written by Cyprian Wong. Cyprian's crazy about usability - so crazy that he works for Webcredible, an industry leading user experience consultancy. When not developing information architecture he can often be found doing interaction design.