Bill H. over at Sell It On The Web has written a great guide on the principles and practices of Cross-selling and Up-selling. The article is geared toward e-commerce but the old tried and true methods from brick-and-mortar days are alive and well here. Bill says:

“Cross-selling refers to the practice of promoting complimentary items related to the item being sold while up-selling is the practice of offering customers an upgraded or premium version of a product.  These techniques are pretty simple concepts to understand and can provide lots of value to your customers, enhancing their shopping experience while increasing your site’s sales volume.  It’s a win, win.  If used incorrectly, however, they can damage your credibility and sabotage your marketing efforts.”

Cross-selling can certainly help you acquire more sales but it can also have a huge affect on your marketing budget. Due to the immediacy of online e-commerce perhaps this statement refers more to a brick-and-mortar or direct marketing campaign- basically referring to the fact it’s 5-7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing customer. With some research, some demographic data, and predictive analytics it is possible to cut back marketing budgets dramatically and maintain and/or increase revenue.

A great article.

Tags: e-commerce, up-sell