How to Upsell Products on Shopify

As a Shopify store owner, you are all too aware of the importance of improving your sales consistency, and one of the most effective ways to do this is to sell several interrelated products at once.

The more items you can convince each customer to buy, the better it is for your bottom line. But convincing people to buy related products is not an easy sell!

So what is the most effective way to upsell products on Shopify? Here are some simple steps to implementing upselling on your Shopify store and streamlining your sales for years to come.

How to Upsell Products on Shopify

Ensure That the Upsells Feel Relevant

A common reason why upselling on Shopify might fall through or fail to work is that the offers do not feel relevant. You need to understand what you are selling and what related products would go down well with each item you sell. The challenge here is to look at your entire inventory and then build a list of what would be a complementary purchase.

Do not offer the same upsell across the entire store — this does not work. Upsells should be relevant to what is being purchased. You can use in-store analysis to look at what other shoppers have bought alongside a specific product, or you can look at competitors to see what they tend to bundle together. The more you can sell together, the more likely you are to get sales on products that might not be moving too well on their own.

A useful suggestion might be to look at add-on accessories that, on their own, do not receive a lot of purchases. When thrown in as part of a bundle upsell, though, you can help move stock on lesser-sold products while giving the customer something compatible with their purchase.

Create a Sense of Urgency

The next thing you should do when trying to upsell is to make it clear to the individual that this offer will only last for a while. The more urgency you can create, the better. This works well because it helps the individual feel like they need to act now or miss out on something they might not get again.

It could be a heavy discount or promotional deal on a product that would complement what they have already purchased. For example, if you were selling an electric razor, you could find that including things like beard oils and hair treatment could be a useful addition.

You should always make it clear that this offer will not last beyond the current upsell, encouraging customers to buy at the discounted rate.

Focus on Post-Sale Upselling

One of the best ways to upsell on Shopify is to focus on upselling once the purchase has been completed. They have already committed to one purchase, and history shows us that when we are in a “buying mood,” we are easier to convince to buy another related product. This is the ideal time to slip an offer under their nose that is too good to turn down.

The best thing to try and sell at this point is a product that would be an ideal partner to what they have just purchased. This changes from product to product, and it requires you to know your audience well, but upselling should always be done in the immediate aftermath of a purchase. Unless it is a product upgrade, post-purchase upselling is typically more effective than pre-purchase.

Offer Access to a Higher Level of Product

Another choice you could offer as an upsell could be to upgrade their purchase to a higher level. Let us say that the product you are selling comes in four forms, with various additional extras thrown in with each higher form or tier. When someone is buying the lower levels, you can offer a discounted rate to go to the higher tier in a one-time-only purchase.

This could be a decent discount for the buyer, and it might encourage them to take action now to get an even better deal. This works well because many buyers will flirt with buying the higher-tier edition, and when it is offered at a lower price, it feels too good to turn down.

Keep this in mind when creating offers, as it can make it easier to keep people on-side.

Look for Useful Related Add-Ons

Another factor when it comes to upselling is ensuring that the products you offer feel like a natural fit for the product in question. If someone is buying a bottle of perfume, for example, you could look to throw in other related cosmetics — or you could offer a gift set that would go well with the perfume in question.

This requires you to have genuine product knowledge and to look for related products that would be a worthwhile purchase. You can use your in-shop analysis to look at what users tend to buy and view when they consider that product. This can let you know what your customers might expect to buy as a complementary item that works alongside the goods they have already purchased. This requires some research, but it can make it easier to ensure that sales go through and users benefit from upsells.

Now that you understand the reality of upselling on Shopify, you should find it much easier to build product lines that work together. Take a look at your available options, and creating compatible product ranges becomes pretty simple.

What Is Upselling on Shopify?

Upselling is the art of providing a related, compatible product that fits in perfectly with what the individual was looking to buy.