Upsells and cross-sells increase your total revenue by 10%

A few months ago we launched one click pre-payment and post-checkout upsells. Now, we've crunched our data to see how much extra revenue they've been bringing in for our sellers. And the good news? On average, sellers using upsells and cross-sells are earning 10% more revenue. That's 10% extra money for doing pretty much nothing!

Update: Newer data is now available in our 2016 blog post do upsells make you more moeny

Do upsells and cross-sells really make you more money?

Yes! We're very excited to announce that sellers actively using upsells on average are making an extra 10% revenue. That's 10% more money for doing practically nothing.

SendOwl seller Craig Clarke, founder of keto diet website Ruled.me and meal plan site Keto Academy, has found that his average order value has increased by about 20% after using upsells and cross-sells:

My results have been pretty great. I find that my average overall order value increased by about 20%.

Craig also suggests that being strategic about testing and implementing upsells and cross-sells will pay dividends:

Make sure that you're not relying on only short term results to dictate a decision. If you're testing out certain upsells, make sure you have enough of a sample size to determine if it's working or not working.

Also, don't try to upsell products that aren't related to each other. I think one of the reasons that my upsells do so well is that they add value to what I'm already selling. If a potential customer is in a buying state of mind, then an upsell of something related and useful to them is usually a pretty easy choice.

How did we measure the effect of upsells?

First, we waited a couple of months to give sellers time to set up upsells and cross-sells and take a statistically significant number of orders.

We then took all the people who had upsells available on the majority of their products and were actively using them (rather than just testing them out).

We then looked at how much extra sellers made as a result of the upsells and divided this by the total of their orders had they not had the extra orders. This gave us their extra % increase.

We saw some sellers making over 20% extra with upsells and cross-sells, with the average at just over 10%.

We saw some sellers making over 20% extra with upsells and cross-sells, with the average at just over 10%

How can you ensure equally great results with upsells and cross-sells?

Here are a few tips that should help you increase the % extra revenue that upsells and cross-sells bring in:

1. Make sure your upsells and cross-sells are relevant to your customers. For example, if someone asks you if you want fries with your burger you almost feel like they are doing you a favour (now you come to mention it, fries are the perfect accompaniment...). However, if someone asks: 'do you want a pork dumpling with that?' you'd be forgiven for getting annoyed because if you wanted something like a pork dumpling you would have ordered it in the first place!
2. See whether pre-payment or post-checkout upsells or cross-sells work best for your company. Theorising which will work best is okay, but nowhere near as effective as real-life testing.
3. Consider using discounts to encourage people to spend more. That way, customers think they are getting a good deal too. So, you could offer customers a 10% discount on an ebook bundle, which would still make you more money, but sounds more attractive to a customer than simply saying 'why not spend an extra $40?'.
4. Think about adding a photo or video to your cross-sell or upsell to make it more attractive to customers.

My results have been pretty great. I find that my average overall order value increased by about 20%. Over time can add up to quite a lot of extra capital flowing into your business.

Concluding thoughts

Upsells and cross-sells are (officially!) a great way to encourage your customers to spend more with very little effort involved for you. If you haven't already, why not see how upsells and cross-sells can benefit your company?

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