financial services, and many industries and sectors. Especially on online shopping platforms, cross-selling algorithms are frequently used by tracking customer behavior and recommending related products. This can help businesses generate more revenue as well as give customers more choices. If you own an e-commerce website and an online store on marketplaces, you should be open to trying different techniques to increase sales and profits. One of the most prominent digital marketing terms among these techniques is cross-selling.
We recommend that you review the tips we offer to increase your profits with cross-selling and improve the shopping experience of you rcustomers.
What is cross-selling?
Cross-selling is selling other products to customers interested in or who have bought one product. The question “Would you like fries?” asked by fast food chains selling hamburgers is one of the oldest known cross-selling techniques. For example, when you add a new iPhone to your basket on Amazon, you will see that it also offers you Airpods headphones and an Apple Watch tracker. With cross-selling, you can easily realise that these new products complement the product you added to the basket.
Some features of cross-selling
- Related products: Cross-selling is basically a strategy of recommending other products that are related or appropriate to the product or service the customer is buying. For example, if a customer is buying a computer, accessories (e.g. mouse, keyboard, monitor) are suitable for cross-selling recommendations.
- Based on customer needs: Cross-selling should be based on the actual needs of the customer. Understanding what additional products or services the customer may need is important for creating the right cross-selling strategy.
- Customer satisfaction: Cross-selling can increase customer satisfaction by giving customers more choices and meeting their needs. The customer feels that your business is trying to provide more services.
- Revenue increase: Cross-selling offers the potential for businesses to increase revenues. When customers buy additional products or services, the total sales volume and revenue of the business can increase.
What are the benefits of cross-selling?
Cross-selling in e-commerce brings you some significant benefits. Why shouldn’t you benefit from these advantages? With cross-selling;
● Compared to finding customers from scratch, you spend less effort and increase your turnover faster.
● Since you know your customers and track their usage habits, the conversion rate of the opportunities you offer will be higher.
● You showcase the breadth of the product catalogue and help your customers discover other products that may interest them.
● The basis of cross-selling lies in anticipating needs. When you meet your customers’ needs at the right time, customer loyalty increases.
Cross-selling techniques in e-commerce
Cross-selling techniques in e-commerce can help you increase your revenue by recommending related or additional products to customers and encouraging them to purchase those products. Here are some of the cross-selling techniques you can use in e-commerce:
1. Displaying relevant products on product pages
On each product page, recommend to customers other products that are related to or suitable for that product. For example, on a dress product page, recommend a suitable bag or accessories. Don’t you think it makes sense to recommend filter coffee and filter coffee paper to a user who orders a coffee machine? Or the tie you recommend when ordering a stylish suit may be exactly what the customer needs.
2. Cart recommendations
Considering the products customers add to their carts, suggest related or additional products on the cart page. You can offer suggestions such as “Frequently purchased with this product” or “They reviewed these products.”
3. Displaying related products with sliders
Use slider widgets that display related products on main navigation points, such as the homepage or product pages. Allow customers to easily browse different categories or similar products.
4. Cross-selling on review pages
Encourage customers to explore more products by recommending similar products or alternatives on customer review pages.
5. Cross-selling with campaigns and discounts
Encourage customers to purchase multiple products together through discounts, promotions or bundle offers. You can offer dealssuch as “If you buy this product, get this product with a 20% discount.”
6. Customized recommendations
Offer recommendations based on customers’ past shopping history or browsing habits using personalized recommendation engines.
7. Free shipping threshold
Encourage customers to add additional items when they exceed a threshold for free shipping. For example, you can offer an incentive such as “Free shipping on orders of 100 TL or more.”
8. Related blog content
Use blog posts or content popups to provide customers with interesting information about your products and link them to that content.
9. Last-minute suggestions on the shopping cart page
Try to upsell by offering last-minute recommendations on relevant products on the customer’s shopping cart page during the checkout process.
10. Product review emails
Increase sales by sending product review emails to customers and recommending related or additional products in those emails.
11. Recommend related products
Show different products from the same category to customers who add the product to their cart. Products that are related to each other will attract the attention of your customers. For example, the dog toys you recommend when ordering dog food may arouse interest.
12. Show top selling products
Users who add their products to the cart on Trendyol see certain products in the Best Sellers category when they click the “Go to Cart” button. These products can be from many different categories, from books to sockets, from masks to mascara.
13. Turn experiences into suggestions
The formula “Those who bought this product also bought this product” can produce extremely impressive results. For example, when you add a tea maker to your cart in Hepsiburada, you can see that it recommends various products such as a blender set, toaster and waffle maker under the heading “Frequently Purchased Together”.
14. Direct to useful services
Another way to cross-sell is to direct to services related to your products. If you sell high-priced products such as televisions or mobile phones, making a small payment in exchange for extending the warranty period for a few years can be an attractive offer for your customers.
To successfully implement cross-selling techniques, it is important to monitor customer behaviour, use algorithm-supported recommendation systems, and deliver value to customers. Additionally, you should always consider customer satisfaction and experience.
Cross-selling tips to increase sales in e-commerce
You can also increase your sales by trying cross-selling tips in your e-commerce business. If you don’t know where to start, here are a few tips:
1. Start with your best-selling products
If you are going to use cross-selling techniques for the first time, you can start with your best-selling products. Suggesting a few affordable complementary products on the pages of these products that your visitors are already interested in or in the shopping cart can help you increase your e-commerce sales.
2. Recommend affordable products, increase chances of purchase
The price of the products you are trying to sell through cross-selling methods shouldn’t be higher than the price of the product that is the main hero of the shopping. It is ideal for the price of the products you recommend to be between 10% and 50% of the price of the main product.
3. Choose the right time: When should you cross-sell in e-commerce?
Timing is very critical for cross-selling. Trying too frequent and inappropriate cross-selling techniques may cause your customers to abandon their shopping carts and even damage your store’s reputation. Using cross-selling methods at two points in the purchasing process increases the rate of sales conversion. These are product pages and checkout pages.
