23 Ideas on How to Upsell Your Customers [2022]

Do you know how to upsell your existing customers? I’m thinking you don’t.

Why? Because you’ve been spending all your time improving your sales technique and and enough time cross selling your current customers.

Here’s another thing, upselling strategies aren’t just for online and ecommerce. Every small business owner can benefit from learning how to upsell.

Want to Know How to Upsell? You Need an Upsell Strategy

I don’t normally like to throw around words like “upsell strategy” but in this case, that’s exactly what you need.

You need to make important choices about what you will upsell and how will you upsell. You need to come up with an upsell offer — well, maybe more than one upsell offer.

So let’s

You need more upsells and I’ve just just the thing. These post purchase upsells and upselling techniques are guaranteed to help you make more money from existing customers.

In this article, I’m going to give you some great upsell recommendations and show you some upsell opportunities you may not have thought of.

I’ve broken them all down into individual ideas that you can use alone or mix and match to create your very own.

But first —

Deep Dive Into Your Existing Customers

Now, it’s time for sales strategy for your upsell. Your customer base is loaded with all kinds of valuable information. I like to start with an existing customer who best represents your ideal customer. From that profile, you’ll be able to identify other customers.

Your first stop should be to take a look at your current customers.

You can start with your loyal customers to identify the right customers

Double down on the top 80%

Download your existing customers in descending order of sales (and profits) into a spreadsheet. Select the customers that comprise 80%-90% of your sales. Find out what MORE you can sell them.

Keep track of customer requests and questions

OK, so this more of a marketing thing. But keep track of anything customers ask you for — do you have …, do you offer… — Then use that list to create irresistible upsells

Create a list of relevant upsell offers

If you went to a restaurant and they offered you a free oil change as an upsell offer, would you take it? Probably not. That’s because an upsell has to be relevant to your offer and offer a tangible and relevant benefit to your customer.

Upselling Examples For a Higher Price Point

1. Create a subscription option as a loyalty program

This is especially powerful for traditionally non-subscription businesses such as restaurants, auto-repair, hair salons, etc. Create 3 tiers of an offer; a basic level that includes coupons and discounts only, a mid-range level that includes everything from basic plus a free product or service that costs at least as much as the membership, an exclusive level that offers all the above plus an exclusive product or service from you.

2. Sell gift certificates

Be sure to PROMOTE that you have gift certificates and give customers ideas on who will LOVE receiving them.

3. Add secret discounts to gift certificates (with an expiration date)

Create a series of “secret” discounts that you GIVE to each customer purchasing a gift certificate. This should be about 20% of the gift certificate value. One restaurant offered a “secret discount envelope” for every $50 purchased. But here’s the catch. You have to use that secret envelope within a period of time. Say within 30 or 60 days. This “forces” the customer to come in and use their gift certificate to get an additional gift or discount.

4. Cross-sell related products and services

Create an “if this, then that” table. If customers are buying A, then they should also be buying B. Then segment those customers and make sure that you’re offering complementary products and services.

5. Increasing the volume (or how much they buy)

Give customers the option to purchase more products, services, licenses, etc. at a “grandfathered” price before your next price increase.

6. Increasing the service level

Create an additional level of service that customers can purchase such as maintenance, consultations, audits or account reviews.

7. Give it to them faster

Create a fast delivery option at a premium. Give customers the option to get your product or service faster for more money.

8. Add white-glove or VIP levels

Customers will PAY MORE to get a job done right and guaranteed. Offer installation, implementation, set up or anything that’s done-for-them at a premium.

9. Create longer-term contracts (from monthly to annual)

Pull a list of customers who have purchased more than once. Then give them the option to purchase your product or service over a longer time period for a discount.

10. Add options for more customer service and hand-holding

If you have customers who have purchased a product or service, but haven’t done much with it — offer additional service and hand-holding to get them up and running and to keep them running. They may have questions and adding this additional service option will make sure they keep coming to you for answer.

11. Provide access to you

Working directly with the business owner is a BIG deal. Give customers the option to work with you directly for a premium.

12. Sell training to go with their purchase

The biggest predictor of customer retention is being successful with your product or service. Provide training to get them started. Create an “ideal” training program, then break it down into different levels (at different prices). For example, you can offer a 100% online and on-demand training portal at the lowest price, but then offer group training as an intermediate option and finally a VIP day with you for as much as $10,000 a day!

13. Create bundles of products or services

McDondald’s revolutionized the bundle when they created the “value” meal. You can do the same thing. Combine bundles of products and services that include a taste of several different products and services for a value price.

14. Incorporate add-ons in your sales process

Make add-ons and upsells an integral part of your products and services. If a client hires you to set up a social media campaign or a website — offer hosting or a subscription to a specific tool.

15. Offer a generous return policy

This is a great way to reduce buyer’s remorse or risk. You might offer a “no questions asked” return policy or a 60 day refund. The more expensive your offer, the more generous your return policy should be.

16. Show product comparisons and prices

Instead of driving your customers through a demo or sales call, create a table that shows a variety of products, services and options at different price points. Label your most profitable one (usually the middle) as “Most popular” or “Recommended” and let your customers choose.

17. Offer try before you buy

The monthly fashion services like Stitch Fix cracked the code on this one. Let your customers order as much as they like — deliver it and give them the opportunity to try before they buy and return the product within 7 days.

18. Offer an insane limited-time discount

This is especially effective when you’re launching something new. Instead of looking at this as a profit generator, think of this as an advertising expense. That’s what QVC and Home Shopping do. They offer products at an insanely low price until the set inventory is gone. Then once it’s gone, the price can double or even triple.

19. Offer an extended service period

This is ideal for service and repair businesses. Assuming you and your team do great work, you can provide “insurance” to your customers. That if something breaks down over a period of time, you will fix it at no charge.

20. Customize their offer

Create an a la carte list of services with list prices next to them. Allow your customers or clients to build-their-own offer. It will be a little more expensive, but they will get exactly what they want. So if they purchase a product and they want 10 hours of support, they can purchase that.

21. Offer free shipping

Free shipping (even if the cost is included in your price) is a great way to increase your bottom line. If your customer sees the same product for sale where one offers free shipping and the other one doesn’t — they will choose the free shipping option every time.

22. Send a free gift

Free gifts not only get customers to choose you, they also give your customers a sample of a relevant product that you offer.

23. Given them a version upgrade

This is a great upsell idea for SaaS companies. If a customer is using a basic version of your software, you can offer them a more expensive version at a limited time discount.

One SaaS company did that for existing customers and new customers — they created a “Work-from-home” bundle and offered an upgrade to their customers.

You can also offer this as part of your referral program.

How to Upsell in a Sales Call

Start your upsell program with new customers. You want to make upselling an integral part of your sales strategy and sales process.

Look for the pain points in your customer’s business

The fastest way for a sales rep to increase sales is to understand your customer’s business and pain points.

If you create an upsell opportunity that helps your customer solve the pain points they are struggling with, both you and the customer will be boosting sales.

How to Upsell from your website

If you sell online, and you’re not upselling, you’re missing out. Here are a few tips on how to upsell from your website so that you can get more sales.

Do an analysis on the products your customers search for. Then, create an upsell popup featuring that product.

You’ll also want to be sure that you create product pages for relevant products. Then, be sure to make product suggestions across multiple pages.

Add product pricing pages

Regardless of what you’re selling online, you’re going to want to create product pages that feature your price. This is where you can include your pricing tables where you can make product suggestions so that your customers can compare.

Conclusion

Offering an upsell can result in more revenue for your business. This is because customers are likely to purchase more products or services when they are given the opportunity to do so.

As you implement your upsell strategy, it’s a good idea to map out your customers original purchase to a future purchase.

Additionally, by understanding how to identify and capitalize on customer pain points, you can create an upsell that is relevant and useful for them. As a business owner, it is important to be creative and think outside the box when it comes to upselling. By doing so, you can increase your revenue and grow your business.