Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

It`s no secret that fast food restaurants spend millions of dollars on research.

One of the things their research revealed was, if they "upsold" at the time the order was placed...

For example, "Would you like a drink with that today? How about fries?"

When they started upselling, sales increased exponentially, sometimes as much as 40% of the total order.

However, upselling digital products is an entirely different matter than selling fast food.

I`ve seen many businesses trying to upsell digital products on the order page.

In my opinion, this is a mistake. Here`s why:

The last thing you want to do when your customer is getting ready to order is confuse the issue.

Putting additional products on the order page confuses the issue.

And by confusing the issue, you risk losing the sale altogether.

If you have additional products to sell, for example a Gold Package vs. a Silver Package vs. A Bronze Package, etc., you should either tell your customer ahead of time in the sales letter, on the thank you page, or better yet... wait until the download area.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. So if you`re successfully upselling on your order form, disregard my advice.

On the other hand, if you`re upselling on your order form with dismal results, try making the changes I suggested.

Dale King

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I think when the user adds an item your cart , that`s when the upsell should happen, or when they`re reviewing the order before the final check out.

Example: I add a digital camera, when I view my cart it suggests I add a memory card, or insurance package.

I think this is one open issue with the internet, people don`t want to be hammered with up selling and its easy for them to get upset and leave. However when your at McDonalds your pretty committed to making a purchase and it`s ALWAYS harder to say no to a person over a computer page.

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He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

Could we categorize types of products into "simplistic" and "complex?"

In other words, if you`re selling a burger that`s a simplistic type of thing, low cost, based on a momentary feeling. It doesn`t take a lot of thought (unless you`re OCD), so adding a "Want fries with that?" would be momentary as well.

But if you`re selling a digital product, the chances are the consumer already has done a lot of research, asking around, and feels confused at the time of the transaction. It`s a complex problem for their thinking, rather than simple. Right?

Apparently transactional emails are a very effective medium for upselling - though, I personally never have tried it. 

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Best Regards,

Victor Wise

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EventBrander.com | Custom Printed T-Shirts, Promotional Products, Lowest Prices Guaranteed

Chris, someone I know just did the same, ordering from Dell. They too had a most frustrating experience, with the site not working, no buttons to continue, and so on. I think it`s that Dell has been around a long time, didn`t go out of business, and has name recognition. The question would be, "Who else would you buy a computer from?" :-)

Usually I build my own computers. This purchase was for my parents who just needed something basic with the software bundled in. Dell does have good deals. I`m not a fan of hp or compaq and sony is just pricey.

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EventBrander.com | Custom Printed T-Shirts, Promotional Products, Lowest Prices Guaranteed

Apple up-sells by email, general advertising, press, at their web site and any where else they can after they make the initial sale.  It never stops but is tasteful and you do not realize it.  I think their methods are very effective.  I think up-selling during the order process should only be done is small amounts so as to not kill the original sale.  Some companies like Dell get carried away.  Many of our customers’ up-sell when they send shipment notifications which can be very effective too.

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Bert at Harvey Software, Inc.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Software and Supply Chain Solutions for Internet Retailers

Also a provider of free shipping information and resources at Harvey Software`s Parcel Shipping Blog along with free tracking solutions at TrackingPage.com...

AT&T does the same, with some sort of pamphlet or flyer every couple of months. Nicely done, not too blatant, and more a "reminder" that they have other products that might be useful.

I recently read an article on nuero marketing - apparently that for e-commerce, presenting three purchasing options tends to be the least confusing for customers to make a decision on.

Traditionally for online marketing, upselling refers to to advertising products between a purchase and the checkout. However, in the real world, upselling is different and is more of a choice on the original purchase opposed to deluging customers with product ads during the checkout.


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Best Regards,

Victor Wise