You will agree that you have to work very, very hard to get traffic to your site. And even harder to get that traffic to convert to sales.

Most e-commerce websites convert 2-3% of their visitors to a sale (unless you are running Amazon at 9.6% or Proflowers at 14.1%). Therefore once you have converted a visitor to a buyer, it is only logical to tempt them with more. This is known as upselling.

There are a lot of interesting and useful ways to upsell. Below we have listed the top 8 techniques based on conversion statistics across hundreds of retail sites:

Upsell Technique 1: Can you use two?

Offer quantity discounts.

This works well for items that could easily be bought in volume such as consumables, some clothing items and so on.

Upsell Technique 2: People who bought this item also bought

Amazon has made this tactic very familiar and has profited greatly by its usage. They keep tabs on customer purchases and supply that information to their customers even before they have chosen to purchase. Does your site have the capability to access and utilise your business sale data in the same way?

Upsell Technique 3: If you like this item, you may also like

Here is a variation on the above that does not require the data manipulation of sales data. When someone chooses to buy your Trace Adkins CD, your site pops up a set of recommendations for other country & western artists that might appeal to the shopper such as Garth Brooks or Phil Vassar.

Upsell Technique 4: These accessories will help you enjoy your purchase

Yet another variation on the theme is the notion of displaying accessories, so when your shopper buys a pair of walking shorts, she will then see a matched top, walking shoes and a snappy-looking vest for cooler days.

Upsell Technique 5: As a valued customer, here are special deals just for you

This is an interesting approach that essentially gives the buyer access to special pricing as a reward for being a customer. This approach has a lot of appeal because it catches the visitor while they are in a buying mood. This tactic is usually implemented as a popup that comes into view after the shopper has entered credit card information but before they have confirmed the final purchase price. This timing makes it so very easy to just add one more item before ending the transaction.

Upsell Technique 6: Last ditch deal

You may even be able to get away with adding a last ditch deal or final offer. Usually these items need to be very inexpensive so it seems like no burden at all to add that 5.99 item to a 63.00 order.

Upsell Technique 7: One more item and shipping is frëe

If you can afford to do so, offer frëe or discounted shipping for purchases that hit some minimum level. This works best for items that do not cost a lot in shipping; the customer's saving is probably not as great as your marginal profit, but they do not see it that way; they see frëe.

Upsell Technique 8: Thank you for shopping with us coupon

Add a coupon to your customers order confirmation email that provides a decent discount for an extra purchase within a week or so. You can also include the coupon in a thank you letter with the customer order.

You can integrate any of these upselling techniques when you use an advanced eCommerce store. eSources offers one for free, for life, when you upgrade to any of our premium buyer memberships, packed with extra features including: