Upsell & cross sell are the ways to resell people who are already online in your Shopify store. That means you don't have to worry about bringing them back to your store by using expensive paid ads. So, you can decrease your customer acquisition cost (CAC) and boost revenue by using upsell & cross sell.
You can create a proper upsell and cross sell strategy if you understand them and their benefits more. That is why we defined upsell & cross sell with details below and explained their advantages. Then we differentiate the upsell & cross methods to make it easier to choose the most suitable app for you. And at the end of the article, we listed the best upsell & cross sell apps for different kinds of stores. All you need to do is read the following sections, learn more and find the most suitable app for your Shopify store!
Definitions of Upsell & Cross Sell
What is Upsell?
Upsell is the reselling technique by convincing the customer to purchase a better and higher-priced version of the product. The aim of upsell is to replace the initial product with the new and more expensive one before the purchase.
When you buy coffee, if the barista offers a soft drink version of the same drink with a small price difference, this is upselling.
What is Cross Sell?
Cross sell is the reselling technique by convincing the customer to purchase a complimentary product for the one they already bought.
When you buy coffee, if the barista offers you to purchase a cookie with it, this is cross sell.
What Is Upsell Bundles?
Upsell bundles is offering customers several related items together as a bundle with a lower price than buying separately.
In a coffee shop, if there is an option to buy a menu that includes coffee, cake and a cookie together with a lower price, this is an upsell bundle.
Why Should You Use Upsell & Cross Sell?
Upsell & cross sell have many benefits for your Shopify store.
- With upsell & cross sell, you are selling people who are online in your Shopify store. That means you can save money that you spent on customer acquisition.
- You are trying to resell people who are already purchased from your Shopify store. They are more likely to buy your products compared to a new customer.
- Your existing customers are likely to purchase more frequently and spend more money in your Shopify store compared to a new customer.
- It provides personalized offers to customers according to their search and purchases history. These kinds of offers make customers feel more special and increase loyalty.
- If you can provide the items they already need by using cross sell, you can build trust with the customers. For instance, when they buy a scarf, if you recommend gloves considering they might need it too, it builds customer trust. Also, if they notice they can buy all their needs from your store, they won’t bother to go to another store.
Which is More Beneficial: Upsell or Cross Sell?
This question doesn’t have a simple answer that depends on your business. If you are selling expensive products like phones or notebooks, upsell could be more beneficial for you. On the other hand, if you are in the food business, cross sell could be more profitable.
However, the most logical option is to use both of them since they don’t require large budgets or resources. You can increase your sales more by using both of them. So why not?
Upsell & Cross Sell Methods
Some apps use different ways to recommend the most suitable products for your customers for upsell & cross sell. There are three main ways that an upsell & cross sell app might use.
- Manual: With a manual upsell & cross sell app, you can choose which products will be recommended for which items. Manual selecting gives you full control of the recommendation process in your Shopify store. If you trust your choice more than AI choices and have time to select all the products to recommend, you can use an app with a manual recommendation option. It is more suitable if you have a small number of products.
- Rule-Based: With a rule-based upsell & cross sell app, you can set rules for the recommendation process. You can display recommendations from a specific product, collection, color, price, etc. for a product. It is actually a half-automatic system that is set by rules.
- Algorithmic: An algorithmic upsell & cross sell app recommends products by using AI. They might use previous order data, previous search, visit history, or the favorite products in the wishlist to create the most suitable and personalized recommendations. If you have a large store, an algorithmic app can make the process easier and save your time.
How Do You Upsell & Cross Sell on Shopify?
- You can upsell & cross sell on your Shopify store easily by using apps. We researched the upsell & cross sell apps and selected the best five ones for you. You can find our list in the next section.
- You can apply A/B tests on your offers during 3-4 weeks for the most efficient result. Then measure your results, choose the best way to resell for your business, and increase your sales.
Must-Have Features of Shopify Upsell and Cross Sell Apps
There are some features an upsell & cross sell app should definitely have and there are some features you should have based on the type of your Shopify store.
- Call to action button: An upsell & cross sell app should have call to action buttons to provide customers an easy purchase. For instance, a ‘Buy Now’ button on the recommended products leads customers to the checkout point directly increases sales.
- Supporting automatic recommendation: If you have a large store, an automatic recommendation is necessary to manage the upsell & cross sell process easily. Otherwise, you might have to spare a lot of time to choose all the items to offer customers manually.
- Displaying the most related products: The main aim of upsell & cross sell is to sell the customers upper version products or extra additional products. If your app is not able to display related products to your customers, it is harder for customers to purchase the items they see as a recommendation. On the other hand, if an app can display to the customers what they need, the possibility of reselling increases.
- Personalized offers: Some apps analyze the customers’ order history, search history, etc by using AI. With these apps, you can create personalized offers for each customer and sell more.
- Displaying ‘Most Recommended’ or ‘Best Seller’ products: People are likely to buy products that other shoppers already have tried and approved. That means if your customers see these sections in your store, it is more likely that they purchase products from them.
Best Shopify Upsell & Cross Sell Apps in 2023
1)ReConvert Upsell & Cross Sell
ReConvert is an upsell & cross sell app that helps you to optimize the thank you page of your Shopify store. You can resell with upsell & cross sell recommendations on your thank you page by using ReConvert.
Thank you page is the point that customers see after they finished a purchase and are likely to buy again. That is why it is crucial to use upsell and cross sell on thank you pages of your Shopify store. ReConvert is an algorithmic app that offers new products on thank you pages based on order details, customer details or product purchased data.
Pricing: 30 day free trial is available, after that $7.99/month.
2)Also Bought • Related products
Also Bought is a perfect app for larger stores with its highly developed AI system. It is an algorithmic Shopify upsell & cross sell app that creates personalized recommendations. It displays the 'Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought' section to visitors. In other words, it shows real recommendations from real people to impress customers more.
In addition, With Also Bought you can have the ‘best-recommended products’ section and sell more.
Pricing: 30 day free trial is available, after that $9.99/month.
3)PickyStory
PickyStory enables merchants to offer tailored upsell/cross-sell product deals throughout their stores. One of the advantages of PickyStory is that you can display deals at key points throughout your buyer’s journey - not just on your product pages. Add deals to collections, display them as pop-ups, and cross-sell/upsell in the cart.
The best part? Deals can be set up in minutes with just a few clicks (no code!), and then easily dragged and dropped to the desired location.
Pricing: 14 day free trial is available, after that starting at $9.50/month.
4)Cross Sell & Cart Upsell
Cross Sell & Cart Upsell is a Shopify app that you can choose products to offer manually or based on history with its algorithm and display. That means you can manage the upsell & cross sell recommendations in the way you want.
With this Shopify upsell & cross sell app you can display up to 15 products to cross sell per page.
Pricing: 14 day free trial is available, after that $29.99/month.
5)Candy Rack — One Click Upsell
Candy Rack allows you to select items for upsell & cross sell manually or with an AI-powered algorithm. That means you can choose the most suitable option for you or you can use both options.
Also, it provides popups for upsell & cross sell that are available on mobile devices. Since most eCommerce traffic is generated on mobile now, it could be a great advantage for your store!
Pricing: 14 day free trial, after that $19.99/month.
6)Recom.ai ‑ Upsell & Cross Sell
Recom.ai is a Shopify upsell & cross sell app that allows you to set rules to manage product recommendation processes. That means you can display products based on the collection, vendor, price, tag, title, SKU, type, weight, style, color, etc.
Also, it provides an algorithmic recommendation system by using AI-powered product panels. You can try both options and choose the more efficient one for your Shopify store.
Pricing: 7 day free trial, after that $19.99/month.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you have found the perfect upsell & cross sell app for your Shopify store. Now it is time to start using this app and increase your resales! Use the chance to sell the same people without spending a huge budget to bring new customers.