Offering upsells is a sales technique aiming to encourage customers to purchase additional products directly after they’ve bought their first product.

Tip
This article is about how to sell additional products in the same sales process in order to boost your earnings.  

What are upsells?

Upsells are an effective way to increase your sales. Customers invest time and energy into finding and choosing the right product. Once they decide to make a purchase, you have gained their trust. Therefore, after the purchase, they have a higher willingness to buy your other products. Upsells allow you to cater to this willingness:

• The upsell strategy is your methodical approach to selling multiple products in a single sales process.
• For this, you offer your customers additional products (upsell products) immediately after the purchase of the initial product.
• All sales occur sequentially in the same sales process but are billed separately. The customer receives a separate purchase confirmation for each purchase. Returns must be made for each product separately, and the return of one product does not apply to the others sold. This differentiates upsell products from add-on products.
• The order of products is defined in an upsell flow (also known as an upsell funnel). The upsell flow can include up to six upsell steps, meaning up to six additional purchase decisions after the initial purchase.
• For each upsell step, you can set whether a single product, different products, or different quantities or payment plans for the same product are available for sale.
• Each upsell product requires its own sales page, the upsell page, where the product is described and offered for sale. Here, the customer can decide yes or no to the purchase.
• Whether yes or no, each decision is a planned step in your upsell flow leading to another upsell page. Yes-sales are upsells. If the customer clicks no, the next product is still offered. A sale after a no-decision is called a downsell.
• One-click upsell refers to the purchase of an upsell product directly on the upsell page without being redirected to the order form. One-click upsells streamline the sales process and provide a better buying experience for the customer. This way, you can achieve more consecutive sales and increase your conversion.
• Through cross-upsells, you can sell products from other vendors within your own upsell flow (or have your products sold as upsells by other vendors as part of sales partnerships).

Advantages of upsells

Upsells offer benefits for both customers and you as a vendor:

• Customers benefit from receiving meaningful additional offers for their initial purchase, e.g., the matching coaching for the ordered training plan or the matching cooking course for the ordered recipe book.
• As a vendor, you benefit from more sales and a high conversion rate. Especially high-priced products can be better sold as upsells because customers are stimulated and willing to buy after the initial purchase. This way, you can offer customers an easy and successful entry into your product range with a well-planned upsell flow.
• Especially if you do a lot of online advertising, it can be worthwhile to start with a low-cost initial product that generates just enough revenue to fund itself and its advertising costs. You then make the actual profit with upsell sales. Such a sales measure is called a self-liquidating offer, or a tiny offer if the sales value is up to a maximum of €99. Using self-liquidating offers or tiny offers allows you to invest in online advertising with minimal risk.

Upsell sales process

The upsell sales process takes place from the customer's perspective and includes all steps the customer goes through in the upsell flow.

1. The upsell sales process begins with the customer entering the sales page of the initial product. From there, they go to the corresponding order form.
2. The customer buys the initial product and enters their personal and payment details in the order form.
3. After the initial purchase, the customer is directed to the upsell page of the first upsell product in the upsell flow.
4. On the upsell page, the customer can decide for or against the purchase. For this purpose, the upsell page offers purchase decision buttons. For each button, the upsell flow defines the next upsell step.
   • The buy button triggers the purchase in the one-click upsell directly without redirecting to the order form. Otherwise, the customer goes to the order form to complete the purchase. In any case, after the purchase, the customer goes to the next upsell page or the end of the upsell flow.
   • The no-buy button leads, depending on the setting, to the next upsell page or the end of the upsell flow.
   • In the case of cross-upsells, the customer goes to the upsell pages of your sales partners during the upsell flow and from there, possibly back to your own upsell pages.
5. At the end of the upsell flow, the customer is directed to the order confirmation page of the last upsell product, or to a thank you page if you have set one up.

Using upsells

The following articles guide you through all the settings necessary to set up your upsell strategy:

1. Plan upsell flow

   Before you get started and for optimal results, take the time to plan your upsell strategy.

2. Create upsell products

   Your products in Digistore24.

3. Set up upsell flow

   Implement your upsell strategy in the Digistore24 Conversion Cockpit.

4. Add upsell page to product

   The heart of your sales process.

5. Use your own upsell confirmation page

   Use your own page for creative ideas.

6. Test upsell pages

   Use split tests in the Conversion Cockpit to test and optimize the efficiency of your upsell flow.