Cross Selling: the benefits of implementing it in an app

Cross-selling, from the retention technique of growth marketing to the uncomfortable question of a seller: wouldn't you like to see something else?

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Before talking about concepts and strategies, the first thing we have to understand is that cross selling is not about trying to get the consumer to buy any type of product. What will make the difference will be the analysis of products that may interest the user based on their profile and behavior. For this, it is essential to use information such as purchase history, products in which users have previously been interested, or additional needs that may arise directly related to a recent purchase.

What is cross-selling?

Cross-selling is a marketing technique that consists of suggesting products to users that are complementary to those they have just bought, helping to increase revenue. This is possible thanks to the needs or concerns that usually appear in the purchase phase. The target of this technique is to provide a complete experience to increase the average purchase ticket.

Difference between cross-selling and upselling

Cross selling drives to continue with the purchase process, trying to sell the user something complementary to what they want to buy or have bought. 

A clear example of cross-selling is when a user in a food app completes the purchase process to acquire a hamburger, they are offered complementary options to their original purchase such as fries or drinks.

Upselling arouses interest in acquiring other superior products or services, generally of greater benefit to the company.

Many times implementing both techniques can lead to a greater benefit, always taking into account the user experience. There are many different options when it comes to cross-selling, and each app can choose a specific technique for each situation.

What are the advantages of cross-selling?

Cross-selling products has many interesting advantages for an app:

Increase sales

Offering users other products related to their purchase can increase the final ticket. For this, it is necessary to take advantage of an interest that the user has to offer related products that dialogue with the initial product of interest.

Retain to optimize costs

When you manage to sell more to a user, you save the cost of acquisition, increasing the return of each user. This is very beneficial considering that it costs between 5 and 25 times more to attract a new customer than to retain one. In addition, increasing the retention rate by 5% translates into a profit improvement of between 25% and 95%.

Loyalty users

By providing a much more complete and satisfying shopping experience, customers will feel more comfortable and therefore will buy again in the app. The better the user is treated, the more committed he is to the brand.

Show other products

Thanks to the use of cross-selling, you can give more visibility to other products or services of an app. In this way, it will be possible to achieve an increase in the level of sales even of products that a priori do not have much interest.

 

How to apply cross-selling and upselling?

Let’s see some necessary points to get the most out of these techniques:

 

Know the public

Critical to implementing any growth marketing strategy is collecting and using demographic and psychographic information about users to understand their goals and challenges. In this way, the products to be offered in cross-selling and upselling can be identified, having greater possibilities to succeed.

 

Set what success is for users

Before trying to sell additional value to users, you need to have a clear idea of ​​what kind of success is important to them. In the beginning, you have to take some time to think about what consumers want to gain from the use of the product or service.

Gaining a deep understanding of user priorities is important to building trust from the start. By knowing what users value and where they want to go, it is possible to identify opportunity areas where additional products and services are relevant.

 

Design user journeys

Design user journeys to identify how they will use the product and how it can bring benefits. Understanding the different emotions and states of the user journey is essential to understand the best time to offer upselling and cross-selling.

 

Think about problems and offer solutions

Before you send out a notification or email marketing and try to sell to an existing user, review your product offerings and try to align them with their journey. That way you can identify common challenges that users face. Knowing exactly which products can be offered.

Identifying users with a real need for upselling and cross-selling is vital. As we already mentioned, it is not about selling for the sake of selling, and not all users are suitable for an additional sale. That is why you should try to offer extra products or services to someone who needs them.

 

Set and track measurable goals

When incorporating a new user, it is necessary to base yourself on clear and measurable indicators of success to work on the use of the product or service. Building on what you've learned about the consumer's priorities and goals, you can develop an action plan with simple milestones to track your progress.

Identifying the need for additional services later in the user lifecycle requires recognizing where the current plan is falling short or where you could increase your resources for better results. This is where careful monitoring becomes essential.

 

Identify trends and apply them to the sales process

Once you have successfully implemented these techniques to some users, you can begin to develop a better idea of ​​what types of users benefit most from additional products. It is possible to track the times and characteristics that these consumers have in common to incorporate trends in the sales process to proactively identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling continuously.

 

To carry out upselling and cross-selling strategies and techniques, it is necessary to find users at the right time and place. For this, it is essential to have growth marketing partners that are capable of connecting apps with quality audiences. Contact our team at Rocket Lab today.