What’s better than a holiday sales season? A record-setting holiday sales season with more sales and less effort! You’ll already be processing tons of orders this peak season, so we’ve come up with a few ways for you to up that average order value and build some customer loyalty simultaneously. Here are 5 great ways to upsell more products during the upcoming holiday season:
1) During the order ‘thank you’
The customer is poised to click the ‘buy now’ button, but then they see a great recommended product ad that complements what they just ordered. Or, just as they’re ready to check out, a window pops up that says “Did you remember…?” with a list of commonly-forgotten holiday items such as winter gear, underwear, batteries, or gift-wrapping. The suggestions depend on your product mix, but the tactic remains the same: you’ve already got a captive customer committed to buy, so why not try adding a few extra items to that sale? You can even offer a discount on those recommended items when they add them to their current purchase.
2) Offer matching items
The product page is the perfect place to promote other products! Weird, right? But it works! Retailers like Carter’s are pros at this – when you look at an adorable little shirt on their site, you’ll notice that images of entire outfits (pants, socks, and even shoes) appear on the sidebar, paired with the product you’re viewing. Who can resist?! Use product photography and product descriptions to provide insight into how these items go together, then give customers an easy one-click option to add everything they see to their cart at once.
3) Make them join the club
‘Clubs’ are an excellent way for customers to get discounts and communications from a retailer – and, in turn, a perfect way for a retailer to capture contact info, demographic info, and order history. If you have an existing email or discount club, promote it during the holiday season and provide teaser messages on your site, so customers know what kind of deals to expect. You can also use the club to send special ‘members-only’ deals during the holidays. Even if you don’t have a discount club right now, you can easily create a holiday-specific one by making a list for these sign-ups and offering time-sensitive deals.
4) Wrap it up
Gift wrapping or packaging is a tremendous value-add that doesn’t require much time, effort, or cost. If you’re not offering gift wrapping during the rest of the calendar year, consider trying it out during the holidays to see if your customers are interested. You can offer this service to your customers for a small fee and even provide a handwritten note or holiday card to delight the gift recipient.
5) Post-purchase in the contact center
Due to the time-sensitivity of holiday orders, some customers will, for lack of a better term, freak out a little bit and call to check on their orders, sometimes even before they have a chance to leave the warehouse! They may also call to place an order in your contact center versus doing so online because of security fears, site load delays, or their own preferences. Anytime a representative of your brand talks to a customer one-on-one, they should be trying to upsell! Train agents to look at order history and current order data and suggest complementary products to their purchase, offering them a time-sensitive discount on the items.