Upselling is a part of retail that’s practiced both online and in brick-and-mortar stores. It’s a key business function that generates additional revenue from your existing customers, your most valuable source of income.
Existing customers spend 67% more than new customers, and it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer. By increasing customer retention by just 5%, profitability increases by an average of 75%. For these reasons, existing customers are the fuel of a growing business — and through upselling, your Shopify store can capture their true value.
Upselling works, and McDonald’s infamous saying, “Would you like fries with that?” proves it. McDonald’s upsell options, which include supersized meals, premium burger choices, and adding items to an order, are estimated to account for 15-40% of the brand’s annual profits.
Your Shopify store can see similar results: for most merchants, Shopify upselling increases revenue by 10-30%, on average. In this guide, we’ll break down how upsell apps make upselling online easy, what to look for in an upsell app, and some of the best apps to add to your Shopify site.
What is an Upsell App?
An upsell app is a plugin you install into your Shopify store that shows shoppers products similar to or more expensive than the product they are about to buy or are browsing. Some upsell apps also create an opportunity for incremental revenue following a purchase. Ultimately, these apps work to automate the traditional brick-and-mortar upsell process on your e-commerce site.
Adding an upsell app to your Shopify site is relatively straightforward, depending on the app you choose. Simply install the app on your Shopify; choose which products you wish to upsell; test your offer; and measure your conversion rate. From there, you can adjust your strategy using feedback from the app and your own KPIs.
Upsell apps can be set up to present upsell options at various stages of the customer journey. Generally, there are three key moments when it makes sense to show an upsell offer to customers: before the first sale, at checkout, and after purchase. Different apps enable selling at each of these stages–either through a related product pop-up on product pages, presenting an offer on the shopping cart page, or via a widget after purchase.
Upselling vs Cross-Selling
Upselling and cross-selling are two practices that are frequently conflated. Both are essential to improving the profitability of a company and improving the average order value (AOV) of each transaction. These techniques differ in how they impact Shopify store owners.
Cross-selling encourages customers to buy ancillary products or services that aren’t directly related to the item they initially purchased. It’s a great way to introduce existing customers to other complementary products from your online store. To return to the McDonald’s example, asking “Do you want fries with that?” is a method of cross-selling. Often, e-commerce brands cross-sell to recommend additional products purchased by other customers, harnessing the power of social suggestion to increase conversion rates and customer loyalty.
What’s the difference between upselling and cross-selling? Upselling usually results in higher regular order totals. McDonald's' tactic is to see if you want to super-size your meal, exposing customers to higher-margin menu items to increase revenue. This tactic is likely to improve customer satisfaction by suggesting items that are best suited to a customer’s needs. Upselling can increase overall customer lifetime value — and those all-important customer retention rates.
For e-commerce brands, where shipping adds a higher fixed cost to orders, maximizing the AOV can minimize the impact of these costs.
Benefits of Upselling on Shopify
Upselling is a potent way to boost your conversion rates, increase average order value, and increase customer retention — which has a host of other financial benefits for your business.
When an app suggests a more expensive, better product at the right time, it can motivate a customer to spend more than they originally intended. The result: more sales and revenue for your Shopify business. Sumo estimates that for companies that offer upsells and renewals, an average of 70-95% of revenue comes from these opportunities.
Likewise, these apps boost the average order value (AOV). Average order value measures the average total of every order placed at your e-commerce store over a certain period of time. Successfully upselling a customer an upgraded, more expensive product increases the AOV accordingly.
Upselling also has the potential to increase customer satisfaction — leading to higher customer loyalty. By sharing an upsell opportunity that resonates with a customer, in just a few clicks, they can get everything they need without having to search for the right additional features or add-on products.
Read more: Benefits Of Upselling On Your Shopify Checkout Page
Aside from the monetary value upsell apps can bring, they also help optimize the website’s search engine results. Upsell apps contribute to your SEO by targeting keywords that a user is searching for on your site. It can keep someone exploring your Shopify store for longer and help your conversion rates.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Shopify Upsell App
Shopify apps offer many different features you can use to upsell to customers. Figuring out the best upsell apps takes considering a range of different factors.
When choosing any plug-in, keep in mind your sales strategies and your brand image. It’s helpful to think of the app as an extension of your human customer sales team. How can you replicate an in-person interaction on your digital site? The app must provide someone with all the information they need to continue purchasing from your brand not only now, but well into the future.
User-Friendly
Sales representatives, marketing teams, and customer support representatives can rely on upsell apps to take the manual upselling process off their plates. These apps automate the process of showing customers discounts and offers during each interaction. However, apps that take time and effort to set up don’t end up taking work off your employees’ plates.
The best upsell apps are easy to install and operate without any additional coding. Look for an app that can be turned on, customized, and is ready to go in just a few clicks. User-friendly apps will not only be easy to set up but also test and refine as your strategy improves.
Reliable Support
Upselling is both an art and a science. On one hand, you need to deeply understand your customers’ mindsets to show offers that resonate with them. On the other hand, you need to be able to analyze your app’s data and optimize your offers over time. The best upsell apps provide support to help you navigate everything the app can do for you as you go through these processes.
Make sure that a support team stands by to help with any issues that may arise while using the app, especially as you become a more advanced user. Look for features like live chat, and 24/7 support so you never miss a sale.
Integrations
The best upsell apps can be integrated with other tools, such as personalized recommendation apps, review apps, and email marketing apps. Super-charge your Shopify store with a suite of tools that work together to consistently show customers relevant offers at the right time to capitalize on engagement and retention opportunities.
Pricing
Finally, price is obviously a key consideration when choosing an upsell app. There are different pricing models for Shopify upsell apps. Some apps are free for low-volume stores, with tiered pricing as you begin to sell more. A free trial can be a good test to see if the app is the right fit for your e-commerce site; look for apps that won’t charge you until you see the sales start adding up.
7 Best Shopify Upsell Apps
These Shopify apps can make it easy to upsell on your e-commerce site. With different pricing plans depending on the size of your business, many of these apps offer free plans or free trials to help you determine which app is the right fit for you. Here’s an overview of some of the most popular Shopify upsell apps to consider.
Honeycomb Upsell and Cross-sell
The Honeycomb Upsell & Cross-Sell app is one of the best upsell apps for Shopify, with more features being added regularly. It offers the ability to show cross-sell and upsell recommendations multiple times throughout the customer journey, priming each user to take advantage of add-ons as they shop. Create upsell opportunities on the product page, cart page, checkout page, thank you page, and even the blog page: Honeycomb allows users to include up to 3 upsell or cross-sell offers per funnel.
As you refine your upsell process, Honeycomb offers the tools to get better insights into what works. Its funnel split tests and A/B tests show you what offers are getting the most traction. A suite of analytics enables you to see key metrics, including conversion, Return On Investment (ROI), Average Order Value (AOV), revenue, and more.
Additionally, Honeycomb’s AI recommendation engine helps you match the right upsell offers with the right products. You can share warranties, insurance, discounts, free gifts, free shipping, and more to serve your customers' needs seamlessly.
Honeycomb makes it easy to customize compelling upsell funnels and unique offers that look amazing on any device. Plus, it can be set up to work with any store theme in just one click. Honeycomb offers a free plan for 100 monthly funnel views, with paid plans starting at $49.99.
LimeSpot Personalizer
LimeSpot Personalizer is one of the top-ranked e-commerce personalization apps, promising a two to five times increase in conversion rate, a 5%+ increase in average order value, and a 20x return on the cost of the app for the average customer. This AI-powered personalization platform can be configured to show a combination of recommendations for customers, including you-may-like, upsell, cross-sells, frequently bought together, bundles, and more. LimeSpot offers a free trial for 15 days before its most basic plan, starting at $15/month.
Frequently Bought Together
Frequently Bought Together is perhaps the most popular app for presenting related products and product bundles on Shopify. It mimics the Amazon Bundle Recommendations to help customers add similar products with one click. There are also upsell features and discounts you can set up to run automatically or manually.
The application also provides strong data tools, analyzing previous purchases from your sales records to create a “memory graph” of items that are usually added together. Feeding this information into the Frequently Bought Together AI algorithm provides more powerful automatic recommendations for your store. Frequently Bought Together offers a free trial for 30 days before starting at $9.99/month.
Bold Upsell
Bold Upsell focuses on doing one thing really well: presenting the right upsell and cross-sell offers to customers at key points of the purchase journey. Bold Upsell integrates with your Shopify store to present offers through pop-ups on your product pages, cart page, and post-purchase pages. The app also uses data to optimize your upsell offers, providing feedback that helps you refine recommendations based on what converts. Bold Upsell also allows you to create an upsell funnel that displays up to three rounds of different items. Pricing starts with a free trial for 14 days, and then $9.99/month.
Candy Rack
Candy Rack offers three types of upselling: one-click product upsells, AI-powered Smart Auto-Upsell, and premium service, which uses pre-made templates to sell things like gift packaging and extended warranties. Each of these options uses pop-ups that are optimized for both desktop and mobile.
Candy Rack stands out for its ability to cross-sell services, and not just products. For instance, a customer could add a tailoring service to their cart when shopping for clothes, or get an onboarding session with the purchase of software. Candy Rack pricing starts with a 14-day free trial followed by plans starting at $29.99/month.
ReConvert
ReConvert is great for sellers on a budget, as the tool offers a free plan for up to 49 orders per month (e.g., total orders on your store). It offers 24/7 live chat support and an easy drag-and-drop interface to help you get started right away. However, ReConvert limits your upsell capability to the checkout and post-purchase pages. If you want a tool that allows you to present relevant offers while a shopper is in the browsing phase, this might not be the best option for you.
In Cart Upsell & Cross-sell
In Cart Upsell & Cross Sell focuses on one specific moment of the customer journey: the cart page. Its logic is that when a customer has already added items to the cart, they’re primed and ready to continue shopping with your brand. It’s the perfect moment to serve up a complementary product at the right time in the right place. In Cart offers live chat support for paid plans, which start at $19.99/month — though there is also a free plan available.
Conclusion
Shopify upsell apps are a great way to boost customer satisfaction and improve your KPIs. Adding an upsell app to your Shopify store enables you to show relevant offers at key parts of the customer journey, making it as easy as possible for your customers to buy relevant products (and services!) when they are already purchasing something from your store.
Finding the right upsell app can take some trial and error. In general, you should look for an upsell app that’s easy to install, provides support to help you take advantage of its many features, and can be customized for your unique customer experience. Refer back to our list of best Shopify upsell apps as you explore your options, and check out more resources from Conversion Bear for more information on upselling.