When during a purchase of a flight ticket in an advertising campaign, you are offered to pay extra for choosing a seat, and instead of subscribing to Netflix for a month, choose a subscription for a year – the seller conducts an upsell. According to various estimates, upsell accounts for 15 to 40% of McDonald’s annual revenue.In the article, we revealed what Internet marketing tools to use to sell for a higher price, and also collected high-profile cases of international companies.

Why should you calculate the average check

An average check is how much money a customer spends at a time. It is also an indicator of how your business is doing.

A high check is a reason to praise yourself, because you are doing everything right. 

A low check is an indicator that you need to change something.

  Also, the average check gives a lot of additional useful knowledge:
  • About the solvency and loyalty of customers. Having an average check, you can make a portrait of the buyer: what they buy and how much they spend. 
  • About the effectiveness of sellers. Do they really sell or just issue checks at the checkout.
  • About the efficiency of stores. The average check will show which stores are working well and which are lagging far behind.
  • About the success of marketing. Whether you expand the range, hold sales and launch promotions – all changes should have a positive impact on the average check. If the check remained the same or decreased due to discounts, you made a mistake somewhere.
  • How to build a loyalty program. The average check will tell you how much customers buy without additional incentives, and from what indicator it is worth introducing discounts and bonuses. 

How to use upselling to increase the check

Upselling is a sales method in which the seller offers the customer to purchase a more expensive version of the product than he planned. The seller’s task is to fully satisfy the customer’s desire and surpass it. For example, if the customer wanted to eat a scoop of ice cream, a double scoop with chocolate syrup can please him even more.   At the same time, the more expensive option should be really better, more profitable, better quality and bring more pleasure. The buyer needs to feel that the additional costs are worth it. We have collected effective ways of upselling. 
  • Upgrade
Offer the customer to buy an improved version of the product. If the customer was going to buy a smartphone with a memory capacity of 128 GB, advise him the same model, but with 256 GB of memory. If the product can be upgraded, show it on the product card. An example of an upgrade on the Apple website
  • Extended warranty
When making a purchase, offer the customer additional product protection. For example, an extended warranty for a smartphone can include display replacement after a drop.
  • Customization
Make the product exactly what the customer wants it to be. For example, when selling a car, you can offer the customer to install a navigation system, choose tires, upholstery material, body color. An example of customization on the Tesla website
  • Discount for subscription
Subscription is one of the forms of upselling. Instead of selling the product once, you offer a discounted subscription with a one-time payment. The discount can vary from 10% to 50% (big discounts are most often seen when subscribing to online services and applications). An example of a discount on a subscription to the American magazine The New Yorker
  • Increasing the volume
The buyer came for cat food? Offer him instead of the usual packaging of 400 g to buy 2 kg – because in terms of the cost of 1 kg of food it is so much more profitable.
  • 1+1=3
Another variant of a volume discount, but in this case the number of packages sold increases. For example, the customer was going to buy one bottle of floor cleaner, and you offer him to buy three for the price of two.
  • Cross-selling
This method of increasing the average check works in the same way as upsell – offer customers a block with related products. For example, users who buy a smartphone can be sold a case, headphones, headset, protective glass. You can recommend detergents and accessories for shoes, batteries for electronic toys, and installation services for dishwashers. Interesting statistics: Amazon attributes over 35% of its annual revenue to cross-selling initiatives. Example of cross-sell on the Zappos website

Upselling rules

Upselling is an effective way to increase the check, but the seller risks losing the customer if he insists on a more expensive purchase too bluntly. Here are some rules that will help make upselling less intrusive.
  1. Don’t raise the check too much. If the customer was going to spend $100, it is unlikely that he will easily agree to a similar purchase for $300. A comfortable increase in cost is about 25%.
  2. Offer a discount. Upselling always involves a larger check, but if you offer a small discount on a more expensive product, it will be easier to make a purchase decision. A sense of urgency will help to increase the effect of the discount – if you say that the discount is valid for a limited time.
  3. Offer free delivery of more expensive goods. Free shipping is the engine of trade. 90% of customers admit that free shipping is the main reason why they buy more. Customers feel sorry to pay for shipping if they can get it for free by buying a more expensive product.
  Upsell techniques fit well into the online sales funnel. Combine upsell methods and offer better options for selling the product at different stages. You can also remind about your offers in email newsletters. Also, make it as easy as possible to upgrade or reorder – it is desirable that the customer just needs to make a few clicks. Read more insights about marketing and sales on the Clickmagic blog.