Cross-selling is a time-tested sales technique where customers are encouraged to buy complementary products alongside their main purchase. The strategy can be applied between different brands or different products within a given brand. However, it’s implemented, cross-selling presents an often-underutilized opportunity to maximize revenue while also delighting customers.
To illustrate, let’s say you have a small online store that sells shoes. A customer visits your site to buy a new pair of sneakers. Just before checkout, they see recommendations for a pair of athletic socks and moisture-wicking shirts. The customer enjoys a slight discount for bundling these accessories with their shoes. Realizing that they need these items anyway, the customer adds them to their cart. In return, your store enjoys more sales and won’t have to spend as much to sell accessories. The customer ends the transaction with positive feelings about your business, primed to buy again.
The principles and benefits of cross-selling apply in countless other online and offline scenarios. Before you can start cross-selling on your website, however, you have to make sure that you can process any payment a customer needs, be it through digital wallets, credit cards, or QR PH codes. If you’re on Shopify, this is as simple as integrating a Philippine-focused payment gateway Shopify sites can use.
Whether you’re on Shopify, WooCommerce, or any other online platform, Maya has tools that you can use to accept a full selection of Philippine digital payments. With its easy integration, full range of supported payments, and support from the country’s leading digital bank, the Maya Plugin for Shopify stands as the best Shopify payment gateway in the Philippines, enabling effortless cross-selling on your site.
As easy and effective as cross-selling is, there is an art to pulling it off. Using an overly direct approach risks overwhelming or irritating customers, costing you valuable loyalty in the end. Let’s instead explore a few smart and highly effective cross-selling strategies that will help you win at e-commerce.
1. Bundle Products that Truly Complement Each Other
Grouping related products alongside a main product, whether as a fixed bundle or by situating them in the same category, will help cue customers in on the value of the complementary product. For instance, if you sell coffee machines, it makes sense to also offer coffee beans and milk frothers, or machine cleaning tablets right where customers can see them. You can further enhance the benefits with modest discounts to urge customers to buy the items together rather than separately.
2. Leverage Site Analytics to Offer Personalized Recommendations
Suggesting complementary products isn’t always easy. Fortunately, most e-commerce platforms now offer data analytics functions that simplify these suggestions.
For instance, if a customer frequently buys skincare products, your website can recommend complementary items like sunscreen. For new customers, your site can also feature a ‘Frequently Bought Together’ section on product pages that draws from existing customers’ buying histories. This kind of personalization makes cross-selling feel natural rather than forced, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
3. Offer Post-Purchase Cross-Selling
Another good thing about cross-selling is that it doesn’t have to end at checkout. If you’ve been granted permission to send emails or track customer activities, you can send a follow-up email or display ads suggesting related products.
For example, if a customer buys a standing desk, you can set up your system to email them recommendations on desk accessories. Alternatively, you set up an ad campaign to send them targeted recommendations wherever they go online. In either case, you can give them exclusive coupons to encourage the next purchase. Even if they don’t end up converting, they still get reminded of your business, encouraging them to purchase from it again in the future.
4. Create Urgency with Limited-Time Cross-Sell Offers
Adding some urgency can drive sales, and this is especially true with complementary products. If someone buys a set of drawing supplies, for instance, you could offer a discount on sketch pads that’s only valid for the next 24 hours. This simple tactic can quickly boost your sales while also making customers feel they’re getting an exclusive deal.
5. Set Up a ‘Shop the Look’ Feature
If you’re in the fashion or lifestyle business, one subtle but effective way to cross-sell is to let customers “Shop the Look”. One way to do this is to automatically offer matching items and accessories on each key item. Another way is to feature models wearing a curated ensemble with an explanation of which items they’re wearing. The idea is to make it easier for customers to visualize how your offerings work together. However you do it, this strategy can ramp up your sales and benefit your whole brand in one go.
Your Winning Cross-Selling Strategy Begins with Maya
Maya gives you the tools you need to maximize sales across all parts of your customers’ journeys. Outsell your competition and start offering exclusive deals and bundles after signing up for Maya Business. Order the Maya Plugin for Shopify to start your cross-selling campaign.
Signing up for Maya Business grants you a Maya Business Deposit account for settling your payments. Maya Business Deposit offers a generous 2.5% per annum interest rate, earning PHP 25,000 per year for every PHP 1 million deposited. You’ll also enjoy free cash transfers via InstaPay and PESONet, saving cash each time you transact with partners and suppliers.
Signing up also puts you on track for a Maya Flexi Loan offer of up to PHP 2 million in only 3 months. Use your Maya Flexi Loan funding to buy complementary inventory and set up your cross-selling campaign. Keep using Maya as your primary processor for all wallet and card payments to improve your next loan offers.
Sign up for Maya Business today to begin improving sales and customer experiences through cross-selling.
