Upselling/cross-selling email templates

You may not be familiar with the concepts of cross-selling and upselling, or perhaps you confuse the two terms. However, we want to share some simple advice with you: both of these techniques will help you generate more sales. Almost all online stores use these strategies, and you should too!

If you shop online, you’ve certainly come across different cross-selling and upselling strategies already. You may have noticed some of them, but many are so subtle that you just end up wondering how you spent so much money by the time you finish the buying process when you were only shopping for one item. 

What exactly is cross-selling and upselling?

Cross-selling means offering a (potential) client a product that goes hand in hand with the product they’re intending to purchase. For example, if a client is buying a computer mouse, suggesting they purchase a new mouse pad or keyboard would be cross-selling.

Upselling is a marketing and sales technique that consists of offering a potential client or customer a product or service similar to the one they want to buy or have bought, but a more expensive version. This could be in the form of an upgrade or other add-on, for example.

In these definitions, we have mentioned customers and potential clients: you must take into account that these techniques are not only used with existing customers. You can also use such methods to encourage potential customers to spend more.

The golden rules of cross-selling and upselling

To make sure your cross-selling and/or upselling activities drive results, follow the two golden rules:

For coss-selling: The items must be complementary. The products or services you offer have to go “hand in hand.” As mentioned above, if your client is shopping for computer accessories, don’t offer them other unrelated electronic products such as toasters or blenders.

For upselling: The products should offer additional value. The products or services offered must have a significantly higher value by providing the user with additional benefits. For example, if your client  is thinking of buying a phone, you could offer them an upgraded version of the model (with more storage, better camera quality, battery life, etc.) 

Main advantages of cross-selling and upselling

Considerable increases in sales: If you implement cross-selling strategies you may improve your sales by as much as 30%, which is quite a significant figure that can make all the difference for most companies.

Providing value for consumers: By offering more personalized products to your customers, they’ll feel more satisfied with your business. After all, customers crave personalization because it shows that the business cares enough to get to know them and their interests.

Increasing buyer loyalty: When you meet all of your customers’ needs, your customers will become more loyal to your company. They will come back to buy other products from you because they know they’ll be able to find everything they’re looking for.

So what’s the best way to cross-sell and upsell? One of the best ways is to notify your customers about relevant offers through emails.  The email subject lines and email templates that we have gathered below will help you get started.

Upselling/cross-selling email template subject lines

• How about adding this to your collection?
• We also recommend…
• You’ve already bought [item], so how about giving [another item] a try?
• Tell us what you like for a more personalized shopping experience
• Customers who bought [item] are also interested in…
• Give yourself a gift…
• We’ve got something special for you…
• [Item a customer browsed] is good, but we have something way better!

Upselling/cross-selling email templates

Upselling/cross-selling email template 1 – focused on cross-selling

Upselling/cross-selling email template 2 – focused on cross-selling

Upselling/cross-selling email template 3 – focused on upselling

Upselling/cross-selling email template 4 – focused on upselling