Using Post-Purchase Upselling to Boost Shopify Sales

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Malomo Staff

Staff

In 2009, the McKinsey Loyalty Loop marketing framework debuted, aiming to reframe the previously linear-progressing marketing funnel to fit how consumer purchasing habits were changing. As the name implies, the McKinsey Loyalty Loop introduced the concept of a circular marketing and sales funnel in which fostering brand loyalty through the post-purchase experience became paramount to driving repeat business.

Then in 2011, Jim Lecinski of Google published its updated marketing framework Zero Moment Of Truth (ZMOT), centered around the ecommerce customer journey, which posited that the line between online and offline purchase habits no longer existed. Claiming the sales funnel was dead (and created with the angle of selling ads to merchants and Shopify store owners), ZMOT nevertheless was backed by research-based insights from respected institutions like Nielsen.

We'll discuss the post-purchase insights learned from Google ZMOT, strategies to build better cross-sell and upsell offers, and the best Shopify apps to help you upsell products.

Post-Purchase Lessons Learned from Google ZMOT

Here are the significant takeaways from Google ZMOT, showing how buyer behavior will impact marketing on ecommerce platforms.

Every shopper is unique

Google ZMOT emphasizes the need to meet shoppers where they are in their way by developing data-based buyer personas and marketing to customers as individuals through real-time content that targets them at each decision point. Clearly, personalization through AI and predictive analytics platforms will only continue to become even more critical to ecommerce marketing strategies.

Consider lifetime value over one-purchase value

Average Order Value (AOV) of one-time purchases begins to diminish in importance. It's crucial to track both micro (e.g., email sign-up) and macro (investment) decisions over time and serve relevant content to each stage of the buying journey, highlighting the importance of proper buyer data tracking, segmentation, and data analysis.

Advertising is no longer the primary marketing tool

With consumer attention split in so many different directions, only the most prominent brands with enormous advertising budgets can afford to buy out customer attention through ad spend. Advertising realistically becomes less and less viable as a driving marketing factor. It's now critical to find creative ways of capturing consumer attention at every step of the buyer journey.

An example that's rising in popularity amongst Shopify platform users is turning operational shipment tracking emails into post-purchase offers by offering product recommendations within shipment tracking emails, which enjoy higher open rates over marketing emails by an average of 4.6x.

80 percent of success is showing up at the right time

It's now more vital than ever to meet shoppers where they are in their buying journey and offer them the right decision-making content at each stage. The implications here are, of course, that a robust content marketing strategy is a necessity, not a suggestion for D2C brands expecting to grow sales conversion rates. As David Bell, former professor of the Wharton School of Business, said, "The average number of information sources used by shoppers doubled from 2010 to 2011." Clearly, consumers want more helpful content, which presents a unique opportunity for brands to take control of this demand and serve appropriate content where needed.

Post-Purchase Upselling Strategies

While ZMOT's tenants primarily focus on ecommerce's future, and behavior-based AI for ecommerce is still in its nascency, there are still some tried and true upselling strategies you can implement today.

Bundle products

By building or suggesting related or frequently-purchased-together products at the checkout or product page, you can quickly increase AOV.

Offer purchase-based discounts

Buy one / get one discounts or offering discounts based on minimum purchase threshold are proven strategies.

Give minimum-based gifts

Many brands offer a free gift to customers who spend a minimum amount in one order.

Align perks with birthdays

Companies often send coupon codes or the promise of a free gift with purchase on customer birthdays.

Offer product warranties

Warranties are another way to bring added value to the customer while also facilitating another transaction.

Influencers and verified customer reviews

As Lecinski said, "Why would people make decisions based on the opinions of strangers? They don't. They make decisions based on the opinions of people like themselves."

Using relationships with relatable influencers and encouraging verified customer reviews can go far in swaying customer purchasing decisions.

Best Shopify Upsell Apps

While there's a dizzying array of apps available within the Shopify App Store that can simplify your upselling game, these apps are clear winners in terms of user popularity. All of them work both on desktop and across mobile devices.

Candy Rack

Candy Rack is the top app for upselling and cross-selling on Shopify. It uses an inobtrusive one-click pop-up approach that is easy to dismiss. Many merchants use Candy Rack to offer gift wrapping or an extended warranty.

Candy Rack offers a mix of free and paid services. The free services can prevent cart abandonment and urger shoppers through the Shopify checkout cart page. The paid services allow you to customize the modal pop-up to offer shoppers any extra product or service of your choosing. Candy Rack provides a 14-day free trial.

ReConvert

ReConvert is another Shopify app that makes cross-selling and upselling easy. Instead of placing these offers before purchase completion through a pop-up like Candy Rack, ReConvert allows vendors to create thank you offer pages that shoppers see post-purchase. ReConvert is also compatible with mobile. ReConvert provides a 30-day free trial.

ReConvert's widgets allow you to customize your post-purchase offers. Examples include:

  • discount pop-ups with countdown timers to create urgency

  • product recommendations

  • collecting customer birthdays for email marketing

  • offering post-purchase surveys

Malomo

Malomo is another Shopify-integrated app that centers around cross-selling and up-selling throughout the post-purchase experience. Malomo's core use case lets merchants offer intelligent product recommendations within a customer's shipment tracking emails. It's an easy way to take advantage of the higher open rates of shipment tracking emails. Malomo also allows you to beef up your out-of-the-box shipment tracking experience for the best user experience and visual impact. Malomo does offer a free trial.

CartHook

Similar to Candy Rack, CartHook offers one-click upselling. Where it differs from Candy Rack is that the offer is placed post-purchase. CartHook provides a 14-day free trial.

Summary

As personalization becomes a cornerstone of ecommerce marketing more and more, there are several types of offers and apps Shopify merchants can combine to form compelling cross-selling opportunities that also enhance the post-purchase user experience. By offering beautifully designed, well-timed offers, discounts, and recommendations, you can simultaneously boost sales and delight your customers.


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