Retargeter

3 Ways To Drive More Upsells Through Online Marketing

Upselling your customers may possibly be the biggest source of revenue that you’re missing out on. Traditionally, online marketers spend a lot of time and money on driving new and relevant traffic to their website, with their ultimate goal being to drive more conversions. However, every additional conversion from a new visitor can cost a large sum of money. Upselling focuses on the driving additional conversions from your current customers and can be the largest and most profitable revenue source for any business. Focusing on customer service is one traditional strategy that businesses have used to maintain customer retention, but through online marketing and social media, businesses now have an arsenal of marketing tools that can further help with customer retention and upselling.

Bain and Company, a global business consulting firm, state that “a 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’’s profitability by 75%.” The Harvard Business Review tested out this statement, and found that “when MBNA America, a Delaware-based credit card company, cut its 10% defection rate in half, profits rose a whopping 125.” This case proves that even a small increase in customer retention percentage points can drive huge gains, so it’s no wonder that companies like Zappos and Nordstrom invest heavily in their customer service. However, having strong customer service isn’t the only driving force in customer upsells and retention.

Online marketing gives businesses a lot more access to its customer base, therefore providing additional tools and tactics that can be used toward driving upsells. Here are three channels that you can use to effectively improve your upsell game:

1. Social Media – A study by eMarketer found that 53% of people are more likely to purchase a brand after following and engaging with that brand on Facebook. No, this doesn’t mean that you should focus your entire social strategy on Facebook, this means that you should engage with your audience on the social platforms that they live on.
2. Retargeting – Traditionally, retargeting is used to drive lost conversions by keeping ads in front of a website’s bounced visitors. We have also found retargeting to be an awesome upsell tool. By segmenting all of your current customers, you can keep your upsell-focused messages in front of your customers. In fact, we’ve found CTRs and conversion rates (conversions per impressions) to be anywhere from 3% to 5% higher than standard site-based retargeting.
3. Email Marketing – Marketers are only now tapping into the full potential of this tried and true channel. While the idea behind email marketing focuses on keeping your brand’s latest messages in front of your prospects and customers, focusing on A/B testing your email subjects and content can further improve the value of your email marketing strategies.

While selling to new customers helps expand your customer base, upselling your current customers can additionally generate a tremendous amount of revenue from your customer base to your business. Focusing on customer service has conventionally helped lots of businesses retain and drive additional sales from their customer base, but utilizing tactics such as social media, retargeting, and email marketing can help further improve your upsell strategy.