We’ve been writing a lot of articles lately on techniques to build up sales with the useful tools provided with some of the best ecommerce solution software in the market. We’ve done so because the holidays are just a few months away and we want our merchants get the best of this shopping season. We’ve touched on cross-selling and up-selling in earlier posts and we will take it a step further here.

There are quite a few things that even the best ecommerce solution or free shopping cart software can’t help you do. It’s because there’s a lot of psychology involved in getting a customer to accept a product, let alone buy or spend more than they originally planned to. Sadly, web hosting shopping cart technology hasn’t reached such an advanced state…yet.

Cross-selling and up-selling are always great ways to expose people to more products they might be interested in but had not thought of. Nevertheless,, getting them to actually consider purchasing those products is a whole other matter. The way you go about persuading them is very crucial. Literally to get customers to accept cross-sell and up-sell products, you have to choose your words properly.

Here are a few suggestions:

Add A Personal Touch

Try to personalize your product suggestions as much as possible. Don’t just use “We recommend.” But instead, try engaging “We think you might like this/these.” This gives a much warmer feel. This phrase works great with up-sell items or items which are related (same category).

Establish A Need

Instead of making outright suggestions, why not put it in a different way by actually asking the buyer if he or she needs something. If a person has just bought a digital SLR for instance, you could ask, “Do you need batteries?” or “Would you want this camera bag for your gear?”. This method is good for products with lots of accessories. This is why guys go into DIY stores searching to buy a $5 screwdriver but come out with $200 worth of power tools and equipment which will be borrowed by neighbors and never returned. Mind you, have you noticed how fast food outlets cross-sell? As soon as you order a soda and a burger, you’ll automatically be asked, “Would you like some fries with that?” If you agree, the ever-helpful staff will then try to up-sell the product, “Why don’t you try our large fries? It’s just 20 cents more.” Even if 3 out of 10 customers opt for the fries, regardless of size, that’s already an increase in revenue.

Everyone Wants A Bargain

No one loves to pay retail. If you want someone to purchase something (extra) you need to make it worth their while. You need to express the value of the deal to them. Tell them exactly how much they will be saving and emphasize what a great deal this is. And it pays to select your figures wisely here. For example, given a choice between “Save $1.99″ and “Save 30%”, which do you think would have a bigger impact?

Tell Them The Sky Is Falling

You will be surprise people usually react to urgency. Place some sort of limit or a condition to the items you cross-sell or up-sell. “Available at this price for 15 minutes only” or “Hurry! Last 5 units left” are just some examples of this. Some view cart and checkout pages even employ the use of countdown clocks to emphasize the urgency. This method is excellent for items that are low in stock or end life products.

Curiosity Killed The Cat, But Not The Sale

I read somewhere that you should persuade and not inform when trying to sell. However, Amazon has started using analytic as part of its up-selling function for some of its products. Lets just say you request item A to purchase. Amazon will list that item along with a few more similar items and state the percentage of people who bought them. Basically, you’d discover that most people bought products that cost more than the product you selected. Basically, yours would be the only one not to hit 2 digits percentage-wise. You would then start to have doubts about buying product A and start browsing through all the other costlier alternatives. Genius, huh?