12 Actionable Marketing Tips to Increase Sales
Do you stop marketing customers once they’ve completed their purchase from your firm?
If so, you’re probably not maximizing the revenue from each sale. The real secret is to make sure you’ve got a relevant call-to-action!
4 Ways to upsell customers at point of purchase
One way to increase sales from current shoppers is to tempt them to buy more by suggesting related products and services.
Try these 4 tried and true marketing offers to persuade buyers to improve the usefulness of their current purchase(s).
- Offer more of the same product in another color or pattern. This works well for a product that customers buy more than one of at a time, such as shirts or shoes.
- Recommend products that consumers often use together. Think related products. For example, show a coordinated sweater or slacks to go with the shirt.
- Suggest refills and other ancillary products. This option is useful for technical products. A classic example is printer cartridges for printers.
- Propose related services. Upsell customers with services associated with your offering. Here’s where a little creativity can go a long way. Among the alternatives are training, servicing and extended guarantees for computers and other electronics.
4 Promotional offers to entice customers to buy more
Another alternative for increasing a customer’s purchase is to use the Godfather’s advice – make them an offer they can’t refuse.
- Provide free shipping and handling. This promotion is the customers’ favorite hands down. Its popularity is attributable to the fact that it takes away the guesswork. To maintain profitability, require a minimum sale to take advantage of this offer.
- Reduce the price of the second item. Entice buyers to purchase more than one item at a time from your firm. My mother was the queen of this type of purchasing since she believed that if it fit, buy two.
- Offer volume pricing. Give customers a reason to buy more at one time. This is the old baker’s dozen approach where customers get thirteen bagels when you buy twelve. It’s also the rationale behind Costco where customers buy large quantities at one time to save money.
- Include promotion for future purchase. A twist on this idea is to provide an incentive by giving shoppers a coupon towards their next purchase. This is good for products that customers buy one at a time. It’s also a way give them a reason to buy in the future during a quiet period. Test this one during the holidays to get gift givers a reason to treat themselves in January.
4 Media options ripe for sales cross sell or upsell offers
Maximize your customer communications by using tailored offers and promotions to close the sale and/or expand the purchase. To ensure that you’re able to keep customers purchasing don’t overlook the importance of post-sales content marketing formats.
- Include time-limited offer on the product page. Sweeten the deal toget customers to close the sale.
- Add appropriate offer to the checkout. Borrow a page from your local supermarket where there are racks of candy and other impulse items at the checkout aisle. To work this magic on your website or blog, suggest related or coordinated merchandise. The benefit is that this product can be sent with the original selections.
- Use the purchase confirmation to upsell customers. Entice customers to buy additional items or ancillary products for free shipping and handling.
- Add a special promotion to your post-sale follow-up. Many etailers follow Amazon’s example and ask customers for feedback on their purchases about a week after the package’s arrival. Include a time-limited discount to entice buyers back soon. It also helps build your ratings and reviews section.
To ensure that you’re maximizing each customer purchase opportunity, it’s important to entice buyers by providing tailored offers to increase their average purchase. That said, you have to be careful not to train customers to wait for a special deal.
Are there any other promotional offers associated with the purchase process that you’ve used? If so, please include them in the comment section below.
Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen
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Photo credit: StevenDepolo via Flickr
