Creating online courses, e-books, or offering coaching services has become one of the most profitable ventures in the educational industry today. However, success in this field isn’t just about selling a single product or service. The key to maximizing revenue lies in your ability to offer customers additional options that increase their purchase value and strengthen their relationship with your brand. This is what we refer to as upselling online courses. Do you know how to do it?
In this article, we’ll discuss upsell, cross-sell, and down-sell techniques to help you succeed in online sales. Using selected examples, we’ll look at how they can be effectively implemented.
What is Upselling Online Courses, and Why Should You Care?
As a creator of online courses, you are probably using sales tools like webinars and evergreen webinars (if you’re just starting, you should check out an article that explains these strategies in detail). While evergreen webinars offer more opportunities for continuous revenue generation, there is still much-untapped potential in upselling online courses. What do we mean by this?
When a customer wants to buy your course or any other product, like an e-book or a 1:1 consultation, they become part of your community. This means that from that point on, you should pay special attention to their needs and continuously offer them new products tailored to their preferences and possibilities. The techniques that will undoubtedly help you achieve this are upsell, cross-sell, and down-sell, which we will return to later in this article.
Why is This So Important?
As a creator, your goal should be to extract as much value as possible from each sale. Imagine running a curated baby store with all the essential items for a newborn’s layette. One day, expectant parents who are not yet experienced enough to know what they truly need come into your store. Your job as a salesperson is to assess their needs, select the right products, and ensure they are equipped with all the necessary items. Why this comparison?
When a customer comes to you wanting to buy an e-book, show them that you want to get to know them better and equip them with additional knowledge that will help them achieve even more. On the other hand, it’s also an excellent opportunity to increase the average cart value. Importantly, if you prepare well and automate the entire sales funnel, everything will happen without your active involvement. You just need to prepare your strategy once, and the rest will take care of itself.
Upselling Online Courses: Techniques for Upsell, Cross-Sell, Down-Sell
Before we dive into specific strategies, it’s worth taking a moment to cover some basic concepts that will be key to the rest of the article. It’s important to know that:
Upsell is a technique where you offer the customer a more expensive, more comprehensive version of the product or service they intend to buy. The goal is to increase the transaction value by convincing the customer to purchase a more advanced product.
Cross-sell involves offering complementary products or services to the main product the customer is already planning to buy. This way, the customer can enhance their experience, and you gain additional revenue.
Down-sell is a strategy that involves offering the customer a cheaper alternative if they are not interested in the main, more expensive offer. The goal is to retain the customer and convert the sale, even if it results in a smaller profit.
Many people confuse these concepts and think that upsell and cross-sell are the same. However, as you can see, these two techniques are quite different. The differences between upsell, cross-sell, and down-sell can be easily illustrated:
- When a customer wants to buy an older-generation phone, you offer them a modern iPhone — that’s upsell.
- When a customer buys an iPhone, you offer them a convenient case or other accessory in a bundle — that’s cross-sell.
- And when a customer wanted to buy an iPhone but then changed their mind for some reason, you offer them a cheaper smartphone — that’s a down-sell.
Now we can move on to the details of each of these strategies and to examples that will help you understand how easily you can increase your sales conversion.
The Upsell Technique
This technique allows you to easily get the customer to spend more money right at the start of the sales funnel. Let’s say you sell a mini-course on how to teach a dog to walk on a loose leash. This is your entry-level product, which attracts you with a lower price. When the customer adds it to their cart and proceeds to checkout, you immediately offer them an upgrade from the mini-course to a full course on how to train their dog and teach it the most important commands and behaviors. This includes walking on a loose leash.
The key here is to make the upsell relevant and valuable. It’s not just about selling the most expensive option, but about enhancing the customer’s experience and increasing the value of their initial choice. It’s important to do this carefully because aggressive upselling can do more harm than good.
In the context of online courses, the upsell technique can look like this:
- Offering extended versions of the course
- Additional, exclusive content
- Access to personalized coaching sessions or 1:1 consultations
A good example of utilizing the upsell technique is the approach of Pat Flynn. One of Flynn’s flagship products is his podcasting course. When a customer signs up for a free webinar on the basics of podcasting, Flynn offers them a basic course for $199. Then, as part of the upsell technique, he offers an advanced version of the course for $399, which includes additional materials, consultations, and ready-made templates for podcast promotion.
If the customer opts for the basic version, Flynn automatically triggers an email campaign where he offers them additional materials in the form of cross-sell, such as audio editing tools or promotional packages for an additional fee. But we’ll get back to cross-selling later.
How to Implement the Upsell Technique?
Here are some practical tips on the upsell technique that will help you plan your actions:
Segment Your Customers
Not all customers will be interested in the VIP version. It’s important to understand who among your customers is most likely to invest in more advanced options. You can do this by analyzing their behavior on the site, previous purchases, and interests.
Use Success Stories
Telling success stories of other customers who have benefited from the VIP option can be crucial in convincing new customers to make a larger investment. Examples of specific people who have achieved success thanks to the advanced version of the course can be very persuasive. You can use a brief storytelling approach when introducing the customer to the offer.
Time Pressure, or FOMO
The upsell technique is most effective when the customer feels time pressure. Something available only to a select few and for a limited time is much more attractive. This is where FOMO comes into play, which “affects” most of society. With tools like Apresly, you can easily set up dynamic countdown timers that appear at the moment of the upsell offer, emphasizing that it’s available only for a limited time.
Use Lead Magnets
Lead magnets, such as free webinars or e-books, can be great tools for attracting customers to the basic version of a course. Then, after the lead magnet ends, you can offer an upsell by highlighting the benefits of the full program.
A good example of a lead magnet is a free mini-course by James Testani that teaches guitar playing. When a customer joins the free 14-day program, at its conclusion, they receive an attractive offer to upgrade to the full training. They may, but of course, do not have to take advantage of it. A lead magnet is a hook and lure for easily acquired customers.
You can read the full offer here.
Cross-sell by Amy Porterfield
As mentioned earlier, the cross-sell technique is significantly different from upsell. Cross-selling is all about expanding your offer by adding complementary products to the package. For instance, if a customer wants to purchase an e-book about creating Facebook posts, you can suggest an online mini-course on how to craft LinkedIn posts or offer a bundle of customizable social media templates.
Remember, when a customer is at the point of purchase, their engagement and willingness to spend are at their highest. This is the perfect moment to introduce a more expensive option that provides additional benefits. Therefore, it’s wise to employ this technique during the checkout process.
Amy Porterfield, a digital marketing expert, is also a true master of upselling. Last year, she even shared a case study of one of her campaigns, which is excellent and concrete proof that it works! Amy detailed her strategy for launching a course titled “Webinars That Convert,” where she effectively utilized cross-selling. The campaign generated a total revenue of $170K! Impressive, right?
According to Amy, when preparing a cross-sell offer, three factors are crucial:
- What is the best additional offer that complements the product you’re selling?
- How do you price your additional offer?
- What does the cross-sell process look like?
Based on these factors, Amy found the perfect approach to create an ideal cross-sell product. She crafted a product that perfectly complemented the main offering. In this specific case, it was a set of five presentation slide templates as an additional product to her webinar course. Amy priced the template bundle but offered buyers three different options. They could purchase the full bundle upfront, pay in two installments, or opt for a “light” version that included only two templates.
Amy’s strategy was well-thought-out: if someone saw the offer and bought the five templates at full price, they would never see the installment option or the light version. A customer wouldn’t see the light version unless they declined the first two offers. See how it works based on the potential buyer’s behavior. Another advantage was that Amy could learn more about her community’s preferences.
Read the full case study by Amy here.
Cross-Sell – How to Increase Cart Value
Now that you know how it works in practice, here are some tips that will surely help you when creating your strategy.
Offer Product Bundles
One of the most effective ways to implement cross-sell is by creating product bundles. If you’re selling a time management course, you could add an online calendar or a planning app as part of the bundle. Customers often choose the bundle because they perceive it as a better value.
Ensure Offer Visibility
It’s crucial that cross-sell offers are visible but not intrusive. The best place to present them is on the cart page or the thank you page after purchase. You can also display them during the checkout process as a “add this to your order for only…” suggestion. A pop-up is also a great solution, and tools like Apresly can help you design one.
Offer Valuable Bonuses
Sometimes, cross-sell doesn’t have to be directly related to the main product. You can offer a valuable bonus that entices the customer to purchase an additional product. For example, offering an advanced webinar on a related topic for a small fee as an add-on to the main course.
Down-Sell: How to Retain an Existing Customer
Down-sell is often an underrated strategy, but it can be extremely effective, especially when a customer is about to abandon their cart due to the price. By offering a cheaper alternative, you can not only save the transaction but also build loyalty that will pay off in the future.
Let’s say you’re running an intensive online coaching program priced at $999. During the purchase process, some customers may back out at the last minute due to the high price. When the customer is considering abandoning the cart, you can offer them a cheaper alternative – for example, a video course priced at $299 that covers the basics of the coaching program but without the one-on-one sessions. You can do this in the form of an exit-intent pop-up, which you can create using tools like Apresly.
This way, the customer doesn’t leave empty-handed, and you secure a sale that might otherwise have been lost. Amy used this technique in her campaign, which she described on her blog. While her actions can be classified as typical cross-selling, as you’ve probably noticed, Amy introduced some unconventional steps into her sales funnel. One of them was that when a customer declined the cross-sell offer, they were presented with another option, such as installment payments or a smaller version of the template bundle.
Another example is the marketing platform Kartra. When a customer browses available plans and prices but then decides to leave the site (likely due to high prices), a pop-up appears on their screen.
Check it out here.
This greatly increases the chance that a potential customer will reconsider the offer and change their mind.
How to Develop a Down-Sell Offer?
Here are some tips that will be helpful for you.
Monitor Abandoned Carts
Abandoned carts are a common challenge for many creators. Think about it – someone saw your effective ad, clicked the link, viewed the offer, and even added the product to their cart, filled in their details, and… left the site. Ouch. That doesn’t sound good, does it? Tools like Apresly allow you to monitor abandoned carts and automatically send down-sell offers to customers who decided not to complete their purchase. You can set up emails that propose cheaper alternatives along with a discount code to increase the chances of finalizing the transaction and recovering the lost customer.
Offer Installment Payments
If the product is relatively expensive and the customer is considering abandoning the purchase, you can follow Amy’s approach by offering installment payments as a down-sell option. This lowers the entry barrier, allowing the customer to take advantage of your offer without the need for a one-time investment.
Use Dynamic Offers on the Site
It’s worth, and even necessary, to use technology to create dynamic down-sell offers that appear when the system detects that the customer is about to leave the site. This way, you can adjust the offer to the customer’s needs in real time. This is crucial because it works immediately – right then and there. Of course, you can analyze the customer’s behavior on the site and send them a down-sell offer via email (if you have their email address), but a pop-up informing them of a special offer is a much more effective solution. Remember, you can create such a message using Apresly.
Cross-Sell in the Form of a Down-Sell
Sometimes, instead of offering a cheaper version of the main product, you can suggest a different, lower-priced product that might also interest the customer. An example could be offering an e-book or a mini-course as a down-sell instead of the more expensive main course.
Summary
Upsell, cross-sell, and down-sell techniques are not only methods for increasing sales but also for building lasting relationships with customers. In the context of online courses, e-books, and coaching services, these strategies can significantly impact your income as well as customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Using tools like Apresly allows for automation and personalization of the sales process, which in turn increases the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. With dynamic timers, personalized offers, and automated email campaigns, Apresly enables the creation of efficient sales funnels that maximize profits.
Remember, the key to effective selling lies in understanding the needs of your customers and offering them valuable solutions at every stage of their purchasing journey. With the right strategies and tools, you can not only sell more but also build a strong, loyal community around your brand.
