Up-selling, Down-selling and Cross Selling
Here's what those different terms mean:
Upselling
Upselling refers to the sales practice of offering something above and beyond what the initial product is. Perhaps an upgrade, or something extra to increase the value of the original product being sold.If you decide to buy an iPod, you might be upsold to a "better" model then the one you were going to buy. If you wanted the 8GB, the sales person might convince you that a 16GB one is better - that's upselling. A warrenty would also be an upsell.
Same thing if you want a small fries, but for just a little extra you can "upgrade" to the larger one.
The problem I see with internet marketing up sells, is that so much of the time the upsold products become essential to make the most of the initial product. If you purchase an ebook, you might need to purchase the "gold" edition to make the most of your investment.
Not very fair if I have to purchase something additional to make the most of the thing I've already bought!
Downselling
Downselling is the practice of offering the product (or something else) at a cheaper price if the person decides not to purchase.You can see this in action in car yards - so you can't afford that $50,000 BMW? Here's another model for $40,000…
You also see this in action online. If you leave a website you might be offered a "special deal" which gives you the original product (or something else) at a cheaper price. Personally I'm not a fan of this practice. If you're selling something for $37, isn't it a bit unfair to sell the same thing for $27 if that customer decides to leave the sales page?
If that customer who purchased it at $37 ever finds out that he could have got it at a cheaper price, won't be be a bit bummed? Sure it makes more money for the merchant, but still… :-/
You can see a rather intense example of downselling on one of the internet marketing products that Steve features on his blog post (not that he points out individual programs).
Click here if you want to see this in action (don't waste your time watching the video!). If you close the web page (providing you 'cancel' the close request), you'll be greeted with a $20 discount. If you close that page, you'll be given "free" access to a few of their products. If you close that page, you'll be taken straight to a purchasing page to get another heavy discount on their product.
Wow!
Four different sales pitches, each one getting cheaper as we go down the sales tunnel.
Cross Selling
Cross selling is pretty similar to upselling, and it's okay if you get confused between them (I do!). This practice refers to selling something that complements the initial product sold. For example you might purchase a new phone and if you're offered a fancy new set of earphones, that's cross selling.You can also see cross selling online. If you're reading a sales page for a book on web design, you might also be offered a book on SEO.
Most people get confused between upselling and cross selling, but it comes down to terminology. If you see Steve's post you won't see any mention of cross selling, it's all upselling (even though it might not technically be so)
Even more confused?
Here's the basics:
Upselling: Offering to upgrade the inital product for an extra price.
E.g: Get a larger pack of fries for an additional fee.
Downselling: Offering the product at a lower price or another product for less money.
E.g: So you can't afford my $1000 price tag? Lucky you sir, today I have a 50% discount!
Cross selling: Offering an additional product in addition to the one being sold.
E.g: This meal would work better with a salad. Or do you want a home theatre system with that TV?
It's important to remember none of these sales tactics are "bad". It completely depends on how they are being used!
Recent Comments
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Well said! Frankly, it comes down to the ethics of the sale. Most of the time these are used as pressure tactics to bleed the consumer.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for a brilliant piece. It's perfectly analogised and even better, summarised!
I didn't know the "terms" but I was impressed that in the months that I received pre-joiner emails from WAU, I never received one offering a discount, no "special rate, exclusively for you", "hurry, only a few days left", etc.
The only "upselling" and "cross selling" I've experienced at WAU has been Namecheap, Street Articles and Jaaxy. I'm delighted that the first will be taken care of in the coming weeks with the release of free sub-domains. I stupidly purchased 20+ perfectly ill informed domains including .info's (!) on my first day here, so I'm relieved that no fellow noob will ever again fall prey to that mistake.
Street Articles is forgivable as it's free and the last one I guess just can't be helped.
Jaaxy is definitely an "upsell". It's a spawn-of-satan service that snares the unwary and ends with hopeless addicts like Kyle and Carson pushing it to swell the ranks and keep us all forever glued to our screens. Bit like World of Warcraft. I know they designed and built it themselves but I believe they've sadly ended up like all the other innocent subscribers, completely enslaved to the system.
I've a total downer on "downselling". I subscribed for years to a brilliant service at $39.99 a month. I was livid when I accidentally let my subscription lapse due to my credit card expiring and received an email offering me a $19.99 re-joiners rate.
Don't get me wrong, that service was worth $39.99 to me and I got value for money, I just felt like such a mug that I could have saved $$$ if I'd only resigned and come back after the first month.
I'll be applying your words-of-wisdom from now on to any purchase I make, whether online or in the real world. I'll look beyond the shiny objects and dancing girls and ask myself, "what's the up-sell, down-sell or cross-sell?" before I part with a penny.
Thanks again.
Best.
Rich.
I'm not sure why you include NameCheap here. It's a domain registrar and has nothing to do with Wealthy Affiliate. It's not run by Kyle or Carson and they have just as many ties to it as you have to GoDaddy.
Thanks Rich. I don't think NameCheap really is an upsell on the part of WA (although it does violate WA's own guidelines of no affiliate links in training material!), it's just recommended and you are more then welcome to use another domain registar. I personally use gandi.net, they are a bit more expensive, but I like them because they have no upselling at all! Great customer experience.
The domains are also just expensive enough to stop impulse buying (which I've done more then enough of in the past :-).
Thanks for your comment!
Hey Mark. I'm sure you realised my comment was slightly tongue-in-cheek but thinking like a fellow noob, any requirement to open the wallet is suspicious. If you've never heard of Namecheap, how would you know that it's actually owned by @veronica.l and not Kyle and Carson? I'm delighted that sub-domains are arriving shortly, IMHO they will remove the last traces of doubt. Best. Rich.
Yeah, I knew. You have an entertaining writing style :-)
I look forward to the free subdomains as well. It'll be a great addition to Wealthy Affiliate!
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Well done I now know and understand what all this means Thank you