Cross-Selling, upselling and other CRM visions are often described as the panacea of marketing.

No matter how appealing, cross-selling and upselling figures and facts can be misleading. Many advertising agencies and CRM vendors provide quick behavior hypotheses that do not accurately reflect the potential of these strategies.

The problem with cross-selling figures and facts lies with many advertising agencies and CRM vendors providing statistics based on unrelated behavior. Many of the growth statistics (30%+ increase) are determined based restricted research from limited marketing programs and in a few instances, statistically exposing unproven WAGs (wild ass guesses).

We can not deny that Cross-selling can be one of the best marketing strategies by encouraging customers to buy more or buy premium. If well executed, the importance and benefits of a well-designed cross-selling sales strategy cannot be denied. When done well, thanks to cross-selling, it is possible not only to generate revenues but also to increase customers’ retention and earn their trust and loyalty.

Are you losing out on your Personalized Photo Gift sales?

You are not alone, according to the Gartner Group’s research only one-third of all businesses successfully implement cross-selling 74% of companies online have tried to cross-sell, but up to 90% of them have failed to obtain satisfactory results. 

Find out why 90% of marketing strategists have failed and how to avoid it! Cross-selling is an important part of any Personalized Product business strategy. It involves offering customers additional products or services related to what they have already purchased, or the event and seasonality in order to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. In order to successfully cross-sell, you must understand customers’ needs and develop an appropriate consumer understanding of your products and services in cross-selling proposals. This involves gathering data about customer preferences, analyzing customer behavior, and developing intuition strategies that will help them accept your offerings.

Are you losing out on your Personalized Photo Gift sales?

Why do your cross-selling strategies fails? Because most cross-selling efforts are often pushed out without analysis and w/o objectives, either marketing or sales, so in one words we tend to “wing it.” Cross-selling is doomed if implemented without consideration. You know your target buyers, but can you capture their attention with the right products and the right words? 

What analysis is required for cross-selling? 

Cross-selling requires a great deal of skill and knowledge to do it well. To excel in cross-selling, companies must be able to identify customer needs accurately, use persuasive language and product offers customers will find attractive, and create a sense of urgency that will compel customers to act quickly.

• – You need to select the audience, identifying personal preferences and what has value for them. 
• – You need to understand the motivating event or circumstance. A wedding requires a distinct perspective than an event like Xmas, a graduation or Father’s Day.

In short, selecting generic cross-selling products from your catalog at random or because it is easy to implement, may please management, but it is not necessarily meaningful for the customer. Hence, a successful cross-selling strategy needs to understand and position certain product fits to help generate the right cross-fit offers to your consumers.

• For example, making a Christmas Card should trigger Christmas ornaments offers, Photo Frames, Puzzle and even a Quick Calendar offer.

So, what do most marketing strategists do wrong ?

90% failed, remember.

1. Improper Identification of the target Buyers. It is not only about the customers but also what they bought before and their current preferences. If you do not understand your target buyers, in our case, their habits about creating Personalized Photo Product, the what & why they would be interested in the cross-sell presentation, your efforts will fail.
   •  – If a client orders a photo mug, cross-selling with a complementary product like a water bottle has a high ratio chance of success. 
   • – The same can be said about after making a personalised puzzle, you offer complementary one photo, image products like a canvas, blankets, a mousepad as an alternate offer.. 
   • – On the other hand, with the initial purchase of an expensive premium product, like a lay-flat photobook or a blanket (60$ plus) the cross-selling proposal may offers little less product opportunity but may stimulate an upsell path to speedier and guaranteed delivery or premium gift packaging.

2. Unprofitable Customers are also a cross-selling risk.

• One in five cross-buyers type can be unprofitable. Some individuals are only interested in maximizing promotions. These buyers are looking for steep discounts. Other consumers are thrifty and never overspend. Their spending is small or limited and never increased when cross-buying. Thus, reduce your cross-selling costs if you can with these accounts

3. Cross-selling the Wrong Products. Irrelevant offers are a major mistake. Just imagine that a buyer wants to purchase a mug, and you offer them a t-shirt, a blanket, and socks – this leads to frustration and will damage your relationship.

Cross-selling is a powerful tool to increase revenue and customer loyalty on your Online personalized product website.

It requires careful planning and execution to ensure that customers are presented with the right products at the right time.

A great cross-selling program is not improvised. Your marketing and IT team need to build a system where customer’s interests, even their past purchases, (CRM) are taken into account when presenting relevant offers. This requires detailed data analysis, segmentation of customers, and creative product bundling. 

By creating an effective cross-selling program, you can increase your average order value and create more satisfied customers who will come back for more.