Downselling is the process of positioning a product by showing customers a higher-priced item then a lower priced item. Showing the higher-priced item first positions the customer’s expectations high, making the lower-priced item more appealing. You can use it to help customers overcome their pricing objections while still getting high-quality products with similar value and features. Downselling can be a powerful tool if you can use it effectively. In this article, we discuss ways to boost your company’s e-commerce conversions with downselling.
Tripwire Funnels that Always Upsell
Upselling is an effective way to bring in more money while downselling is effective in making sure that you don’t lose a sale altogether. When you combine the two, you can upsell using downselling. You can do this with a tripwire funnel.
A tripwire funnel is a system that identifies customers that are interested in making a purchase. They indicate this by putting a product in a cart or with a similar interest commitment. When they go to check out, the system is activated and shows the customer a second product. This part of the process follows the traditional upsell method, but you want the price to be significantly higher than the item that they picked. If the buyer rejects the second item, it will likely be because of the price. The system automatically shows the buyer the third item using downselling by setting the price of item three in between items one and two.
This process uses upselling, then downselling to position products that have a higher value. When done successfully, your customers will buy more products or products with a higher profit margin. It can be an effective way to improve overall sales and profits.
Targeted Downselling
Another way to apply downselling to your e-commerce website is to try targeted downselling. When customers shop for specific products, they may need accessories to go with them. These accessories usually cost less than the product itself and you can try to downsell specific accessories with specific products. Phones are a great example of this. When customers buy cell phones, they almost always buy a case to go with it. You can suggest cases, screen protectors, and other phone-related accessories that work with the phone that they purchased.
Downselling Packages
If your company bundles products and services together to make a premium product package, you can use downselling to increase your e-commerce sales. The process is simple and can be done on just about any package.
Take your premium package as a starting point. Then, change the contents of the package to make it more affordable. Offer this package as a downsell for customers that reject the other package because of its price. If you position it correctly, you may have the customer by the product package that you wanted to focus on.
Many companies try this method by creating a product package that is top-tier with a price that customers are not likely to accept. Their goal is to have customers by the downsell package because it is more affordable but more profitable for the company. Some companies know that their top-tier products are too expensive for customers. This is intentional so that they can position a downsell product. You can do this in a similar way with e-commerce products.
If your company offers a wide selection of related products or services, customers are not likely to buy all of them. However, you can create a package that has “everything” that a customer could want. Because it has so many offers in it, they are not likely to buy it. You can use that to position a more reasonable package of products or services that they are likely to want.
Personalized Recommendations
Downselling can be effective, but you usually only get one chance to suggest a product or service. The more personalized your suggestion is, the more likely you are to complete the sale. Fortunately, e-commerce platforms are perfect for this type of selling. You need a system the can track customer behavior on a site. As customers browse, your system gets a sense of what they are looking for and what gets their attention. Use that data to make better recommendations so that you don’t waste your one chance to save the sale.
Get Help Setting Up Your E-Commerce Systems
Downselling can be a powerful technique for saving sales, but it is just one of many techniques that you can use on an e-commerce platform. If you want to get the best performance out of your e-commerce systems, then you may need to partner with an agency that specializes in setting them up.
At KitelyTech, we work with startups and established companies to create e-commerce systems that they can use to sell products and services online. We also incorporate other services, such as content creation and SEO services to help you grow your online store. Call us at (800) 274 2908 to discuss how we can help you with your e-commerce needs.
