Upselling is a strategy aimed at increasing the average sales value of a customer by offering a higher tier of the same product. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify know how to upsell a product and offer effective tools for that — paid and free apps. For example, Shopify upsell apps can persuade customers to purchase an upgraded or premium version of a product and add-ons that go with it.

Is product upselling really effective? It is estimated that product recommendations make up an average of 10-30% of ecommerce revenues.

What are the benefits of upsell apps?

Product upselling on Shopify and other ecommerce platforms may invoke negative feelings when the offering is too obtrusive. However, when done right, it only improves the shopping experience of customers helping retailers sell more. Take a look at the major benefits of the upsell apps:

Customer loyalty. You help your customers by suggesting upgrades that may bring them more value than the initial choice. This way they get a better deal, and you have additional revenue.

Profitability. It has always been easier to upsell products to existing customers than to acquire new ones. Existing customers are already familiar with your brand and trust your quality policy. 

Increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). CLV is the net profit contribution each customer makes to your company over time. If your customers generate more revenue for your business without additional investments, the CLV is high, and you can spend more money on attracting new customers. One of the most effective ways to improve CLV is upselling.

How do upsell apps work? 

There are several methods employed by upsell apps on Shopify: manual, rule-based, and algorithmic.

Manual. You select and add related items to each product. It gives you full control of the upselling situation but can be very time-consuming if you have a large store. 

Rule-Based. You set rules, the app automatically adds related items to a product. The rules allow you to show related items to a particular product, collection, product variant, price range, vendor, and even color.

Algorithmic. This is a fully automated method employed by advanced Shopify apps. They use various data, such as contextual data, click data, and previous order data to show the upsell recommendations for each product or group of products. These are the best Shopify upsell apps for stores with many visitors and significant data to run.

Upsell apps for Shopify: Examples

Best upsell apps for Shopify should be easy to use and mobile-friendly, have a fully customizable design, support the most popular offers (e.g., BOGO, Spend $100, get a free gift, Buy one, get one half-price, etc.), and give accurate recommendations. Take a look at the two versions of Shopify upsell apps: SP (Sales Popup) and QD (Quantity Breaks & Discounts).

SP (Sales Popup)

The app stops customers from leaving your shop without a purchase. An exit popup with all kinds of offers can make indecisive customers change their minds. Here are the things you can offer on the upsell popup with customizable CTA buttons:

  • Related products
  • Coupon codes
  • Discounts
  • Gift wrapping
  • Warranties 
  • Premium customer support

The Sales popup can also notify customers about time-sensitive products adding urgency and scarcity to your offering. The app decreases cart abandonment, motivates customers to increase their AOV and return to your shop again for more offerings.

Price: Free plan available. $9.95/month.

QD (Quantity Breaks & Discounts)

The app entices customers to buy more right on the cart page, which drives the average order value. With QD app you can:

  • Use percentage discounts. This tiered pricing option lets you deduct X% off the product price if a shopper picks a certain number of items.
  • Set quantity discounts as fixed sums. You can set particular tiered discounts for bulk purchases. 
  • Deduct a percent or particular sum from the cart total if your customers spend more than the set amount. 
  • Apply volume and tiered discounts shop-wide, for certain product range, product variant, vendor or particular products.
  • Use tags to simplify the management of discounts. E.g., you can use the Vendor tag and apply quantity breaks or volume discounts to all related products at once.

The QD app boosts customer loyalty via promos and encourages them to buy with personal discount estimations.

Price: Free plan available. $18.95/month.

Final Thoughts

Shopify upsell apps create a win-win situation increasing AOV for shops and helping customers get better deals. If you want to get an upsell app with functionality and the degree of automatization tailored to your business needs, contact our team offering Shopify app development services.