Upselling is one of the many tricks that e-commerce websites use to sell more goods and services. It is basically getting the customer to make a purchase or take an action that they did not initially plan on. This is usually done by offering the customer added value by making them aware of a product that is complementary to what they are purchasing. The post-purchase upsell is done after the initial transaction has completed. There are several ways that this can be achieved:

The first is to offer an upgrade after the checkout has been completed. This is popular for subscription services. As soon as the visitor has successfully signed up for the package, a popup box on exit would offer an upgrade to the next level, at a lower cost than advertised.

The next is to offer add-ons. In this case, an offer is made to augment the order with additional items. As an example, let’s say that the shopper purchased a razor. After checkout, an offer is made to add items such as razor cartridges, shaving foam, aftershave etc. to the same completed order. This becomes more attractive if there is no additional shipping charge.

Another method is to upsell the same product that was sold but at a slightly discounted rate. In this offer, the shopper is shown the same product they just purchased. They are given the option to purchase more of the same, for example, they can buy two more for the price of one. Some sites have seen an increase of as much as 20% with this tactic.

The advantage to any of these methods is that the original transaction is complete and as a result, is not at risk.