3 Ways An Upsell Funnel Can Increase Your Revenue

Let’s keep it real:

Customer acquisition is expensive. It takes time, energy, and money. So how can you maximize your return on investment?

Today we are going to talk about a sales technique that can help you with that. It’s called upselling.

Here’s what you will learn:

• What is an upsell?
• What is an upsell funnel?
• How to create an upsell funnel?

We will also share the three ways an upsell funnel can increase your revenue.

Want to make more money with the same marketing spend?

Continue reading…

What is an Upsell?

Upselling is a sales technique where you offer the potential customer an upgraded version of the product that they have decided to buy.

That upgraded version of the product is called an upsell.

For example:

McDonald’s used to have a supersize option where the cashier would ask you “Would you like to supersize that?” when you ordered a meal. That was an upsell.

What is an Upsell Funnel?

An upsell funnel is a type of mini sales funnel that culminates with the upsell.

It looks like this:

1. Lead magnet – You offer the potential customer a lead magnet in exchange for their email address.
2. Premium product – You offer the potential customer a premium product that addresses the same problem as the lead magnet but provides more value.
3. An upsell – Once the potential customer has decided to buy the premium product, you offer them an upsell which is an upgraded version of that product.

We recommend using upsell funnels in the Value Ladder sales funnel so that each product would have its own upsell.

How to Create an Upsell Funnel

So how can you build your first upsell funnel?

Step #1: Create a Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is something that you give away for free in exchange for the potential customer’s email address.

It can be anything that they can either download to their device or access online:

• A report
• An ebook
• A cheat sheet
• An email course
• A video course

…etc.

What’s important is that:

1. Your lead magnet provides a solution to a problem that your potential customers are struggling with. 
2. That problem is either the same one or related to the problem that your premium product solves.

Also, as we have explained on Instagram:

People are not going to give you their contact information unless you give them something super valuable in return.

So make sure that your lead magnet is so valuable that you could charge money for it if you wanted to.

Step #2: Create a Product

You probably already have a product.

However, in case you haven’t started selling online yet, then you need to create a premium product.

Ideally, it should build on the lead magnet, meaning that it should address the same problem but provide more value.

Step #3: Create an Autoresponder Sequence

You need to create a sequence of automated emails that you can then send to the potential customer once they have downloaded the lead magnet.

The purpose of these emails is to pitch the potential customer your premium product and get them to click through to its sales page.

Step #4: Create an Upsell

Of course, you can’t have an upsell funnel without an upsell, so you need to create one.

Here are three ways to provide more value:

• Increase the quantity – You can offer the potential customer more of the same product for a better price.

For example, if you order 250g of acerola cherry powder from Time Health, it costs  £89.92 per kilogram.

However, if you buy a kilogram of it at once, it will only cost £73.32.

• Provide more features – You can offer the potential customer a version of the same product with extra features. The most straightforward way to do that is to throw in a service (say, a one-on-one consulting call). However, you can also offer more functionality.

For example, if you have up to 1,000 email subscribers, ConvertKit offers three pricing plans:

• Offer a subscription – Are you selling something that people tend to purchase on a regular basis? Then offering a subscription that’s a better deal than a one-off purchase makes sense. Just make sure that the potential customer realizes that it comes with a discount!

For example, on Amazon UK, you can buy a 5-pack of Colgate toothpaste but you can also subscribe and save 5%.

You are going to buy toothpaste anyway, so why not take advantage of this offer, right?

Plus, a subscription like that also makes your life easier, since no one likes running out of toothpaste.

Step #5: Add the Upsell to Your Sales Funnel

You can easily add the upsell to your sales funnel with ClickFunnels software.

That way, when someone decides to buy your product, they will be automatically shown your upsell offer.

And we make it super easy for the customer to say “Yes” to it – all they need to do is click a button. This is called the one-click upsell (OCU).

How Can an Upsell Funnel Increase Your Revenue?

But why should you bother with upsell funnels?

Isn’t having a regular sales funnel enough to generate revenue?

Well…

It’s true that you don’t need upselling to build a sustainable online business.

However, implementing this sales technique can help you drastically improve your bottom line, so why would you want to leave all that money on the table?

#1: An Upsell Funnel Can Increase the Average Order Value (AOV)

The most obvious effect of upselling on revenue is the increase in average order value (AOV).

When you offer your potential customers a product, some of them are likely to buy that product.

When you offer your potential customers a product andthen follow that up with an upsell, some of them are likely to go with the upsell.

Since the upsell is more expensive, this means additional revenue that you would not have generated otherwise.

#2: An Upsell Funnel Can Increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Another effect upselling has on revenue is the increase in the customer lifetime value (CLV).

When a customer who would have otherwise bought the original version of the product buys the upsell instead their lifetime value becomes higher. That’s common sense.

But wait, there’s more to it…

One of Robert Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion is commitment and consistency. It boils down to this:

We value consistency in others and want to be seen as consistent ourselves.

In a business context, this means that when someone says “Yes” to one offer, they are more likely to be open to future offers.

When you upsell, instead of getting one “Yes” from a customer, you get two:

• They agree to purchase the product
• They then agree to upgrade that product

This means that someone who has bought the upsell is more likely to buy from you again than someone who bought the original version of that product.

So the effect the upsell has on the customer lifetime value isn’t limited to the product in question, it ripples through the entire sales funnel. That can add up to a lot of money over time!

#3: An Upsell Can Increase Brand Loyalty

It costs less to keep an existing customer than to acquire a new one. That’s why brand loyalty is so important.

Due to the previously discussed principle of commitment and consistency, the more someone invests in your brand, the more likely they are to remain loyal to it.

Note that:

1. The more we invest in something, the more we value it 
2. The more we invest in something, the more it affects our identity

That’s why you want to increase people’s investment in your brand whenever possible, no matter how small that increase might seem.

Upselling is a great way to do that. Paying a little bit more for an upgraded version of the product doesn’t seem like a big deal… But that increase in investment has a psychological effect.

The customer who has bought the upsell is more likely to:

• Stay loyal to your brand
• Share their positive experience on social media
• Write a positive comment about your company on an online forum
• Recommend your product to friends, social media followers, blog readers, etc
• Speak out when they think that someone is unfairly maligning your brand

…and so on.

Some of these things are pretty much impossible to measure but they are nevertheless important.

And they can have a huge impact on your bottom line!

Conclusion

An upsell funnel can increase the average order value, customer lifetime value, and brand loyalty.

We have covered how to build one in this article. Want more help with that?

Check out our 5 Day Challenge.

You will learn how to:

• Generate unlimited leads
• Create your first lead magnet
• Build your first sales funnel
• Create a simple 6-email follow-up sequence
• And launch your funnel!

…in just five days.

So don’t hesitate.

Join our 5 Day Challenge. It’s completely free!