The term “upselling” often evokes images of slick, high-pressure salespeople trying to squeeze extra money from customers. But the truth is, upselling is a powerful and legitimate sales strategy that deepens customer relationships and increases revenue.
Ahead, you’ll learn the definition of upselling, see examples of upselling and cross-selling in the wild, and explore best practices for using upselling techniques to boost revenue while keeping customers happy.
What is upselling?
Upselling is a sales technique in which a seller encourages a customer to purchase a more expensive item, upgrade, or add on to increase the overall value of the sale. It involves suggesting complementary products or upgrades that genuinely enhance the customer’s experience, such as premium versions or extended warranties.
Effective upselling can help a business increase its average order value and customer lifetime value. In fact, a 2025 benchmark report found that adding just two upsells can deliver $93,000 in extra annual revenue for a brand.
Upselling vs. cross-selling
While upselling and cross-selling are both sales techniques that increase revenue, they do so in distinct ways.
| Goal | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Upselling | Move the customer to a higher-priced version of what they already want. | A shopper eyeing a mid-tier laptop is shown the pro model with twice the storage. |
| Cross-selling | Add complementary items that round out the main purchase. | The same shopper keeps the mid-tier laptop but adds a wireless mouse and protective sleeve. |
An easy way to remember the difference: upselling means better models, while cross-selling means matching accessories. Both increase revenue, but upsells typically come first because they are related to the shopper’s original product.
7 proven upselling techniques
To lift your average order value at every touchpoint, apply these seven proven upselling techniques across your storefront:
- Premium product upgrades
- Volume discounts and bulk offers
- Extended warranties and protection plans
- Personalization and customization
- Time‑limited offers
- Bundle packages
- Subscription upgrades
1. Premium product upgrades
A premium upgrade presents shoppers with a “good-better-best” structure:
- The “good” option is your entry model that sets the price anchor.
- The “better” and “best” tiers highlight upgraded features or materials.
Shoppers compare the premium options side by side with the base offer. Businesses use pricing psychology to persuade customers to trade up for more value. Tiered pricing studies show this structure can increase revenue by double-digit percentages without alienating budget-conscious shoppers.
On Ridge’s product page, the default Classic aluminum wallet costs $95. Beside it sits the MagSafe variant (an embedded magnet version that snaps to iPhone accessories) for $150.
The wallet type selector uses thumbnail icons and a gray highlight to signal the MagSafe upgrade, with prices updating instantly when shoppers hover or click. The baseline price is already anchored at $95, so the $55 premium feels reasonable given the added benefits.
💡Use a Shopify app like Bold Upsell and ReConvert to prompt one-click upgrades on your product pages.
2. Volume discounts and bulk offers
Volume-based pricing gives shoppers bigger discounts the more they buy. For example, “Buy 2, Save 10%” or “Buy 3, Save 20%” deals. It nudges shoppers to add extra products to lower their overall cost per item.
In B2B ecommerce, businesses also offer bulk discounts, providing special pricing incentives for larger orders, like buying 1,000 cotton t-shirts for a clothing line.
Pura Vida’s Bundle & Save program is a great example. It lets shoppers mix and match their favorite styles to save up to 20% off. Shoppers add a bracelet into a sidebar progress tracker that clearly displays available discount tiers.
As customers fill the slots, they unlock bigger discounts—10%, 15%, then 20%. It feels much like a game, encouraging shoppers to add just one more bracelet to hit the next savings tier.
💡Use a Shopify app like Shopacado to create automatic “Buy X, Get Y” or quantity break discounts in your Shopify admin.
3. Extended warranties and protection plans
An optional warranty or protection plan lets shoppers pay a small fee upfront to cover repair or replacement costs. Customers get peace of mind, while businesses pocket high-margin revenue.
This add-on appears after the shopper has committed to buying. Saying yes to more protection feels low friction, kind of like adding AppleCare to your new iPhone at the Apple Store.
Portable-blender maker BlendJet features an accident protection option right above the Add to Cart button. Shoppers can add these coverage options:
- 1 year for $4.99
- 2 years for $7.99
- 3 years for $9.99
According to a case study from Extend, the app partner, BlendJet boosted sales conversions by 11% and earned $500,000 in protection plan sales after just one year.
💡Add the Extend app to your Shopify store to profit from offering warranties and protection plans.
4. Personalization and customization
Let shoppers make a product feel uniquely theirs. You can upsell by offering personalized names, colors, or interchangeable components.
Personalization and customization raise perceived value and create an emotional bond between shoppers and their products. Even a small add-on fee (e.g., $7 for an engraving) can significantly boost the sale margin.
Leatherology’s personalization modal pops up alongside its Sloan Backpack on the product page. Shoppers can type up to three initials and select their preferred font style. Each option shows a clear price tag—for example, a Serif monogram costs an extra $35.
As soon as shoppers enter their initials, the backpack photo instantly updates. Shoppers can feel a sense of ownership before adding the item to their cart.
💡 Shopify apps like Zepto Product Personalizer let customers personalize products in your online store.
5. Time-limited offers
Create urgency by placing a countdown on your offers. Use a countdown bar that displays the remaining minutes on a time-boxed offer. The ticking clock can trigger FOMO and prompt customers to check out more quickly.
When Zulily rolled out its “Yogalicious by 90 Degree: Up to 60% off” event, it planted a countdown bar just below the Shop Now button. The bar ticks down the days, hours, and minutes left in the promo. When shoppers see “Ends in 2d 8h 24m” they know they need to act quickly or risk missing out.
💡 Shopify Apps like Hextom and Urgency drop timer bars on your website and auto‑disable the discount when time’s up.
6. Bundle packages
Product bundles allow shoppers to purchase a set of related products for less than buying each one individually. This is a great upsell because shoppers can get an all-in-one solution at an affordable price, and businesses can move multiple SKUs out of inventory at once.
Glow Recipe’s “Make Your Own Kit” page lets shoppers create a customized routine kit, featuring a cleanser, toner, serum, and moisturizer. Shoppers simply add all four products to the sidebar tracker and automatically receive 15% off at checkout.
7. Subscription upgrades
A subscribe-and-save option turns a one-time buy into recurring revenue. Shoppers choose a delivery cadence (every 30, 60, or 90 days) and receive a perk, like 10% to 20% off and free shipping.
This upsell benefits both parties:
- Customers get convenience and savings
- Businesses lock in predictable cash flow and increased lifetime value
Death Wish Coffee offers subscription options across all of its products. On its Light Roast Single-Serve Pods, a bold notice in the product description spells out the 20% off deal.
Shoppers click the "Subscribe and Save" option under "Choose Your Frequency" and watch the price drop from $29.98 to $23.98. The message also encourages customers to bump their order quantity to 20 pods or more to qualify, helping the brand move higher volumes per shipment.
💡 Install an app like Shopify Subscriptions (free) or Recharge to offer subscriber-only perks in your store.
Upselling examples
Upselling is commonly used in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales situations. Here are a few examples:
Ecommerce upselling examples
- A bedding retailer places a side-by-side comparison chart on its entry-level sheet page, showcasing higher-thread count collections with richer colors and a clear “Shop Premium” CTA.
- On a compact tabletop fire-pit page, an in-line card advertises the extra-large version with a wider burn radius and longer-lasting heat. Customers naturally gravitate toward the higher-ticket option.
- A functional beverage brand defaults to a one‑time purchase, but a colorful button above the checkout area offers 15% off and free shipping for recurring deliveries.
B2B and wholesale upselling
- A cleaning supply wholesaler shows live per-unit costs for cartons and cases. It shows how much the unit price drops when buyers step up to the next tier.
- A cookware manufacturer routes hospitality buyers through a “Hotel & Restaurant Supply” gateway that displays full‑kitchen kits and pro‑grade lines. Wholesale shoppers are more inclined to buy higher-priced assortments than individual pans.
- An office furniture retailer embeds a “Build Your Workstation” drawer on desk pages. Adding a desk unlocks 5% off a chair and accessory kit.
When to upsell
While most of us are familiar with pre-sale upselling, opportunities for upselling exist at every stage of the customer lifecycle.
Upsell prior to the initial sale
Whether you’re online or in person, successful upselling begins the moment a customer enters your store. Use product pages of entry-level items to recommend premium or improved versions via comparison charts.
Lingerie company Pepper displays a mini-module with a bundle offer on its MVP Multiway Strapless Bra product page. Shoppers can sell the value instantly, as bright green “Save $35” badge calls out the offer. If they hit the Bundle & Save button, it sends them to a new page to view the Icons bundle in closer detail.
For a brick-and-mortar business, grab buyers’ attention and tee up a conversation by placing upsell products on the shelf next to a more basic product.
Upsell at checkout
While a customer’s cart or checkout page is a great place for cross-selling related products, it is also an effective tool for upselling.
Try using your checkout page to inform buyers of offers that enhance their purchase, including volume discounts, personalization options, expedited shipping, gift-wrapping, or enhanced protection. Camping gear brand Luno, for example, sells a lifetime protection package for $19.99 at checkout.
Upsell after purchase
Post-sales upselling allows customers to add upgrades to their order. This is especially effective for software or digital assets, where it’s easy to add features or functionality.
If you’re upselling a physical product, consider offering an extended warranty or premium support for their purchase.
The psychology of upselling
Long before a shopper clicks Add to Cart, their brain is calculating: Is this upgrade worth it?
Smart upsells work because they rely on two well-studied consumer psychology concepts: price anchoring and the decoy effect, along with brand trust.
Price anchoring and decoy effect
In price anchoring, shoppers latch onto the first number they see, judging subsequent prices against that “anchor.”
Imagine you land on a product page for headphones where the Pro Max version is shown first. The price is $299, and it immediately gives you the idea of what the price should be.
You then see the mid-tier Pro version for $199 and the Lite version for $179. Suddenly, the $199 version seems like the best deal, even though it’s still pricey.
A February 2025 peer-reviewed study of 2,000 online shoppers found that anchoring a product with a higher reference price increased perceived value by 32% and boosted purchase intent.
Brands also use a decoy effect to reinforce anchoring. Starbucks, for example, places an oversized Venti cup between its Grande and Tall sizes to steer customers toward the mid-size option. In a 2024 field test in Jakarta, the presence of a decoy cup influenced shoppers' choices enough that 68% opted for the higher-priced size.
Price anchoring and the decoy effect aren’t meant to sell directly; their job is to make the target option appear irresistibly balanced in terms of price and features.
📚 Read: The Science of Decision-Making: How Your Customers Decide What To Buy
Building trust before the upsell
An upgrade pitch only feels right to shoppers when they believe you genuinely have their best interests at heart.
According to Salsify’s 2025 Consumer Research Report, 87% of shoppers are willing to pay more for products from brands they trust. Before presenting the upsell, show you’re a credible brand, offering genuine value.
Add verified buyer reviews, clear return policies, and trust badges to your product pages. With apps like Judge.me, you can leverage photo reviews and testimonials to make customers feel comfortable paying extra for premium items.
How to test and optimize your upselling strategy
Sometimes, businesses will add an upsell widget to their store and hope for the best.
But upselling isn’t an autopilot tactic. It involves testing, measuring, and tuning your offers to improve conversions and average order value (AOV). Here’s how to optimize your approach:
- Pick one metric and benchmark it. Start with the average order value, as it responds quickly to upselling. Record a two-week baseline before adding any new upsells. You’ll know exactly what normal looks like for your brand.
- Create a testable theory. Testing one variable at a time keeps you organized and yields clear results. For example, your theory could be “Adding a one-click warranty offer will lift AOV by 7% without hurting conversions.”
- Run A/B tests. Send 50% of shoppers to a control page and 50% to the upsell version. Keep other variables like price and creative identical so you isolate the upsell’s impact. Run your tests for at least two weeks to gain statistical significance before calling a winner.
- Segment and iterate. Break results down by device, traffic source, and customer status. You may find that mobile shoppers respond better to upsells than desktop buyers who might prefer more detailed information.
- Promote the winner. Push the winning variant to 100% traffic and retire the loser. Revisit in six months or when it’s time to introduce a new upsell offer.
📚 Read: 7 Actionable A/B Testing Examples for Your Ecommerce Store
Upselling best practices
Upselling is effective at increasing revenue when done properly. Best practices include:
- Don’t get greedy. While upselling is a great way to increase revenues, it shouldn’t be treated as a shortcut to big profits. Avoid recommending a product or service that is significantly more expensive than what the customer originally chose. Cap the upsell at roughly a quarter of the original cart value.
- Focus on the customer's needs. Always remember that your ultimate goal is building long-term relationships, not just immediate sales. To do that, stay focused on your customer’s needs and how the upsell adds genuine value. In HubSpot’s 2024 State of Sales, targeted upsells drive 21% of total company revenue, and 91% of reps rely on them.
- Educate the customer. Don’t make customers feel pressured in an upsell situation. Educate them about the benefits they’ll miss without your offer without being overly salesy. Offer side-by-side comparisons so the customer can see the value in the premium version.
- Create urgency. Try offering a discounted price that's only available at the moment to encourage customers to make an immediate decision. Sugar Spring Co. added a countdown offer via AfterSell and saw AOV rise 12.6% in the first 24 hours.
Read more
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- The 10 Best Cheap Ecommerce Platforms for Small Businesses
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- What Is Conversational Commerce? Definition and Guide
- Pre-Orders Add to Your Bottom Line—How Do They Work?
- 12 Top Shopify Ecommerce Apps to Help Grow Your Store
- Website Builder & Website Maker by Shopify
Upselling FAQ
Why is upselling important?
Upselling increases sales efficiency by generating more revenue from your existing customers without needing to acquire new ones.
What does upselling mean?
A successful upsell begins with a thorough understanding of a customer’s needs. Once you understand your customer’s priorities and goals, you can educate them on the benefits of a higher value product.
What are the benefits of upselling?
Upselling not only generates higher revenue for businesses but also adds value for customers by offering them better, more relevant products and services.
What are the types of upselling?
Upselling comes in many forms, including premium or upgraded products, extended warranties, financing options, volume discounts, gift wrapping, personalization, and more.
What is an example of upselling?
An example of upselling is when a shopper adds a 13-inch laptop to their cart, and a module on the product page suggests the 15-inch model with a faster processor for a slightly higher price. Another common example is being offered a larger, more economical size of a skin care product.
What is cross-sell vs. upsell?
Upselling is when you convince customers to buy a more expensive version of a product they’re already buying, like a larger coffee. Cross-selling is recommending complementary items, like suggesting a shopper buy a protective case for their new smartphone.
Is upselling good or bad?
Upselling is good when you are genuinely trying to help a customer discover a better product. It becomes a bad experience when the suggestions are irrelevant and intrusive, making the shopper feel like you don’t have their best interests in mind.
