Downsells vs. Upsells

I consider the 1st OTO to be an "upsell" regardless of whether it has a higher or lower price than the initial product, because you are aiming to get them to make an additional purchase.

Generally, if the price of the OTO is less than the price of the initial purchase it will have a much higher conversion than if you are selling something more expensive. But this is really where it becomes a numbers game, and it depends on your strategy.

For example, you could be selling the initial product for $9.95 and doing an OTO of $197 for something bigger. On the other hand you might be selling a $197 product and doing an OTO of $97 for something extra.

Ideally, you might want to test some prices to determine the optimal level of price/conversion. For example I once had a $97 OTO which wasn't converting too well. So I cut the price to $47 and the conversion more than doubled. The overall profits were higher with a lower price and higher conversion rate.

A strategy that I learned from Mike Filsaime (well I originally learned it from selling knives), is doing a downsell if they say NO to the upsell. In other words, if they say no to the first OTO, present them with another OTO of half the price of the first OTO, and you'll capture some more sales.

I know I may get some flack on here for mentioning OTO's and 2nd OTO's because everyone hates them... but they do work, and outside of our industry they aren't as widely used.