Why do some Warriors hate upsells?

I think what they are trying to say is this: Sales copies always promise the world if you pay x amount for the product. They are convinced to pay for the product, and are then immediately told that they need to buy something else to succeed. Its kind of a blindsiding thing for newbies. Those who know whats going on though usually just buy if they are interested and ignore if they don't. Cut the newbies some slack.

If your product is awesome and you overdeliver with your product, then.. people actually want to buy your upsells.

So its all about your product.

The others that are still complaining are just cheap freebie seekers

Maybe because its hard to resist an upsell, and a $7 turns into a $24 investment (or whatever)

Not saying that's a bad thing if they're getting a lot more value, but the psychology behind upsells is so powerful its ridiculous

But upsells are just smart marketing- they make you more money, so it kind of doesnt matter if people are frustrated with it.

People "hate" exit pops too...

Yes - I'm with you: I don't really get it, either. Unless the upsell is presented in such a way as to detract from the perceived value of the initial purchase. (Poor marketing, but people do sometimes do it that way).

I think Joe has a good point. The sales page often makes the product appear to be self-sufficent, then if you get a one time offer or upsell, it can seem that you now require coaching, videos, a secret webinar etc to gain benefits. Depending on how the upsell is done, it can undermine the value of the initial product. When done poorly, it can also make the marketer appear greedy or desperate for making another sale. I think it can also make people question the sales page that makes the product appear to be the perfect solution. If so, why the upsell?

Debbie

Hey Kevin,

Well hate to break it to you buddy but the guy is right. I don't mind one upsale in an offer but when you're trying to get to the product you've just purchased and all of the sudden other offers starts to pop up .... "For a limited time ..." and all of that, I question did I get what I paid for or is there another chapter to this story that I need to buy?.

I think its much different between physical products and downloadable products. You are given a choice to super-size or not, take in a 5 year warranty or not and so on which is nice ... BUT with an upsell its so much different whereas the buyer expects to make a one-time purchase with everything included, but then all of a sudden a page pop ups and another one and another one .... thats when I myself say forget it and just X it out.

I think if sellers would explain on the sales page to expect an upsale or two then maybe you would make more sales, but just to have limited time offers to pop up here and there is not good for me and probably that guy too.

Now this is just me but there may be others that would disagree which is just fine.

Kevin, they are physical oxymorons, they are marketers that hate being marketed to. Much like those who complain about list owners promoting products to them. As pointed out earlier, some marketers do however promise the world on the sales page, then tell them the world will explode if they don't purchase the upsell, in which case their frustration is understandable.

Admittedly, some do go bonkers with upsells which can be frustrating, especially if you are trying to access a purchase or trying to leave the page.

Chris

I don't mind an upsell if it is relevant and helps me to get more
out of my initial purchase.

I think the root of the dislike of upsells problem with many people
is that some sellers execute upsells very, very poorly.

The way that many sellers present their upsells and downsells
is such that it's viewed as a way that is more focused on the
self-serving interests of the seller rather than meeting the
needs of the buyer.

If you work hard on creating a good initial offer and a related
upsell and show people why it's in their best interests to buy
them, you'll get less resistance and objections.

Many sellers are just too bloody lazy in crafting their initial
offer and upsell offer so that they come across as self-serving
rather than customer-focused.

It all comes down to effective vs. ineffective execution of a
proven strategy.

Dedicated to mutual success,

Shaun

Depends on the buyer, if they're penny pickers, they will feel like you didn't offer them EVERYTHING you could have. You should just let them be, they won't get far with that mentality anyway.

That makes no sense to me. You are ok with upsells as long as they fit in a particular price range? :confused:

This may not be a popular suggestion, but perhaps looking at the upsells offered as a product creator can be a way to see if the original product can be improved. Will the person purchasing it feel that they have no idea how to implement the main product? If so, adding screenshots or videos to the original product might make it much more useful. A big complaint people have about internet marketing products is that they received an idea but have no clue how to carry it out.

I don't think I've ever seen these bulletpoints in someone's sales letter before the one time offer:

You will be doing this manually and it may take you 6 to 8 hours.

After learning the main concept you'll need to study youtube videos to learn how to implement it, buy the additional coaching or go to fiverr to have someone else do it for you.


Debbie

This.

And that.

Or in other words, some people are doing it wrong.

I think for me it's annoying when you feel like you are going to get EVERYTHING you need for the fee that the seller is selling their product only to discover that without XYZ its not worth anything....

I was really surprised at first but then realized that its all part of the game and when it comes to high ticket or Scammy products its best to check reviews here on the warrior forum or check how many up sells they have on clickbank.

Up sells are no problem when they don't make the base product worthless!

I think it' depends on the people, if they hate upsell, they will hate it even if they go restaurant to buy food, =) Not all warriors will hate it. Maybe they feel they want to get the best deal with the money they've just spent. =)

I don't think the majority of us think like that. You just got hold of an idiot. It happens.

It's the tight relationship between the two products. It basically feels like this.

"Here's all you need to be an affiliate marketer for $10."

All right, awesome, I'll take it.

"You know, if you want to be a GOOD affiliate marketer, you should get this for $17 more or you will be a dork and not make any money."

Wait, you just said it was all I need. Now you're saying I will be a dork and not make any money. I feel like you just tried to rip me off. And if, like so many people these days, you show me the upsell AFTER the payment has been handed over for the main product... hey! That's cheating!

"Now that I have your money, I'm going to reveal to you why exactly you still do not have what you need and should give me more money."

In most people's experience, this goes on forever. Free report. $5 report. $10 report. $20 report. $100 membership. $500 group coaching. $2,000 individual coaching. $10,000 seminar. $30,000 intensive retreat. A lot of would-be business owners (including myself) have been burned and burned badly by these kinds of things.

There's even a general rule of thumb for buying info products via the late-night infomercial: just say no to upsells. If you've been in this game for very long, you start to get very suspicious of the marketer who sells you one module after another on the same subject, because you just know the final module never shows up at all and you're just being suckered into handing over money.

The problem in this case is that Kevin is one of the good guys, but the tactic he's using - upsell more of the same - feels an awful lot like what the bad guys do. When it starts being hard to tell the good guys and the bad guys apart, it's just prudent to assume anything that looks like a bad guy probably is.

Now, for a great example of doing it right, Tim Castleman's latest WSO of the Day today (Instant Cash Formulas) is a fantastic role model.

"Here's a $10 course on affiliate marketing. Hey, would you like to pay $17 more for a pair of courses on list building and product creation?"

The upsell is for different stuff. That doesn't feel like I've been ripped off for my $10. It feels like I'm getting a 15% discount on two more $10 courses. Overall, that's $30 and I got 10% off, woohoo. This is underscored by delivery, when each course is roughly the same size and delivered in very nearly the same way. There are all these subtleties that add up to an awesome buying experience, even before you look at the content.

It occurs to me that I'm lecturing the Product Creation Labs guy on the "right" way to upsell, and now I feel oddly embarrassed and just want to go hide somewhere.

I couldn't agree more with ExRat he has hit the nail on the head.

This is a very delicate process that has to be thought out with greater care when you're designing your pages and the way you structure the selling process.
I'm one of those people who hates the upsell if I'm not expecting it.

Don't mind if I'm told that there are other offers that are going to be presented to me by the seller or a promotion by one of his/her friends if this is explained on the first page before I pay. A process I have occassionally come across by a smart marketer who knows not to offend or try to SELL to . As ExRat and others here have explained it's all in the approach.
I hope the OP has a better understanding in what people mean when they get into a little rant :-] about upsells. I've even one or twice come across upsell...upselll...upsell...several times in the same process before I've got to the download page. Imagine how that feels.....nausating it'nt it. Yes you're right poor marketing. There now I feel better :-)

Cheers
Keren

I guess nowadays, people just want their money worth. Look at most of the product these day being sold, they say at the sales page that you get everything, then when you purchase, the ups ells come to tell you that hey, if you do not get this you wont be able to succeed. So people feel the sense of being cheated.

Nowadays up sells rarely being sold as compliment to what their getting, the marketers also comes in the stand point of missing link, if you do not get this, you wont receive the full power of what u just bought. So buyers feels a lil disapointed they are getting half what they bought.

Does this make sense?

Personally I feel an up sell should be a complimentary product, not something that makes the product or method I just paid for "better" or "more effective".

That's deceptive, scammy, insulting, and one of the many reasons IM is being cracked down on in my opinion.

What's happening, (not with all product owners) is product owners are segmenting the product when they could just offer the whole thing for the original price plus the up sell price and be done with it.

The product either stands alone and is effective as is, or it isn't.

Related products as an up sell works great if you think about it and offer it in a way that the buyer can identify with. This is what many major online retailers use and I would think they have spent the funds in research on the matter to know whats most effective. They don't just do it too do it.

Its like a topic on here some time ago about Facebook letting users decide if ads were relevant or not. Some poster commented on how stupid that was and that he'd make his visitors see whatever ad he wanted and not give them a choice. I quickly retorted, "When you own a multibillion dollar company I'll listen to you about this topic.

Are we just mimicking what other marketers are doing without actually thinking about it? Just following suit, just because? I think in a lot of cases, yes!

People who bought "How to build a list" also bought, "The Do's and Don't when Marketing to your list." or "Now you have a list, Learn how to build a relationship with your list."

It's a personal preference thing. Being from Middle America I like to feel like the person I am buying from is being genuine. When they present me with a 20 minute sales pitch for their $7.00 product and then as soon as the see me take out my wallet they immediately try to get more money out of me then they look like a snake oil salesman.

Yes, it's a valid marketing technique, and yes it works on a lot of people, but many of us have our reasons for not trusting them, and oddly enough those reasons can be found right in Kevin's list of examples. Super sized combo meals, extended warranties, and installation services are well known sucker deals. For instance a DVD player might cost $50 and the extended warranty is $29.99. The only reason the retailer even offers the $29.99 extended warranty is because less than 10% of the people who buy it will ever use it. Best Buy will happily charge you $39.99 for an "optimization" of your laptop that takes them 3 minutes to do. Wendy's will happily let you pay an extra 30 cents for the 1 pennies worth of extra soda.

Remember that a lot of people who don't become successes at IM are more than aware of the concept of the "sales funnel". Many people don't like the idea of someone trying to suck them into that funnel. They don't mind buying from you, but they don't want that purchase to be Step 1 of the master plan to drain their wallets.

I hate upsells and there is reason behind it. If anyone sells me wordpress theme and then asks me to buy plugin to use that theme and then asks me to buy Ebook or membership support for both plugin and theme then i think that's cheating. I asked for the theme and that's what i want and not some plugin to make it work or support subscription to get both things going. There are things which can be put easily instead of trapping customers for your gain. In case of softwares - upsells make that product look more of scam than solution.

most upsells have nothing to do with the product being offered. Sometimes it's like the guy put no effort into fining a good upsell, and sometimes it's just bad JV's.

Now when the guy is pushing a super sweet deal on his own product, and then offers you an upsell for more, then it all comes down to value.

Then you also have the guy who sells you a crap ebook to being with and forces you to buy the upsell to get what you were looking for in the first place. Those people should be called scammers, not IM'ers.

If you are a marketer who genuinely believes in your products, you will be ripping your customers off if you don't put out more offers. The hatred for upsells is because these people are not marketers in the very first place.

Oh i need to be more clear in my reply. I'm trying to point out annoying upsells which make original product useless without additional purchases. I didn't meant that reply towards kevin or his products. Posted that example of wordpress themes/plugin to point out annoying upsells in soft. industry.

Some themes and plugins do need support so i prefer to get it in package instead of dependency purchase. e.g. StudioPress and Thesis has support included in developer/Pro license purchase. So it's not question of whether i need support or not, because most of the softwares are hard to manage without official support. There are some freelancers who do dependency upsells and also some known developer firms like WPMU and Pagelines using this type of model.

I hate upsells! Period.

Why don't you just include your upsells into your main products?
Are you scared that prospects will get turned off by your offers if you are going to do that?

So you decide to offer them with basic products that are super-glorified on the sales page, giving the impression that the product is sufficient to be successful.

But once the prospects bought the hypey-salespage drama and made the purchase, they are suddenly hit again with another extra "optional" product to make their life easier?

This is not Mc Donald where you know EXACTLY what you are getting when you purchase your meals and you can decide to get the upsell or not.

People buy online based solely on the salespage promises and maybe testimonials of pass buyers. So when they are hit again with another offer of similar product, of course it will give the impression that the main product is insufficient and they have to invest more to be able to get the whole system.

This is where people felt cheated by the sales page promises, screenshots of earnings, list of benefits that they will get if they get the product etc.

I agree with what John Piteo has said that is to offer them an upsell after my customers have tried my main product although I know this will make me less sales but at least my conscience is cleared.

I don't buy most of the reasoning mentioned above, especially the Mc Donald's example.


Qamar

Upsells suck if you need it to make most of the original purchase work, or if you think that you're getting the full version, then all of a sudden the upsell is for the elite (gold, platinum, etc.) version. That's when people feel cheated. All of my upsells are different programs, not an upgraded, gold, etc., version of what they already bought. If I ever do a gold, platinum, or upgraded version, I'll have them choose which option they want at the beginning, and put a different program as an upsell.

Hello Kevin,

I think many customers who purchase an offer that they really believe will "make a difference" see an "upgrade" upsell (or what warrior600 mentioned - elite, gold, platinum, etc.) and think that the product they so very much believed would make a difference for them was just a "carrot" to get them to purchase a more expensive package that will actually make a difference for them. If they don't purchase the OTO, then they believe that the original product they purchased won't work for them at all.

I think many customers fail to realize that the main product will (or "should," in some cases, at least) work to make that difference, but that an upsell could help to speed up the process of making that product work and/or give additional results that can make that difference. It's NOT necessary (and should NOT be necessary) to purchase the upsell to see results from the original product, just that the upsell could make it easier and/or faster for the customer to see results from using the original product purchased.

Let's face it - NO product of any type is going to make that difference that customers are seeking without putting SOME work in - there are no "magic bullets" out there. If more customers would look upon the main product as something that will work for them if they put the necessary time and work in, then perhaps customers won't be as taken aback or offended by an upsell, though I certainly can see and understand why they'd feel that way.

Take care and have a great day!

Joe Chengery III

I had an issue this morning- I definitely feel a bit cheated.

So I buy this product for less than $7- then I get the upsell for $27.

Well turns out the upsell isn't nearly as valuable as I expected, right.

So I ask the guy for a refund and he says that refunds were only offered for the upfront sale.

Soooooooo- maybe it's my fault, maybe he's just being too shady (thats my opinion), but that is definitely NOT an upsell I was happy with.

I see a lot of veterans posting on this thread and not so many "newbies."
I've received so much information from the WF over the last couple of months that I'd like to give back to the community from a newbie's perspective so that maybe you guys can remember what it's like to be a newbie.

Most of what I've read here reflects the feelings that I had when I first started purchasing Internet marketing products. And like many newbies, I bought tons of products, going on a buyer's rampage. I felt like I wanted to learn everything that was pushed into my path, because I didn't want to miss the "best"way to make money.

When I first started, I would budget $X for building an Internet marketing business. Each time I looked at an offer, I would estimate how much I may need to execute that particular plan. One of my problems was that every time I ran across a new offer I liked, I would reset my budget and start again at zero.

When hit with the upsells, I would get this bad feeling that I'm burning money uncontrollably (...which was often true!).

While purchasing my first few offers, I just did not expect upsells. Inevitably, I felt that I needed the upsell in order to succeed with that plan. And usually, I think I was right. At least most of the upsells made the execution of the plan very much easier. The problem arose due to the impression that I received from the sales copy. While most of the sales copy written on the Warrior Forum is not false, I am left with the feeling that much of it is very misleading.

I think we can all agree that most upsells (at least the "good" ones) are simply extensions of the basic product, and the reason they are not all advertised as one package is that the marketer gains many more sales by offering what appears to be a low-cost product. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I would guess that this type of upsell is almost a necessity in order to succeed with any given program.

Those that do not buy the upsell are probably not as experienced on the whole, and (assuming they attempt to take action) newbies are much more likely to follow through to good results if they do by the upsell. The more experienced marketers will already expect an upsell and probably close to 100% of them invest in this upsell. Again, I could be wrong with such general statements.

Most newbies are like me, wandering from one program to another, looking for something that they feel they can be successful at. I hate to say it, but sometimes I still do not expect the upsells that appear, and I'm at the point where I'm just hoping there isn't an upsell.

There have been several occasions where I purchased the product and its upsell that I wonder how on earth anyone could possibly execute the plan without the upsell. I mean, it's true that these plans could be followed, but is the creator of this product really proud of himself to sell just the basic product as somebody knowing that there will be many dozens of wasted hours and the need for trial and error to get things right?

What's the answer to this? I understand that the upsell is a very powerful selling technique, and if done correctly will lead to much more profit. But at the same time, this is part of the cause of major disillusionment in Internet marketing that most people run into.

Let me present to you three real-life experiences I've had, two of them bad and one of them good.

I mentioned that I've only been at this for two months, however I took my first dive into Internet marketing over five years ago when I joined an IM coaching program hosted by a number of "Internet gurus." The cost of the program is very reasonable -- $1. You cannot get much more reasonable than that.

The premise of this coaching was that they would take hundreds of Internet marketing newbies through an eight week, structured course, and at the end of these eight weeks, you would have a "viable online business." This turned out to be creating an affiliate website based upon a product from Clickbank.

I joined the program, and while the pace seemed a little bit slow to me, I was very happy with the initial weeks of the course. The gurus were very active in the forums, and the material was very good, if a little basic. But that was okay, because for someone's first efforts you don't want to overwhelm them.

I invested my entire life during the next eight weeks into this program. I was the most active member on the forums and helped others whenever I could.

The upcoming course material was laid out in outline form from the beginning, so we could see where we were heading, which was a good thing. Each step of the process was presented by a different guru. Around the end of the seventh week, I realized that we would have very little time to learn the last step, which was driving traffic to our sites.

I brought this up in the forum, simply expressing my concerns. I was always very polite (and continue to be) when posting on the Internet. A funny thing suddenly happened. None of the gurus responded to this post. Previously, they had responded to every single one of my questions in a satisfactory manner, but this time I was met with silence.

In the meantime, many other participants also expressed their desire to know the answer to this question. We were finally answered and were told that the final step would not be included in our one dollar fee; rather, we would need to pay an additional fee to continue in the program. Further information was not posted at this time.

I was very upset with this new revelation, as I invested so much time in the program, and I was not told up front that there would be additional fees to complete the course. I posted my disapproval, while still being completely polite, and I wasn't the only one who had huge problems with this.

I called up one of the gurus on Skype who I had a good form relationship with and expressed my concern over this issue. I reminded him that it would advertise that we would have a "viable online business" at the end of all of our efforts.

At the time, he seemed to take my complaint very seriously and was sympathetic. He said he would discuss it with the head of the program.
After this controversy erupted, apparently all of the gurus were having very serious discussions as to how to handle this matter, because they were all completely absent from the forum for a full two days time. In the meantime, a lot of anger was growing.

They finally came out with a statement and unveiled their master plan. In order to continue the course, a monthly fee was required. I will tell you that the monthly fee was reasonable (I don't remember the exact price); regardless, I felt like I was being scammed.

I posted my belief that they did not live up to their claims of their advertising. We had not been shown how to develop a "viable online business." How can you have a business with no customers? Show me one business that has been successful without customers.

They insisted, despite not having any traffic to any of the websites yet, that they had fulfilled their promise and we all had viable online businesses. How can you possibly argue with someone who makes such outrageous claims and won't change their mind?

Had this been advertised from the start as a coaching program with a reasonable monthly fee, there would have been no controversy. But perhaps they would've made less money, too. I'm not sure how their program turned out after this, but I wasn't willing to invest any money, because in my eyes their reputations and integrity were completely ruined.
This left me completely frustrated and distrusting of Internet marketers in general, at least the kind selling "how to make money" products.

Fast forward five years... Products I've purchased on the Warrior Forum have varied in quality. The first product that I purchased was bad and I requested a refund, but most of the products of lived up to my expectations.

However, one product in particular was another example of the horrible experience with upsells.

I purchased an e-book and the upsell was a very expensive membership site, but it sounded excellent and like I had to have it to be successful. What's more, I could pay in monthly installments and I was given two full weeks to try it out and get my money back if I didn't feel the membership site was for me.

I was excited by the promises and began viewing some of their many videos. I had a big problem with the videos, because it seemed that they just rambled on and on and on, and if there was valuable advice contained within them, I was not at a stage where I could recognize this advice.
What's more, it appeared to me that these videos were just random collections of some older products.

I stopped using the membership site after about five days, but unfortunately put off my refund request for the initial payment until the 13th day (it was advertise that you had two weeks to get refund).
I submitted my refund request and waited for a response. Time went by, and I still had received no response. I submitted a refund request to a different e-mail address, with my explanation that I had sent a request before the deadline, as well is my reasons for requesting the refund.

I received a quick, patronizing reply this time. He thanked me for purchasing the product, and informed me that it was too late to receive a refund, ignoring my clear explanation that I had sent in a refund request before the two-week deadline. I still have both refund request e-mails that I sent in my outbox, so they would be clearly visible to anyone who would view my computer with a remote screen viewer. But a lot of good that does me.

Fortunately, I had already witnessed many members of this forum who are genuinely interested in helping others and building their businesses upon integrity, so I wrote that money off as a loss and pressed on.

And now, on to a "good" upsell... To tell you the truth, there hasn't been an upsell yet, but I do expect multiple upsells to occur in the future, and I will have no problem considering these upsells.

This past Saturday, I joined Wilson Mattos' and Jason Fladlien's "6in6 Coaching." I have been spinning my wheels and spending plenty of money without results (due to not taking action...so many excuses!) these past couple months, and I realized that I needed a good, structured program to motivate me to take action.

The price was $97 per month for six months, which is a good deal more than most products I've purchased, but also well worth the money if it's a good, structured course. I have read nothing but good things about Jason and they offered one-month money back guarantee, so I decided to give it a try.

The first webinar session and homework have already given me enough value for my $97. I will be making my first money online this coming Sunday. That's not a maybe; I'm very confident that this will happen.
Anyway, over the span of six months, they will be teaching us the basics of many different methods of building an online business. They focus on building a business through integrity and hard work.

I fully expect that they will offer us upsells to each individual business method. I could be wrong, but it's my perception that this will be the way the program is structured. They will give us more than enough value presenting us with the "basics" (which I think will be full-blown products by themselves), and they stress the need for us to stick to our plan which we developed during the first session, so they aren't blindly selling us everything they can. Rather, we will each consider purchasing products based upon our individual plans.

The way this program is structured, I am also sure that I'll be able to buy anyone's products that I choose. For example, my immediate plan for building my business will be to start off with high-quality article writing, and next month I will create my first info product.

Much of the value of this course is in the goal setting and the planning that they force us to do. Each individual will choose their own path.
Because I feel I'm getting so much value from these webinars, and I recognize the quality of their work, I am very likely to consider their other products (i.e. "how to create an info product") before looking elsewhere. While not technically an upsell, it has a very similar effect.

I hope these examples can help people evolve better business models. Obviously, I will never buy another product from the first two people I mentioned, and almost undoubtedly will purchase products from Wilson and Jason in the future.

I'd also just like to mention my thoughts on upsells unrelated to the original product. I actually appreciate these upsells more, because I do not feel that I need to purchase them. However, because I've already decided to purchase something from this person, I will certainly review the new offer if it's something I may be interested in.

Let me know if you need any more insight from an IM newbie. I'd be happy to help. I guess the point that I was trying to make with my post is that the more honest and upfront you are with the customer, the more they will trust you, and the more likely they are to buy your future products.

I think this is especially true for newbies, because many of us are skeptical and distrustful based upon our own experiences were stories we've heard. We are not experienced enough to know who we should be trusting and which offers are crap compared to those that are legitimate. But we are smart enough to know that if a vendor treats us fairly, it is much more likely that his products are quality offers.

Thanks for reading this novella!

Upsells sort of come with the territory i guess. What is worse to me is something left out of the sales letter such as the fact you need this acct or that account. What's even worse is an offer that drastically miscalculates the time it takes to results. I remember one I bought that had a video of the guy getting results in minutes when what he didnt tell you is it took about 2 weeks work to build the site to get those results. Now that I remember, there was an OTO on that! Double whammy.

Excellent discussion and good points made for both sides of the argument.

After reading the thread in detail, I'd agree that the poorly executed upsells are probably what irritate most consumers, turning them off upsells altogether.

Now, if we were just talking about mainstream consumers, buying electronics or a Big Mac or whatever, I'd agree that it's a turnoff and could be harmful to a customer relationship.

But we're not...we're talking about customers who themselves are marketers and regardless of their "Consumer View" on it, they know to expect it and they understand the purpose. If it was poorly executed, I could understand them complaining about a specific upsell, but I find it difficult to believe Kevin did a bad job with his.

It's no different than people who subscribe to a list and complain they're getting spammed because an offer was sent.

If you're a marketer and don't want to see upsells, then don't buy **** from other marketers. If you don't want to be marketed to via email, then stop subscribing to ****.

Hell, I even get upsells in my home. I buy my wife a pair of Gucci sunglasses and she's all over me. Then she tells me if I buy the bracelet we looked at, I'll get something really, really special. I cave in every time

Good point, Alan - the point of the upsell is to get a REAL discount on a complementing product. If that is what is being provided, the majority will have no issue.

Because a lot of times the upsell is totally useless to the buyer who only wants the product he payed for

Well I'll tell you my worthless $0.02 LOL!

I hate upsells. I never do them - money lost? Whateva!

1.) I take time to go through sales copy. I am onboard - I'm ready to download. No, wait - I have to spend more time going through page after page of upsells, declining, analyzing, figuring out if I'm screwed if I don't get it. I just wanted the product, man!

2.) Most of the hype is written where I know when smoke is being blown up my backside, but many newbies don't - so it feels like if they don't get onboard, they're not going to succeed.

3.) Just upsell me later in an email or something. Let me get situated with what I got all excited about - the initial product - and then if I'm impressed, I'll read your email later about something else I might like and I'll probably grab it! It can even be a day or two later.

Just my opinion.

tiff ~

A great way to NOT piss off your customers and actually see a HIGH upsell-conversion rate is to sell the "how-to" on the front end, and then upsell to a "done-4-you" on the backend. That way, the customer is paying more to expedite the process and get to their desired outcome sooner.

The problem then becomes having to fulfill on a done-4-you product and we all know info-marketers hate doing any actual work for people.

I absolutely agree to the point that the upsell is to get a REAL discount on a complementing product. If that is what is being provided, the majority will have no issue.

If the main product offers what the customer wanted, and if the customer is absolutely happy with it, then upsells should not be a problem

Also, there should be a time gap between the actual product sold and the upsell, the customer should not feel the upsell has come right after he bought the product

just my 2 cents :-)

Upselling particularly annoys me when trying to register a domain at GoDaddy or a lot of the other major registrars. I know what I want, and if I needed something else I would buy it.

I really think it is about 2 things.

1) warriors hate upsells that stink!

2) warriors hate upsells to products taht are junk or offerse to other WSO offers. LOL

that pretty much sums it up, when I have ever purchased a WSO.

I think it depends on the person..

(im new to the warrior forum - so spare me)

I assume it's because warriors are bombarded with upsells and cross sells and they are pretty much tiered of this.

Personally I think upsells are great.

In my career it has never been one product, one thing that made a difference.

It was multiple products, people, partnerships, etc.
That have made a significant impact on my life.

This is why I have this view.

I'm also new to the warrior forum soo..... =D

I think many buyers especially new to the Internet Marketing industry, simply just get wary about being shown a new product/service

I understand upsells but I also understand why so many in the IM world get annoyed by them. To use your example above I have seen plenty of upsells where you buy the 'TV' only to find out you will then need to buy a special power cord to turn it on and make it work.

Now this is fine if the store is originally advertising it as a TV without a power cord however most of the times the sales copy is leading you (the purchaser) to believe the 'TV' is all you will need to achieve the results they are promising.

The practice of upsells used to be where a product owner would create something additional, on top of the original product. Something that isn't required to make the original product work but could be used to make things easier or amplify your results - like the extended warranty you talk about in your example.

However the trend I have seen lately is people create the upsell first and then remove something from that product and sell that as the original product. This is where the problems occur and people get annoyed and rightly so, I think. Let's face it, upsells are only there to make the product owner a ton more money so of course it is going to annoy a lot of buyers.

I have no problem with McDonalds trying to offer me fries with that. But imagine I bought and paid for a Big Mac only to be told the meat would be extra?! That ain't cool and that is what has given upsells such a bad reputation.

I have used both methods and the method I am implementing at the moment is to let people know that they will get an opportunity to grab something that can be used alongside but the product that you are buying is a great product without it.

These days I think transparency goes a dam long way.

Maybe just maybe they were told "this is all you will will ever need..no other invesmtent needed.etc." then low and behold as soon as you buy you are bombarded with upsells!

Maybe....just maybe it isn't the buyers fault?