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Upsells: money-makers or crappy advertising?

by Liane
16 replies
Let me just say this:

I HATE upsells.

Well, not all upsells. I mean, my website has upsells, but they're not pushed in anyone's face.

The upsells I hate are the ones that come after you've signed something. They generally pop up on the way to your free ebook, or after you've paid $7.95 to ship a free product, and say something like, "You'll never see this page again," or, "Don't let this one-time opportunity pass you by!" Then, the website creator makes it very difficult to find the right link to click that bypasses it - and when you finally find the link that says, "no thanks, I just want my free information," it takes you to yet ANOTHER upsell, this time giving you even "more" value. "So my $297 upsell was too expensive for you? I understand. How about my $97 upsell?" UGH!

These types of upsells make my mind scream, "Scammer!!! You just want my money! You have nothing of real value for me here..." (an idea later supported by the obviously low quality of the free (e)book and the missing "great information" it's supposed to contain).

Do any of you actually make good money with upsells like these?

What are your thoughts?
#advertising #crappy #moneymakers #upsells
  • Profile picture of the author crystalq
    Those are money makers, newbies tend to buy those.
    Advanced marketers just skip it, unless they see something
    they like.
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    • Profile picture of the author Liane
      Originally Posted by crystalq View Post

      Those are money makers, newbies tend to buy those.
      Advanced marketers just skip it, unless they see something
      they like.
      The thing is, can you really get a steady stream of residual income from newbies who buy a product and then cancel any type of membership to your site, or even ask for a refund later? Wouldn't it be more lucrative to let someone browse over your available products and make an informed, lasting decision, rather than a quick, stressful one which they may later regret?
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      • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
        Originally Posted by Liane View Post

        The thing is, can you really get a steady stream of residual income from newbies who buy a product and then cancel any type of membership to your site, or even ask for a refund later? Wouldn't it be more lucrative to let someone browse over your available products and make an informed, lasting decision, rather than a quick, stressful one which they may later regret?
        It's a numbers game.

        Can you get enough people to buy using the pressure tactics of an OTO that, even when refunds etc are taken into account, you still make more money?

        In many cases the answer is yes.

        When people make "informed, lasting decisions" it's usually not to buy
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      • Profile picture of the author crystalq
        Originally Posted by Liane View Post

        The thing is, can you really get a steady stream of residual income from newbies who buy a product and then cancel any type of membership to your site, or even ask for a refund later? Wouldn't it be more lucrative to let someone browse over your available products and make an informed, lasting decision, rather than a quick, stressful one which they may later regret?
        Well I will use the RichJerk as an example, when you
        buy his ebook he has an instant upgrade on the purchase
        page, after that he redirects customers to a upsell page.

        Usually with the best products available from JV's, after that
        he upsells again with a "free website" the money from this
        comes from a hosting affiliate program.

        Now what I tend to see is that people/newbies BUY, BUY, BUY
        they buy the book, they buy the upsell and they buy the website.
        And to top it off they keep coming back for more and more. I've seen a few
        refund requests but no many, RJ is a money making GURU.

        So to answer your question yes they will stick around BUT only if
        your upsell is the SHIZ NIT. Selling junk products will result
        in refunds & bad publicity.

        The thing is, can you really get a steady stream of residual income from newbies who buy a product and then cancel any type of membership to your site
        They will only cancel if what you are offering them is not good quality.

        Hope I answered all you questions

        From experience bundling products at a cheap price get sales
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        • Profile picture of the author adamv
          For me it all depends on how the upsell is done or rather what kind of upsell it is. For example let's say the sales page is marketing a method for selling affiliate products and the upsell is "get the exact templates I use for setting up these sites." I have no problem with that.

          What pisses me off is when the sales letter has convinced me that I'm going to buy a great product and then the upsell suggests that the product is really only great if I buy more of the same stuff I already thought I was getting. For example, if I'm buying a course on how to get free website traffic and the sales letter says you'll get every single secret I've ever learned about getting traffic and then the upsell is "here are even more traffic secrets." WTF!!! I thought I was already getting every single secret you knew (before the upsell).

          Those are the ones that piss me off. I'm sorry I can't think of a specific example but I know in the past I was about to check out when one of those types of offers popped up and I decided to cancel the purchase. With those types of offers the sales letter is basically saying "this is the most incredible offer ever" and as soon as you're convinced that it truely is incredible, the one time offer pretty much says, "well, it's really not that great but if you upgrade then it will be truely awesome."
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          • Profile picture of the author Stanley Tang
            1000000000% certain - money makers

            It made McDonalds rich.
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            • Profile picture of the author jhongren
              Hi Liane,

              Upsells are definitely money makers...(similar to crosssell and downsell)

              We can hate it but we are living among it.

              When we buy a car, the sales man downsell us with insurance

              When we buy a Mac meal, we are upsell with a up-sized coke and fries.

              I can go on and on and upselling has become a way of life and markeiting.

              John
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              • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
                Banned
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                • Profile picture of the author Jason Fladlien
                  I used to be against using upsells in my business.

                  Then I realized something... I bust my ass trying to get the product done, and get the traffic to it... and with just a tiny more effort, I can increase all my profits by 20-100% by adding a simple upsell to the process.

                  That is actually a better service to my clients. Why? Well, it makes me that much more motivated to put out high quality stuff, because I get a higher return on all my efforts now. Also, my one time offers are always something special... almost always discounts out of things that would normally cost them more, so they're getting a good deal.

                  -Jason
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                  • Profile picture of the author Houcem Rihane
                    Statistically speaking, upsells convert with a targeted traffic and an intelligent offer at around 60%.
                    So definitely yes, upsells do make money although we may dislike them (I also do).
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                    ...

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                • Profile picture of the author jhongren
                  Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

                  If you've seen enough that it's made you feel that strongly about them, then you should probably be asking yourself, "Does this really work?", quickly followed by, "I need to test this!"

                  On a personal level, there are often many things we dislike or might otherwise find distasteful, but from a business perspective, they may work well enough that setting aside our emotions is important. Learning how a process works, implementing it and testing/tracking the results is the only viable way to determine it's value.

                  At the same time, don't assume everything you see works well, even if a bunch of people are doing it. You won't know if it works well for you until you try it and analyze the results.
                  Hi, I agree with BIG Mike.

                  There are many ways to make money.

                  The magical moment comes when you EXPERIENCE for YOURSELF when you do it.

                  It is an unimagineable feeling. =)

                  Trust me, even if your list grows by 1 or you get 1 sale. You are going to feel happy and satisfied cos u did it yourself.

                  Cheers,
                  John
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                  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Flower
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                    • Profile picture of the author jhongren
                      Originally Posted by Daniel Flower View Post

                      I use upsells, but I think it's important to make it easy for the visitor to pass the upsell. I'm not a fan of having two upsells - as you say yourself that just spells scammer to me too.

                      Upsells can be very effective, but I guess it depends what market you're operating in, and if the upsell as actually a real upsell (and if it is a genuinely good offer.)

                      Dan
                      Hi Dan,

                      I believe whatever we offer to our customer must be of great value and meet their needs.

                      Upsells are really effective. A statistics that a friend share with me is that 1/3 of people who buy the front end will buy the upsell too.

                      Some even have conversion from 50% up to 100%.

                      John
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  • Profile picture of the author tommygadget
    I guess that means you don't like the new nitro quatro system with four upsells!

    TomG.
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  • Profile picture of the author Monetize
    When they ask if you'd like to supersize it, if you'd
    like a coke with your fries, or cheese on your burger,
    that's upselling. So if they are doing it, considering
    the vast amount of resources they have for focus
    groups & other research, upselling definitely works.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lance K
      You can upsell without being an obnoxious boob.
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      "You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
      ~ Zig Ziglar
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  • Profile picture of the author David_Thompson
    Originally Posted by Liane View Post

    Let me just say this:

    I HATE upsells.

    Well, not all upsells. I mean, my website has upsells, but they're not pushed in anyone's face.

    The upsells I hate are the ones that come after you've signed something. They generally pop up on the way to your free ebook, or after you've paid $7.95 to ship a free product, and say something like, "You'll never see this page again," or, "Don't let this one-time opportunity pass you by!" Then, the website creator makes it very difficult to find the right link to click that bypasses it - and when you finally find the link that says, "no thanks, I just want my free information," it takes you to yet ANOTHER upsell, this time giving you even "more" value. "So my $297 upsell was too expensive for you? I understand. How about my $97 upsell?" UGH!

    These types of upsells make my mind scream, "Scammer!!! You just want my money! You have nothing of real value for me here..." (an idea later supported by the obviously low quality of the free (e)book and the missing "great information" it's supposed to contain).

    Do any of you actually make good money with upsells like these?

    What are your thoughts?
    In the offline world this is considered good business
    asking the consumer what about this to go with your
    new widget...

    I really can't see the big fuss about upsells but i do
    agree the in the IM field we need to make things clearer
    for customers (Navigation wise).

    I used to work in a sports store and if I sell one item
    I would ask what about this do you already have this
    or you might want to look at this to go with your widget
    it is just common practice.

    Upsell are are the way it works online but most marketers
    just present it so bad that IM'ers are turning off it.

    --David
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Originally Posted by Liane View Post

    Let me just say this:

    I HATE upsells.

    Well, not all upsells. I mean, my website has upsells, but they're not pushed in anyone's face.

    The upsells I hate are the ones that come after you've signed something. They generally pop up on the way to your free ebook, or after you've paid $7.95 to ship a free product, and say something like, "You'll never see this page again," or, "Don't let this one-time opportunity pass you by!" Then, the website creator makes it very difficult to find the right link to click that bypasses it - and when you finally find the link that says, "no thanks, I just want my free information," it takes you to yet ANOTHER upsell, this time giving you even "more" value. "So my $297 upsell was too expensive for you? I understand. How about my $97 upsell?" UGH!

    These types of upsells make my mind scream, "Scammer!!! You just want my money! You have nothing of real value for me here..." (an idea later supported by the obviously low quality of the free (e)book and the missing "great information" it's supposed to contain).

    Do any of you actually make good money with upsells like these?

    What are your thoughts?
    Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I guess. For me, it depends on execution more than the concept of upsell, downsell, etc.

    Offers that mesh well with the original purchase, and that respect my intelligence by not trying to hide the bypass link, are fine with me. I'm likely to be in the percentage that won't buy, but I don't get upset.

    I sold light fixtures and related accessories to pay my way through college. Extra light bulbs (discounted if ordered with the lighting package - OTO) and upgraded fancy doorbell buttons (to match the light by the door - upsell) bought a lot of Happy Meals for me in those days.

    When faced with the prospect of losing that construction discount, the conversion on the upgrades was around 90%.

    Done well, upsells can be a huge money maker. Done poorly, they're worse than crappy advertising. People ignore crappy advertising. With crappy upsells (to them), they complain in forums and find others who agree.
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