An upsell technique that really annoys me as a customer

yep upsells are part of a sales funnel and to tell the truth they work pretty well... so basically costumers they just have to deal with this part.

The only one thing that I'm against is that the first product that anyone purchases must work without the upsells...if it doesn't then that totally sucks.

I agree with the previous post. Upsells don't bother me at all as long as my original purchase works as described. If I want to take it to the next level that is my choice.

You need up sells because 4 tires without a car will do you no good. They all do different things.

Three upsells is a bit much but still no need to be upset, IMO. Marketing is marketing. Now, if the primary product is worth more than $5, and with a $997 reg. pricetag is should be, you've done well to come away with a decent product and a bit of frustration. If it's not so good, get off this guy's list and fuggitaboutit.

If something was originally $997 but is now at a crazy price of $5 - I wouldn't expect anything but being messed around. Something that was originally priced that high but can be sold that cheaply leads me to suspect that it was never of satisfactory quality to justify the original price tag.

I agree with @PlainWords - upsells (if done thoughtlessly) CAN be extremely detrimental to the seller - and a source of BAD VIBES for the buyer. (Do you want your buyer to have bad vibes?)

I'm sure most of you have been through this yourselves and most of you have been annoyed more than once by this pushiness before finally settling on "it works, I'm a marketer - it doesn't upset me. It doesn't upset me. It doesn't...."

I've done a bit of structured research on this. But not with marketers but rather with a few test groups of "ordinary" BUYERS. Some of them were would-be-marketers (i.e. not yet hardened to "the way it's done").

The results I got (through a few polls - and of course: through sales results) were - for me - overwhelmingly convincing. (the test group was only a few hundred people divided into two sections, one with upsells and one without upsells (but with sales on the backend))

So, over 80% (!!!) of the people in the traditional funnel (with upsells) did NOT buy any of them and almost all - including most of those who did buy - reported a poor experience and would in almost all cases not want to go back to the seller, nor would they buy on the backend.

TEST THIS YOURSELVES - maybe you'll get different results, but I doubt it!

I got a 180 opposite result with the other group!

I have since stopped doing upsells entirely. I KNOW everybody says it works, and I too have had some success with that in the past. But it was *nothing* compared to a much more straight-up method of simply being friendly and helpful to the client, selling what you're offering and then encouraging them to try something else AFTER they've had a taste of the thing they came to buy.

If the product you're selling is GOOD and you sell it correctly, you will become something of an "authority" in the buyer's mind. Also, you'll FEEL better about yourself. And the "ordinary" client won't think of you as a profiteer.

Someone here commented about "the masses" - somewhat disparagingly, I thought - well, the masses have brains too and, even though my tests didn't prove this for "everyone", they convinced *me* that upsells are not something I want to do. And - since I've dropped them entirely (switching to after-sale deals), my incomes increased very significantly.

my 2 cents paul

I have no doubt that upsells work and I do promote a product that has upsells and often get those upsell commissions. However, I feel that 1 upsell is enough, when you get 2 or 3 or 4 upsells that you need to get through before you can download the product you purchased, then that is just plain annoying.

This stuff doesn't have to be so complicated.

If you had a bad experience - you can just ignore any offers from the same seller in the future.

Once you have your good sources and know which ones to avoid, you'll hardly ever have to repeat the experience.

It's not personal - some marketers don't give 2 hoots about you and they'll happily jump you through as many hoops as they can and justify it all with "it makes me more money".

Just pay attention and avoid the people that market in a way you don't enjoy.

You pretty much answered yourself. $5 is a steep discount. I can receive 10 exit pop ups and not flinch even once at that price.

As a marketer you are probably blind to impulse buying so why would this bother you at all ?

So did you ever get to download the product? Or was there 53 more OTOs? Lol...

I totally agree with you.

One thing that struck me as I read through this thread and it is the same thing when I read the "refund" threads - so many IM'ers think that it is ok to jerk around customers. After all, it is the customer's fault the he/she bit off on the advertisement.

According to some IM'ers, in this case, you should have known that you would be jerked around since it was a $997 product for only $5. Shame on you, not shame on the IM'er.

It is such BS.

Folks, think about your customers. Treat them with respect. IM is about giving value and being paid for that value. Not just seeing if you can get some poor saps' money.

Yes, this is annoying as hell. I'm baffled by people here saying things like, "But if the product was worth $997..." Come on guys. You know better than that. This is Internet marketing. It's a gimmick. It's BS. Chances are no one has ever paid remotely close to $997 for it. It's a "value" the marketer plucked out of his own brain based on nothing whatsoever.

As for upsells, they're fine as long as they come AFTER I've had a look at the $5 product. If it's great, then of course I'll be open to buying something bigger. The whole "get 'em while they're hot" tactic of throwing upsell after upsell into the order process is distasteful to me, regardless of how well it works. You have to weigh what works well against the customer experience.

Up sell offers are a great way to market your products but the way a marketer offers is needs to be evaluated. Forcing an up sell may end up in loss of an almost ready buyer if the product that the buyer actually wanted to buy is greatly undermined. I suggest that marketers should offer an up sell but should not irritate the buyers.

Upsells are part of the sales funnel. They increase the customer lifetime value. Thats just part of this business. Even though they are pretty annoying if YOU are the customer :=)

Cheers
Alen

Hold on a 'sec, who says multiple upsells work???

Here's the deal ...

If you have 100 customers and your upsell shenanigans works to generate just one extra sale, then yes, you have immediately made a little more money.

Easy enough for newbies to go parroting that upsells work.

But if in the process you pissed-off your other 99 customers and they do not buy from you again, then in the long run you have lost money.

For example, some major marketers, we all know them, a few years ago did the up down up down up down bit as if a marketing "funnel" was a hyperactive yo-yo and they lost a lot of business. They don't do that anymore. One I know still has not recovered.

You only get to abuse your customer once.

Sometimes there are threads where someone complains about an immediate refund before the buyer has had sufficient time to go through the product. They assume it is fraud. Sometimes it is. Or maybe the buyer decided they really didn't want anything to do with the seller after being inundated with upsells.

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I love to be upsold because I learn from it

i've split tested extensively; have found best results are a function of price, if I'm selling something at $500+ I would never try an immediate upsell, til later via email at least... sub $97 and 1-2 upsells max at point of sale

Upsells are really part of marketing strategy. We have to accept that. But it should be used properly. Otherwise it will throw off potential customers.

That is unfortunate that they present such a horrible customer experience like that.

I'm with the OP. He's not saying he doesn't understand why upsells are necessary, important or ever-present; he's saying he didn't like the way it was done in this case. There are other ways.

Of course, he has a choice. As others have said, he can simply decide never to buy from that marketer again. But, as a marketer, I would rather lose the extra sales than the credibility.

Will

I only add one upsell, this way: This one product COULD help you earn more..

From marketing viewpoint of business, you have to help your customers, not sell them more.

The only moment I hate upsells is when I think I bought a complete product and on the upsell page being told I am not.
Like the car and wheels...if I think I bought a car I do not want to hear it has got no wheels on the next page....and if you try to trick me into thinking it does then I will not respect you, I do not care if it works it's not how it should be done.

I had that yesterday on a WSO and thought I would get the secret sauce but on the nextpage I discover it's just the basis and for the secret sauce I had to pay an extra $47. In theend I did it but really did not like it

But if it is made clear on what I get on the salespage then I have no problems with an upsell. But the product I get should be able to function on it's own. My own way of upsells is that in most cases I have a special offer on one of my other products. Both can work on itself and the upsell is in my mind not an upsell but a special offer because you bought my other product in the first place.

I think some more experienced marketers will not agree with me but...

I've begun offering the up sell version right on the main landing page and letting my users vote with their money. I just clearly explain the difference between both versions of the product and let the visitor decide.

So I am moving away from the up sell that is the improved, or more advanced version of the initial product.

Instead "IF" I decide to do an up sell it will be for a complimentary product, or a product in the same genre as the initial product.

To me this seems more logical and doesn't leave the buyer wondering if the initial offer isn't segmented in some way and "less" effective.

To me, as long as there is a link for "No, Thanks", it's OK

Absolutely disturbing is the word I use, I have had this happen to me several times. Those marketers in my mind don't value their customers, they don't even let them leave and be happy with their purchase. The last time this happened to me, I just cancelled the order right of way.

I guess upsells are part of the game, so is saying no thanks i'll skipp this offer !