Upselling is a wonderful process that should increase the average order value. I think no store owner would object if a manager sells something else in addition to the main product, preferably a lot and preferably right now.
But… there's one catch. In pursuit of a higher average order value, you can end up making the customer not even want to buy what they came for.
Recently, I found myself in such a situation. I'll tell you about it.
I just wanted to buy a t-shirt
I saw an ad for a t-shirt on Instagram. I went to the website, the product interested me and I decided to order it. I selected the model, color, size and proceeded to checkout.
Already at this stage, a question arose: why can't I select a payment method, delivery and simply properly complete the order? There were only fields for name and phone number. But I liked the item, so I still left the order.
And then something happened that made me not care about that t-shirt anymore.
A manager called me to confirm the order, clarified my details to select the right size. She also told me that I could try on the item at the store, and if it doesn't fit - there's an exchange and return policy. And everything was clear, helpful and wonderful at this point. Exactly the information I needed as a customer.
And then the chaos began. The manager started following upselling scripts 🫣
First, as a new customer, I was offered a discount on the second item. To which I said that I don't know if even the first one will fit me, so I want to look at the product first, try it on, assess the quality, and if everything is okay - I'll come back again.
That seemed like it could be the end. But no 🤬
Then I was offered leggings. They started telling me about their advantages, the discount, the savings. And the manager got so caught up in the sale that my "I'm only ordering a t-shirt" didn't really fit into that conversation anymore. It was hard to get a word in.
I said once more that for now, a t-shirt is all.
It seemed like the customer's need was not only understood but carefully articulated several times. But no 😄
They started telling me again about a crazy discount of 150 UAH, savings on delivery and that these particular t-shirts are selling out fast, so they might not be available later. We even got some artificial scarcity thrown in.
I said once more that I don't want anything else. Then there was another offer. And another. And the manager basically wasn't hearing me, just rattling on with the script.
At some point, I had a very real desire to say: you know what, I don't even need the t-shirt anymore.
Upselling doesn't belong here
I don't think upselling is something bad in general. On the contrary, proper upselling can be beneficial for both the store and the customer.
If I'm buying a phone and a manager suggests a case or screen protector that I forgot about, they've actually helped me. If I'm ordering a product and can get a set cheaper, that should be mentioned too. I might not know about the promotion, might not see the related product or simply might not think about it.
So the problem isn't in "how about this too." The problem starts when the manager has already received an answer but continues as if they didn't.
I didn't say "I don't know," "maybe" or "I'll think about it." I directly said several times that I want to try one product first and won't be buying anything else right now.
At that point, any further offer was no longer helping me make a purchase. It was only solving the store's task - to sell more. And the customer feels this very well. And, importantly, starts to get annoyed.
The script worked. The sale almost didn't happen
I don't know exactly how the managers' motivation is structured in this store. Maybe there's a KPI for average order value. Maybe upselling is mandatory. Or maybe the managers just weren't trained. Or were trained too well.
But the result is interesting.
The store paid for advertising and brought a customer. The advertising worked: the product interested me. The website also did its job: I placed an order. Moreover, I didn't even need to be convinced to buy something. I came from the ad myself, chose the product, and wanted to give the store my money.
That is, by the time of the call, the sale had essentially already happened.
And the only stage where it almost fell through was the conversation with the manager, whose task was to close this sale. Even though I didn't want to talk to anyone and could have handled everything myself perfectly fine if given the opportunity.
So it turns out rather paradoxically: the business spent money to bring me to a purchase, and then spent a manager's working time to almost convince me not to buy anything.
It's especially interesting if you later look only at standard metrics and conclude that active upsells work.
You can miss the main thing by looking only at average order value
Suppose a manager was set a KPI to increase the average order value. He starts offering additional products more actively, some customers agree, the average order value indeed grows. At first glance, everything looks great, you can draw a green arrow in the report.
But I would look at more than just the average order value here.
How many people completely abandoned their orders after such conversations? How many agreed to buy additional products but remained dissatisfied with the purchasing process itself? How many bought, paid for everything, didn't leave negative reviews, but never came back again?
And the last one is much harder to measure.
You can optimize manager performance for single order metrics very well while imperceptibly degrading the long-term customer value.
Hypothetically, a manager pressured a buyer and increased today's order from 1000 to 1500 hrn. KPI met, everyone's happy. But if without this "pressure" the customer would have bought 1000 hrn today and then returned three more times, then the business gained nothing from such an increase in average order value in the end.
And possibly even lost something.
In my case, the store got the sale
I did buy the shirt after all. Moreover, it fit me perfectly.
It seemed like a wonderful ending. But will I shop there again? No! Simply because I don't want to spend time on such communication with the store again.
If you look at my order in CRM, it probably looks wonderful: a lead from advertising, order placed, paid, no returns. Everything is fine.
Only there will be nowhere in the statistics a small note:
«This customer will never buy anything here again».
And that's exactly what ended up happening.
And not because of the product. The shirt is fine. I could have tried other models, ordered those damned leggings, and generally the store has a wonderful assortment.
But…
I was repelled by the purchasing process itself.
And this is exactly the case where behind the numbers of one successful sale, a business might not notice the loss of a customer at all.
A script is not a play script
And here, in my opinion, lies the main problem with many sales scripts. They are sometimes perceived as a sequence of phrases that a manager must say regardless of what's happening on the other end of the line.
Suggest the main product. Suggest complementary items. Suggest a discount. Free delivery. Fishing rods. A boat. Just sell the whole store already because you're a good salesman.
But the customer in this scenario somehow becomes a person who just delivers the necessary lines so the manager can move on to the next point in the script.
Only this isn't a play script. If a customer says something that isn't in your "Sales_Script_final_really_final.docx" file, that doesn't mean you can ignore it and continue from the next paragraph.
In my opinion, a proper script should work differently. It should help the manager understand what the client needs, not interfere with listening to them.
That's why it should contain not only phrases "what to offer," but also points where you need to stop. The client is hesitant - you can help them choose. They don't know about another option - it's worth showing them. It's really more beneficial for them to buy a bundle - it's worth explaining. But only once.
And the client clearly said: "Thank you, I don't need anything else"?
That's it. Let's breathe. We leave the fishing rods and boats for the next customer and sell the person what they want to buy.
Managers need to be taught not just to speak
You can write a perfect script, but it won't help if the manager doesn't know how to listen. And I would actually start sales training not just with "how to handle objections," but with the ability to distinguish between an objection and a client's decision.
These are not the same thing.
"Too expensive" can be an objection. Here you can clarify the budget, explain the difference between products, offer another option. Or you can understand during the conversation that the client will never buy this product at that price, and simply accept this sad fact for you.
Because not every objection necessarily needs to be heroically overcome.
But "I want to buy one thing first, try it, and I don't want anything else right now" - that's a fairly concrete decision. There's no hidden request here: "Please, offer me seven more products, maybe I'll give in on the sixth one."
Not every "no" needs to be worked through. Sometimes you just need to hear it.
Upselling should increase the value of the purchase, not just the check
Perhaps this is the simplest criterion by which I would evaluate the appropriateness of upselling in general.
If an additional offer makes the client's purchase better, more convenient, or more profitable, it's worth making. Suggest a phone case, consumable materials for a product, a more profitable bundle, or mention a promotion the buyer didn't notice - that's normal upselling.
But if the only reason for the next offer is that the store needs to increase the average check, and the client has already said "no" several times, it's worth stopping.
And here you need to count not only how much the manager upsold today. Because the average check is an excellent metric, but business doesn't actually live on one order.
You also need to somehow not forget about the person who might want to come back tomorrow.
Because sometimes the best upsell is the one the manager wisely decided not to make.
