How To Upsell Your Customers on SEO and Other Digital Marketing Products
This article was first published on June 24th, 2019, and was last updated March 2023.
As a white label SEO reseller, knowing how to upsell your services is one of the best ways to improve business profitability. When people think of upselling, they usually think of the sales department in a retail store or a call center.
But when you really think about it, every business requires sales in some form. Who understands this better than the digital marketing experts who help make it all happen?
Yet as a reseller, you may shy away from following through with this for your own company. Right now, you may be asking yourself, “Why haven’t I capitalized more on upselling my services before?”
In this article, we will discuss the difference between upselling and cross-selling. As well as how to upsell SEO and marketing services to boost profitability. Let’s get started!
What is Upselling and Cross-Selling?
Upselling is when a customer has made a purchase with your business and you are trying to convince them to upgrade to the next level, package, or tier.
For example, if a small business is just starting out online, they might purchase a beginner SEO package. Over time when they’re online standings and rankings improve, it will come time to upgrade their SEO package. That’s when the SEO agency can try to upsell the customer to an upgraded higher price SEO package.
Cross-selling is simply suggesting additional relevant products or services that customers can try.
For example, when a business buys an SEO package, the agency might recommend cross-selling SEO content services as well. SEO content services are a relevant and beneficial addition to any SEO campaign strategy. Sales can cross-sell multiple products that are relevant and beneficial to the customer.
6 Ways to Know How To Upsell Your SEO and Other Marketing Services
1) Avoid Being Blunt
Sometimes skipping the marketing material and getting straight to the point is the appropriate approach. In this case, this isn’t one of those times.
When upselling to clients, don’t aggressively pursue the topic. This can sometimes come off as pushy to clients and cost you not just the “upsale,” but their current business as well. In fact, Inc. named aggressive sales tactics as one of the top ways to drive your customers away, no matter what kind of business you’re in.
So, how do you sell to clients without being aggressive about the sale? There are discreet ways to work in an extra service or two.
The best time is at the beginning of the negotiation process. Let the client know that you’re just helping them to ensure they have all their bases covered. Chances are, they don’t or may prefer to streamline some functions by passing them all on to you. Take the opportunity to ask.
2) Offer Proof
Have you ever made a life changing decision because of a study you came across? Maybe you decided to put solar panels up on the roof of your home, reconsidered your love for dairy, or gave up red meat.
Whatever the decision was, the ultimate compelling factor was the findings of that study. Smart people find it difficult to ignore facts and will generally make changes to benefit from this new knowledge.
Forbes recommends having or creating case studies that show cause and effect to help create the same type of change in your clients. Are there clients you worked with whose sales skyrocketed as a direct result of your services? What about testimonials? All of these are proof that you’re good at what you do.
Try to make them service-specific and share them on social media, within newsletters, and on your blog. Be sure to end with a call to action (CTA) inviting future and current clients to contact you with questions.
3) Provide an Incentive
One thing that’s sometimes better than proof is incentives. There are probably tons of studies you have seen where you acknowledged the facts but decided to keep steering your course. Your client may do the same if the move is not a favorable one.
Because of this, when negotiating your initial contract, provide an incentive for them to hire out more services to you. You may also share incentives through social proof, newsletters, and your blog posts.
According to Groupon, people love the feeling of striking a good deal. Here are some ways to provide this for future and existing clients:
- Offer a time-sensitive discount in your announcement via social media, blog, or newsletter.
- Present package options that mesh services together as more affordable.
- Give clients “special pricing” because they’re an existing customer.
- If your pricing is more affordable than the competition, show a comparison for money and value propositions.
- Create a loyalty program to help customers feel even more connected and incentivized.
4) Follow Up with Customers
Especially after a customer makes a purchase, following up with them can be a great upselling strategy. Your follow up with the customer should come with a couple rules to keep in mind:
- Don’t follow up right away. If you’re too eager and follow up with the hour or day, it won’t be at the top of the customers mind. Have a 3 day or week grace period before you send any type of follow up email to the customer. You still want to be on their mind, but not right away.
- Offer Product Recommendations. It’s great when your business or agency has made a sale. If the service or product they purchased compliments well with another service or product, bring it up to them. You can mention the benefits of the two together to help upsell the products.
- Offer Incentives. Just like we mentioned in the section before, offering incentives in follow up emails can be a successful upsell strategy. You can create upselling offers such as qualifying for free shipping on their next order. Or give them a special offer or discount on their next order. Adding an incentive to their original purchase helps improve your conversion rate and selling to an existing customer over and over again.
- Encourage them to take action. There are countless opportunities to include CTAs (call to actions) within your follow up email. You could encourage them to sign up for your email newsletters, follow you on social media, or visit different product pages to keep their attention going.
Following up with customers is a great way to increase customer retention while showcasing your products and services.
5) Keep It Simple
In the past, many companies believed that if they offered every conceivable option under the sun, consumers would buy more things. They believed having as many colors, flavors, or models possible would wow customers. Maybe this did work a decade or more ago. That certainly isn’t the case now.
Forbes points out that providing too many options can make it difficult for people to make a choice. Psychologists name this problem “choice overload.” This is one of the many instances where less is more.
Researchers confirmed this by putting two tables in a store. One contained six jars of jam, while the other contained a whopping 24. Believe it or not, 30% of shoppers stopped to see the six jars, while only 3% stopped to see the table with 24 jars.
Choice overload can cause people to procrastinate on making a decision and then never get around to it. Even worse, your competitor may supply a simpler six-jar table option and get the sale.
6) Ask the Customer What They Want
Sometimes one of the best ways to know how to upsell to customers is by simply asking them what they’re wanting or looking for. By asking the customer what they want, it gives the salesperson the opportunity to present the benefits of the product or service to the customer within their means.
When you’re able to meet the customers needs, while also presenting scenarios where a business’s products or services can succeed, the more the customer can visualize the success as well.
For example, if a customer is hesitant about SEO services and the long time it takes to start ranking, it’s a perfect opportunity to present the long-term benefits that come from waiting for those results. Some of those SEO benefits could include:
- Having higher rankings for longer periods of time
- Builds your business brand, reputation, and credibility
- Helps make your business stand out and more recognizable
- Search engines and users will come to trust your website more
- And more!
Asking about the customer’s needs enhances their experience with your business while also improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
How to Upsell SEO to Customers
As an SEO reseller, when you take on more business, you’ll need a stronger infrastructure to handle the new workload. Do you already have your support systems in place?
Trust Boostability to provide data-driven white label SEO services that will generate qualified leads and revenue for your clients. In turn, your business will increase client retention and grow your book of business! All without you taking on the high costs and risks associated with selling a new product.
Boostability will support your business and team, acting as an extension of it. We will deliver the strategy and fulfillment, as well as help you sell SEO services with more success and frequency.
Learn about our white label SEO platform here and what it can mean for you!
