We have “Downselling” – just like the upselling strategy in marketing which is deployed to help you increase your average cart order value and at the same time render the best of your products to your customers.

Downselling is a sales technique where you offer an alternative to the primary upsell by offering a more budget-friendly or more convenient buying option to your customers after they must have rejected or declined the upsell.

Without giving it a second thought…

…we all know that upselling is one of the easier (if not the easiest) ways to put more money into your bank account.

And at the same time serve your customers/clients at the highest possible level.

In fact, the stats have it that:

Upsells are 68% more affordable than acquiring a brand-new customer
Upselling increases revenue by 10-30% on average
70-95% of revenue comes from upsells and renewals on average for a business who offer them

As consumers and as marketers that we are… we see upselling in action every day of our lives.

And we unconsciously fall into the trap always because we have needs to be met.

The same goes for your target avatar.

From buying an item on Amazon, shopping at the mall, placing an order at MacDonald’s, enrolling in an online program, and even subscribing to marketing software…

It’s everywhere we go.

But what about Downselling and why is it so important?

Why is Downselling Important?

To some, seeing a reduction in price or a slight change of offer to suit the atmosphere causes a negative impression about a brand or doubt in the authenticity of a product.

While that could be true in some cases.

It’s your call as a business owner to study your audience and present the right downsells to people you think aren’t fit at the moment for your core offer.

In a bit, we’re going look into how to make a down-sell less annoying, less aggressive, and suitable at the right timing.

That said…

Let’s take a look at the benefits and why downselling is important:

#1. You Win More Customers by Downselling

The ultimate goal of downselling is to get those customers who didn’t buy or aren’t ready to buy, into the door in the first place.

Making you gain an opportunity to do business with them in the future.

Just as the probability of selling to existing customers is 60-70% (According to the authors of Marketing Metrics), while the probability of qualifying and selling to new prospects is 5-20% – it pays a lot more to convert visitors already in your sales funnel or pipeline with your low ticket offers.

And downselling is a way to get some (low ticket) return for your marketing efforts.

Even if it means acquiring leads. It’s worth it.

When in your sales pipeline, you can nurture them further and have them buy your higher tier offers along their journey.

Let’s take for example:

Kartra – one of my favorite marketing platforms. A sales funnel builder.

Normally the software starts from $99/mo and offers a $1 14days trial. But not everyone who visits the Kartra homepage would take the plunge.

Kartra team knew this.

So, they implemented exit-intent popup on the page to give away this:

The goal behind this is simple: Collect leads. Build a relationship and sell Kartra software.

Technically, this isn’t a downsell. But a way to give value to those who haven’t made up their mind yet or not convinced enough.

As you would see below, the next page is where you download your PDF (although you’ll still get a download link in your inbox).

Showing you all of the inbuilt done-for-you campaigns that come with Kartra:

You see all the available 31 campaigns and what they help users achieve (as you scroll down the page).

From there, I began getting some really exciting and engaging emails from Andy Jenkins (Kartra co-founder) every now and then.

He shared some transforming stories around Kartra, invited me into the Kartra group, and so on…

I ended up signing up for Kartra $1 trial.

Had it been there was no way to capture my email address during my exit – Probably, I would never have signed up for Kartra trial.

Just by offering lead magnets on exits, Kartra is constantly winning more customers this way.

#2. Downselling Boosts Conversions

One common objection that falls in the way of many consumers is the price.

Price factor.

Fair enough, downselling gives you leverage to offer reasonable and considerable pricing options so they could be able to afford it. No matter what.

I will show you (soon) some typical examples where marketers successfully boosted their sales conversions by offering timely discounts, payment options, and trial periods.

While pricing your services or products higher always yields a better profit margin – downselling the right way helps you close a sale faster…

…even when the customer can’t afford to pay for the high-ticket item at that moment.

Isn’t that more favorable than no sales at all?

Half bread is always better than none. If you ask me.

#3. Downselling Builds Trust and Deeper Relationships

Looking at from another angle.

Downselling, like upselling, focuses on helping your customers win in their daily life and business.

These aren’t just sales tactics aimed at persuading customers to purchase a more expensive or inexpensive version of your item.

Nope.

It’s customer happiness and value-driven strategy.

You’ll agree with me that having a product that caters to your target customer isn’t enough to break the ceiling.

Apart from knowing where they congregate and having the right messages that resonate.

Nothing builds more brand loyalty and trust than understanding and showing your customers you care about their budget constraints.

No. Don’t get me wrong.

I don’t mean slashing your price is the better route.

No business owner plans to run into a loss. I never prayed to.

However, introducing a lower-priced item, different payment plans, or trial period alternatives are ways to remain fair without selling your kidney to please prospects.

6 Downselling Best Practices (With Examples)

Like I said earlier, down selling done wrong can leave you in pain.

As effective as it might be – there are a few mistakes you should avoid at all costs when applying this technique.

Even though there might not be enough downsell ideas and examples on the internet.

The below down selling best practices will give you a headstart on how it works and what to avoid:

#1. Don’t Introduce Your Downsells Too Early

This is huge.

Introducing your downsell offer too early within your sales pipeline can confuse your potential customers which might cause you to lose a lot of them.

Neither do you need to target everyone with your downsells.

Let’s take for instance:

You visited an online store that sells necklaces. After browsing through the various category pages based on different necklace brands and checking out a few with its pricing.

Spending a total of 1 minute, 30 seconds on the site.

Then you decide to open another browser tab, check your email, or do something else.

On your exit point, you immediately got an exit intent pop up downselling you on a 50% discount on a necklace that costs $450. Without any justifiable reason at least.

What would be your first thought?

Isn’t that fishy, desperate, too early, or [insert your feeling here]?

To some that could seem like a no-brainer. But to most – they’d rather prefer to give it a second thought.

Despite the fact that you NEVER spent up to 2 minutes on the site, yet to add that necklace to cart and also still in the buying process…

…Personally, that discount offer won’t do much to help with conversions BUT get me confused and could make me decline to buy any necklace from that store.

Two costly mistakes up there:

Slashing the price (massively)
Showing the discount at the wrong time

It could be a smart move having a pop for every new visitors like this (not downselling):

For new visitors of MyNameNecklaceCanada.com to opt-in to get a 10% off discount for necklaces on their birthdays. Doesn’t that make sense?

Again, you get leads and win more customers down the line this way.

#2. Use Smart Exit Intent Pop-ups

Exit-intent popups have their places.

Surely.

I use them all the time. But not on every of my webpage neither do need to show them to everyone.

I use exit intents mainly for collecting emails and sending traffic to specific offers.

It can be used for showing discounts (like the above example), extending trial periods, countdown timer on offers, etc.

Exit pop-ups with disco