10 Best eCommerce Email Upsell & Cross-Sell Strategies & Optimisations (2024)

💬 As eComm growth marketers/founders, a key goal is working out ways to sell more through upsells/cross-sells - and of the main levers to help with this objective is through effective email marketing.

Whether single-focused campaigns or through automated flows, there are plenty of tests/experiments to try to help increase performance - and with the below checkpoints, I share numerous that I've seen work well from first-hand experience, as well as what I've noticed from top brandsI follow or have purchased from over the years too.

Different tests, experiments, angles, offers and items you can try as part of your email campaigns/flows to increase upsells and cross-sell opportunities

💬 There are some great examples from top brands I've included, which I've also made notes/commentary on - plenty of actionable things you can try to improve performance attributed to email.

Of course before really designing any emails for post-purchases, you’ve got to plan, wireframe and coordinate with creating the flows - keeping behavioural conditions in mind - i.e. flows for new vs existing customers, AOV, LTV and product/category types. 

There are various post-purchase flows you can consider, but my two favourites I setup are:

• Thank you flows
• Cross-sell flows

You can split both via:

• First-time customers
• Existing customers
  • And of course, you can split and personalise them further based on attributes like AOV, product items, etc.

Free shipping is well-known already as one of the best tactics to help with conversion rates, and I can say from first-hand experience working with brands/clients that it works just as well for upselling existing customers, especially when it comes to bundles or higher AOV-focused campaigns.

I really like this example from ‘Betterbrand’ (known as the brand ‘Eat Better’) - where it states that when customers buy a 12-pack, they can cover the cost of shipping.

Plus, even if customers don’t uptake this specific offer, being reminded with the banner at the top of the free shipping threshold (“$55 or more for free shipping”), is a good reminder. So in many ways, this email is achieving two key messages at once focused on free shipping.

Naturally there are many offers that you should be testing across subject lines, headlines within main content, body copy, CTA buttons, etc. 

A key focus I say to brands/clients I work with is around “FOMO” (known as ‘Fear of Missing Out’). 

Just focusing on the offer and promotion is one thing, but trying to encourage action (and then making that action happen) for customers is another thing all together. 

So, what are FOMO-based campaign angles and elements - here’s some to think about:

• Limited-time discounts - elements like timers, “flash sales”, and ‘urgent’ reminders work well
• Low-stock alerts - “Selling fast!”, “few items left”, “just 5 items left”, “almost sold out” - lots of variants you can try here - focus on ‘high demand’ notices and real-time product inventory updates. 
• Early access offers - these can work really well, especially for existing customer bases and activating ‘inactive’ customer segments. You can focus on messaging and campaigns on ‘early member-only access’, ‘exclusive drops’ (which I’ve started to see numerous brands starting to do), limited-edition items, and more. 
• Then of course you’ve got holiday/seasonal specials - countdowns to special seasonal periods like Black Friday and Christmas, limited edition holiday specials, etc. 

There are lots of examples out there, but I like this one from Broc Shot - includes a limited edition gift set, alongside a special % discount. And other elements to drive action include “special pricing” for Black Friday, as well as an end promotion date.

If you do subscriptions for your eCommerce brand, you should try and find ways to incorporate upsells where possible. 

Of course, product items for whatever you’re pushing needs to make sense with the existing subscription. 

A good example reference from a brand that has done this well is KiwiCo. 

You can see a clear headline offer at the top of the email, and an upgrade offer for each monthly box with a clear coupon code. 

I haven’t seen this tactic adopted by too many brands, but it’s an awesome angle experiment worth trying, especially if you work with influencers/creators (and if you work in eCommerce, that’s probably most of you). 

Why not work with an influencer on coming up with their curated “wishlist” of items that they recommend, and then run a dedicated email promo campaign on it to existing customers (as well as new/subscribers you can do so too). 

Just like this example I came across from Mr Porter. 

Goes without saying, make sure to utilise upselling strategies in your campaigns for key seasonal periods. 

Tailor messaging and offers based on segments - especially when it comes new vs existing customer segments. 

And ensure design, copy and messaging all align with the campaign - just like this great example from the brand, Italic. Up there with one of the best campaign layouts I’ve seen for promo emails.

As already touched on across a few of the checklist points I’ve spoken about, having great offers in place is a big factor when it comes to successfully upselling/cross-selling existing customers. 

Doing “general”/list base wide campaigns are fine, tailoring for audience segments with custom offers, messaging and CTAs is where great results can come to fruition. 

What about thoughts on what to include in cross-selling email campaigns?

This email by Oobli (a chocolate brand) I quite like as a baseline for key elements you should include:

• Clear FOMO-based headline (“almost gone!”) - encourages action of subscribers
• Clear offer labelling and couple of CTA’s - evident for readers
• Use of social proof - reviews from real customers - reinforces trust/credibility for the product item

Naturally, there are other elements you can include (like UGC from Instagram feed, etc) that can help get more customers to purchase.

Related to offers and some of the tactics I’ve mentioned within our checklists - you’ve got to test various offers/incentives. 

Incorporate scarcity/FOMO-based messaging, in conjunction with an awesome offer, and you’ve got a good chance of the campaign doing well. 

This email by Good Belly is a great ‘BOGO’ offer I found - great layout and love the elements of the USP callouts of the cinnamon roll and the mention of the chef.

A good way to highlight other relevant products are showcasing popular/favourites of top products that other customers are purchasing. 

Whilst your confirmation email needs to serve the main purpose of showing key info of the order, why not add some other product items, and even potential offers, in case those who have just purchased are interested? 

I like what the brand Dr. Squatch have done here - they’ve laid out this email really well if you ask me. 

Whenever you can, include social proof elements like UGC images, reviews/testimonials, social comments - whatever it may be, it can help increase trust/credibility, especially for “newer” audiences and subscribers who haven’t purchased before. 

Even for existing customers and you want to push more product or get customers to upgrade to subscriptions, show the proof that customers are loving the brand/product(s). 

I like this example a lot from ‘Bite’, the toothpaste brand. 

Highlights:

• Publication excerpts
• Top customer reviews w/ images
• Clear subscription offer
• USP headlines
• Great imagery
• Instagram embed (highlights community)

And overall, just great design/branding.

I actually highlighted this email in my winback emails too. 

Some other upsell/cross-sell examples of emails I like and recommend checking out

I've shared quite a few examples already, but wanted to share three others I like.

Example #1

• If you’re wanting to encourage customers to upgrade to subscriptions, Athletics Greens are really effective at doing this - both through their email marketing, as well as Meta ads funnels.

Example #2

• Related to subscriptions, include a CTA section of reminders for products that customers can add, just like in this example from Dollar Shave Club.

Example #3

• I quite like this from warby Parker, where they’ve come up with a clever angle using Star Signs to share ideas for different glasses. 
• The main takeaway here is that you don’t necessarily have to do a ‘star signs’ campaign, but coming up with something that can relate to audiences and customise it to align with your product offering can be effective with getting attention and driving action.
• The goal should be to avoid ‘static’ upsell email copy - try to be creative. :)