WooCommerce Cart Upsell: Effective Way to Improve Average Order Value

Did you know that a WooCommerce cart upsell can increase the average order value of your store?

Have you ever gone shopping to buy a product within your budget but ended up buying more products? For example, you bought a phone but also ended up buying the phone cover with it.

Or you went to buy a phone with a certain budget but ended up buying a more expensive one with more features?

Well, that’s upselling for you.

Upselling is the practice of offering higher-value or additional products to the user to improve the average order value.

In WooCommerce, you can upsell in various ways. For instance, you can offer upsells through a modern slide cart, allowing customers to view and add recommended products to their cart from anywhere in the store, without needing to visit the cart page.

In this blog, we will show you how to offer upsell products on the WooCommerce slide cart to improve AOV and share how to increase your upsell rate.

We will also share how you can utilize post-purchase one-click upsell and post-purchase product recommendations to sell more products.

Here's a short video tutorial to set up the WooCommerce cart upsell recommendations in your store:

WooCommerce Cart Upsell is a strategy for increasing the average order value by encouraging customers to add more items to their cart before completing a purchase. This is done by suggesting additional products that complement or enhance the items already in the cart.

Here are different types of upsell in WooCommerce 

•  WooCommerce cart upsell

WooCommerce cart upsells are offers in a slide cart so users can add to their cart with a single click. This is a modern way of offering upsells because users can usually access the side cart from anywhere on the site and add the upsells to their cart without navigating to the cart or checkout page. 

• One-click upsells after checkout

Upsell offers are presented to customers right after placing the order. However, the system tokenizes the payment details so users don’t have to enter credit card details again to buy the upsell offer after checkout. 

• Post-Purchase Upsells

You can offer post-purchase upsells with email automation after users place an order successfully. Usually, upsell recommendations are made based on the previous purchase history, which makes them super relevant for users, and they are likely to make another purchase. 

Why offer WooCommerce Cart Upsells?

With WooCommerce cart upsell, you can offer upsell and cross-sell products on the slide-in mini cart. Suggesting upsell and cross-sell offers via mini cart (slide-in cart) is a sure-shot way to boost AOV. 

• Promote related products without being pushy

Cart upsells ensure a seamless customer experience as users don’t have to click and navigate to multiple pages to find products. You also get to promote your products while ensuring a customer experiences a smooth shopping journey.

• Encourage users to place high-value order

When users buy a more expensive product or an additional product from upsell recommendations, their average order value increases. So, if you want to boost average order value, you should offer WooCommerce cart upsells.

• Lower customer acquisition cost

While upselling increases order value,  the cost of acquisition stays the same. This way, you can generate more revenue at a low acquisition cost.

•  Improved customer retention

When you offer upsells, you not only help sell more; it also ensures users the best shopping experience. They can buy relevant products in the same order, which saves them time and, more importantly, the shipping cost. This smooth shopping experience can result in a better customer retention rate for your WooCommerce store.

Method 1: How To  Offer WooCommerce Cart Upsell In a Sliding Cart

To add upsell on the WooCommerce slide cart, we will use the WooCommerce Cart by FunnelKit.

With this WooCommerce plugin, users will see a mini cart icon. When they click on it, they can view a sliding cart showing all the cart items, cart total, discount form, etc. Here, a user can also view related items as product recommendations that can be added to the cart with a single click. 

Moreover, users can directly access the checkout page from the mini cart by clicking on a button.

Another good thing is th

• Easily Customizable: This plugin makes it easy to set up a slide-in cart on your WooCommerce store. Moreover, changing the style of the mini cart, such as the color and position of different elements, is also super easy.
• Offer upsell on the Cart: You can offer relevant recommendations such as upsells and cross-selling on the cart. Customers can directly add upsell products to the cart and see updated cart totals instantly.
• Rewards system: You can also add WooCommerce rewards using this WordPress plugin. Incentivize the audience based on their cart total when it reaches a certain threshold in the form of free shipping, discount coupons, and free gifts.
• Multilingual Compatibility: FunnelKit Cart is compatible with multilingual plugins such as WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress, and Weglot. You can use this plugin even if your website is multilingual or in a language other than English.
• Shows order total on the cart: As the cart shows the total order cost the whole time, users won’t get anxious trying to calculate the order total. Thus, they can enjoy anxiety-free shopping.

You can also check the video below:

Step 1: Install and activate FunnelKit 

You need to install and activate FunnelKit Funnel Builder. The upsell feature is available to all users of the FunnelKit Plus plan and above. So, make sure you are using a plus plan or above.

You can install the free version from WordPress.org. In case you need help activating FunnelKit, check our installation guide.

Step 2: Enable and customize the look of the WooCommerce slide in cart

Navigate to FunnelKit ⇒ Cart and enable the “Enable Cart” option to turn on the mini cart.

After that, customize the general settings, such as 

• Icon Visibility: This option will decide on which pages the WooCommerce slide cart will be visible. You get three options: Entire Website, WooCommerce Pages and None.
• Icon Position: Here, you can choose the icon position as bottom left or bottom right.
• Cart Heading: Write the text you want to show up on the cart heading. 
• Hide Cart Icon: Enable this option to hide the cart icon.
• Auto Open Side Cart: Enabling this option will automatically open the WooCommerce site cart.

Like general settings, you can customize different settings related to the Coupon Field, Cart Summary, checkout section, and empty cart.

🔔Note: You can offer a one-click checkout by enabling the express checkout option. 

Step 3: Enable the WooCommerce cart upsell

To enable the Upsells option, go to the Upsells tab and turn on the “Enable Cart Upsells” option.

Step 4: Choose from different skins

Now you can choose the display style for your WooCommerce cart upsell. You get five different styles to choose from.  

With Style One, the Upsell product section appears below the cart products as a slider. Style 2 is pretty similar to Style 1, except in this version, each slide contains two upsell products. 

With Style 3, the upsell appears vertically on the left. This gives users a clear view of all upsell products at once. Style 4 displays the upsell product section after the checkout button. In this style, the upsell products appear in a slider like Style 1.

Lastly, Style 5 is similar to Style 4, but each slider displays two upsell or cross-sell products here.

🔔 Note: In all the styles, each related product shows up with a product image, price, an add-to-cart button, and a small form where the user can select or update the quantity.

You can choose the style you like best.

Step 5: Easily manage cart upsells and cross-sells

After choosing how you want to display your recommended products, customize the following:

• Product Recommendation Type: You can choose to recommend product upsells, or cross-sells, or both. 
• Heading: Provide the heading above the product recommendation section. The default option is "Frequently Bought Together".
• Show Maximum Upsells: Here, you will decide the maximum amount of product you want to display as upsell products. 

Add default upsells

In the “Default Upsells” option, you can add products that will show up as upsell recommendations in case the existing cart products don’t have any upsell products assigned to them.

You can just search products by name and add them to the default upsell in Woo.

Set up individual upsells and cross-sells

As you probably know, you can add upsell and cross-sell products from the WooCommerce product page. However, the FunnelKit Cart team has designed a sleek interface that allows you to add upsell and cross-sell to products from the cart setup page itself. So, you don’t have to go back and forth to the products page to upsell and cross products.

To add upsell or cross to any product from the Funnel Cart page, click on the “View All Products” link.

After that, you will see a sleek modal where you can either scroll down to find the product or search for the product using the search option.

Now, if you expand the product section, you can see all the upsell and cross-sell products assigned to that person.

If you want to add more upsell products, you can do so by clicking on the “Add Upsell” button. Then, search for the product and choose the product from the suggested dropdown. After that, click on “Add” to add the product as an upsell product.

🔔 Note: You can also add variable products to your upsell and cross-sell. This way, the buyer can choose the variable of the product they want to buy right inside the cart.

You can add as many upsell products as you want using the same process.

🔔 Note: You can add cross-sell products the same way.

Click on the X icon on the top right to close the modal. Now click the Save button to update the settings you just modified. You can click on the “Preview on Page” button to see how your WooCommerce cart upsell product looks.

Here is a preview of how the upsell looks:

Offer Rewards on WooCommerce Cart For Higher Upsell Rate 

Another effective trick you can use to attain a higher upsell rate and thus improve order value is to offer rewards to users.

For example, you can offer free shopping if the product is worth a certain amount. You can also offer a discount on the order total if it exceeds a certain amount and so on. 

You can easily implement such WooCommerce reward systems on your online store with FunnelKit Cart. With this plugin, you can offer three types of rewards : 

• Free Shipping
• Discount and
• Free Gift

Now, let’s have a look at how you can set up each of these rewards on your WooCommerce store. 

To create the rewards, move to the Rewards tab and click on “Create Reward”.

After that, set the following rewards: 

Free Shipping

You need to configure free shipping using the settings link provided. After that, you need to provide:

• Icon Title: This text will be displayed when the user hovers over the first reward icon.
• Message: Here, you will show the messages like how much more they need to spend to avail themselves of free shipping. You can use the {{remaining_amount}}  merge tag to dynamically display the remaining amount that needs to be added to the cart to avail of the free shopping.

Discount

After free shipping, you can offer a discount to your user if they increase their order value to a certain amount. To set discounts as rewards, click on “Create Another Reward” and  configure the following options: 

• Type:  Choose the reward type as a discount.
• Icon Title: Provide the title that will show up when someone hovers over the icon.
• Message: Messaging tells how much more they need to spend and how much percentage of discount they will enjoy if they do. 
• Amount to Get Reward:  Set the amount that their order total needs to meet to avail of this discount. 
• Coupon: Provide the coupon code here. However, you need to create the coupon manually using WooCommerce's default feature.

Free Gift

After offering a discount, you can tempt your users to increase their order value to avail a free gift. That's an effective way to increase order value.

To set up free gift, you need to set up the following:

• Type:  Choose type as Free Gift.
• Icon Title: Provide the text for the icon title.
• Message: A message encouraging them to increase their order total to unlock the gift. You can display the remaining amount using the {{remaining_amount}} tag.
• Amount to Get Reward: The total amount of orders they need to add to the cart to avail the reward.
• Product: Add the products that users will get as free gifts.

After configuring the rewards, set the “When All Rewards Unlocked” message. 

Finally,  click on the Save button to update.

Here is a preview of how the WooCommerce rewards system will show up on the user end:

Now, users on your website will be motivated to increase order value to avail the rewards you offer. And you have your own way of enjoying high average order value.

You can check out the whole process in this video 👇

Method 2: How to Offer One Click Upsell After Checkout

You can offer one-click upsells right after users check out. This is an effective way to sell more products because you capitalize on the buying momentum users have when they place an order.

With a one-click upsell, users don’t have to enter their payment information again, as the system tokenizes the details the first time. If users accept the upsell offer, the additional amount is charged automatically, making the upsell part of the original order.

We need FunnelKit Funnel Builder Pro for this. However, If you use the FunnelKit Cart Pro version, you already have FunnelKit Funnel Builder installed and activated. 

Follow these steps to offer one-click upsell after checkout : 

Step 1: Replace default checkout with custom store checkout 

First of all, you need to replace the default WooCommerce checkout with a custom store checkout.

You can easily do that using FunnelKit Funnel Builder’s prebuilt template. Make sure to choose a template that has the one-click upsell template. 
Here, we have chosen the template Utopia template.  For more details, read our blog on custom store checkout.

After importing the templates, you can easily customize the checkout page. 

🔔 Note: You can offer low-price upsells on the checkout page in the form of order bumps as well that users can add with a single click. For more details, read our blog on WooCommerce order bump.

Step 2: Offer one click upsell 

Next, to add an upsell, hit the Offer.

You can customize the upsell template in the design tab.  

Move to the Products tab, hit “Add Product”, search and add the product and hit Save to update. 

Add a discount to the upsell offer if you want to. 

Here is a preview of the upsell offer:

Step 3: Enable the store checkout 

To activate the upsell offer, enable the store checkout. 

Now, your WooCommerce will offer an upsell offer right after checkout. 

Method 3: How to Offer Post Purchase Upsell Via Email Automation 

You can offer upsells even after users leave your store. Set up an automation to send post-purchase upsell emails to users after a successful order delivery featuring relevant items.

This will encourage customers to return to your site and place another order. To ensure they do, you can incentivize them with some time-sensitive discounts.

To offer post-purchase upsell install and activate FunnelKit Automations. 

Now follow these steps: 

Step 1: Create an automation to send post-purchase email 

First, you need to create an automation that will automatically send the post-purchase email after every purchase. To create the automation, you can import the prebuilt “post-purchase” sequence recipe. 

Step 2: Set a delay

The recipe waits just 1 minute, but we suggest a longer delay. Users should receive the email after their order arrives. Adjust the timing based on your delivery schedule. Here, we've set it to 5 days.

Step 3: Design the product recommendation email 

You can design your email quickly using a prebuilt template by FunnelKit Automations. Here, we chose the cross-sell template. 

Make sure the product recommendation feed is set to related products. Under the Linked category, you can choose to recommend cross-sell products, upsell products, or both. 

🔔Note: You can also add a dynamic coupon in the email if you want to encourage faster orders. 

After customizing the email, make sure to save it. 

Here is a preview of a product recommendation email. 

Step 4: Activate the post-purchase upsell automation 

Make sure to activate the automation to send the emails with upsell recommendations. 

Best Practices for Effective Cart Upsells

Follow these tips to ensure the cart upsells you offer to deliver effective results.

• Offer highly relevant upsells 

Make sure the cart upsells you offer are super relevant to the main product customers added to their cart. Higher the relevance the more likely the users will buy additional products. 

For instance, if a customer selects a coffee maker, suggest a better one, not a juice machine. They're clearly into coffee, so anything that enhances their coffee experience will pique their interest.

• Setting up conditional offers

Setting up conditional upsell can help boost the upsell rate of your WooCommerce store as it ensures you offer the right upsell to the target audience. 

For instance, with one-click upsells, target high-value products to customers who have added a certain amount to their cart. If someone is checking out with lower-priced items, they're unlikely to purchase something expensive afterward.

🔔Note: You can easily set the order total minimum requirement condition using FunnelKit Automations. 

• Offer time-sensitive discounts 

To create a FOMO among users, try offering time sensitive discounts so users are motivated to hit the “Add to Order” button. 

For example, offer a 30% discount valid for only 20 minutes with your one-click upsell. Alternatively, with post-purchase upsell recommendations, provide a discount redeemable within the next 3 days or 1 week.

• A/B test your upsell offers 

You can A/B test your upsell offers to find out what works for your target audience.  You can A/B test both one-click upsells and post-purchase emails. 

For example, A/B test your one-click upsells with different products or templates and vary discounts. Similarly, A/B test post-purchase upsell emails with different subject lines, preview text, content, discounts, and timing.

Use these tips to ensure you're getting the maximum benefit from your WooCommerce cart upsell offers.

Frequently Asked Questions About WooCommerce Cart Upsell 

• Why is my upsell not showing up?

First, if the upsell is not showing up in the slide cart, make sure the upsells are set for the products that you added to the cart. Incase of one click upsells, make sure all the conditions you set are met.

• How to fix upsell display issues?

If there is anything with the upsells we shared in this blog try updating the plugins and ensure there is no conflict with other plugins. For any help, you can contact [email protected]. 

• How to optimize upsell performance?

You can improve upsell performance by applying tips like offering milestone-based rewards, setting up conditional offers, providing relevant items, and offering time-sensitive discounts. To understand your customers' preferences, perform A/B testing on upsell offers.

• What are the differences between upsells and cross-sells in WooCommerce?

Upsells are more expensive versions or add-ons to the product they're purchasing. On the other hand, cross-sells suggest related or complementary products to the item in their cart.

For instance, If a customer is buying a laptop, an upsell might be suggesting a model with more storage, while a cross-sell would be recommending a laptop bag or mouse.

• Can I add express checkouts like Google Pay and Apple Pay in the mini cart? 

Yes, if you are using FunnelKit Cart to add a mini cart in your WooCommerce store, you can easily connect to the Stripe plugin and add express checkouts like  Apple Pay and Google Pay.  

• Can I offer multiple upsells in a single WooCommerce transaction?

Yes. With FunnelKit Funnel Builder’s one-click upsells you can offer multiple upsells in a single WooCommerce transaction. 

• Can I offer digital products as upsells?

Yes, you can offer digital products as upsells in your WooCommerce store. 

• Can I customize the upsell offer based on cart contents?

Yes. You can customize which products will show up as upsell based on the cart items. You need to set the desired product as upsell. If you want to customize an upsell offer based on other cart content like coupon applied, cart total, items added etc., you need to use the Rule engine of FunnelKit Funnel Builder. 

Ready to Use WooCommerce Cart Upsell?

You can use FunnelKit's WooCommerce cart upsell to increase order value while lowering client acquisition costs. On top of that, using the reward system will encourage people to buy more upsell products from your store.

Besides, the rewards system gamifies the shopping process, making it more enjoyable. As a result, customers are excited to shop at your store.

Not just that, FunnelKit also makes it super easy for store owners to offer related products with its sleek interface. Store owners can add upsell and cross-sell products without leaving the slide cart set-up page.

Don’t just limit yourself to offering in-cart upsells; make sure you utilize the power of one-click upsells and post-purchase upsell emails as well. 

Depending on the different stages of a buyer’s journey, all types of cart upsell can help you get more sales and increase average order value while ensuring a good shopping experience.

So, are you ready to boost the average order value of your site with WooCommerce cart upsell?

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