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Cross-Selling and Upselling Emails: How to Increase Average Order Value

Learn the best strategies to recommend complementary or premium products and maximize customer lifetime value.

by Bertagnolli Enrico 2024-07-24 4 min

Cross-Selling and Upselling Emails: How to Increase Average Order Value

Acquiring a new customer is much more expensive than selling more to an existing one. According to statistics, 35% of Amazon’s revenue comes from well-planned cross-selling and upselling strategies.

Cross-selling and upselling emails are used to:
- Increase the average order value without acquiring new customers.
- Suggest complementary products to enhance the customer experience.
- Offer upgrades or premium versions of a product to maximize profit.
- Encourage repeat purchases through exclusive offers.

Let’s see how to structure effective cross-selling and upselling emails.

1. The Difference Between Cross-Selling and Upselling

Before implementing an effective strategy, it is important to distinguish between the two techniques:

Cross-Selling: Suggest complementary products to those already purchased or being considered. Example: A customer buys a smartphone and receives an email with cases and headphones.
Upselling: Offer a more expensive product or a premium version compared to the one chosen. Example: A customer purchasing a basic laptop receives an email featuring a more powerful model with a special discount.

Both strategies improve the customer experience and increase revenue without new customer acquisition costs.

2. When to Send Cross-Selling and Upselling Emails

Timing is crucial for conversion. Here are some optimal options:

Immediately after a purchase: Offer useful accessories for the product just purchased.
Before checkout: Propose an upgrade to the product before the customer finalizes the order.
After a period of usage: Suggest advanced products based on the customer’s experience with the product.
On special occasions: Offer discounts on related products during events such as birthdays or Black Friday.

3. Example of a Cross-Selling Email

Below is an example of an effective cross-selling email:

Subject: [Name], complete your experience with these accessories!

Email Body:

Hi [Name],
You recently purchased [Product Name] and we want to help you get the most out of your purchase.

Your Accessories:
- [Product 1] – [Brief description]
- [Product 2] – [Brief description]
- [Product 3] – [Brief description]

Special Offer:
Enjoy a 10% discount on your next purchase using the code: COMPLETA10

[CTA Button: “Discover Accessories”]

4. Example of an Upselling Email

Below is an example of an effective upselling email:

Subject: [Name], would you like to upgrade to the next level?

Email Body:

Hi [Name],
If you like [Purchased Product], you will love this advanced version!

Upgrade Benefits:
- [Benefit 1]
- [Benefit 2]
- [Benefit 3]

Special Offer:
Save up to 100€ if you upgrade within 48 hours!

[CTA Button: “Discover the Upgrade”]

5. Strategies to Maximize Effectiveness

To get the most out of cross-selling and upselling emails, follow these strategies:

Personalize the offer: Use data from previous purchases to suggest truly useful products.
Create urgency: Offer time-limited discounts to prompt action.
Segment the audience: Propose different products based on customer preferences.
Automate the process: Use tools like Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign to send behavior-based emails.

6. Mistakes to Avoid in Cross-Selling and Upselling Emails

Avoiding common mistakes can improve conversion rates:

Suggesting irrelevant products: If the email is not personalized, the customer will ignore it.
Being too aggressive: Offering too many upsells can come across as pushy.
Not creating an exclusive offer: A special incentive makes the email more effective.
Not testing the emails: A/B testing subject lines and CTAs can significantly improve results.

Conclusion

Cross-selling and upselling emails are a powerful tool to increase customer value. Personalization, timing, and incentives are fundamental to making these emails effective.

In our next article, we will discuss review and social proof emails, which are ideal for enhancing brand credibility and increasing conversions.

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Tracking Whether Your Emails Are Actually Working

Before scaling any cross-sell or upsell sequence, treat it as a test rather than something you launch once and forget. Track average order value, click-through rate on the recommended product, and the unsubscribe rate specifically for that email, then compare the numbers against your regular marketing emails. If unsubscribes spike or clicks stay near zero after a few sends, the offer, segmentation, or timing needs rework before you invest more automation into it.

If you sell to customers in the EU, remember that promotional cross-sell and upsell emails fall under GDPR consent rules: the recipient must have opted in to marketing communications, and every message needs a clear, working unsubscribe link. Building this into your email platform setup from the start avoids having to rebuild the whole flow later once a customer complains or a provider flags the account.

FAQ

Do cross-sell and upsell emails actually work, or do they just annoy customers?

They work when the recommendation is genuinely relevant to what the customer already bought or is looking at — a bag suggested with a camera, a paid plan upgrade after a customer hits a usage limit. When the suggestion is generic or unrelated, customers ignore it or unsubscribe. Relevance and timing matter more than the discount you attach to the offer.

When should I send an upsell email so it doesn't feel pushy?

The two moments that tend to work best are right after a purchase confirmation, when the customer is still engaged, and after they've used the product for a while and might be hitting its limits. Sending an upgrade pitch before checkout can work too, but only if it's framed as a genuine option rather than a hard sell. Avoid stacking multiple upsell attempts into the same short window.

Can I run this with the email tool I already use, or do I need new software?

Most mainstream email marketing platforms (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, and similar) support the purchase-triggered and behavior-based automations needed for cross-sell and upsell emails, so you rarely need to switch tools. What usually needs setup is connecting your store or CRM data to the email platform so it knows what each customer bought and can trigger the right message.

How many cross-sell or upsell emails should I send per customer?

There's no universal number — it depends on your purchase cycle and product catalog — but starting with one well-timed email per trigger event (post-purchase, usage milestone, renewal) and watching unsubscribe rates is safer than running several in parallel. If open and click rates drop or unsubscribes rise, that's the signal to slow down before adding more sequences.

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