9 upselling tips for your fashion brand.
It costs time and money to gain new customers so why are you then not spending time nurturing them into being repeat buyers?
Selling to an existing customer will be cheaper, faster, with a higher conversion than trying to attract new ones.
On top of that, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, whereas selling to a new customer is much lower.
These 9 upselling tips for your fashion brand, might be simple but trust me they are super effective upselling techniques that you can immediately apply to your email marketing.
Upselling fundamentals.
Firstly I want to remind you of the fundamentals.
A great sales strategy should follow 80% content, 20% sales.
So if you send 8 newsletters a month that would look like this:
- 6 content emails
- 2 sales emails
The 9 upselling tips for your fashion brand that I am about to run through apply to all 8 newsletters.
You might now be thinking but how?
You have just said that only 20% are to be sales emails?!
Which is correct. However, these tips teach you to be always thinking and talking sales but in a non ‘salesy’ way, therefore these 9 upselling tips are applicable for every email you send.
Tip 1 - Nurture.
To effectively nurture your customer you need to understand them beyond the basics that being; gender, location.
You need to learn more about their;
- Budget
- Needs
Therefore you need to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to connect with each customer on 1:2:1 bases. Treat them like a VIP and offer a tailor-made service for example free personal styling session so you can get to know them better.
Tip 2 - Value.
Talk about the value of each product you sell. The goal is to make them see this and therefore happy to hand over their wallet.
Make them see that it’s not just a white t-shirt but:
- A tee that can be styled in 7 different ways.
- A tee that has used 20% less water within the dying process.
- A tee that you can gain 15% off if you return/recycle an old tee.
- A tee that has X amount of benefits ie breathable, sweat proof, saddle hem to cover your bottom (modesty) etc
This tip is simple but so powerful. Never forget that you are the product expert, not your customer and you need to help them to see and understand the value of each product.
"Never forget that you are the product expert, not your customer and you need to help them to see and understand the value of each product."
Unzipped
Tip 3 - Consistency.
Dont forget about them! Them being your customers!
Consistency is key. You want to come across as reliable and genuine. You want to build up your trust and be a brand that they are happy to hear from weekly.
To do this you need to build an effective content calendar that will consistently entertain and educate. For it to be effective you need to listen to their needs and deliver on it.
Tip 4 - Help.
This is one of my favourite tips. Think of yourselves as helping customers, don’t think of yourselves as sales agents.
If you consistently think about how you can help your customers, by nurturing them, you will be in tune with their problems and how you can solve these.
You can then create problem-solving content and offers to please them. This is a clever way of speaking to your customer in a personal way, giving them what they need (the sale) without them feeling like you were ‘salesy’.
Tip 5 - Personalise.
There are 2 approaches you can take here:
- To truly personalise and review each customer’s previous purchases and offer your recommendation.
- To offer generic product recommendations that focus on value.
Approach 1 requires a lot more time than approach 2 and is something you could consider at the start of your business.
Focusing on approach 2; this is how you can show value:
- Bought with X & save 10%. You can create a bundle offer.
- Always ensure the additional product is cheaper ideally by 60%.
- Make sure its a win-win offer by giving that additional incentive away.
Either approach you want your customers to feel special and you want them to buy with ease.
Tip 6 - Target.
The easiest way to target your customers is by setting up effective email sequences. These being:
- Abandoned cart
- Thank you
Within the abandoned cart email, use the rule of 3. Remind them about the item they liked, offer a similar product and offer them their dream product.
This personalises, incetivises and tantilises them. The final factor within this email sequence is to create a sense of urgent by offering something for free for a limited time only ie free shipping or 20% off the items offered.
Within the thank you email, target them to shop again by giving them a coupon code for future purchases. Finally following this up with recommendations, talking about the value and then a sense of urgency.
Tip 7 - Be real.
It takes time for brands to build lasting relationships with their customers, so from the off-set keep it real! Be yourself and again don’t be ‘salesy’.
Talk from a person, not a business.
Talk with passion.
Talk with honesty.
A fantastic upselling technique is to give your customers real-life examples. This could be through:
- Customer testimonials/product reviews
- Social proof
Build this into your website functionality and into your content strategy and incentivise your customers to be real and to give you feedback.
Tip 8 - Gift it.
It goes without saying – everyone loves a freebie! The best freebies again speak to your customer’s needs, so nurture and personalise your giveaways.
Focusing on upselling, the most common gifts are:
- Offer a discount
- Free shipping
- Tester product
Tip 9 - Urgency.
I have mentioned this a few times throughout the 9 upselling tips for your fashion brand, but an offer is a lot more impactful if it comes with a sense of urgency.
How you can do this is to;
- Use an evergreen timer on your site.
- Set a limited time for the offer in your email.
- Write your copy with a cliff hanger ending …
- Create scarcity
The best way to think about upselling to your customers is to put yourself in a shop where you have to physically interact with the customers.
In that scenario, you are highly likely to upsell without realising. You might:
- Grab a shoe so they can see their dress with heels
- Tell them why it’s so flattering on a curvy body shape and recommend similar products
- Tell them about your current sale incentive – BOGOF
So ask yourself; why not tell them this via your virtual shop?
