What do savvy ecommerce brands have in common with airlines? They both know how to maximize revenue per customer. 

It is no secret that the biggest airlines don’t make much money by selling seats in economy class. They make money through add-ons like bag fees, premium seat upgrades, credit card deals, etc.

Unlike the airline industry, ecommerce brands can increase their average order value and deliver customer happiness at the same time through tactics like upsell offers or post-purchase offers.

Post-purchase offers are deals that you can promote to customers during the checkout process.  

In this post, we’re diving deep into what post-purchase offers are, how to use them, along with some actionable examples.

Let’s dive in! 

What is a post-purchase offer upsell? 

A post-purchase offer, sometimes referred to as a post-purchase upsell or one-click upsells, is an offer displaying relevant products right after the initial checkout and before the order confirmation screen. 

This takes advantage of the time period where customers are the most excited and most primed to buy, which typically leads to a better shopping experience and extra revenue for your brand. 

What types of ecommerce brands should use post-purchase offers? 

Almost any brand looking to increase average order value may benefit from post-purchase offers.  However, it is particularly prevalent for fashion, fitness and beauty products. 

6 best practices for implementing post-purchase offers. 

Not all post-purchase offers are created equal. For optimal results, follow these best practices to increase your conversion rate and ecommerce revenue. 

1. Think through your cross-selling approach 

In the vast majority of cases, it is going to make sense to offer a lucrative cross-sell deal. However, it pays to think through your cross-selling approach. 

This might sound obvious, but, the brands that have the most success with post-purchase offers focus are surfacing the most relevant, complementary products.  

For instance, if you are a bike shop and the majority of shoppers are buying premium mountain bikes, then an ideal post-purchase offer might be to surface relevant, related gear, like a specialty mountain biking helmet. 

2. Create relevant offers 

The most important thing to remember is to make your offer relevant to whatever they just bought. 

One way to do this is by setting up post-purchase offers by product category or by product using a tool, like Rally. 

Pro Tip: Setting up by product will provide the most relevant information and offers, but it can be time-consuming. If you have a ton of SKUs and a small team, setting up your offers by product category can be a great 80:20 solution. 

Going back to our bike shop example, you wouldn’t want to create a post-purchase offer for a skateboard if the customer just bought a mountain bike. 

Or if you are selling camping gear and someone just bought a tent, you don’t want to surface another tent as your post-purchase offer. At best, it is simply not relevant and in the worst case scenario you can actually trigger buyer’s remorse. A much more relevant post-purchase offer would be a sleeping bag, a lantern, or an air mattress. 

3. Make sure your branding is consistent

Ever click on an Instagram ad and then get digital whiplash when the company’s website looks nothing like the ad branding and design? This happens more than you might think. It creates confusion and puts shoppers on edge. 

This phenomenon is even more jarring in a checkout flow. To prevent this, keep your color scheme on the call-to-action (CTA) buttons branded and consistent. 

4. Leverage FOMO (fear of missing out)

FOMO marketing capitalizes on the fact that as humans we naturally crave what is popular and scarce.  

The most common methods to tap into FOMO with your post-purchase offers are: 

• Scarcity: For instance, showing only 2 products left in stock. 

• Urgency: For instance, including a countdown timer showing the deal is only available for the next 24 hours. 

A word of caution: FOMO marketing can work so well that you might be tempted to use it to fudge the truth. Creating fake scarcity or urgency can have the opposite effect and undermine your brand’s reputation and trust. 

5. Use post-purchase offers across your entire product catalog 

If you want to see results, you have to test various product offers. 

Not sure where to start, look at your order history for the past year and find your top 3-5 products.  If those products are complementary, then make each of them a post-purchase offer for the other. If they aren't, find other products in your SKUs that work. You can even sell a product warranty as a post-purchase offer. 

6. Sweeten your offer with a discount 

Adding the right discount on a post-purchase offer can be an effective tactic.

However, you want to run the numbers to make sure you can afford to discount the item without eating too much into your margins. 

And, you also want to make sure you don’t use discounts as a crutch. If you use them as a crutch, you can end up training customers to only buy from you when things are on sale. 

3 examples of great post-purchase offers 

It is one thing to learn about post-purchase offers. It is another to see it in action. Here’s how a few of our customers are using post-purchase offers. 

1. Luminas 

Luminas is a wellness brand that sells patches for pain relief, immune-boosting, and sleep as one-off purchases or as a subscription. 

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For instance, their best-selling offer is selling their power sleep patches, which is a secondary best-seller, to their top seller. 

In fact, since starting with Rally, Luminas’ PPOs have brought in over 14% of their total revenue generated.

And in the past 30 days, they have shown: 

• 16.26% increase in revenue due to PPOs

• 1 in 3 customers who are shown a PPO accept it

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2. Redline Steel 

Redline Steel is a veteran owned & operated company selling high quality home decor products. 

Since switching to Rally, 10.78% of their customers that are shown a PPO accept it. And, 6% of their customers come back and checkout fast with Rally’s 1-click checkout feature.

3. StaminaPro 

StaminaPro sells inflammation reducing patches for athletes recovering from hard workouts and injuries.

In the past 30 days: 

• 1 in 5 people who are shown a PPO accept it

• 12.50% increase in revenue due to PPOs

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Increase revenue on average by 12% with Rally’s post-purchase offers   

With Rally, you can promote relevant offers and products with one-click at the time when customers are most primed to buy.  

Rally works with BigCommerce, Swell, and custom backends. And it works with your existing tech stack. Plus, you maintain 100% control of your checkout experience. 

Ready to increase average order value? Schedule a free demo.  

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