The Value of a Good Upsell

When I was launching Zappos Insights, I went to an event for marketers in Costa Rica for people who used a platform called Infusionsoft. There's only one thing I really remember from that session. They said that if you have a really good offer, 25% of people will take an upsell. But here's the thing: it can't really be an upsell. What it has to be is an upgrade. They have to see it only as an upgrade and not like they're being manipulated, which is how upsells often feel.

I decided to test it at Zappos, where we had several thousand people coming through a month for a tour. We developed the Tour Plus offer. For little money beyond free, you got to meet with a Zappos employee and ask them any kind of questions you'd like. What was crazy was year after year, about 25% of the people took the upgrade.

So if you have a great offer that people are really enjoying, is there a way for people to upgrade?

If you haven't thought of anything, think about this: selling doesn't mean just a transaction. Every time you're onboarding, you're still selling the value of your product or service, so you can charge more for something like a white-glove, hand-holding service (which, by the way, is like having paid R&D).

What's your upgrade offer?