If you have been following The Creative Boss, you probably have freebies that your audience loves, and you are ready to move those peeps through to actually opening their wallet.
However, you feel like a total sleaze asking for cash.
I get it. The word “sales” comes with all kinds of negative vibes, but it shouldn’t.
Unless, of course, you are being sleazy. Don’t be sleazy.
If you’re in the space of teaching your audience how to do something and you’ve already given them loads of free content, then it only makes sense to take that relationship to the next level. But, just like any other relationship – you should take things slow if you want to nurture them and make them love you forever.
Muahaha! Just kidding – this isn’t that sinister, and you aren’t an evil villain for charging for your products or services.
This is where you implement the easy upsell. These should be products or services that are just a step above your free offer but still reasonably priced. It helps to build trust before charging crazy amounts. Most people won’t have a problem giving you a couple bucks, but when you are asking for hundreds right out of the gate, you are likely to scare them away.
Creating tiered products that build upon each other is essential to keeping customers coming back for more.
What is an Easy Upsell?
An easy upsell is something that you can quickly create and easily sell for around $4-10. Simply add an extension (and a price point) to one of your free digital products. For example, The Creative Boss offers a free copy of the Trello board we use for our editorial calendar. (It’s pretty sweet – grab it if you haven’t yet.) After you receive the free download, you get an email offer for a biz essentials toolkit.This toolkit includes more Trello boards that will help you keep your business organized. It was an easy-to-create product because it’s something already being used in our business.
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Bundling gives customers the option of getting more bang for their buck which means they’re more likely to purchase.
If you’re wanting to create an upsell, jot down a list of your free products and brainstorm different ways you could build onto them. Your easy upsell is to be used as bait to see if anyone bites and isn’t meant to pull in tons of cash, so it’s not something you want to spend too much time on.
Why Offer an Easy Upsell?
The goal of an easy upsell is to warm up your audience. By giving them a complimentary gift, they will be more compelled to spend a few dollars in return and get a little more product. Your big product will be easily validated if all of your products are aligned, and your email list will be more targeted to the specific people that are most likely to purchase.
Having an easy upsell to offer right after your audience grabs your freebie will let you know if your idea is on point, and it will prep your audience to take the relationship to the next level. Bada-bing.
This is crucial if you don’t want to waste tons of time creating high-priced offers that never sell. It will also help you to create a line of products that work in tandem together and make sense for customers to return to purchase the next step.
Work smarter, not harder.
Next Step After Your Upsell Works
Sweet! Your easy upsell is converting like gangbusters! So, what comes next? You build on it. Now that you know they love the idea, you need a way to cash in on it. This could be with a larger info product, your services, or anything else that asks them for more. They’ll be less likely to hesitate since you’ve proven that you know your shit.
Depending on what your end product is, you may have a few other tiered options that could bring your audience deeper into your sales funnel.
They may have bought your micro product, but that doesn’t mean they’ll immediately take the relationship further. You’ll need to do some courting before you ask them to pay for a high-ticket item. (Y’know – those kinds that require permission from your spouse before you take out a second mortgage to pay for them.)
If you keep your next item under $100, it will convert very well if you continue to nurture the relationship. Continue sending these folks that have committed to you free content, free blog posts, and additional information to help them to their to goal. Just remember that it is all about the results for them. If you can’t provide what they need, they will bounce and find someone that can. Keep your communication centered on them and the results that they will get. You may have an inspiring story, but unless it can be duplicated, no one will really give a shit. Stay focused on providing valuable content to your customers, and they’ll be more than willing to shell out some more dough for your higher priced items.
More about Funnels
The process of nurturing relationships in preparation for selling higher priced products is referred to as a sales funnel. Every successful business uses this technique in one way or another. When creating your own sales funnel, start with the end result in mind and create a tier of lower priced products. You gain trust and loyalty from the customers that move through your sales funnel, so they’re more likely to purchase that big ticket item when it’s presented to them.
If your end game is going to have a hefty price tag, break it down and think about what steps your customers need to take to prepare them for it. For example, let’s say you’re offering a course all about building a custom website. There are quite a few things people will need to know before they’re ready to dive into building their site. Start with introducing them to the basic terms and concepts – excellent freebies! Then you can provide them with some basic theories about design and current trends – perfect for eBooks or masterclasses. They’ll need to know some basic HTML and CSS which gives you a chance to test the waters with a smaller course.
See how it works? You’ve validated your big ticket item with tiered upsells. Now that your audience has mastered the fundamentals, they’ll be ready to build their custom website and eager to invest in your course.
NOTE: Your big ticket item doesn’t have to be created from the get-go, but you should have a general idea of where you’re headed, so you can create your upsells.
Thanks for the great advice! This is exactly what I needed as I’m working on my second website. My first one likely won’t ever have products, but this one will, so it’s a big learning curve!