Upsell

An upsell is any prompt that raises what a customer spends on an order. Strictly, an upsell moves the customer to a bigger or better version, while a cross-sell adds a related product, but in ecommerce both are usually called upsells.

Common forms on online stores:

• Quantity offers such as "buy 2, save 15%" on the product page
• Frequently bought together blocks that add a related item
• Cart upsells shown when the customer opens the cart drawer
• Post-purchase offers shown after payment, which the customer can add with one click
• Free shipping thresholds that nudge customers to add one more item

Upsells are the main lever stores use to raise average order value, which in turn decides how much they can afford to pay for each customer through ads. That makes them an important part of any competitor review.

Most upsell features on Shopify come from apps. RivalSonar detects these from the storefront, so you can see which upsell tools top stores use. The guide on which Shopify apps top stores use covers the common types.