Upselling Defined

Upselling is a sales and marketing strategy that encourages customers to purchase a more advanced, upgraded, or premium version of a product or service than the one they initially considered. It’s a technique designed to increase the average order value (AOV) while also helping customers discover options that offer greater value, enhanced features, or better performance.

Unlike cross-selling, which suggests additional, complementary items, upselling focuses on improving the original purchase by steering the customer toward a higher-tier solution. This could mean recommending a larger plan with more features in a subscription service, a premium model of a product in an e-commerce store, or an upgraded package with additional benefits in a software application.

How to Use it in a Sentence

By segmenting users based on purchase history, we’ve created personalized upselling campaigns that boost average order value.

Common Upselling FAQs

Upselling encourages a customer to buy a more expensive or upgraded version of a product, while cross-selling suggests related or complementary products.

The most effective moments for upselling are during onboarding, at checkout, after key usage milestones, or immediately after a purchase.

Not at all. Upselling applies across industries, including SaaS, mobile apps, hospitality, and services, anywhere customers can upgrade or enhance what they’re buying.

Yes. OneSignal allows you to A/B test different messages and formats to learn which upselling approach resonates best with your audience.

Focus on delivering value, make the offer relevant to the user’s needs, and avoid interrupting critical actions in the user journey.