Up-sell Gone Crazy

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Yes. I’ve never seen a case of up-sell gone this crazy. Literally.

We know that if we want to maximize our sales process, we have to up-sell or cross-sell a product.

Most sellers stop at the first or second up-sell. At most the 3rd.

This company does it differently. It implemented a total of 7 up-sells before I finally got to process my initial order. Damn!

If you are thinking who this company is? It’s GoDaddy - the popular domain name registrar.

Here are some screen shots:

The step. Innocent looking enough..

The up-sell begins…

More up-sell…

There are even more down the road. Just that I didn’t bother anymore.

Okay. Actually there really isn’t anything wrong with that. I’m sure that they have made a lot more money this way than just simply stopping at the first initial order.

But I think it is WAY overdone.

Up-sell is essential. They add on to your bottom line and if done tastefully, it can dramatically boost your profits.

But if it gets annoying, you will risk losing your customers. Sometimes even for LIFE!

Speaking of up-sell, Amazon does it well. MacDonalds too.

Do you have any annoying up-sell stories that pisses the hell out of you to share?

Or compelling ones that immediately had you by the hook?

Do share…

GoDaddy does it masterfully… another company I’ve seen do this really well is Alienware… McDonalds…

But I think add-ons do particularily well in the software industry since there are so many different upgrades that can be complementary to the initial product.

So for example if you buy a PC computer… you can upgrade your memory, hard disk, CPU… software… there’s just an infiniate of logical upsells to add.

If you’re selling food, there’s only so much you can ’super-size’.

I think that’s why Go Daddy can add so many upsells… McDonalds could never up-sell you that many times… simply because that’s just the nature of the business.

Have you ever called Go Daddy for support?

These people are trained sales rep that try to squeeze every ounce they can get at every opportunity they get.

But that’s fine, I’d do the same too:)

Anyways thanks for sharing.

mmm .. i dun quite understand the posting. Can you englighten me further plsease? Thank you

Rhen:

Like you, I think GoDaddy is making a lot of money through their upsells.

I’m not against upsell. I’m for it. Just that GoDaddy does it too many times at the front end.

We can still upsell AT THE backend.

A balance has to be found I guess. Despite this, I’m using GoDaddy, but only their domain names though.

MySpace:

I’m talking about upselling, and how over-doing it can have a counterproductive effect.

Cheers,
Jag

I am a Godaddy member myself & have been for over a year now.

Some of there upselling styles can be over dramatic I must admit.

While their service & tech. support is impeccable, The phone call I get once every 1-2 months that goes - “We are just checking up to make sure you are satisfied with our services - OH & by the way i just noticed you weren’t taking advantage of the HUGE discount you could receive if you decided to pay for 1-3 years in advance rather than month to month.”

I can appreciate the worry about me liking my service with them, however the excessive Upgrade phone calls get to me.

Besides, it appears they pay more attention to me as a customer doing the month to month (Unsure if I will stay or go) Vs. the locked in 1-3 payment (Possibly telling them not to worry, they got there money already) :)

At any rate, good read, Thanks!

Hi there,

You are right. They send their domain renewal notice 4 months in advanced!

Obviously it must have worked for them. I don’t doubt their service. It’s just their selling. Too excessive.

Jag

GoDaddy seems like using this way to earn money. it really works for them.

Hi Jag,
thanks for info. i bit clear on the concept.

for me, they have good strategic . it really works for them.

Hi James,

Yes, no doubt it works for them. If not they won’t keep doing it.

I personally prefer one that is not that overdone. And more subtle. Like Amazon.

Cheers,
Jag

My personal thought about this is an ethical and legal way in business, but is damn annoying for customer. I hate those oversell, so I would go to other companys to buy it.

Outstanding advice. I have a lot of trouble selling products. I can lure a lot of customers in but i can’t convert it into a sale. Im sure this is going to change with advice like this.

Rami

Hi Louiss,

Yep, the legality is never in question.

Just the way it is being carried out can be irritating, especially if it is overdone.

Jag

Hi Cricket Games,

Somehow I got the feeling you have commented on the wrong blog post. Are you talking about the post on persuasion?

Jag

Thanks for the post, good information.

For maximizing the sell, you have to change your policies according to the demand of customers.

All the best!

I like up-sells. But I guess 7 up-sells is just too much.. Never experienced one though,,

Good article. I agree. Too much upsell is a bad thing, but godaddy seems to be very good at it…

I’ve been buying domains from GoDaddy for 3 or 4 years now. Their upsell strategy is… intense, but they do make it pretty easy to bypass a lot of it if you pay attention.