When your customers make a purchase, that does not necessarily mean the end of their shopping journey. With the right approach, you can turn a one-time purchase into a long-lasting relationship. One of the most effective ways to do that is by sending cross-selling messages.
Cross-selling is a sales strategy used to sell products related to what the customer is interested in. When done properly, it increases sales and reduces Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), all while improving customer experience. It's a win-win!
It goes like this: a customer who is interested in a particular product (for example, a coffee machine) will receive recommendations of complementary products (for example, coffee cups and specialty coffee beans). These recommendations can be presented on the product or checkout pages using edrone's Maketing Machine or through other channels, such as e-mail.
In this article, you will learn all about the second option: edrone's Cross-Selling automation scenario. Let's go!
How to set up the Cross-Selling scenario
To begin, log into your Mission Control and go to AUTOMATIONS > READY FLOWS > CROSS-SELLING. The first page is just an overview, so we'll skip that. Click on the NEXT: ADJUST button or select ADJUST from the progress bar at the top of the page.
Step 1: Adjust
In this section, you will determine the rules for what kinds of products will be recommended, and which events will trigger them. Your Cross-Selling scenario can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be.
You will see three main sections:
Enabled rules
Settings
Disabled rules
ENABLED RULES
To add a new rule, select one or more categories and click on the Add new button. Your new rule will appear under the ENABLED RULES heading. Bear in mind that you will have to create one Cross-Selling email for each active rule.
NOTE: If you believe a category is missing, check your shop’s feed. If the problem persists, contact our support: hello@edrone.me.
Now, let's set the rule's parameters. When you open the rule tab, you will find these options:
Triggering categories
Here you will determine the parameters that will trigger this rule's Cross-Selling messages to a given customer.Send no more often than once per "‘x’ days": This option allows you to limit how often this rule can be triggered. For example, if a customer takes two actions that meet the rule's criteria in a single day, but the limit has been set to one email per day, that customer will receive only one email instead of two.
Delay (day / hour): The time you wish to wait between the moment when the client took the action that triggered the rule (viewed a product, added to cart or ordered) and the moment the email (for this specific rule) should be sent.
After: The event that triggers this cross-selling rule. You can choose from one of these three events: product view; add to cart; and order.
Logic type: This is only relevant for rules with more than one product category. It determines how your categories will relate to one another in order to trigger the rule. For example, suppose you chose two categories for your rule, "Tables" and "Chairs". If you select the logic type “OR”, this rule will be triggered once an event is performed in either the "Tables" or the "Chairs" category, no matter which one. If you select “AND”, the rule will be triggered only when the event happens in both categories.
Category: Allows you to include additional categories to your cross-selling rules. Please note that you can also remove categories by clicking on the trash bin icon.
Blocking ordered categories
Here you will determine the parameters that will block this rule's Cross-Selling messages to a given customer.Made a purchase in: the time period in which the user has purchased a product from the category selected below (LIFETIME, LAST YEAR, LAST QUARTER, LAST MONTH or LAST WEEK).
Category: which category will block Cross-Selling messages. This applies to the purchase of any product within the selected category.
SETTINGS
In this section, you will find two options:
"A message of any rule wouldn't be sent more frequently than once per “‘x’ days”. This is the “master” limit, meaning it overwrites any other limits from individual rules. This option will determine the minimum amount of time you wish to wait between Cross-Selling emails, regardless of rule parameters.
Do not send if the customer has already purchased the recommended product: when selected (YES) and the dynamic placeholder recommends the exact same products that the user has already bought, that message will be blocked.
To illustrate with an example, let's say a customer has purchased a smartphone and a phone case. The recommendation frame might determine a mix of phone cases, screen protectors and earphones to be recommended in the Cross-Selling message. If the recommended phone case is the exact same product the customer has already bought, this message will be blocked. If the frame includes other phone cases, the message will be sent.
Please note that, if this option is selected, even if the design does not have a dynamic placeholder with recommendations, the system still determines recommended products for that customer and, therefore, the message can still be blocked. In this case, it is recommended to disable this option.
DISABLED RULES
Here you will find the inactive rules. You can reactivate them by clicking on the eye icon.
To continue, click on the NEXT: SENDER button or select SENDER from the progress bar.
Step 2: Sender
Here, you will set up who is sending the emails: Name, E-mail, and Reply-to E-mail. You can input new data, or choose from a predefined sender (for example, the same sender you have previously used in for other newsletters).
NOTE: Remember to customize the UTM Campaign Name for each one of your messages (rules), so that you can find them well on your Google Analytics reports.
On this section, you will also design your email. Click here to learn how to use the new Drag 'n' Drop Editor.
You will need to create a new message for every rule you've created on step 1. To select each rule, open the CHOOSE MESSAGE TYPE drop-down menu on the top left of your screen.
Use the BESTSELLERS dynamic element to add the best performing products from a given category (most sold over the previous 7 days). You can also use the RECOMMENDED dynamic element to add personalized products recommendations determined by our Machine Learning algorithm based on each customer's previous interactions with products in your store (viewed / added to cart / purchased).
The next step is to select COUPONS next to ACTIONS.
It is possible to add coupons to any email. You can choose between Static (same coupon for all customers) and Dynamic (each customer gets a unique coupon). We recommend using Dynamic coupons whenever possible.
Regardless of your choice, you will need to upload a different CSV file with your coupons for each message type. If you need help with creating the coupons, there are several free online coupon generators.
Once your files are ready, select each message type from the drop-down menu and click on the UPLOAD (CSV) button. Select which column contains the coupons, check the box if you wish to ignore the first line of your file (column titles, for example). If everything is OK, click on CONFIRM COLUMN. A green confirmation message should appear at the top right corner of your screen.
Click on the NEXT: REVIEW button or choose REVIEW from the progress bar.
Step 3: Review
Send a test email to double-check if everything is working properly. When you're ready, click on the RUN button, and you're done!
Step 4: Reports
To view your Cross-Selling scenario's performance, go to the REPORTS section on the progress bar. Here you will find the main metrics such as Engagement revenue, Sent, Opened, Clicked, Orders, Orders with Coupon, Unsubscribed, and CTR.
Note that you can select metrics for each rule by choosing from the Rule drop-down menu right above the columns.
Need more help?
If you have any further questions about the Cross-Selling scenario, please do not hesitate to contact us at hello@edrone.me