Almost everyone has heard of the marketing strategy called up-selling.  Up-selling is taking a small sale and turning into a larger sale.  Many internet marketers actually use almost the opposite strategy, a down-sell to increase their sales conversion rate…

As stated, an up-sell is the act of converting a small sale into a larger sale.  For example, you sell an ebook for $17, but before you let that customer go, you offer him the chance to get the audio version of the ebook thrown in for just another $7.00.  A percentage of your customers will take you up on that offer.  For everyone that does, you have turned a $17.00 sale into a $24.00 sale.

A down-sell works a little different.  First, the product that you would use a down-sale with, should be a more expensive product.  There is no point in down-selling a $7.00 ebook.  The second difference is, unlike the up-sell which is offered if the customer buys the original product, the down-sell is only offered if the customer does not buy the original product offer.

The down selling strategy is based on this logic; if the customer is hesitant to purchase a product at the higher price, maybe he would buy a product at a lower price.  Sometimes the down-sell can consist of a smaller version of the original product or the original product with less bonuses.

Here is how a down-sell would work.  You have an audio and an accompanying ebook with 6 bonuses that you have priced at $97.00.  If your customer buys that offer, great, the process ends.  If your customer does not buy the $97 offer, you transport him to a page with another offer. The second offer might consist of the ebook and the bonuses but not the audio.  This down-sell could be priced at $47.00. 

If the customer still does not buy, you might try one more down-sell.  Perhaps you offer the ebook with only 3 bonuses for $17.00.  As is the case with the up-sell, a percentage of your customers will purchase one of the down-sell offers. 

What you have accomplished with the down-sell is to take a prospect that was not going to buy from you and turn him into a buyer.  Instead of ending up with no revenue from that customer, you end up with some revenue. 

There is one other kind of down-sell that is used, but you need to be careful of it.  This down-sell is really a discount offer that is presented to the prospective buyer as he is ready to click away from your sales page.  There is usually a pop up that informs the buyer that if he buys right now, you can offer him a $10.00 discount, for example.

The reason I have recommended caution with this strategy is, while it might be effective, if your customer that purchased the product at the original price finds out that you are selling at a discount to those that would not buy at the original price, you may have some very upset customers.  You have to weigh the sales results against any backlash you may get from customers paying full price.

Using a down-selling strategy can help your sales conversion.  You will end up getting more sales and more customers with a properly executed down-sell than you would with out it.  Remember, it should only be used with a relatively high priced item, not a bargain basement item and it should be used with the right amount of tact so that your potential customer is happy with whatever package he decides to buy.