How to Create a Business-Boosting Upsell Video in 3 Steps

Learn how to create effective upsell videos today!

Zight | September 03, 2019 | 9 min read time

Article Last Updated: July 09, 2023

How to Create a Business-Boosting Upsell Video in 3 Steps

Looking to boost company revenue without expending any more effort? Then you need to start creating upsell videos. Fortunately, that’s exactly what this article is about! Keep reading to learn what an upsell video is and how to create one in three simple steps.

Think back to the last time you went through a drive through. Maybe you were at McDonalds, Burger King, or Chick-Fil-A. Whatever your fast food joint of choice is, there was probably a moment when the restaurant employee asked you, “Would you like to supersize that?” This is one of the most popular upselling techniques!

According to the good folks at HubSpot, upselling is:

“Encouraging the purchase of anything additional in the same selling interaction that would make the primary purchase more expensive with an upgrade or premium.”

An upsell video, then, is any video that attempts to sell a customer a better, more expensive product or solution than the one they just purchased. Contrary to popular belief, upselling is actually beneficial to both the seller and the buyer — when it’s done correctly, that is.

The companies doing the selling benefits because it has an opportunity to accelerate the revenue generated for every transaction. And buyers benefit because they get access to better solutions that will help them achieve their goals quicker and with less hassle. It’s a win-win scenario!

The Difference Between an Upsell and a Cross-Sell

Before we move on to the next section, we need to briefly discuss the difference between an upsell and a cross-sell.

An upsell, as we’ve just learned, is any upgrade offer that makes the original purchase more expensive. It’s when the fast food employee asks you if you want to supersize your order. They aren’t trying to sell you something different, they’re just offering you an upgraded version of the thing you already bought.

A cross-sell, on the other hand, is the practice of selling a customer a related or complimentary item. For instance, a side of fries to go along with your fast food burger would be considered a cross-sell. Make sense?

How to Create an Upsell Video

 

“Great,” you’re thinking, “I’m all for sales enablement strategies that customers love and boost revenue. But how do you effectively upsell?” That’s what we’ll cover in this section! Keep reading to learn how to create winning upsell videos in just three steps.

1. Know Your Audience

The only way to present your customers with appropriate upsell offers is to understand them on a deep level. What are they trying to achieve by purchasing your products? What does success with your solutions look like to them?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, it’s time to sit down and do some research. Look at your website analytics, view social media metrics, and read reviews to get a general idea of the problems your customers deal with on a regular basis. Then take time to actually talk with your tribe! Send surveys, or better yet, get on the phone and interview them yourself.

Once you’ve amassed a suitable amount of customer information, compile it into neat buyer personas. If you’re not familiar with the term, a buyer persona is a fictional character that’s created to represent a specific segment of a customer base.

Your buyer personas should include demographic information like the age, gender, and occupation of your ideal customer and psychographic details like their hopes, fears, and core challenges.

When you understand your audience, you can move on to step number two!

2. Create Your Landing Page

Next, you need to create the landing page that your upsell video will live on. This page is extremely important! Fortunately, we have a few tips to help you get it right:

  • Add Urgency: One of the best ways to upsell your customers is to add an element of urgency. And the easiest way to add urgency is to offer something irresistible to your customers that’s only available on your upsell landing page. If you really want to use this strategy to its full extent, put a countdown timer on your landing page as well.
  • Nail Your Body Text: Your upsell video will be the centerpiece of your landing page. But that doesn’t mean you can forego text completely. Make sure that your landing page copy clearly states what your upsell offer is and why it’s worth the extra money to your customers. Then break down the text into simple bullet points so that your customers can see and understand it all at a glance.
  • Include a Compelling CTA: Every upsell landing page needs one compelling CTA — emphasis on one CTA. Don’t include multiple CTAs, this is a common mistake. But make sure that the CTA you do use is enticing and “forces” your customers to click. We suggest making your CTA a different color from the rest of your upsell page so that it’s easily noticeable and stands out.
  • Provide an Opt-Out Link: Finally, make sure to include an opt-out link on your landing page. Unfortunately, no matter how amazing your upsell video is and how compelling your CTA ends up being, not every customer will make the additional purchase. That’s ok! Just make sure that they have an easy way to opt-out and you’ll be good to go.

Follow these four tips and your upsell landing page will be a major success.

3. Shoot Your Upsell Video

All that’s left to do is shoot your upsell video and add it to your landing page! Don’t overcomplicate the process here. If you have a smartphone and a window that receives a fair amount of natural light, you should have everything you need. Just keep these tips in mind:

  • Always Use the Back Camera: This tip is specifically for smartphone users. Though it may seem easier to use the front facing camera so that you can see yourself on the screen, don’t! Front facing cameras usually have a lower resolution and your upsell videos won’t be as high quality if you use it.
  • Get Yourself a Tripod: The shakes and blurry footage look amateurish and will make it harder to upsell your customers. Think about it, would you be enticed to spend more money on a product if the video selling it looks hokey? Probably not. So get yourself a tripod and shoot with stability and focus.
  • Master the Rule of Thirds: The rule of thirds is every photographer and video makers best friend. It’s a simple composition trick that is easy to master and will make your upsell videos look much more professional. Basically, you just divide your screen, both vertically and horizontally, into thirds. Then you place the subject of your video on one of the four intersection points. Pretty simple, right?

If you are looking for an easier way to shoot a high-quality upsell video, we recommend Zight (formerly CloudApp). Our visual communication tool will give you access to screen and webcam recording, GIF creation, and image annotation features — in other words, everything you could possibly ever want to create stunning upsell and cross-sell videos!

For example, you could use the webcam feature to easily record yourself talking to the camera. Or you could record your screen instead and show your customers the specific process or tool you’re trying to upsell them.

But don’t stop there. Annotate your videos with text boxes, arrows, and emojis to really get your points across in engaging ways and increase sales.

Zight (formerly CloudApp) packs a serious punch but it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to use. In fact, it won’t cost you anything. Sign up for your free Zight (formerly CloudApp) account today. If you decide you want access to more advanced features, you can upgrade plans for just $9 a month.

Boost Your Upsell Videos With These Upselling Techniques

 

Okay, you have the basics down. But if you really want to supercharge your efforts, keep these upselling techniques in mind:

1. Make Your Upsell Offer Relevant

The upsell offer you make available should be relevant to both your customers and the product they just purchased. For example, you wouldn’t want to upsell a marketing course if your target audience are folks who work in HR.

You also wouldn’t want to upsell a marketing course if the course you just sold taught students how to hire new employees. There would be a disconnect there and your upsell offer would probably be very unsuccessful.

Instead, you could try upselling those who just bought your basic-level marketing course access to a premium package or one-on-one training sessions with a professional marketer on your team. See how these offers make a lot more sense?

2. Try to Deliver Quick Wins

You’ll have a hard time upselling your customers if the product you ask them to upgrade to doesn’t provide immediate value. If your customers are going to spend more money, they’ll want something that will benefit them now.

A few examples would be a sales process audit, a complete website evaluation, and a content marketing strategy map.

By delivering quick wins to your customers, you’re proving to them that you’re committed to their success and that your company can help them achieve it. This will deepen your relationship with your tribe and help you sell more products down the road.

3. Use Social Proof

Be honest, have you ever bought a product online without reading customer reviews first? Probably not. If the purchase represented a significant investment, we’re guessing you not only read reviews but also watched demo videos or even signed up for a free trial before buying.

Why do we do all this extra work before buying goods and services? Because we want to make sure that you we aren’t wasting our money!

By including social proof elements in your upsell videos, you’ll be able to ease customer fears and make them feel comfortable enough to purchase a product upgrade. You can do this by including customer reviews in your upsell videos, interviewing satisfied customers on camera, and spotlighting any positive press your products or services have received.

2 Upsell Video Mistakes to Avoid

We’ve covered a lot so far but before we let you go, we wanted to quickly cover a couple of common upsell video mistakes so that you can avoid them.

1. Don’t Make Your Upsell Offer Unclear

Your upsell offer should be perfectly clear to your customers. They shouldn’t have to guess what you’re trying to sell them or how much extra money it will cost. If your customers are confused in the slightest, they won’t accept your upsell.

So always aim for clarity and keep things simple and straightforward. This approach will give you the best chance of upselling your customers.

2. Don’t Put Your Upsell Video on Autoplay

If you want your customers to spend more money with your company, we advise not annoying them right before you make your pitch. And upsell videos that autoplay are extremely annoying! When your customers are ready to watch your upsell video, they’ll click play themselves.

Do everyone a favor and don’t put your upsell videos on autoplay. Your customers will thank you and you’ll likely end up selling more products this way.

Wrapping Up: Create a Business-Boosting Upsell Video Today!

 

An upsell video, when created and used effectively, can do wonders for your business! Fortunately, you now know everything you need to know to create one and boost revenue. Just remember to follow the three step system we outlined in this article and to avoid the two common mistakes we mentioned. Good luck!


To really supercharge your upsell video game, use Zight (formerly CloudApp). Our platform’s screen recording, GIF creation, and image annotation features with Mac and Windows will help you create amazing upsell videos in no time flat! Sign up for your free account today and see for yourself.

Create & share screenshots, screen recordings, and GIFs with Zight