Taking over the house – who you should target for cross-sales and why

The smart home idea doesn't really work if your users need five different apps for each piece of tech.

For most users, the goal is to find one app that does it all. And that means finding one brand. This creates great opportunities for cross-sales once a user has bought into your ecosystem.

So let's look at who you should target for cross-sales and why.

Start with your audience data

Look at the most popular combinations of devices for each household. You'll usually find one of two patterns here:

1. Single device type – for example, three of the same lightbulb
2. Multi-device sets – for example, a lightbulb and a smart plug

On top of this, you should also look at the time delay between purchases. Do users buy three lightbulbs in one purchase? Or do they buy one and wait until they were satisfied before making another purchase?

Once you've discovered the most popular sets among your users, you can work out who to target with your campaigns and what they're most likely to buy next.

Create bundles to increase your average order value

When bundling your products, you'll usually find that single device type bundles are more successful than multi-device sets.

This is because customers have come to your brand looking for a specific product, so the idea of buying more of the same product is appealing. For multi-device sets, on the other hand, you may find that users need to experience satisfaction with one product before investing in a totally different device type – but this isn't always the case.

Regardless of your approach, bundles are an excellent way to sell more products, even to new customers. If your data shows that users are buying two bulbs at once, this is what you should offer.

And by being proactive about the sale and the best offer for your users, you can expect bundles to sell at an equal or higher percentage to individual products.

To cross-sell or upsell? That is the question

If your goal is to take over the house (which it should be), cross-sell is the best way to go in the long run. After all, every cross-sell creates new opportunities to upsell in different product categories.

But upsell has its part to play too. You may find, for example, that users are more likely to cross-sell to a smart plug after buying their second lightbulb. 

And by using bundles at exactly the best moments of conversion, you can drive cross-sales in a way that feels natural and organic for your users.