Upselling and cross-selling are probably the most popular e-commerce techniques for increasing your store's AOV. However, there are certain trends and expectations you should follow.

A few years ago, the most common offer placement to display upsell was pop-up. Nowadays, many brands prefer better user experience over aggressive upselling.

New embedded upsells in Candy Rack

That's why we have added a new offer placement to our flagship app, Candy Rack. The new placement is called "embedded," and it shows upsells natively as part of your product detail pages. Merchants can easily insert the app block with offers via the theme editor and place it anywhere in the product details section, just like any other block.

This new approach provides a seamless user experience and a "soft" approach to upselling. We also automatically detect your store design style via the Brand API, so the block naturally blends in with your storefront. Plus, you can always customize it.

How to add embedded upsells on your product pages

To add native upsells to your product pages, please follow the video guide below.

Alternatively, follow these steps:

• Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize
• Select the Products template from the drop-down menu at the top
• Click the + Add block button in the Product information section, switch to the Apps tab, and select Candy Rack's product page block

Inside the theme editor, you can also edit the block style, colors, title, and button labels.

Conclusion: Are native upsells better than pop-ups?

I wouldn't say one upsell placement is better than the other. In general, pop-up upsells will have a better performance (i.e., upsell take rate) but can degrade your user experience or even hurt an overall store conversion. On the other hand, native/embedded upsells don't feel pushy and provide a native user experience.

It's important to think about upselling and cross-selling holistically and come up with the right strategy for your business. I typically recommend using a "soft" approach during the purchase and being more "aggressive" post-purchase. Luckily, the Candy Rack app covers the whole purchase funnel, so you don't need multiple apps for upselling.