> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://conversion.club/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Upsell or Cross-Sell: Which Goes Where? - URL: https://conversion.club/playbook/upsell-or-cross-sell-which-goes-where/ - Published: 2026-10-01T20:34:16.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-19T20:26:15.000Z - Description: Upsell before the decision, cross-sell after. An upsell offers a better version of the same product and belongs on the product page, while shoppers are still undecided. A cross-sell offers an add-on and waits until the product is in the cart. - Author: Jeremie Werner - Tags: Increase average order value, #playbook, Cart, Product Page [Upsell before the decision](https://conversion.club/playbook/how-do-you-raise-average-order-value-without-hurting-conversion/), cross-sell after. An upsell offers a better version of the same product and belongs on the product page, while shoppers are still undecided. A cross-sell offers an add-on and waits until the product is in the cart. --- ## The benchmark For each placement, measure the acceptance rate: out of every hundred people who see the offer, how many add it. A placement nobody uses takes up space and attention for nothing. In that definition, the word that matters is "see." At a brand we work with, the "Complete your order" block appeared only on the [product page](https://conversion.club/how-to-optimize-an-e-commerce-product-page-the-complete-audit/), fairly low down, even though about 65% of visitors never view a product page. A block like that can show a good acceptance rate and still reach only a minority of traffic. So also report add-ons against total orders: that second number shows what the placement earns for the whole site. --- ## The rule An add-on should be useful with the product being bought and cost far less than it: laces with shoes, not a second pair. Finally, it has to leave margin once it's packed and shipped. At the same brand, the most natural item to suggest as an add-on had a unit margin lower than its logistics cost. So whether it enters the recommendations comes down to margin, once you've run the numbers. --- ## The steps 1. The product page. Compare two versions and say what the pricier one adds. 2. Add to cart. Offer [one to three add-ons](https://conversion.club/playbook/how-do-you-build-a-bundle-that-raises-order-value-without-cutting-your-margin/) hand-picked for your bestsellers. On Shopify, the Search & Discovery app lets you assign up to ten per product, and those add-ons are never generated automatically. 3. [The cart](https://conversion.club/playbook/gift-sample-or-tiers-what-should-you-offer-to-fill-the-cart/). Remind shoppers of the [free shipping threshold](https://conversion.club/playbook/what-should-your-free-shipping-threshold-be/) and suggest the item that gets them there. 4. [Post-purchase](https://conversion.club/how-to-optimize-post-purchase-in-e-commerce-the-complete-audit/). Make a single offer, added to the order in one tap, with no need to re-enter the card. 5. The payment step itself. Add no offer here, because this page has one job: completing the order. Step 4 hides a limit that few teams know about. On Shopify, the post-purchase offer page doesn't appear when the order is paid with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Klarna or any method other than a bank card, PayPal included. If a good share of your customers pay with a mobile wallet or in installments, the offer only reaches the rest. Before concluding that it doesn't work, check what share of your orders could actually see it. --- ## The trap [The most common trap](https://conversion.club/how-to-optimize-your-e-commerce-cart-the-complete-audit/) is the "you may also like" block filled automatically with your bestsellers. When it suggests a coat to someone buying socks, customers learn to ignore that area. You also very often see a recommended item that's already in the cart. There's a subtler trap, and we fell into it ourselves. At the brand mentioned above, a small item that naturally goes with the flagship product was already bought by about one in ten customers without any suggestion, and it appeared in no recommendation block, on the product page or in the cart. The order history showed us. --- ## The exercise Export your orders from the last three months from the Orders page in Shopify, using the Export button. The file has one line per item, and the "Name" column holds the order number, which lets you group items bought together. For your top three bestsellers, list the items that most often appear alongside them, then compare with what your blocks offer today. If the two lists don't overlap, here's the sentence to bring to the meeting: > "Our best add-on already ships in \[X\]% of orders without us offering it, and none of our blocks shows it." #### Sources - [Product recommendations, Search & Discovery (Shopify Help Center)](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/search-and-discovery/product-recommendations?ref=conversion.club) - [Post-purchase checkout extensions (Shopify.dev)](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/checkout/product-offers/post-purchase?ref=conversion.club) - [Exporting orders (Shopify Help Center)](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/managing-orders/exporting-orders?ref=conversion.club)