Understanding Upsell Flows
The Upsell Flow feature lets you create upsell flows that present up to three additional offers to a customer, after they have purchased an initial product.
Each flow begins with an initial product. Once the customer purchases that product, they are taken to an additional pitch page of your choice (Upsell #1). This pitch page can offer one or more additional products. The customer can either purchase one or more of these products, or decline to make any additional purchases.
Depending on how you configure the upsell flow, and how the customer responds to the offers on the first pitch page, they may be sent to a second pitch page, and finally to a third pitch page. At each step of the upsell flow, you may decide what action to take if the customer agrees or if they decline.
Each pitch page can include your products, or the products of another seller, but not both. If you do promote another seller's products in your upsell flow, you do not receive any revenue unless you create an Upsell JV contract with the other seller.
Once the customer completes the flow, they are taken to a ClickBank Confirmation Page, which contains links to the individual Thank You pages of the items purchased. You do not need to create a new Thank You Page to represent all possible purchase combinations; ClickBank automatically displays the correct combination of purchased items. The customer receives a separate confirmation email for each offer that they purchase.
Affiliate Commissions
The Affiliate from the original sale will be credited for each sale in the upsell flow, although you may choose a different commission rate for each product in the flow.
Since affiliates can make a commission on every product in an upsell flow, creating and using upsell flows can make your brand more appealing to affiliates. Affiliates can search for sellers with upsell flows in the marketplace, which lets affiliates maximize their investment by focusing on sellers who are using upsell flows.
Upsell Flow Required, Optional, and NOT PERMITTED Elements
The following elements are required on all upsell flows:
Your Upsell Flow Must Begin with a Different Product
Step One of your Upsell Flow should include the first products that are offered in an upsell--not the initial sale. This can get confusing when you're building your upsell. All steps in an upsell flow are products that are being offered after and in addition to the initial purchase.
Clear Pricing
The price of each upsell offer must be clearly stated and visible next to each "accept" and "decline" option on the upsell flow pitch page.
Accept and Decline Options
The "accept" and "decline" options for the customer must be clear an unambiguous. The "decline" option must be of equal prominence and within clear view of the "accept" option.
"Accept" Must Indicate Purchase
The "accept" option must clearly indicate that the customer is making a purchase when they click or tap it. Acceptable phrases include: Acceptable phrases include: “Buy Now,” “Add to My Order,” or “Add to My Purchase.”
Required Checkbox and Parameters for Recurring Billing Products
If your upsell flow includes a recurring billing product, you must collect agreement from the customer to the terms of the subscription and its price. This agreement must be passed to ClickBank as the cbrblaccpt parameter.
Each Pitch Page Can Offer a Maximum of 12 Products
ClickBank does not recommend creating a pitch page that lets the customer purchase more than five products in a single step, regardless of the number of available products.
Each Pitch Page Can Offer Your Products or Another Seller's Products - But Not Both
You can put your products on a pitch page, the products of another seller, but you cannot mix your products and the products of another seller on the same pitch page.
Each Pitch Page Can Only Offer the Product or Products Approved for That Step
Products must be approved for each step of the upsell flow.
The following elements are optional on all upsell flows:
Passing CBF Parameters
If your upsell flow does not utilize the session identification parameter your customers who have blocked or disabled cookies will be sent directly to the standard order confirmation page rather than the upsell flow pitch page.
Different Price Points for Products
PitchPlus Upsell Flows that consist of the same price point can result in potential high refund and chargeback rates, as the charges can appear to be duplicates on a customer’s bank statement. Please consider offering products with different price points in your Pitch Plus Flow.
The following elements are ARE NOT permitted on an upsell flow:
No Time Delayed Payment Links
If customers do not see that they are able to accept or decline the offer, this may cause them to exit the flow. This would abandon access to the product, as well as the remainder of your upsell flow. Please be sure that your "accept" and "decline" links are immediately visible to the customer.
“Order is Complete” is Not Acceptable
You cannot use misleading words in an upsell flow. This type of wording is misleading because the initial order is complete and customers are simply being offered additional products.
Vague or Misleading Phrases are Unacceptable
Don't use phrases like "Click Here to Continue,” “Learn More,” or simply “Yes.”
“Add to Cart” is Not Acceptable
Many e-commerce businesses send customers to a shopping cart which lets them view the full purchase before finalizing the purchase. Since clicking the button makes the purchase, "Add to Cart" is not acceptable.
No Exit Pops
Exit pops are not permitted on the upsell flow pitch page as it could lead customers away from the page and out of the flow. This would abandon access to the product, as well as the remainder of your upsell flow.
No Countdown timers
Due to the way the ClickBank upsells works, it is not possible to provide a discount or different offer on the page once the timer has expired.
No Status Bars or Progress Bars that Don't Indicate the Initial Purchase Completion
These types of bars can cause confusion because the initial order is complete and customers are simply being offered additional products.
Selecting Products for an Upsell Flow
When you're creating an upsell flow, you can include products of any kind. The maximum price of each product in the flow is $150. Some product types will impact the behavior of the flow:
If the upsell flow includes a physical product, the initial order form will ask for shipping information, even if the initial product is not a physical product. The customer country options are limited according to the physical product's shipping profile, and customers living in countries outside of the physical products' shipping profiles cannot make any purchases.
If the upsell flow includes more than one physical product, and the physical products have different available shipping regions, the customer is redirected to the order form if they attempt to purchase a later product but are not in that product's shipping region. For example, if step 1 of the flow is a physical product that ships to the US and Canada, and step 2 ships only to the US, a Canadian customer will be redirect to the order form if they attempt to purchase step 2.
If the upsell flow includes a recurring product, the customer must check a checkbox indicating that they understand and agree to the terms of the recurring billing agreement.
Some features also impact the behavior of a flow:
If a customer purchases a product as part of a cart or as an Order Bump on the initial product, the Upsell Flow skips future steps that include that product. The customer is directed to the next step as though they had accepted the skipped step. This behavior helps us avoid duplicate orders and customer confusion.
If your upsell flow includes a step with more than one product, it is skipped if the customer purchased any of the products as an order bump or in a cart. If you want to make sure that the other products are still presented, you can add a subsequent step that includes the remaining products.
While you can select any product type, the flow will be most successful if the initial product and those in the flow compliment each other. If a customer initially buys an ebook of diet recipes, it wouldn’t make sense to upsell your customers a video series on how to play the piano or make money online. Your upsell offers should add value to your customer’s initial purchase or expand on a specific aspect of your main product. For example, if you are offering an ebook providing diet recipes, consider upselling a video series demonstrating fat-burning exercises.
Example Upsell Flows
Here are several examples of upsell flows that illustrate the consumer experience:
Flow With Single Upsell
If you offer a single upsell, the customer's flow is:
Initial Offer -> ClickBank Order Form -> Upsell Flow Offer -> Confirmation Page
The confirmation page will contain links to the Thank You Page for one or both products, depending on the consumer’s acceptance of the upsell.
Advanced Flows
You can present customers with up to three offers, allowing for more advanced flows.
For example, if the customer declines your initial offer, you could offer them a less expensive version of the product with fewer features, or if they purchase the first upsell product, you could offer them an additional product with related features or benefits.
In this flow, the consumer is presented three offers, each contingent on the acceptance of the previous offer. At any point, if the consumer declines, the flow ends and they are taken to the confirmation page.
In this flow, the consumer is presented alternative offers after the initial upsell. A decline can be used to present a downsale or another product in lieu of the one declined:
Lastly, this example flow shows a series of downsells rather than multiple additional value added products after the initial sale is successful: