Sell again after the first sale 11 of 25 in this group
SOP 69
Run the rollover upsell
What this page is for. Use it to turn money a customer has already spent — with you or with a competitor — into a credit toward something bigger. The page carries the three decisions every rollover needs (who, what, and how the credit is applied), the four kinds of customer it is used on, the pricing floor that keeps it profitable, a gift-card version, and, because this is the last of the upsells, where to turn when a customer says no.
SOP-69-Run-the-rollover-upsell.md
1. The problem it solves
In one example, a language school sells an eight-week class for $480 that students earn back in full by attending every class, and credits what they earn toward ongoing tuition of $160 a month. Applied up front, the credit buys three free months on top of the class, so about five months pass before anyone new makes a regular payment, and students who feel no payments drift away. Spreading the same credit over a year instead, as $40 off each month, has students paying from the first month, and they keep coming. Whatever they just paid for, roll it into the next thing. The figures in this example are invented.
This is probably the most used of the four upsells, it is said, though not necessarily the favorite.
2. What it is
A rollover upsell credits some or all of a customer's previous purchase toward your next offer. On the experience reported, this tends to get far more people to take the next offer. Once you know how much credit to give, decide three things: who to upsell, what to upsell, and how to roll the credit over.
3. Who: the four situations
- Customers who left a while ago — the win-back. Reach out to old customers with a subject line along the lines of I owe you money; people tend to respond to it. Tell them you owe them, say, 500 bucks toward another service because they have not been back in six months. The credit could be 100 percent of what they paid, or it could be a third of it.
- Upset customers — a redo rather than a refund. Someone is angry. Credit the $500 they paid toward the thing you should have sold them in the first place; what they already had is now free.
- Other businesses' upset customers. Go through competitors' one-star reviews, message the reviewers, ask what they spent there — $1,200, say — and offer that amount as credit toward yours. The competitor's loudest critic becomes your advocate.
- Regular customers who walk in the door.
4. What: the next offer
Upsell more of what they bought, something better, or something new and different. To make money, roll the credit toward something more expensive — in the view here, five times more expensive. A $500 credit rolls toward an offer of $2,500 or more.
5. How: applying the credit
Apply all or part of the credit, and apply it up front or spread it over time; it is up to you. A smaller amount could go up front. You can also create a fee and then waive it, using the credit.
You do not have to credit everything. Somebody who was with you three years and spent five grand might not need five grand of credit if your service is maybe $2,000 a year; giving three more years back makes no sense. You could credit their last three purchases instead, or treat the last six months of service as not up to standard and make that good.
Flag: three years at $2,000 a year is $6,000. The same case gives the three-year total as five grand and as $5,000. This page does not settle which reading is right.
The guidance that follows: where somebody spent a short time with you and your packages are large, credit the whole thing; where they spent a long time with you and your tickets are small, credit the last one.
6. Four worked rollovers
| Business | Who | What | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chiropractor | Patients six months past their last purchase | A new plan | $500 credited up front |
| Dentist | A patient upset that a $200 cleaning did not whiten | A whitening package: several sessions, a kit, deep cleanings | The $200 credited up front |
| Any service | A competitor's unhappy customer with three months left on an agreement | A longer agreement — two years | The remaining payments credited |
| Membership | A current customer who has just bought a block of time | A 12-month membership | The first purchase spread over the year |
The chiropractor call is an offer to give the patient their money back, as credit toward staying pain-free. The dentist call takes the blame for the miscommunication and moves everything paid toward what the patient really wanted. The competitor call removes the reason to wait: nothing lost, benefits starting now. Rollovers can be made at any time; the preference stated is to make them right then, at the first purchase.
7. The important points
- Use rollovers to win new customers, by crediting what they paid somebody else. Contact details can be taken from negative product reviews wherever they are public.
- Roll over before you refund. If you did a bad job, roll over for a redo. If they want something different, roll the purchase toward that instead.
- Previous customers are still customers. Reach out six months or more after the last purchase, look at what they paid, decide how much to give, and offer it. In one example, an owner records a short personal video for each lapsed customer, naming the credit waiting if they return.
- Add urgency — it is up to you. Make the moment you present it the only time to take it, so it surprises and delights: if they want the credit, it is now. If not, they can pay full price later.
8. Pricing the rollover
A discounted offer only makes money if there is profit left to discount. Make the upsell at least four times the rollover credit; that caps the discount at 25 percent at most. The usual rule holds: bigger discounts make less profit per sale and more sales.
Give only as much credit as it takes to get responses. If $200 moves people and the average customer spent $2,000 last year, credit only their last purchase rather than the whole year. Start at $500 and test $300, and so on, to find the level.
The two multiples are both stated and are not the same: five times as the view on what to roll toward, and four times as the pricing floor below which you should not go. Everything above four is described as extra margin.
9. Gift cards as a rollover
A rollover in different packaging, for holiday seasons. Sell $200 gift cards at 90 percent off — $20 — limited to two per person and usable only on somebody else. Run it at Christmas and on Black Friday. When someone buys, ask who the card is for and whether they will make the introduction. When the friend comes in, roll the card into the main offer.
You are not giving 90 percent off the main offer. You are selling a $2,000 product and giving away $200 gift cards for $20: you are paid $20 for a hot referral, and the $200 rolls into a product you may have marked up by $200, or into which you add something high-margin to justify the credit. You also keep the cash from cards never used.
Size the card at 20 percent of the next offer. A $200 card means a $1,000 offer as the minimum, five times the card; against a $2,000 offer the card is one-tenth. Apply the $200 to an offer priced at least $1,000.
10. When the answer is no
The rollover is the last of the four upsells. What to do when somebody refuses, and the rules that govern every downsell, are set out in section 8 of SOP 70 — Work the payment-plan downsell ladder.
11. What this page does not decide for you
- How much credit to give. Enough to get responses; test for it.
- Whether to spread the credit or apply it up front. Both are used; neither is ranked.
- Whether to add urgency. Stated as optional and preferred.
12. The checklist
| Question | The answer |
|---|---|
| What it does | Credits a past purchase toward the next offer |
| The three decisions | Who, what, how |
| The four who's | Lapsed, upset, a competitor's upset, current |
| What to roll toward | Something five times as expensive |
| The pricing floor | At least four times the credit, so 25 percent off at most |
| How much to credit | As little as gets a response |
| Urgency | One time only, if you use it |
| Gift card | $200 card sold for $20, two per person, for someone else |
| Gift card size | 20 percent of the next offer |
| After a no | The downsell rules, on SOP 70 section 8 |
13. What this page does not cover
A rollover is one upsell inside the larger sequence laid out on SOP 59 — Assemble a money model from four prongs. It grew out of SOP 60 — Design a win-your-money-back offer, whose winnings it credits forward; the giveaway offer is SOP 61. The upsells before this one are the anchor (SOP 68), the classic (SOP 66) and the menu (SOP 67). The first downsell after a no, changing how the customer pays, is SOP 70 — Work the payment-plan downsell ladder, and a trial offered on conditions is SOP 71 — Run a free trial with a penalty. Scarcity and urgency in general are SOP 9 — Split scarcity from urgency.
Review-site terms of use and the privacy law on contacting reviewers are not covered on this page.
Terms defined on this page
- Rollover upsell
- Crediting part or all of what a customer spent before toward your next offer. You decide whom to target, which offer to move them to and how the credit applies; the upsell should cost at least four times the credit. It works at any moment.