When is the best time to install up-selling and cross-selling tools?

Installing up-selling and cross-selling tools at the shopping cart may divert your customer. He may even end up not buying the actual product at all. Hence, try to install tools post-purchase to avoid hurting your sales. But in the end, it's all about what is most sensible to you, so don't hesitate to experiment with new things but with calculated risks.

Up-selling is when you offer an upgrade or premium to your customer's primary purchase. This can be done pre-purchase to encourage additional purchases or post-purchase between the check-out and thank-you pages.

Cross-selling is encouraging purchases in addition to the primary purchase and can be done at the shopping cart stage, offering more products before purchase.

I'd say it's better post-purchase. Up-selling can get very spammy and might scare off some customers - some people don't even buy the original product if they see a sales funnel at checkout. Choose a post-purchase upsale app like the OCU app from Ezra - it can only increase AOV without hurting your sale!

Upselling and cross-selling tools are good for your business and sales, but it is kind of a double-edged sword. It could also change the mind of your consumer. Although it depends on the customer, it is better not to install the upselling and cross-selling tools until the purchase is done. If you do pre-purchase, the risk is high as the customer might back off.