Seattle International Film Festival - The Classic Upsell
My brother, cousin, and I are starting a new tradition this year where we all choose a movie we’d like to see and purchase the tickets for everyone in order enjoy this year’s Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). The movie I chose was (500) Days of Summer with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. My brother chose Miao Miao from Hong Kong. I know what you’re thinking, “Joseph, you’re movie isn’t international!”. And yes, you would be correct — but I’m not returning my tickets.
My film not being international is besides the fact, and isn’t the reason why I’m writing this post. I just wanted to share with you the classic upsell all sites should have when it comes to selling products or a service on your site, and what SIFF has done well.
The idea is quite simple:
- User completes a transaction on your site (i.e., purchase, action, etc.)
- User provides you a bit of information on what they are interested in
- Company should take that bit of information and provide you with a suggestion on what to do next
Here are a few examples:
- User reveals that they have read a book. User should get a recommendation on what book to read next. (Shelfari)
- User writes a review for a restaurant. User should get a list of restaurants they may have eaten at to review next. (Yelp)
- User purchases a series of classes/workshops. User should get a recommendation to invite their friends to take the class too. (TeachStreet)
This is exactly what SIFF did when I purchased both the (500) Days of Summer and Miao Miao. I purchased the tickets, they took that information of what I’m somewhat interested in and suggested a movie I’d be interested in within the same genre. It’s pretty simple, and I might just watch The Girl of Monaco because of that recommendation.
Question: What other website out there does this well (Amazon.com is a given)?