Amazon’s 25% Upsell Secret (That You Can Totally Steal)

Summary

Brain Driven Brands: Amazon’s 25% Upsell Secret (That You Can Totally Steal) - Episode Summary

Release Date: May 22, 2025

In this insightful episode of Brain Driven Brands, host Sarah Levinger delves into advanced neuromarketing strategies employed by industry giants like Amazon. Focusing on a powerful upsell technique that can boost e-commerce sales by up to 25%, Sarah provides actionable tactics that any brand can implement to enhance their marketing efforts.

1. Introduction to Amazon’s Upsell Secret

The episode kicks off with Sarah and her co-host Nate engaging in light-hearted banter before transitioning into the core topic: Amazon’s effective upsell strategy. Sarah introduces the concept of leveraging psychological principles to influence consumer behavior, setting the stage for a deep dive into specific tactics.

2. The Power of Arrows in Advertising

Sarah shares a compelling study she tweeted about, highlighting how the strategic placement of arrows in advertisements can significantly increase viewer engagement.

Sarah (02:41): "Adding arrows to your ad will increase the time people spend on your ad, even if they don't point to anything."

The discussion reveals that arrows activate both reflexive attention (automatic, impulsive reactions) and intentional attention (deliberate, focused assessment), making ads more interactive and engaging.

Nate (02:51): "Have you seen the posts where all the arrows and words are small and they make you go around the whole thing?"

This tactic not only draws attention but also creates a sense of a game, encouraging viewers to explore the ad further.

3. Horizontal vs. Vertical Product Displays

The heart of the episode examines how the orientation of product displays on websites can influence purchasing decisions. Sarah introduces a key psychological hack:

Sarah (04:17): "This psychology hack can make people choose higher quality, more expensive products, but if you use it in the opposite direction, it will encourage a choice of cheaper options."

Through a series of experiments, it was found that horizontal product displays (left to right) make consumers 25.7% more likely to select higher-priced, higher-quality items compared to vertical displays (top to bottom), which tend to steer consumers toward more affordable options.

Sarah (06:09): "Horizontal product displays on websites make people choose higher quality, more expensive products like Amazon, when things are laid out side by side."

4. Application and Testing in E-Commerce

Nate and Sarah discuss how these insights can be applied to their own e-commerce strategies. They explore the layout of their website’s product displays, considering adjustments from three-across grids to potentially four or five across to see if it impacts average order value (AOV).

Nate (07:01): "We have a three across on desktop, but then it's the whole grid down on mobile."

They emphasize the importance of A/B testing different layouts to determine what works best for their specific product range. The conversation highlights the need for continuous experimentation to optimize conversion rates.

5. Understanding Product Types: Hedonic vs. Utilitarian

Sarah and Nate differentiate between hedonic products (which provide pleasure and emotional satisfaction) and utilitarian products (which are practical and functional). They suggest that:

• Hedonic products benefit more from horizontal displays as consumers are likely to associate higher prices with better quality and enhanced experiences.
• Utilitarian products might perform better with vertical displays, as consumers focus on functionality and cost-effectiveness.

Sarah (14:30): "Would you consider a supplement a hedonic product or utilitarian one?"

This nuanced understanding allows brands to tailor their website layouts based on the nature of their products, enhancing the overall shopping experience and increasing sales.

6. Key Insights and Takeaways

• Arrow Usage: Incorporating arrows in ads can significantly boost engagement by tapping into both reflexive and intentional attention pathways.

• Display Orientation: Horizontal product layouts can lead to a substantial increase in the selection of higher-priced items, making it a valuable strategy for premium brands aiming to elevate their AOV.

• Customization Through Testing: Brands should conduct A/B tests to determine the most effective product display orientations based on their unique product offerings and target audience behaviors.

7. Conclusion

Sarah wraps up the episode by reinforcing the importance of applying psychological principles to marketing strategies. By adopting tactics like strategic arrow placement and optimizing product display orientations, e-commerce brands can enhance consumer engagement, increase sales, and build stronger brand loyalty.

Sarah (16:25): "This is a pretty simple one. I feel bad. This is going to be kind of a short show, but maybe that's better for Scotty."

The episode provides valuable, actionable insights for marketers and brand owners looking to leverage neuromarketing techniques to drive business growth.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Sarah (02:41): "Adding arrows to your ad will increase the time people spend on your ad, even if they don't point to anything."

• Sarah (04:17): "This psychology hack can make people choose higher quality, more expensive products, but if you use it in the opposite direction, it will encourage a choice of cheaper options."

• Sarah (06:09): "Horizontal product displays on websites make people choose higher quality, more expensive products like Amazon, when things are laid out side by side."

---

For more insights and strategies on leveraging psychology in your brand, tune into Brain Driven Brands and join their community for ongoing support and learning.

Transcript

[A]

Did we start this episode, by the way? Is this on two?

[B]

Welcome back to Brain Driven Brands. I'm in a good mood today. Do you know what the difference is?

[A]

I'm so glad no one.

[B]

I said no to every new thing that presented itself to me this week.

[A]

Was it liberating? What does that feel like exactly?

[B]

Feels so powerful. And then number two, I golfed this morning before work for the first time in, like, a month.

[A]

So I feel that you gotta get out, man. You gotta get into the sunshine. What do they call that? Touch grass.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Why is it always grass that we need to be touching? We can't touch anything else. Just the grass.

[B]

Well, like, grounding is supposed to be good for you.

[A]

Something and grounding. But, like, just grass only on. All right.

[B]

I mean, like, grass feels better than, like, dirt or rocks, I guess.

[A]

You gotta have tough feet. When I was a kid. What is your. Your parents always had, like, a specific phrase for it that you had, like, toug feet. I can't remember what the phrase is.

[B]

But summer feet, we called it.

[A]

Yeah. Summer feet. Where it's just like, your feet get so tough you can walk on shards of glass and it would not affect you. I had that because I was big time, like, barefoot girl. Now the interesting part is, once I got older, now I'm like, I don't want to go outside without my shoes.

[B]

Yeah. Because I don't want to get dirty.

[A]

Because I don't want to get my feet dirty. And, like, then I gotta come in and I gotta wash up. It's a problem. I'm learning. Like, I have boys, so I don't really have a choice. You gotta, like, run out after those things because they're feral. They just go out into the street constantly. I'm so glad you're saying no, though. Proud of you saying no. I had that.

[B]

If anyone wants me to say no to you, hit me up.

[A]

DM me be like, hey, I really just need to hear a no today. Yeah, I'm gonna get it from Nate. That's hilarious. All right. You want to start this episode, though. You ready for this?

[B]

Yeah, let's do it. I'm feeling good.

[A]

I'm so glad you're okay. Well, we're gonna do a quiz then today, because now you're feeling confident, I gotta bring you down a few notches, okay? Okay. But first, did you see my tweet? This was a couple days ago about the arrow thing. Did you see the arrow tweet? Okay, I might actually do that one instead of the other one. I have two that we're doing. I'm trying to decide whether I should. Well, now I just gave it away, so I can't do that. Dang it. Okay, so see, now I have a problem. So they are fighting. Science is fighting. Adding arrows to your ad will increase the time people spend on your ad, even if they don't point to anything. So this was something that I posted on Twitter, another like psychology based study that I was looking at where you just adding arrows inside your ad anywhere, regardless of what they point at, will keep people on the ad, specifically because the brain instinctively follows arrows no matter where they go.

[B]

So you look at the arrow, then you spend a second looking at whatever the arrows.

[A]

Yes. Then you like look around and you, and you go, where is that arrow pointing? It's pointing to nothing. And you're like, oh, you got me. Yes.

[B]

Have you seen the posts where like all the arrows and words are small and they make you like go around the whole thing?

[A]

Oh, yes. And I kind of love them because it's like a game. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, it is.

[A]

Where does it go? Yes. I don't know what it is. I'm like all about these arrow things. So that was one of the posts that I got. And that's specifically because you're activating two different things, reflexive attention and intentional attention. Reflexive is like knee jerk, right? Like, I can't help myself. It's like compulsive. Intentional is like, okay, I have to see where this is going type of thing. So that's why the arrows work. But they did say obviously if the arrow is pointing to something important, it has a greater effect. So I wanted to see if you saw that just because, like, I was going to quiz you on that one, but now I can't because we just talked all about. Okay, that's a good one.

[B]

Put arrows in it.

[A]

That's a cool. That's a great one.

[B]

Be on the next episode of brain driven brands.

[A]

100. We'll put that on there. Okay, so I want to see if you're actually using this next one though, because it has the propensity to make people choose higher quality, more expensive products.

[B]

This psychology hack, I could use that.

[A]

I know, I'm like, hey, you have one of those. So this psychology hack can make people choose higher quality, more expensive products, but if you use it in the opposite direction, it will encourage a choice of cheaper options. It is a. I'll give you a hint though. It's a CRO tactic. So think website. And it's. Yeah, Specifically about how things look. What do you think the psychology tactic is?

[B]

All right, you gotta give me a couple guesses on these.

[A]

What? Okay, all right, all right, I'll give you a couple.

[B]

Does it have something to do with price anchoring? So, like, which order you're showing the prices in or which position you're putting the different price things in?

[A]

That's a smart guess, but no, it's not about price.

[B]

Does it have to do with copy?

[A]

No, it is not about coffee.

[B]

That's all I'm doing.

[A]

Broader. Broad scale CRO. Broad scale CRO. Think big.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

See, I gotta bring it down if you're not. Okay, all right, all right. Do you want me to give you another hint or you want me to tell you what it is?

[B]

No, tell me, tell me.

[A]

Okay, okay. So this is very strange. Science is finding that horizontal product displays on websites make people choose higher quality, more expensive products like Amazon, when things are laid out side by side. Oh, vertical displays, such as what you see on booking sites for like hotels or things. Right. Vertical displays encourage choice of cheaper options.

[B]

Okay. Does it say how many things should be horizontal?

[A]

Oh, I don't know. I don't think it said how many. It just talks about, like, which direction they're going. So horizontal product displays left to right, so things are stacked next to each other, make people choose things based upon price and quality. If you go bottom to top, similar to how they do for like flights. If you're booking a flight, everything's always stacked on top of each other. People will choose the lower cost options if they're arranged in that way because they make people focus on the product's secondary features. Like, like. Yeah, like entertainment systems or like flight duration. Those type of things. Yeah. So for example. Yeah. In this series, I guess they did five experiments. So the horizontal, like, laid out products were 25.7 more likely to make people choose the expenser. Expensive expense. Expensive, higher quality laptop among six options is what they had. So there's your answer.

[B]

So interesting.

[A]

They had six in a row and they were 25 more likely to choose the highest price one.

[B]

So for us, I mean, one. We're crushing the AOV game these days, I think, as usual.

[A]

Of course you are.

[B]

This month is 350A year ago.

[A]

Oh my God. Really?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Holy cow, dude, you've been cranking it. That's amazing though.

[B]

So we're getting there. But how our products are laid out, I think it's 3 wide on desktop, but then like it's the whole Grid down.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And then on mobile, it's like two across and then the whole grid down.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And, you know, we tested, like, a horizontal scroll feature of our site this week, but it wasn't. It wasn't individual products. It was like links to other collections. Didn't work. Didn't work. But I wonder if we tested watches.

[A]

Well, and I want to see if you test the amount of products you have from the left to right range, because you've only had. You have a three across, right. Now, what happens if you do a four across.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or a five across or a six across. Will that change how people perceive it? Because it's very possible. What you're technically using here is decoy effect, because you've got three in one range. Right. So people can make a judgment call based upon what they see in their peripheral vision. And to Scotty's call out here, Amazon knew this. Amazon have done this for years and years.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And okay, so this is interesting. Okay. Scotty says the app drives over 60% of traffic and sales, and they do a swipe right type of thing. Yeah, yeah, very true, Very true. I find this really, really fascinating because not. I mean, this is known, right, that, like, usually you want your products to go left to right and not stacks top to bottom, but a 25.7% increase in likelihood for, like, choosing the highest option is a lot.

[B]

That's such a big deal.

[A]

Good boost. Like people's.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't know, like, ability to choose higher cost by a quarter. Like, that's insane.

[B]

And, like, especially for a brand like ours that, like, we have a wide price range of products. Like, you can buy a watch for 200 or $800.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And, yeah, like, we know. Gosh, we know. So, like, we've always tried to put the higher price stuff first as a price anchor and then let them see everything else. But I wonder if they just saw more right away before having to scrol. Because scroll feels like a decision to pass on what they just saw. Well, whereas, like, scanning horizontally.

[A]

I was looking at yourself earlier because now I was like, what does he do? I gotta go see. Okay, here we go.

[B]

Welcome to a new segment called Nate's not doing half of what Sarah tells him to do, and she's gonna yell at me live on air.

[A]

I mean, I might. I might.

[B]

You want me to bring my team.

[A]

On there doing it wrong? Okay. I mean, they can. Yeah. Are they available? Come on in, guys. We're gonna do a poll.

[B]

By the way, I do feel. Feel bad when I Tell employees to go listen to a podcast that I was on social.

[A]

Okay. But we're learning some stuff.

[B]

So, guys, when I tell you to listen to this one, just know. I'm sorry, but Sarah's gonna teach us how to make money.

[A]

Okay. One of the interesting things that I'm calling out on your site, which we can share screen. I usually don't do this because on the podcast you can't see anything, but if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see it. And I want to show you what I'm seeing here because I find it really interesting. Okay, where is it, though? This one. So on your site, when you look at this, the very top level, if you're going to watches and you go to whiskey barrels, you guys have two. You have a grid of two, not a grid of three. The other thing I've noticed. Yeah, on this one, the other thing I've noticed is, of course, I'm on a big desktop. So, like, this makes a difference. It's going to make these products huge, but they're massive. And as you scroll, you can't see the whole product, including the price and the information in one frame. Like, it cuts it off. I can, like, sort of get it into one frame, but, like, barely, which is difficult. So if you go to watches, beer barrels, though, now we're at three across. And this is going to make a difference. It's going to affect how people see these prices and which one they choose. Two across and three across. So technically speaking, we're not doing any A B tests here with all of your, like, different categories. We have completely different ecosystems running by way of, like, category whiskey barrels category beer barrels.

[B]

Do a favor. Click on shop all watches in the top right.

[A]

Okay. Where?

[B]

Nope. Top right of the whole network.

[A]

Top right. Thank you. I didn't sleep last night. It's fine. Okay, this is three. Three. Yeah.

[B]

Okay, so a couple things. Okay, so what's very interesting, we have, we have intentionally split test showing the product bigger or smaller.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Bigger has one.

[A]

Wow, that's interesting. But bigger. Yeah. Bigger imagery on the website. Okay.

[B]

But we have not tested two verse, three across. The reason why those two are on the top of the whiskey page is just because they're the top two watches. And then we tested putting more content underneath them. Right here. That little content.

[A]

Okay. Block in the middle.

[B]

Yeah, that content and block crushed. And then we showed the rest of the collection. But I'd be down to throw a third up there.

[A]

That or maybe it's possible that your two on the top is actually what's driving the majority of your sales.

[B]

Well, yeah, they are.

[A]

Yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, on all the other pages, switch to this layout. Two on top and then some sort of a blurb in the middle block. And then move into your three stack products. So. And if you can't see this on podcast, what we're talking about is Nate has two products. Yeah, exactly. You can see it. And then followed by basically a banner call out that's like handcrafted from bourbon barrels because they're amazing. And then the three stack of products beneath it that are just like, here's all the rest of the products in this category. Every other page doesn't seem to follow that same layout. Like, this one has a banner at the top of it. Now we're on the actual beer barrel watch page. And this has, like a big Father's Day sale banner followed by some copy. And now we're into three product row. What's. Oh, this is interesting. You guys have, like, other things.

[B]

Yeah, that's a little, like a little ad in the middle of the lp.

[A]

You have like, a little ad in there. That's interesting.

[B]

We're testing a lot. Let me show you while we're here.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

All right, go to. Click on the limited edition tab. Then go to our Taylor Guitars collection on the right. Click on that first. Watch this one. Yep. Casey, we're getting off topic for the podcast, but a little CRO hack, that's crushing.

[A]

Okay. All right, I'm ready.

[B]

The. The number two and number three product images, they used to just be like, product beauty images with no pictures on them.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

We have added copy to the second one and then added some of these like, USP call outs to this third one. And it's crushing.

[A]

That is crazy. So you guys basically put ads on your landing page.

[B]

We're putting ads on the pdp.

[A]

What? I have never seen this in my life. That is crazy. I have seen a few people that do this kind of Amazon style, but it's very rare. And it's usually on just one product. They don't do it, like, across the board or anything. This is interesting, though.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, call out here. You guys are doing the same thing, though. It's left to right. It's not like you have these stacked. And I've seen some. Some websites that do this where all of their images. Yeah. And it scrolls and it's so annoying because I can't get through the images quickly. I'm like, where do I go? To see the images. So pro tip for you guys, Nate is actually using this left to right hierarchy for not just his actual like products on the page, but he's also using it in his images. Fascinating stuff. You again. I almost never have to tell you guys to anything at all. Okay, so this I find really interesting though. So in your opinion, because you have a high, like, expensive aov, like good product, high quality, it makes sense that you're doing this horizontal. What type of products do you think you would do a vertical layout for that? Vertical layout? More like practical, detailed, Utilitarian is what we're focused on.

[B]

Yeah, I would probably focus on utilitarian stuff.

[A]

Like what? That's why I'm like asking, like, what kind of utilitarian?

[B]

Oh, sorry, I thought you were giving me a category option.

[A]

No, no, no, no, no.

[B]

Like, I think like supplements, drinks, consumables.

[A]

Oh, okay. Because like, I think that's actually smart. Actually. I don't think I've ever seen anybody test a supplement that way. Would you consider a supplement a hedonic product or utilitarian one? Hedonic meaning, like it's just for fuzzies.

[B]

Like, thank you for finding that. I think it's. I think to the people who buy it, it's useful. It's not like the necessity. But I think to that person's mindset, it's like, I need this to thrive.

[A]

Interesting. I would test it. Honestly, that might be a utilitarian product for some people doing an A B test on left to right versus vertical layout for product categories. That would be really interesting. For this study, they tested on digital cameras, so it seems like they're testing utilitarian products with different layouts, specifically with high technology level, very utilitarian, focused, like mechanical products. So I don't know. I. Somebody test this for us. If you are currently running a supplement brand, somebody go test left to right layout versus top to bottom layout and see what that does for your conversion rates. Because this would be fascinating. I always wondered why hotels did that. Like, why they. They arrange it top to bottom and not here's all the rooms you can pick.

[B]

Yeah. That's crazy.

[A]

Apparently. Why? Science. Science. Also, good call out for Scotty. We just went past 1,000 subscribers on YouTube. Hey, I know.

[B]

To the thousand of you out there, please go subscribe to Technical Practical.

[A]

Okay. God almighty.

[B]

I'm back on my promo grind.

[A]

By the way, I'm so glad.

[B]

No, that's crazy. Congrats.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Congrats also a little bit. You're welcome. For being on.

[A]

Wow. Okay.

[B]

Tweeting about it.

[A]

And we did. I mean, we did grow together as a team. Team work around here. Scotty, Nate, sometimes Sarah, I come and hang out sometimes, you know. Great teamwork. We did. And also, thank you for listening, you guys.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Nice of you. You guys are the best. I'm excited to see where it goes because, I don't know, like, I don't think I've ever built, like, a personal brand of this size before, so this will be interesting.

[B]

All right. I like this test horizontal on your site. If you want people to spend more money.

[A]

This is a pretty simple one. I feel bad. This is going to be kind of a short show, but maybe that's better for Scotty. So he doesn't.

[B]

Short podcasts are good. Well, we can update the audience on a couple of things, I think.

[A]

Oh, okay. Let's get some updates. I'm ready.

[B]

I made good on my bet and sent you a box of Payday candy bars.

[A]

You did? That's so true. I did get one, and my husband tried to steal them immediately, and they were delicious, by the way. Best candy bar.

[B]

Paydays are kind of trash.

[A]

They are so good. You're totally wrong. I don't know why you think they're nasty. Because I think they're delicious. They're amazing.

[B]

So that's it? That's all the updates?

[A]

That's the update you got. Oh, my God. This episode is terrible. Okay. Some good updates, though, that I think we should probably call out. Nate is actually doing a copywriting workshop here in just a little bit. Do you want to tell us about that?

[B]

Sure. Copywriting summit. Thanks. After our 20 minute planning session of it, I'm ready to announce it to the world. Yeah. Copywriters camp. I had tweeted about this actually a while ago. Got a ton of interest. Inspired by the copy country artists that I get to hang out with these days for work, all of them go do these writers camps.

[A]

Oh, that's right. I forgot about that.

[B]

That that's what, like, all bring their best ideas. They work them out with each other. They talk about what's worked for them, what hasn't.

[A]

Sound amazing.

[B]

Sounds awesome. I want to just go and sit at one. But yeah, I want to do that for marketers because we have seen copywriting absolutely be a performance lever for us in the last couple of years. And it's. It's funny to. To me to see, like, a bunch of people be inspired by the copy we write and try it for their own brands.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But Like, I want to be able to tell you guys why it works for us, how you can make it work for your brand. Because some of you are missing the mark a little bit. But I'm very happy to share. We're going to have some awesome speakers on. It's going to be me and Sarah for sure. Got a couple other big hitters lined up. So if you're interested in becoming a better copy writer and writing copy that doesn't just sound good, but makes you more money, I don't know. I guess follow me and I'll tweet more updates about it whenever I get around to doing it.

[A]

Super excited. Ah, I can't wait for this one because it's interesting. I don't hear a lot about copywriting right now. Everybody's talking about like ads and angles and specifically creative. Creative. But creative really comes down to writing.

[B]

And like, it's one of those things that like, if you get better at copy, you will get better at ads and creative and email and CRO and every single thing you do in your business. And like, for us, like, I think it's informed product development too because like the very, very early stages of design. I can be like, hey, I can tell a story with this watch if we build it like this. And those have been some of our top watches. So yeah, get better at copywriting, make more money.

[A]

I'm really excited for this one. That's what's good plug. Good plug. Shameless plug. I have one last plug to make and then I think we'll probably just end this episode because we just solved the problem for you guys and there's no reason to over talk it because there you go. There's nothing else to say. Okay, last one out here if you guys want to join. We just opened up a community for anybody who wants to learn how to apply psychology. Two year advertising specifically for D2C. But if you want to come in for B2B SaaS, we have a ton of members from across the world. We have 99 members right now. I am so close to being to 100. Huge freaking goal gradient effect.

[B]

Should I join? Should I be the 100th?

[A]

You should. That's a great idea just to get me to 100 so I could be like, yay, yeah, we did it. If you feel much better about like just like stagnating at 99, okay. Come join the community. We, we've got all kinds of really cool people in there who are also practitioners. Not just learners, but people who are actually practicing all the stuff that Nate and I talk about on this podcast and. Yeah, learn how to actually apply it. I think that's most important, especially today in advertising. It's not great if you can't apply the information. So don't sign up for a course unless it comes for with application. Pro tip. Yeah, you can go check it out. School.com backslash tether, lab. Lab tether, tether dash lab. Oh, my God. Oh, that's right, Scotty. Good call. Your school is spelled S K O L. I hate that they did that, by the way. That bothers me. Sarah has a hard time with, like, names that aren't spelled correctly because scientifically they've done studies on it that is like, don't do that. That actually decreases stress levels. It's fine, though. I'll find that study for you. So, school, S, K O O L. Vasa, Tether, dash, lab. Thanks, everybody. This is a good episode. Short and sweet. Like subscribe Brain Driven Brands is part of the Learn and Laugh series on the Quickfire Podcast network and is presented by Tether Insights. For more information, go to tetherinsights IO.