How upsells work
An upsell offer shows customers a product they might want, after they have already decided to buy. Account Editor gives you six places to put one. You build offers under Upsell, choose where each appears, and pick who sees it. The extra sale costs you no new customer and no new ad spend.
What this does
A customer who has just bought is the easiest person in your store to sell to. You have already paid to get them there, and they have already given you their card.
An upsell puts one more product in front of them at that moment.
The six placements
Your first choice when building an offer is where it appears. Each reaches customers at a different point.
- Checkout page — When customers see it: While paying — highest intent — What it needs: The Upsell app block · Shopify Plus
- After checkout — When customers see it: Between payment and the Thank you page — What it needs: Set in Shopify's Settings → Checkout
- Thank you page — When customers see it: Right after the order — What it needs: The Upsell app block
- Order status page — When customers see it: Every time they check their order — What it needs: The Upsell app block
- Free-shipping upsell — When customers see it: As they approach your free shipping amount — What it needs: The Free shipping app block
- Email — When customers see it: Inside your email campaigns — What it needs: Nothing
Which should you start with?
After checkout, if you can. It is the only placement with one-click accept — the customer adds the product without re-entering card details. Less friction means better conversion.
Thank you page is the easy second. It needs only an app block, works on every plan, and lands at a moment of goodwill.
Order status page keeps working for days, because customers come back to check delivery.
Checkout converts well but needs Plus.
The workspace
Upsell has four tabs:
- Offers — Build and manage offers
- A/B testing — Run two versions and compare
- Analytics — Revenue, conversion and what performed
- Settings — Store-wide rules that apply to every offer
What your customers see
A product card with an image, name, price and a button. Where it appears depends on the placement.
On After checkout, one tap adds it — no card details again. Everywhere else, the customer is taken through a short confirmation.
Good to know
An offer only runs where its block is. This is the most common upsell problem. The Upsell block can go on three different pages. An offer set to the Thank you page will not show if the block is only on the order status page — the block is on your store, just not where that offer runs.
Email offers expire when you edit them. Saving a change to an email offer cancels every link already sent. Customers who click an old link see an expired page. Copy the new snippet afterwards and replace it everywhere you used it.
Offers stack with your other settings. Store-wide rules under Settings apply to every offer — including limits on how many a customer sees.
Start with one offer to everyone. You learn whether customers respond at all before you spend time on targeting.
Troubleshooting
- No offer appears — Why: The app block is missing from that page — Fix: Add the Upsell block where the offer runs
- The offer shows in one place, not another — Why: Placement and block do not match — Fix: Both must be on the same page
- Checkout offers do nothing — Why: Not on Shopify Plus — Fix: Use After checkout or Thank you instead
- After-checkout offers never show — Why: Account Editor is not set as your post-purchase app — Fix: Shopify Settings → Checkout → Post-purchase
- Free shipping offers do nothing — Why: The Free shipping block is missing — Fix: Add it
- Email links show "expired" — Why: The offer was edited after sending — Fix: Copy the new snippet and replace the old one
FAQ
Which placement earns the most?
After checkout, usually, because of one-click accept. The customer does not re-enter payment details, and that removes the biggest drop-off point.
Do I need Shopify Plus?
Only for checkout offers. The other five placements work on every Shopify plan.
Will upsells annoy customers?
Not if you limit them. Store-wide settings cap how many offers one customer sees, and targeting keeps them relevant.
Can I show different offers in different places?
Yes. Each offer has its own placement. Build one per placement, and make sure the matching block is on that page.
Do upsells affect the original order?
On the order status page and Thank you page, the item is added to the existing order. After checkout creates a linked follow-on charge.
Related articles
- Create an upsell offer
- Choose who sees an offer
- Test offers and read the results
- Upsells aren't showing
Updated on: 21/08/2026
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