How Do You Design Cross-Sell Campaigns?
Turn intent and usage signals into relevant, timely next-best offers. This guide shows how to model eligibility, craft bundles, and orchestrate journeys in Marketo and your CRM to grow ARPU without hurting NPS.
The Short Answer
Effective cross-sell campaigns combine signals (product usage, lifecycle events, firmographics), eligibility rules (fit, risk, entitlements), and offer architecture (bundles, add-ons, upgrades). You design triggers (e.g., “activated core product + feature gap”), route to the right channel, and measure impact on take-rate, attach rate, ARPU, churn, and payback.
What Goes Into Cross-Sell Design?
Cross-Sell Campaign Playbook
Use this sequence to design, launch, and scale cross-sell programs that feel helpful—not pushy.
Define → Instrument → Model → Design Offers → Build Journeys → Enable → Measure → Govern
- Define motions & SLAs: Map owners (Marketing, CS, Sales, Product), handoffs, and time-bound follow-ups.
- Instrument tracking: First-party analytics, product events, consent & preferences, UTM/offer IDs, CRM↔MAP identity.
- Model eligibility: Create rules/propensity using usage thresholds, tenure, risk, and exclusions (support escalations, renewals).
- Design offers: Bundle add-ons by job-to-be-done; craft value props, proof points, and disclosures.
- Build journeys: Triggers in Marketo (Smart Campaigns), sales tasks/queues, in-app messages, landing pages, and forms.
- Enable revenue teams: One-pagers, talk tracks, objection handling, and ROI tools; enforce governance/versioning.
- Measure impact: Attach rate, incremental ARPU, conversion by segment, CAC payback, churn delta; run holdouts.
- Govern & optimize: Monthly review of pipeline→revenue, creative performance, and eligibility drift; iterate.
Cross-Sell Capability Maturity Matrix
| Capability | From (Ad Hoc) | To (Operationalized) | Owner | Primary KPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signals & Identity | Clicks only | Unified product + CRM identity and event taxonomy | RevOps/Analytics | Attributable Revenue |
| Eligibility Rules | Manual lookups | Automated rules + risk/renewal suppressions | CS Ops/PMM | Offer Accuracy |
| Offer Architecture | One-off promos | Standard bundles & price fences with proofs | Product/PMM | Attach Rate |
| Journey Orchestration | Batch emails | Triggered, multi-channel journeys with “not now” paths | Marketing Ops | Conversion % |
| Sales/CS Enablement | Unaligned talk tracks | Playbooks, sequences, ROI tools, outcome stories | Enablement | Win Rate, Cycle Time |
| Measurement & Tests | Opens/CTR | Incremental revenue with holdouts and payback | Analytics | Incremental ARPU |
Client Snapshot: Attach Rate Up, Churn Down
By unifying product signals with CRM, introducing eligibility rules, and launching triggered journeys, a B2B SaaS firm lifted attach rate by double digits while reducing churn in renewal cohorts. Explore results: Comcast Business · Broadridge
Map offers to The Loop™ and govern change with RM6™ to connect signals, offers, and journeys to measurable revenue.
Frequently Asked Questions about Cross-Sell Campaigns
Design Cross-Sell That Customers Love
We’ll help you model eligibility, craft offers, and orchestrate journeys in Marketo and CRM—so cross-sell drives revenue and retention.
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