Log in with GoogleCross-selling
Cross-selling is selling a related product alongside the one a customer is already buying, such as running socks with a pair of running shoes.
By Berend Vrakking, founder of Product Metrics. Updated 7 October 2026.
Example
| Step | Value |
|---|---|
| Orders that began with an ad click on Trail Runner Pro | 40 |
| Revenue from Trail Runner Pro (40 × €120.00) | €4,800.00 |
| Revenue from other products in those orders | €1,200.00 |
| Ad spend on the Trail Runner Pro ad | €1,600.00 |
| ROAS from Trail Runner Pro alone (€4,800.00 ÷ €1,600.00) | 3 |
| ROAS with the other products (€6,000.00 ÷ €1,600.00) | 3.75 |
Count only Trail Runner Pro and the ad returns 3. Count the rest of the basket and it returns 3.75. Same ad, same spend. Illustrative data.
For one product, and for an account
In advertising terms, cross-selling is everything in the basket beyond the product that was clicked. Read a product’s ROAS from its own sales alone and the product that opens the door gets no credit for what follows it in. That extra revenue comes with its own margins, though, so it is not all profit either.
Product Journeys follows each journey from the Shopping ad click to the order in your GA4 data, and splits the revenue of each entry product into direct revenue and cross-sell revenue. It explains why a product performs; it is not an attribution tool.
Common mistake
Lowering priority on a product because its own sales look thin, when its ad is the one bringing in the customers who fill their baskets with other products.
Questions
What is cross-selling with examples?
What is the difference between upselling and cross-selling?
Keep reading
- Product JourneysSee direct and cross-sell revenue for each product that starts a journey.
- Market basket analysisCount which products are bought together.
- ROASThe return figure that cross-sell revenue changes for one product.
- Break-even ROAS calculatorFind the return each product needs to break even.