Paid content and information services account for about 20 percent of revenue for b2b media and information companies, according to the 2015 Connectiv Information Industry Census. By 2020, that percentage will grow to 23 percent, exceeding both print and digital advertising, trailing only events as the top moneymaker.

 That means publishers are very much becoming e-retailers, particularly as research reports top the list of paid content products. How publishers present those as well as similar, sometimes more expensive products, is critical

During the June Connectiv Digital Media Council meeting, Alex Mancini, product manager at Northstar Travel Media, shared stats on cross-selling versus upselling in e-commerce (upselling is showing more expensive but similar products; while cross-selling is presenting related and complimentay items). “With limited online real estate, should you upsell or cross sell?” said Mancini.

 Among the stats Mancini shared,

• Product recommendations like upsells and cross-sells are responsible for an average of 10 percent to 30 percent of ecommerce revenue (Forrester)

• Upselling performs 20 times better than cross-selling when it comes to a product page (Shopify blog)

•  Upselling drives over 4 percent of total online sales, versus just 0.2% of sales driven by cross selling

•  Cross-selling is much more effective when shown on the checkout page

•  Cross-selling increases sales by 3 percent

•  Avoid suggesting products that increase the overall revenue total by more than 25 percent

"At the end of the day, it’s about user experience,” said Mancini. “You don’t want to throw all these additional offers at them if they can’t get to what they want to purchase. You don’t want to offer random content or products that could confuse them and you don’t want to hit the user over the head with repeated offers or crazy pop-ups.”

Matt Kinsman is vice president of content + programming at Connectiv, the only association focused on the integrated b-to-b model—including publications, events, digital media, marketing services and business information. Prior to joining Connectiv's predecessor American Business Media in 2011, Kinsman was executive editor of Folio:, the leading information provider for the magazine industry.