How to offer product up-sells, cross-sells, post-purchase recommendations, special offers and more

Curios Automations help you turn more customer activity into opportunities to make another sale.

With Automations, you can create rules that respond to actions your customers take, such as adding a product to their cart or completing a purchase. Depending on the Automation you create, you can offer an upgrade, recommend another product, present a special offer, or take another automated action at exactly the right moment.

For example, an author could offer a reader who adds an ebook to their cart the option to upgrade to an ebook + audiobook bundle. A musician could recommend vinyl to someone purchasing a digital album. A creator could also introduce customers to another related product after they've completed their purchase.

You set the rules once, and Curios handles the rest.

Where to find Automations

There are two ways to work with Automations in Curios Creator Studio:

• Automate: Select Automate from the main Studio navigation to create and manage Automations across your catalog.
• Edit Collection: When editing a product or Collection, you can access relevant Automation tools directly from the product settings. For example, the Upsell button lets you quickly configure an upsell for that product.

The main Automate page also lets you search and manage your existing Automations.

How Automations work

Every Automation is built around a simple idea:

When this happens → do this.

The first part is the trigger. It determines what a customer does to activate the Automation.

The second part is the action. It determines what Curios should do when that trigger occurs.

For example:

Or:

This lets you build sales experiences around your own catalog and decide which offers make the most sense for your audience.

How to create an upsell

An upsell gives your customer an opportunity to replace the product they're adding to their cart with a higher-value option.

This works especially well when you offer bundles, combo packs, premium editions, or other products that include what the customer originally wanted plus something more.

For example:

• Ebook → ebook + audiobook bundle
• Paperback → signed hardcover
• Digital album → digital album + vinyl bundle
• Individual film → multi-film collection
• Standard product → premium bundle

Option 1: Create an upsell from Edit Collection

If you're already editing the product you want to use as the starting point:

1. Open the product or Collection in Creator Studio.
2. Find the listing you want to use.
3. Click Upsell.
4. Turn on Offer an upsell for this product.
5. Click Choose the upgrade product and select the product you want to offer instead.
6. Optionally, enter your own Offer text. This appears above the offer and lets you introduce the upgrade in your own voice.
7. Click Save.

When the customer accepts the upsell, the original cart item is swapped for the upgrade you selected.

Option 2: Create an upsell from Automate

You can also build an upsell from the main Automate section of Creator Studio.

1. Select Automate from the Studio navigation.
2. Click Create Automation.
3. Under Do this, select Offer an Upsell.
4. Under When this happens, use the Add to Cart trigger.
5. Under Which products should trigger this upsell?, click Choose products.
6. Select the product or products that should activate the offer.
7. Under The upgrade, click Choose the upgrade product and select what you want to offer instead.
8. Optionally, add Offer text that customers will see with your offer.
9. Give your Automation a name.
10. Optionally, add a description so you can easily remember what the Automation is designed to do.
11. Click Save automation.

If your upgrade covers multiple editions of the same work, select each relevant edition as a trigger. For example, if you're offering a combo pack that can replace either the ebook or audiobook, you can select both editions as trigger products.

Offering cross-sells and post-purchase recommendations

Not every offer needs to replace what's already in the customer's cart.

Cross-sells and post-purchase recommendations can help customers discover complementary products and continue exploring your catalog.

For example, you might recommend:

• Book two after someone purchases book one
• An audiobook to a reader who purchased another title
• A companion novella or bonus collection
• Vinyl or merchandise to someone purchasing an album
• Another film or show from the same series
• Another product that naturally complements what the customer just bought

Depending on the Automation, these recommendations can appear while the customer is shopping or after the purchase has been completed.

This makes post-purchase recommendations particularly useful for series, connected works, back catalogs, and products that naturally lead customers toward something else you offer.

What customers see

When an Automation presents an upsell or cross-sell, the customer sees an on-screen offer at the relevant point in their purchase journey.

Depending on the Automation, this modal popup can appear:

• When the customer adds a product to their cart, or
• After the customer completes their purchase, on the order confirmation page.

These offers are designed to be noticeable without creating unnecessary friction. Customers can see that an additional or upgraded option is available without the offer getting in the way of completing their purchase or accessing the content they just bought.

The goal is to make the next relevant choice easy, not to interrupt the buying experience.

Create special offers

Automations can also be used to Create a Special Offer, giving customers an exclusive deal or discount when a specific action occurs.

This gives you another way to connect an incentive to customer behavior instead of offering the same promotion to everyone.

When creating an Automation, select Create a Special Offer under the available actions and configure the offer and trigger you want to use.

Send automated messages

The Automations suite also includes a Send a Message action.

This option lets you automatically send a message when a specific customer action happens, giving you another way to build communication around important moments in the customer journey.

Select Send a Message when creating an Automation to see the available configuration options.

Use multiple Automations together

You aren't limited to one Automation per product or Collection.

You can create multiple Automations and control the order in which they're processed. In Creator Studio, click and drag your Automations to arrange them in the order you want Curios to process them.

This is useful when you have several potential offers for the same product or customer action.

Think about the sequence from the customer's perspective. Your most relevant offer should generally come first, followed by additional opportunities that make sense if the earlier Automation doesn't apply.

Tips for creating effective offers

The best upsells and cross-sells feel like a useful next choice rather than an unrelated promotion.

Which products can I include in an Automation?

Offers can include products belonging to the Curios creator account you're currently logged into.

You cannot use an Automation to offer a product belonging to another creator account.

Can I have more than one Automation for the same product?

Yes. You can create multiple Automations for the same product or Collection.

When multiple Automations apply, they are processed according to the order you've set in Creator Studio. Click and drag to change their order.

Which Curios plans include Automations?

During the public beta, Automations are available on all Curios Studio plans.

Availability may change after the beta, and certain Automation features may eventually be limited to specific Studio plans.

Build the next sale into the one happening now

Selling direct isn't only about completing a transaction. It's an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with the people who choose your work.

Curios Automations give you tools to connect one purchase to the next, introduce customers to more of your catalog, offer higher-value options, and create more relevant buying experiences without manually managing every interaction.