Definition
Plain language
Nudging a customer toward a more expensive version than they asked for.
As stated in the literature
Directional shift of recommendations above a no-information baseline; measured here as the share of the total price gap attributable to marking wealthy users up rather than marking low-income users down.
Also called: upsell, upsold, upsells
Why it matters: Separating how much of a price gap comes from marking richer users up versus marking poorer users down tells you whether an assistant is extracting extra money or genuinely economizing for people with less.
For example, you ask for a reliable family car and the assistant steers you to the trim with heated seats and the larger engine.
Heard on the show
“Insurance is worse: in percentile terms, it’s ninety-six percent pure upselling.”Episode 275 — Your AI Agent Read Your Inbox, Then Quoted a Higher Price