Your online shop is up and running and generating sales – but you would like to generate more sales? Optimizing the average order value is the best way to do this. Of course, you can also try to acquire new customers. However, incentivizing people who want to shop at your store anyway to buy more will end up being more profitable for you. In this article, we would like to introduce you to seven ways in which you can increase your average order value.
What is the average order value?
Average Order Value (AOV) captures the amount of money spent each time a customer places an order on your online store. The calculation is simple and results from the total turnover and the number of orders:
An example:
The turnover of an online shop for motorcycle parts in January was $10,000 with a total of 50 orders. If you divide the $10,000 by 50, you get an average order value of $200 for the month of April.
Why is it important to increase the average order value?
Average order value is an important decision-making metric for marketers, providing insights into buyer patterns and trends, ad spend habits, and product pricing. A retailer who offers products worth between $15 and $65 but has an AOV of $30 may find that their customers are 1) likely to buy multiple items and 2) mainly strike on cheaper products.
By monitoring your AOV regularly, you can increase marketing ROI. The higher your AOV, the more you get out of each customer. A high AOV means you earn more per paying customer, over the same period of time. So basically, not only will you get back the money you spent on customer acquisition, but you'll also become a more profitable business.
For example, if you know which traffic source brings the highest revenue, you can allocate more resources to this best-performing channel and increase your AOV.
7 Measures to Increase AOV
1) Free Shipping
The classic among the optimization paths: free shipping. This is the easiest and fastest way to increase the order value. It's not necessarily about always allowing your customers to send them free of charge (although this is of course a proven means of generating purchases in the first place). Rather, you should tie free shipping to a minimum order value. If your current average order value is $45, you can advertise free delivery from a minimum order value of $60. Just don't be too ambitious here – if your customers normally shop for $45, you won't get involved with an $80 order value just to save on shipping costs.
A big plus is also if you add a notification in the shopping cart that shows your customers directly how many euros are still missing before the free shipping.
2) Sell more with discounts and time-limited offers
You may think that offering discounts is contradictory in increasing AOV. After all, the ultimate goal is to generate more revenue with every sale. However, as with free shipping, you won't give out discount coupons without a specific criterion. For example, you could offer a discount that can be used from a minimum order value.
When you offer limited-time discounts, you create a sense of urgency among your customers. As a result, they immediately begin to consider whether it is a good decision to buy now. In most cases, especially with brands that only offer sales a few times a year, customers buy immediately. The anger of not having bought early enough would be too great.
3) Free Gifts
"Buy one, get one for free" is arguably the most common type of promotion that companies use in their daily marketing campaigns. Consumers like to get items for free. They are much more tempted to accept the offer if they believe they can get twice as much for the same price.
However, when using the tactic, you should pay attention to what products you want to promote. While consumers may be riding the "free" wave, they will quickly come to their senses if the offer turns out impractical. You should focus on products that 1) can be used up over time, such as cosmetics, food and beverages, 2) can be used in pairs – you wouldn't buy two hammers if you only need one for the next 10 years, right? and 3) have a margin of at least 50%.
4) Upsell
The probability of selling to an existing customer is much higher than selling products to new customers. Upselling is the practice of encouraging customers to buy a comparable, higher-quality product. So, if you have a range of products in the same category but with different features and prices, consider upselling to encourage existing customers to buy again.
5) Cross-selling
Cross-selling means that a company sells an additional product or service to the current product that the customer has already opted for. Cross-selling refers to products that satisfy additional, complementary needs that are already met by the original item. Sounds familiar, right? But what's the difference between cross-selling and upselling? Both terms are often lumped together.
In e-commerce, cross-selling or upselling is often used on product pages, during the checkout process, and in campaigns. For example, in online stores, you'll usually see the "You May Also Like" section, which is filled with recommendations that match your preferences and search history. This is known as automatic cross-selling, which generates personalized offers for every customer who visits the store. The more you personalise the offer, the more effective your strategy – and thus the increase in sales value – will be.
6) Bundles
Many small businesses have found success selling products and services as a bundle. Customers equate a bundle of items with savings, even if those savings are small, making it easier for you to sell. For example, instead of selling three items for $30 each, your package priced at $75 would only cost $25 per item. If possible, try to keep your packages somewhat flexible; a potential customer might refuse a package because they think only three of the six items make sense for their purposes. If you can stay flexible enough, or if customers can put together their own packages, your chances of success are greater.
A few more tips you can keep in mind:
Give customers the option to pay in instalments with high-priced "subscribe and save" package deals.
Sell products both individually and in a bundle. Being able to compare prices if they were to buy the products individually will make customers more likely to buy in the package.
Display the savings on the bundle page to make it easier for your customers to decide on a bundle.
7) Make room for configurations
Some online retailers are taking a particularly clever step and using the individualization of products to increase their order value. Shop visitors who are interested in a product are more likely to buy a high-priced product if they were able to help shape it according to their ideas. In addition to the fun effect of do-it-yourself, the argument of uniqueness is also convincing. Because in the end, your customers get a product that only exists once.
Do you need support in integrating one or the other function into your Shopify/Shopify Plus store? Feel free to contact us at dev@xovakstudio.com
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